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by Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne
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Title: Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete
Author: Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne
Release Date: September 3, 2006 [EBook #3567]
Last updated: October 16, 2013
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS OF NAPOLEON ***
Produced by David Widger
MEMOIRS OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE,
Complete
By LOUIS ANTOINE FAUVELET DE BOURRIENNE His Private Secretary
Edited by R. W. Phipps Colonel, Late Royal Artillery
1891
CONTENTS
PREFACE 1836 EDITION.
PREFACE 1885 EDITION.
AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION.
NOTE.
VOLUME I. -- 1769-1800
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XXI
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXIII
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXVI.
CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHAPTER XXIX.
CHAPTER XXX
CHAPTER XXXI.
CHAPTER XXXII.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
CHAPTER XXXV
VOLUME II. -- 1800-1805
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXYI.
CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHAPTER XXIX.
CHAPTER XXX.
CHAPTER XXXI.
CHAPTER XXXII.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
VOLUME III. -- 1805-1814
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER--XIV.
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XXI.
CHAP XXII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIV
CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXVI.
CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHAPTER XXIX.
CHAPTER XXX.
CHAPTER XXXI.
CHAPTER XXXII.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
CHAPTER, XXXV.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
VOLUME IV. -- 1814-1821
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XIII
PREFACE 1836 EDITION.
In introducing the present edition of M. de Bourrienne's Memoirs to
the public we are bound, as Editors, to say a few Words on the subject.
Agreeing, however, with Horace Walpole that an editor should not dwell
for any length of time on the merits of his author, we shall touch but
lightly on this part of the matter. We are the more ready to abstain
since the great success in England of the former editions of these
Memoirs, and the high reputation they have acquired on the European
Continent, and in every part of the civilised world where the fame of
Bonaparte has ever reached, sufficiently establish the merits of M. de
Bourrienne as a biographer. These merits seem to us to consist chiefly
in an anxious desire to be impartial, to point out the defects as well
as the merits of a most wonderful man; and in a peculiarly graphic power
of relating facts and anecdotes. With this happy faculty Bourrienne
would have made the life of almost any active individual interesting;
but the subject of which the most favourable circumstances permitted
him to treat was full of events and of the most extraordinary facts. The
hero of his story was such a being as the world has produced only on the
rarest occasions, and the complete counterpart to whom has, probably,
never existed; for there are broad shades of difference between Napoleon
and Alexander, Caesar, and Charlemagne; neither will modern history
furnish more exact parallels, since Gustavus Adolphus, Frederick the
Great, Cromwell, Washington, or Bolivar bear but a small resemblance
to Bonaparte either in character, fortune, or extent of enterprise. For
fourteen years, to say nothing of his projects in the East, the history
of Bonaparte was the history of all Europe!
With the copious materials he possessed, M. de Bourrienne has produced
a work which, for deep interest, excitement, and amusement, can scarcely
be paralleled by any of the numerous and excellent memoirs for which the
literature of France is so justly celebrated.
M. de Bourrienne shows us the hero of Marengo and Austerlitz in his
night-gown and slippers--with a 'trait de plume' he, in a hundred
instances, places the real man before us, with all his personal habits
and peculiarities of manner, temper, and conversation.
The friendship between Bonaparte and Bourrienne began in boyhood, at the
school of Brienne, and their unreserved intimacy continued during the
most brilliant part of Napoleon's career. We have said enough, the
motives for his writing this work and his competency for the task will
be best explained in M. de Bourrienne's own words, which the reader will
find in the Introductory Chapter.
M. de Bourrienne says little of Napoleon after his first abdication and
retirement to Elba in 1814: we have endeavoured to fill up the chasm
thus left by following his hero through the remaining seven years of
his life, to the "last scenes of all" that ended his "strange, eventful
history,"--to his deathbed and alien grave at St. Helena. A completeness
will thus be given to the work which it did not before possess, and
which we hope will, with the other additions and improvements already
alluded to, tend to give it a place in every well-selected library, as
one of the most satisfactory of all the lives of Napoleon.
LONDON, 1836.
PREFACE 1885 EDITION.
The Memoirs of the time of Napoleon may be divided into two
classes--those by marshals and officers, of which Suchet's is a good
example, chiefly devoted to military movements, and those by persons
employed in the administration and in the Court, giving us not only
materials for history, but also valuable details of the personal and
inner life of the great Emperor and of his immediate surroundings.
Of this latter class the Memoirs of Bourrienne are among the most
important.
Long the intimate and personal friend of Napoleon both at school and
from the end of the Italian campaigns in 1797 till 1802--working in the
same room with him, using the same purse, the confidant of most of
his schemes, and, as his secretary, having the largest part of all
the official and private correspondence of the time passed through
his hands, Bourrienne occupied an invaluable position for storing and
recording materials for history. The Memoirs of his successor, Meneval,
are more those of an esteemed private secretary; yet, valuable and
interesting as they are, they want the peculiarity of position which
marks those of Bourrienne, who was a compound of secretary, minister,
and friend. The accounts of such men as Miot de Melito, Raederer, etc.,
are most valuable, but these writers were not in that close contact with
Napoleon enjoyed by Bourrienne. Bourrienne's position was simply unique,
and we can only regret that he did not occupy it till the end of the
Empire. Thus it is natural that his Memoirs should have been largely
used by historians, and to properly understand the history of the time,
they must be read by all students. They are indeed full of interest for
every one. But they also require to be read with great caution. When
we meet with praise of Napoleon, we may generally believe it, for, as
Thiers (Consulat., ii. 279) says, Bourrienne need be little suspected
on this side, for although he owed everything to Napoleon, he has not
seemed to remember it. But very often in passages in which blame is
thrown on Napoleon, Bourrienne speaks, partly with much of the natural
bitterness of a former and discarded friend, and partly with the curious
mixed feeling which even the brothers of Napoleon display in their
Memoirs, pride in the wonderful abilities evinced by the man with whom
he was allied, and jealousy at the way in which he was outshone by the
man he had in youth regarded as inferior to himself. Sometimes also we
may even suspect the praise. Thus when Bourrienne defends Napoleon
for giving, as he alleges, poison to the sick at Jaffa, a doubt arises
whether his object was to really defend what to most Englishmen of
this day, with remembrances of the deeds and resolutions of the Indian
Mutiny, will seem an act to be pardoned, if not approved; or whether he
was more anxious to fix the committal of the act on Napoleon at a
time when public opinion loudly blamed it. The same may be said of his
defence of the massacre of the prisoners of Jaffa.
Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne was born in 1769, that is, in the
same year as Napoleon Bonaparte, and he was the friend and companion
of the future Emperor at the military school of Brienne-le-Chateau till
1784, when Napoleon, one of the sixty pupils maintained at the expense
of the State, was passed on to the Military School of Paris. The friends
again met in 1792 and in 1795, when Napoleon was hanging about Paris,
and when Bourrienne looked on the vague dreams of his old schoolmate
as only so much folly. In 1796, as soon as Napoleon had assured his
position at the head of the army of Italy, anxious as ever to surround
himself with known faces, he sent for Bourrienne to be his secretary.
Bourrienne had been appointed in 1792 as secretary of the Legation at
Stuttgart, and had, probably wisely, disobeyed the orders given him to
return, thus escaping the dangers of the Revolution. He only came back
to Paris in 1795, having thus become an emigre. He joined Napoleon in
1797, after the Austrians had been beaten out of Italy, and at once
assumed the office of secretary which he held for so long. He had
sufficient tact to forbear treating the haughty young General with any
assumption of familiarity in public, and he was indefatigable enough
to please even the never-resting Napoleon. Talent Bourrienne had in
abundance; indeed he is careful to hint that at school if any one had
been asked to predict greatness for any pupil, it was Bourrienne, not
Napoleon, who would have been fixed on as the future star. He went with
his General to Egypt, and returned with him to France. While Napoleon
was making his formal entry into the Tuileries, Bourrienne was preparing
the cabinet he was still to share with the Consul. In this cabinet--our
cabinet, as he is careful to call it--he worked with the First Consul
till 1802.
During all this time the pair lead lived on terms of equality and
friendship creditable to both. The secretary neither asked for nor
received any salary: when he required money, he simply dipped into the
cash-box of the First Consul. As the whole power of the State gradually
passed into the hands of the Consul, the labours of the secretary became
heavier. His successor broke down under a lighter load, and had to
receive assistance; but, perhaps borne up by the absorbing interest of
the work and the great influence given by his post, Bourrienne stuck to
his place, and to all appearance might, except for himself, have come
down to us as the companion of Napoleon during his whole life. He had
enemies, and one of them--[Boulay de la Meurthe.]--has not shrunk from
describing their gratification at the disgrace of the trusted secretary.
Any one in favour, or indeed in office, under Napoleon was the sure
mark of calumny for all aspirants to place; yet Bourrienne might
have weathered any temporary storm raised by unfounded reports as
successfully as Meneval, who followed him. But Bourrienne's hands were
not clean in money matters, and that was an unpardonable sin in any one
who desired to be in real intimacy with Napoleon. He became involved in
the affairs of the House of Coulon, which failed, as will be seen in the
notes, at the time of his disgrace; and in October 1802 he was called on
to hand over his office to Meneval, who retained it till invalided after
the Russian campaign.
As has been said, Bourrienne would naturally be the mark for many
accusations, but the conclusive proof of his misconduct--at least for
any one acquainted with Napoleon's objection and dislike to changes in
office, whether from his strong belief in the effects of training, or
his equally strong dislike of new faces round him--is that he was never
again employed near his old comrade; indeed he really never saw the
Emperor again at any private interview, except when granted the naval
official reception in 1805, before leaving to take up his post at
Hamburg, which he held till 1810. We know that his re-employment was
urged by Josephine and several of his former companions. Savary himself
says he tried his advocacy; but Napoleon was inexorable to those who, in
his own phrase, had sacrificed to the golden calf.
Sent, as we have said, to Hamburg in 1805, as Minister Plenipotentiary
to the Duke of Brunswick, the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and to the
Hanse towns, Bourrienne knew how to make his post an important one.
He was at one of the great seats of the commerce which suffered so
fearfully from the Continental system of the Emperor, and he was charged
to watch over the German press. How well he fulfilled this duty we learn
from Metternich, who writes in 1805: "I have sent an article to the
newspaper editors in Berlin and to M. de Hofer at Hamburg. I do not
know whether it has been accepted, for M. Bourrienne still exercises an
authority so severe over these journals that they are always submitted
to him before they appear, that he may erase or alter the articles which
do not please him."
His position at Hamburg gave him great opportunities for both financial
and political intrigues. In his Memoirs, as Meneval remarks, he or his
editor is not ashamed to boast of being thanked by Louis XVIII. at St.
Ouen for services rendered while he was the minister of Napoleon at
Hamburg. He was recalled in 1810, when the Hanse towns were united,
or, to use the phrase of the day, re-united to the Empire. He then hung
about Paris, keeping on good terms with some of the ministers--Savary,
not the most reputable of them, for example. In 1814 he was to be found
at the office of Lavallette, the head of the posts, disguising, his
enemies said, his delight at the bad news which was pouring in, by
exaggerated expressions of devotion. He is accused of a close and
suspicious connection with Talleyrand, and it is odd that when
Talleyrand became head of the Provisional Government in 1814, Bourrienne
of all persons should have been put at the head of the posts. Received
in the most flattering manner by Louis XVIII, he was as astonished as
poor Beugnot was in 1815, to find himself on 13th May suddenly ejected
from office, having, however, had time to furnish post-horses to
Manbreuil for the mysterious expedition, said to have been at least
known to Talleyrand, and intended certainly for the robbery of the Queen
of Westphalia, and probably for the murder of Napoleon.
In the extraordinary scurry before the Bourbons scuttled out of Paris
in 1814, Bourrienne was made Prefet of the Police for a few days, his
tenure of that post being signalised by the abortive attempt to arrest
Fouché, the only effect of which was to drive that wily minister into
the arms of the Bonapartists.
He fled with the King, and was exempted from the amnesty proclaimed
by Napoleon. On the return from Ghent he was made a Minister of State
without portfolio, and also became one of the Council. The ruin of his
finances drove him out of France, but he eventually died in a madhouse
at Caen.
When the Memoirs first appeared in 1829 they made a great sensation.
Till then in most writings Napoleon had been treated as either a demon
or as a demi-god. The real facts of the case were not suited to the
tastes of either his enemies or his admirers. While the monarchs of
Europe had been disputing among themselves about the division of the
spoils to be obtained from France and from the unsettlement of the
Continent, there had arisen an extraordinarily clever and unscrupulous
man who, by alternately bribing and overthrowing the great monarchies,
had soon made himself master of the mainland. His admirers were
unwilling to admit the part played in his success by the jealousy of his
foes of each other's share in the booty, and they delighted to invest
him with every great quality which man could possess. His enemies were
ready enough to allow his military talents, but they wished to attribute
the first success of his not very deep policy to a marvellous duplicity,
apparently considered by them the more wicked as possessed by a parvenu
emperor, and far removed, in a moral point of view, from the statecraft
so allowable in an ancient monarchy. But for Napoleon himself and his
family and Court there was literally no limit to the really marvellous
inventions of his enemies. He might enter every capital on the
Continent, but there was some consolation in believing that he himself
was a monster of wickedness, and his Court but the scene of one long
protracted orgie.
There was enough against the Emperor in the Memoirs to make them
comfortable reading for his opponents, though very many of the old
calumnies were disposed of in them. They contained indeed the nearest
approximation to the truth which had yet appeared. Metternich, who must
have been a good judge, as no man was better acquainted with what he
himself calls the "age of Napoleon," says of the Memoirs: "If you want
something to read, both interesting and amusing, get the Memoires de
Bourrienne. These are the only authentic Memoirs of Napoleon which have
yet appeared. The style is not brilliant, but that only makes them the
mere trustworthy." Indeed, Metternich himself in his own Memoirs
often follows a good deal in the line of Bourrienne: among many formal
attacks, every now and then he lapses into half involuntary and indirect
praise of his great antagonist, especially where he compares the men
he had to deal with in aftertimes with his former rapid and talented
interlocutor. To some even among the Bonapartists, Bourrienne was not
altogether distasteful. Lucien Bonaparte, remarking that the time in
which Bourrienne treated with Napoleon as equal with equal did not last
long enough for the secretary, says he has taken a little revenge in his
Memoirs, just as a lover, after a break with his mistress, reveals all
her defects. But Lucien considers that Bourrienne gives us a good enough
idea of the young officer of the artillery, of the great General, and
of the First Consul. Of the Emperor, says Lucien, he was too much in
retirement to be able to judge equally well. But Lucien was not a fair
representative of the Bonapartists; indeed he had never really thought
well of his brother or of his actions since Lucien, the former "Brutus"
Bonaparte, had ceased to be the adviser of the Consul. It was well for
Lucien himself to amass a fortune from the presents of a corrupt court,
and to be made a Prince and Duke by the Pope, but he was too sincere
a republican not to disapprove of the imperial system. The real
Bonapartists were naturally and inevitably furious with the Memoirs.
They were not true, they were not the work of Bourrienne, Bourrienne
himself was a traitor, a purloiner of manuscripts, his memory was as bad
as his principles, he was not even entitled to the de before his name.
If the Memoirs were at all to be pardoned, it was because his share was
only really a few notes wrung from him by large pecuniary offers at
a time when he was pursued by his creditors, and when his brain was
already affected.
The Bonapartist attack on the Memoirs was delivered in full form, in
two volumes, 'Bourrienne et ses Erreurs, Volontaires et Involontaires'
(Paris, Heideloff, 1830), edited by the Comte d'Aure, the Ordonnateur
en Chef of the Egyptian expedition, and containing communications from
Joseph Bonaparte, Gourgaud, Stein, etc.'
--[In the notes in this present edition these volumes are referred
to in brief 'Erreurs'.]--
Part of the system of attack was to call in question the authenticity
of the Memoirs, and this was the more easy as Bourrienne, losing his
fortune, died in 1834 in a state of imbecility. But this plan is not
systematically followed, and the very reproaches addressed to the writer
of the Memoirs often show that it was believed they were really written
by Bourrienne. They undoubtedly contain plenty of faults. The editor
(Villemarest, it is said) probably had a large share in the work, and
Bourrienne must have forgotten or misplaced many dates and occurrences.
In such a work, undertaken so many years after the events, it was
inevitable that many errors should be made, and that many statements
should be at least debatable. But on close investigation the work stands
the attack in a way that would be impossible unless it had really been
written by a person in the peculiar position occupied by Bourrienne.
He has assuredly not exaggerated that position: he really, says Lucien
Bonaparte, treated as equal with equal with Napoleon during a part of
his career, and he certainly was the nearest friend and confidant that
Napoleon ever had in his life.
Where he fails, or where the Bonapartist fire is most telling, is in the
account of the Egyptian expedition. It may seem odd that he should have
forgotten, even in some thirty years, details such as the way in which
the sick were removed; but such matters were not in his province; and
it would be easy to match similar omissions in other works, such as the
accounts of the Crimea, and still more of the Peninsula. It is with his
personal relations with Napoleon that we are most concerned, and it is
in them that his account receives most corroboration.
It may be interesting to see what has been said of the Memoirs by other
writers. We have quoted Metternich, and Lucien Bonaparte; let us hear
Meneval, his successor, who remained faithful to his master to the end:
"Absolute confidence cannot be given to statements contained in Memoirs
published under the name of a man who has not composed them. It is known
that the editor of these Memoirs offered to M. de Bourrienne, who had
then taken refuge in Holstein from his creditors, a sum said to be
thirty thousand francs to obtain his signature to them, with some notes
and addenda. M. de Bourrienne was already attacked by the disease from
which he died a few years latter in a maison de sante at Caen. Many
literary men co-operated in the preparation of his Memoirs. In 1825 I
met M. de Bourrienne in Paris. He told me it had been suggested to him
to write against the Emperor. 'Notwithstanding the harm he has done me,'
said he, 'I would never do so. Sooner may my hand be withered.' If M.
de Bourrienne had prepared his Memoirs himself, he would not have stated
that while he was the Emperor's minister at Hamburg he worked with
the agents of the Comte de Lille (Louis XVIII.) at the preparation of
proclamations in favour of that Prince, and that in 1814 he accepted the
thanks of the King, Louis XVIII., for doing so; he would not have said
that Napoleon had confided to him in 1805 that he had never conceived
the idea of an expedition into England, and that the plan of a landing,
the preparations for which he gave such publicity to, was only a snare
to amuse fools. The Emperor well knew that never was there a plan more
seriously conceived or more positively settled. M. de Bourrienne would
not have spoken of his private interviews with Napoleon, nor of the
alleged confidences entrusted to him, while really Napoleon had no
longer received him after the 20th October 1802. When the Emperor,
in 1805, forgetting his faults, named him Minister Plenipotentiary at
Hamburg, he granted him the customary audience, but to this favour
he did not add the return of his former friendship. Both before
and afterwards he constantly refused to receive him, and he did not
correspond with him." (Meneval, ii. 378-79). And in another passage
Meneval says: "Besides, it would be wrong to regard these Memoirs as
the work of the man whose name they bear. The bitter resentment M.
de Bourrienne had nourished for his disgrace, the enfeeblement of his
faculties, and the poverty he was reduced to, rendered him accessible to
the pecuniary offers made to him. He consented to give the authority
of his name to Memoirs in whose composition he had only co-operated by
incomplete, confused, and often inexact notes, materials which an editor
was employed to put in order." And Meneval (iii. 29-30) goes on to quote
what he himself had written in the Spectateur Militaire, in which he
makes much the same assertions, and especially objects to the account
of conversations with the Emperor after 1802, except always the one
audience on taking leave for Hamburg. Meneval also says that Napoleon,
when he wished to obtain intelligence from Hamburg, did not correspond
with Bourrienne, but deputed him, Meneval, to ask Bourrienne for what
was wanted. But he corroborates Bourrienne on the subject of the efforts
made, among others by Josephine, for his reappointment.
Such are the statements of the Bonapartists pure; and the reader, as has
been said, can judge for himself how far the attack is good. Bourrienne,
or his editor, may well have confused the date of his interviews, but
he will not be found much astray on many points. His account of the
conversation of Josephine after the death of the Duc d'Enghien may be
compared with what we know from Madame de Rémusat, who, by the way,
would have been horrified if she had known that he considered her to
resemble the Empress Josephine in character.
We now come to the views of Savary, the Duc de Rovigo, who avowedly
remained on good terms with Bourrienne after his disgrace, though the
friendship of Savary was not exactly a thing that most men would have
much prided themselves on. "Bourrienne had a prodigious memory; he spoke
and wrote in several languages, and his pen ran as quickly as one could
speak. Nor were these the only advantages he possessed. He knew the
routine of public business and public law. His activity and devotion
made him indispensable to the First Consul. I knew the qualities which
won for him the unlimited confidence of his chief, but I cannot speak
with the same assurance of the faults which made him lose it. Bourrienne
had many enemies, both on account of his character and of his place"
(Savary, i. 418-19).
Marmont ought to be an impartial critic of the Memoirs. He says,
"Bourrienne . . . had a very great capacity, but he is a striking
example of the great truth that our passions are always bad counsellors.
By inspiring us with an immoderate ardour to reach a fixed end, they
often make us miss it. Bourrienne had an immoderate love of money.
With his talents and his position near Bonaparte at the first dawn of
greatness, with the confidence and real good-will which Bonaparte felt
for him, in a few years he would have gained everything in fortune and
in social position. But his eager impatience mined his career at the
moment when it might have developed and increased" (Marmont, i. 64). The
criticism appears just. As to the Memoirs, Marmont says (ii. 224), "In
general, these Memoirs are of great veracity and powerful interest so
long as they treat of what the author has seen and heard; but when
he speaks of others, his work is only an assemblage of gratuitous
suppositions and of false facts put forward for special purposes."
The Comte Alexandre de Puymaigre, who arrived at Hamburgh soon after
Bourrienne had left it in 1810, says (page 135) of the part of the
Memoirs which relates to Hamburg, "I must acknowledge that generally his
assertions are well founded. This former companion of Napoleon has only
forgotten to speak of the opinion that they had of him in this town.
"The truth is, that he was believed to have made much money there."
Thus we may take Bourrienne as a clever, able man, who would have
risen to the highest honours under the Empire had not his short-sighted
grasping after lucre driven him from office, and prevented him from ever
regaining it under Napoleon.
In the present edition the translation has been carefully compared with
the original French text. Where in the original text information is
given which has now become mere matter of history, and where Bourrienne
merely quotes the documents well enough known at this day, his
possession of which forms part of the charges of his opponents,
advantage has been taken to lighten the mass of the Memoirs. This
has been done especially where they deal with what the writer did not
himself see or hear, the part of the Memoirs which are of least valve
and of which Marmont's opinion has just been quoted. But in the
personal and more valuable part of the Memoirs, where we have the actual
knowledge of the secretary himself, the original text has been either
fully retained, or some few passages previously omitted restored.
Illustrative notes have been added from the Memoirs of the successor
of Bourrienne, Meneval, Madame de Rémusat, the works of Colonel Iung
on 'Bonaparte et Son Temps', and on 'Lucien Bonaparte', etc., and other
books. Attention has also been paid to the attacks of the 'Erreurs',
and wherever these criticisms are more than a mere expression of
disagreement, their purport has been recorded with, where possible,
some judgment of the evidence. Thus the reader will have before him the
materials for deciding himself how far, Bourrienne's statements are in
agreement with the facts and with the accounts of other writers.
At the present time too much attention has been paid to the Memoirs of
Madame de Rémusat. She, as also Madame Junot, was the wife of a man
on whom the full shower of imperial favours did not descend, and,
womanlike, she saw and thought only of the Court life of the great man
who was never less great than in his Court. She is equally astonished
and indignant that the Emperor, coming straight from long hours of work
with his ministers and with his secretary, could not find soft words
for the ladies of the Court, and that, a horrible thing in the eyes of
a Frenchwoman, when a mistress threw herself into his arms, he
first thought of what political knowledge he could obtain from her.
Bourrienne, on the other hand, shows us the other and the really
important side of Napoleon's character. He tells us of the long hours in
the Cabinet, of the never-resting activity of the Consul, of Napoleon's
dreams, no ignoble dreams and often realised, of great labours of peace
as well as of war. He is a witness, and the more valuable as a reluctant
one, to the marvellous powers of the man who, if not the greatest, was
at least the one most fully endowed with every great quality of mind and
body the world has ever seen.
R. W. P.
AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION.
The trading upon an illustrious name can alone have given birth to the
multitude of publications under the titles of historical memoirs, secret
memoirs, and other rhapsodies which have appeared respecting Napoleon.
On looking into them it is difficult to determine whether the impudence
of the writers or the simplicity of certain readers is most astonishing.
Yet these rude and ill digested compilations, filled with absurd
anecdotes, fabricated speeches, fictitious crimes or virtues, and
disfigured by numerous anachronisms, instead of being consigned to
just contempt and speedy oblivion, have been pushed into notice
by speculators, and have found zealous partisans and enthusiastic
apologists.
--[This Introduction has been reprinted as bearing upon the
character of the work, but refers very often to events of the
day at the time of its first appearance.]--
For a time I entertained the idea of noticing, one by one, the numerous
errors which have been written respecting Napoleon; but I have renounced
a task which would have been too laborious to myself, and very tedious
to the reader. I shall therefore only correct those which come within
the plan of my work, and which are connected with those facts, to a more
accurate knowledge of which than any other person can possess I may lay
claim. There are men who imagine that nothing done by Napoleon will ever
be forgotten; but must not the slow but inevitable influence of time be
expected to operate with respect to him? The effect of that influence
is, that the most important event of an epoch soon sinks, almost
imperceptibly and almost disregarded, into the immense mass of
historical facts. Time, in its progress, diminishes the probability as
well as the interest of such an event, as it gradually wears away the
most durable monuments.
I attach only a relative importance to what I am about to lay before
the public. I shall give authentic documents. If all persons who have
approached Napoleon, at any time and in any place, would candidly record
what they saw and heard, without passion, the future historian would be
rich in materials. It is my wish that he who may undertake the
difficult task of writing the history of Napoleon shall find in my notes
information useful to the perfection of his work. There he will at least
find truth. I have not the ambition to wish that what I state should
be taken as absolute authority; but I hope that it will always be
consulted.
I have never before published anything respecting Napoleon. That
malevolence which fastens itself upon men who have the misfortune to
be somewhat separated from the crowd has, because there is always
more profit in saying ill than good, attributed to me several works on
Bonaparte; among others, 'Les Memoires secrets d'un Homme qui ne l'a pas
quitte', par M. B-------, and 'Memoires secrets sur Napoleon Bonaparte,
par M. de B------, and 'Le Precis Historique sur Napoleon'. The initial
of my name has served to propagate this error. The incredible ignorance
which runs through those memoirs, the absurdities and inconceivable
silliness with which they abound, do not permit a man of honour and
common sense to allow such wretched rhapsodies to be imputed to him.
I declared in 1816, and at later periods in the French and foreign
journals, that I had no hand in those publications, and I here formally
repeat this declaration.
But it may be said to me, Why should we place more confidence in you
than in those who have written before you?
My reply shall be plain. I enter the lists one of the last I have read
all that my predecessors have published confident that all I state is
true. I have no interest in deceiving, no disgrace to fear, no reward to
expect. I neither wish to obscure nor embellish his glory. However great
Napoleon may have been, was he not also liable to pay his tribute to the
weakness of human nature? I speak of Napoleon such as I have seen him,
known him, frequently admired and sometimes blamed him. I state what I
saw, heard, wrote, and thought at the time, under each circumstance that
occurred. I have not allowed myself to be carried away by the illusions
of the imagination, nor to be influenced by friendship or hatred. I
shall not insert a single reflection which did not occur to me at the
very moment of the event which gave it birth. How many transactions and
documents were there over which I could but lament!--how many measures,
contrary to my views, to my principles, and to my character!--while the
best intentions were incapable of overcoming difficulties which a most
powerful and decided will rendered almost insurmountable.
I also wish the future historian to compare what I say with what others
have related or may relate. But it will be necessary for him to attend
to dates, circumstances, difference of situation, change of temperament,
and age,--for age has much influence over men. We do not think and act
at fifty as at twenty-five. By exercising this caution he will be able
to discover the truth, and to establish an opinion for posterity.
The reader must not expect to find in these Memoirs an uninterrupted
series of all the events which marked the great career of Napoleon; nor
details of all those battles, with the recital of which so many eminent
men have usefully and ably occupied themselves. I shall say little about
whatever I did not see or hear, and which is not supported by official
documents.
Perhaps I shall succeed in confirming truths which have been doubted,
and in correcting errors which have been adopted. If I sometimes differ
from the observations and statements of Napoleon at St. Helena, I am
far from supposing that those who undertook to be the medium of
communication between him and the public have misrepresented what he
said. I am well convinced that none of the writers of St. Helena can be
taxed with the slightest deception; disinterested zeal and nobleness
of character are undoubted pledges of their veracity. It appears to me
perfectly certain that Napoleon stated, dictated, or corrected all they
have published. Their honour is unquestionable; no one can doubt it.
That they wrote what he communicated must therefore be believed; but it
cannot with equal confidence be credited that what he communicated was
nothing but the truth. He seems often to have related as a fact what
was really only an idea,--an idea, too, brought forth at St. Helena, the
child of misfortune, and transported by his imagination to Europe in the
time of his prosperity. His favourite phrase, which was every moment
on his lips, must not be forgotten--"What will history say--what will
posterity think?" This passion for leaving behind him a celebrated name
is one which belongs to the constitution of the human mind; and with
Napoleon its influence was excessive. In his first Italian campaign he
wrote thus to General Clarke: "That ambition and the occupation of high
offices were not sufficient for his satisfaction and happiness, which he
had early placed in the opinion of Europe and the esteem of posterity."
He often observed to me that with him the opinion of posterity was the
real immortality of the soul.
It may easily be conceived that Napoleon wished to give to the documents
which he knew historians would consult a favourable colour, and to
direct, according to his own views, the judgment of posterity on
his actions: But it is only by the impartial comparison of periods,
positions, and age that a well founded decision will be given. About
his fortieth year the physical constitution of Napoleon sustained
considerable change; and it may be presumed that his moral qualities
were affected by that change. It is particularly important not to lose
sight of the premature decay of his health, which, perhaps, did not
permit him always to, possess the vigour of memory otherwise consistent
enough with his age. The state of our organisation often modifies our
recollections, our feelings, our manner of viewing objects, and the
impressions we receive. This will be taken into consideration by
judicious and thinking men; and for them I write.
What M. de Las Casas states Napoleon to have said in May 1816 on the
manner of writing his history corroborates the opinion I have expressed.
It proves that all the facts and observations he communicated or
dictated were meant to serve as materials. We learn from the Memorial
that M. de Las Casas wrote daily, and that the manuscript was read over
by Napoleon, who often made corrections with his own hand. The idea of a
journal pleased him greatly. He fancied it would be a work of which the
world could afford no other example. But there are passages in which
the order of events is deranged; in others facts are misrepresented
and erroneous assertions are made, I apprehend, not altogether
involuntarily.
I have paid particular attention to all that has been published by the
noble participators of the imperial captivity. Nothing, however, could
induce me to change a word in these Memoirs, because nothing could take
from me my conviction of the truth of what I personally heard and
saw. It will be found that Napoleon in his private conversations often
confirms what I state; but we sometimes differ, and the public must
judge between us. However, I must here make one observation.
When Napoleon dictated or related to his friends in St. Helena the facts
which they have reported he was out of the world,--he had played his
part. Fortune, which, according to his notions, had conferred on him all
his power and greatness, had recalled all her gifts before he sank into
the tomb. His ruling passion would induce him to think that it was due
to his glory to clear up certain facts which might prove an unfavourable
escort if they accompanied him to posterity. This was his fixed idea.
But is there not some ground for suspecting the fidelity of him who
writes or dictates his own history? Why might he not impose on a few
persons in St. Helena, when he was able to impose on France and Europe,
respecting many acts which emanated from him during the long duration of
his power? The life of Napoleon would be very unfaithfully written were
the author to adopt as true all his bulletins and proclamations, and all
the declarations he made at St. Helena. Such a history would frequently
be in contradiction to facts; and such only is that which might be
entitled, 'The History of Napoleon, written by Himself'.
I have said thus much because it is my wish that the principles which
have guided me in the composition of these Memoirs may be understood.
I am aware that they will not please every reader; that is a success
to which I cannot pretend. Some merit, however, may be allowed me on
account of the labour I have undergone. It has neither been of a slight
nor an agreeable kind. I made it a rule to read everything that has
been written respecting Napoleon, and I have had to decipher many of
his autograph documents, though no longer so familiar with his scrawl as
formerly. I say decipher, because a real cipher might often be much more
readily understood than the handwriting of Napoleon. My own notes, too,
which were often very hastily made, in the hand I wrote in my youth,
have sometimes also much embarrassed me.
My long and intimate connection with Bonaparte from boyhood, my close
relations with him when General, Consul, and Emperor, enabled me to see
and appreciate all that was projected and all that was done during
that considerable and momentous period of time. I not only had the
opportunity of being present at the conception and the execution of the
extraordinary deeds of one of the ablest men nature ever formed, but,
notwithstanding an almost unceasing application to business, I found
means to employ the few moments of leisure which Bonaparte left at my
disposal in making notes, collecting documents, and in recording for
history facts respecting which the truth could otherwise with difficulty
be ascertained; and more particularly in collecting those ideas, often
profound, brilliant, and striking, but always remarkable, to which
Bonaparte gave expression in the overflowing frankness of confidential
intimacy.
The knowledge that I possessed much important information has exposed me
to many inquiries, and wherever I have resided since my retirement from
public affairs much of my time has been spent in replying to questions.
The wish to be acquainted with the most minute details of the life of a
man formed on an unexampled model is very natural; and the observation
on my replies by those who heard them always was, "You should publish
your Memoirs!"
I had certainly always in view the publication of my Memoirs; but, at
the same time, I was firmly resolved not to publish them until a period
should arrive in which I might tell the truth, and the whole truth.
While Napoleon was in the possession of power I felt it right to resist
the urgent applications made to me on this subject by some persons
of the highest distinction. Truth would then have sometimes appeared
flattery, and sometimes, also, it might not have been without danger.
Afterwards, when the progress of events removed Bonaparte to a far
distant island in the midst of the ocean, silence was imposed on me by
other considerations,-by considerations of propriety and feeling.
After the death of Bonaparte, at St. Helena, reasons of a different
nature retarded the execution of my plan. The tranquillity of a secluded
retreat was indispensable for preparing and putting in order the
abundant materials in my possession. I found it also necessary to read a
great number of works, in order to rectify important errors to which the
want of authentic documents had induced the authors to give credit. This
much-desired retreat was found. I had the good fortune to be introduced,
through a friend, to the Duchesse de Brancas, and that lady invited me
to pass some time on one of her estates in Hainault. Received with the
most agreeable hospitality, I have there enjoyed that tranquillity which
could alone have rendered the publication of these volumes practicable.
FAUVELET DE BOURRIENNE
NOTE.
The Editor of the 1836 edition had added to the Memoirs several chapters
taken from or founded on other works of the time, so as to make a
more complete history of the period. These materials have been mostly
retained, but with the corrections which later publications have made
necessary. A chapter has now been added to give, a brief account of the
part played by the chief historical personages during the Cent Jours,
and another at the end to include the removal of the body of Napoleon
from St. Helena to France.
Two special improvements have, it is hoped, been made in this edition.
Great care has been taken to get names, dates, and figures rightly
given,--points much neglected in most translations, though in some few
cases, such as Davoust, the ordinary but not strictly correct spelling
has been followed to suit the general reader. The number of references
to other works which are given in the notes will, it is believed, be of
use to any one wishing to continue the study of the history of Napoleon,
and may preserve them from many of the errors too often committed. The
present Editor has had the great advantage of having his work shared
by Mr. Richard Bentley, who has brought his knowledge of the period
to bear, and who has found, as only a busy man could do, the time to
minutely enter into every fresh detail, with the ardour which soon
seizes any one who long follows that enticing pursuit, the special study
of an historical period.
January 1885 R. W. P.
MEMOIRS of NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.
VOLUME I. -- 1769-1800
CHAPTER 1
1769-1783.
Authentic date of Bonaparte's birth--His family ruined by the
Jesuits--His taste for military amusements--Sham siege at the
College of Brienne--The porter's wife and Napoleon--My intimacy with
Bonaparte at college--His love for the mathematics, and his dislike
of Latin--He defends Paoli and blames his father--He is ridiculed by
his comrades--Ignorance of the monks--Distribution of prizes at
Brienne--Madame de Montesson and the Duke of Orleans--Report of M.
Keralio on Bonaparte--He leaves Brienne.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE was born at Ajaccio, in Corsica, on the 15th of
August 1769; the original orthography of his name was Buonaparte, but he
suppressed the "u" during his first campaign in Italy. His motives
for so doing were merely to render the spelling conformable with the
pronunciation, and to abridge his signature. He signed Buonaparte even
after the famous 13th Vendemiaire.
It has been affirmed that he was born in 1768, and that he represented
himself to be a year younger than he really was. This is untrue. He
always told me the 9th of August was his birthday, and, as I was born
on the 9th of July 1769, our proximity of age served to strengthen
our union and friendship when we were both at the Military College of
Brienne.
The false and absurd charge of Bonaparte having misrepresented his
age, is decidedly refuted by a note in the register of M. Berton,
sub-principal of the College of Brienne, in which it is stated that M.
Napoleon de Buonaparte, ecuyer, born in the city of Ajaccio, in Corsica,
on the 15th of August 1769, left the Royal Military College of Brienne
on the 17th October 1784.
The stories about his low extraction are alike devoid of foundation. His
family was poor, and he was educated at the public expense, an advantage
of which many honourable families availed themselves. A memorial
addressed by his father, Charles Buonaparte, to the Minister of
War states that his fortune had been reduced by the failure of some
enterprise in which he had engaged, and by the injustice of the Jesuits,
by whom he had been deprived of an inheritance. The object of this
memorial was to solicit a sub-lieutenant's commission for Napoleon, who
was then fourteen years of age, and to get Lucien entered a pupil of the
Military College. The Minister wrote on the back of the memorial, "Give
the usual answer, if there be a vacancy;" and on the margin are
these words--"This gentleman has been informed that his request is
inadmissible as long as his second son remains at the school of Brienne.
Two brothers cannot be placed at the same time in the military schools."
When Napoleon was fifteen he was sent to Paris until he should attain
the requisite age for entering the army. Lucien was not received into
the College of Brienne, at least not until his brother had quitted the
Military School of Paris.
Bonaparte was undoubtedly a man of good family. I have seen an authentic
account of his genealogy, which he obtained from Tuscany. A great deal
has been said about the civil dissensions which forced his family to
quit Italy and take refuge in Corsica. On this subject I shall say
nothing.
Many and various accounts have been given of Bonaparte's youth.
--[The following interesting trait of Napoleon's childhood is
derived from the 'Memoirs of the Duchesse d'Arbranes':--"He was one
day accused by one of his sisters of having eaten a basketful of
grapes, figs, and citrons, which had come from the garden of his
uncle the Canon. None but those who were acquainted with the
Bonaparte family can form any idea of the enormity of this offence.
To eat fruit belonging to the uncle the Canon was infinitely more
criminal than to eat grapes and figs which might be claimed by
anybody else. An inquiry took place. Napoleon denied the fact,
and was whipped. He was told that if he would beg pardon he should
be forgiven. He protested that he was innocent, but he was not
believed. If I recollect rightly, his mother was at the time on a
visit to M. de Marbeuf, or some other friend. The result of
Napoleon's obstinacy was, that he was kept three whole days on bread
and cheese, and that cheese was not 'broccio'. However, he would
not cry: he was dull, but not sulky. At length, on the fourth day
of his punishment a little friend of Marianne Bonaparte returned
from the country, and on hearing of Napoleon's disgrace she
confessed that she and Marianne had eaten the fruit. It was now
Marianne's turn to be punished. When Napoleon was asked why he had
not accused his sister, he replied that though he suspected that she
was guilty, yet out of consideration to her little friend, who had
no share in the falsehood, he had said nothing. He was then only
seven years of age" (vol. i. p. 9, edit. 1883).]--
He has been described in terms of enthusiastic praise and exaggerated
condemnation. It is ever thus with individuals who by talent or
favourable circumstances are raised above their fellow-creatures.
Bonaparte himself laughed at all the stories which were got up for the
purpose of embellishing or blackening his character in early life. An
anonymous publication, entitled the 'History of Napoleon Bonaparte',
from his Birth to his last abdication, contains perhaps the greatest
collection of false and ridiculous details about his boyhood. Among
other things, it is stated that he fortified a garden to protect himself
from the attacks of his comrades, who, a few lines lower down, are
described as treating him with esteem and respect. I remember the
circumstances which, probably, gave rise to the fabrication inserted in
the work just mentioned; they were as follows.
During the winter of 1783-84, so memorable for heavy falls of snow,
Napoleon was greatly at a loss for those retired walks and outdoor
recreations in which he used to take much delight. He had no alternative
but to mingle with his comrades, and, for exercise, to walk with them up
and down a spacious hall. Napoleon, weary of this monotonous promenade,
told his comrades that he thought they might amuse themselves much
better with the snow, in the great courtyard, if they would get shovels
and make hornworks, dig trenches, raise parapets, cavaliers, etc. "This
being done," said he, "we may divide ourselves into sections, form a
siege, and I will undertake to direct the attacks." The proposal, which
was received with enthusiasm, was immediately put into execution. This
little sham war was carried on for the space of a fortnight, and did not
cease until a quantity of gravel and small stones having got mixed with
the snow of which we made our bullets, many of the combatants, besiegers
as well as besieged, were seriously wounded. I well remember that I was
one of the worst sufferers from this sort of grapeshot fire.
It is almost unnecessary to contradict the story about the ascent in
the balloon. It is now very well known that the hero of that headlong
adventure was not young Bonaparte, as has been alleged, but one of his
comrades, Dudont de Chambon, who was somewhat eccentric. Of this his
subsequent conduct afforded sufficient proofs.
Bonaparte's mind was directed to objects of a totally different kind. He
turned his attention to political science. During some of his vacations
he enjoyed the society of the Abby Raynal, who used to converse with him
on government, legislation, commercial relations, etc.
On festival days, when the inhabitants of Brienne were admitted to our
amusements, posts were established for the maintenance of order. Nobody
was permitted to enter the interior of the building without a card
signed by the principal, or vice-principal. The rank of officers or
sub-officers was conferred according to merit; and Bonaparte one day
had the command of a post, when the following little adventure occurred,
which affords an instance of his decision of character.
The wife of the porter of the school,
--[This woman, named Haute, was afterwards placed at Malmaison, with
her husband. They both died as concierges of Malmaison. This shows
that Napoleon had a memory.--Bourrienne.]--
who was very well known, because she used to sell milk, fruit, etc., to
the pupils, presented herself one Saint Louis day for admittance to the
representation of the 'Death of Caesar, corrected', in which I was to
perform the part of Brutus. As the woman had no ticket, and insisted on
being admitted without one, some disturbance arose. The serjeant of the
post reported the matter to the officer, Napoleon Bonaparte, who in an
imperious tone of voice exclaimed: "Send away that woman, who comes here
with her camp impudence." This was in 1782.
Bonaparte and I were eight years of, age when our friendship commenced.
It speedily became very intimate, for there was a certain sympathy of
heart between us. I enjoyed this friendship and intimacy until 1784,
when he was transferred from the Military College of Brienne to that
of Paris. I was one among those of his youthful comrades who could best
accommodate themselves to his stern character. His natural reserve, his
disposition to meditate on the conquest of Corsica, and the impressions
he had received in childhood respecting the misfortunes of his country
and his family, led him to seek retirement, and rendered his general
demeanour, though in appearance only, somewhat unpleasing. Our equality
of age brought us together in the classes of the mathematics and 'belles
lettres'. His ardent wish to acquire knowledge was remarkable from the
very commencement of his studies. When he first came to the college he
spoke only the Corsican dialect, and the Sieur Dupuis,
--[He afterwards filled the post of librarian to Napoleon at
Malmaison.]--
who was vice-principal before Father Berton, gave him instructions in
the French language. In this he made such rapid progress that in a short
time he commenced the first rudiments of Latin. But to this study he
evinced such a repugnance that at the age of fifteen he was not out of
the fourth class. There I left him very speedily; but I could never get
before him in the mathematical class, in which he was undoubtedly the
cleverest lad at the college. I used sometimes to help him with his
Latin themes and versions in return for the aid he afforded me in the
solution of problems, at which he evinced a degree of readiness and
facility which perfectly astonished me.
When at Brienne, Bonaparte was remarkable for the dark color of
his complexion (which, subsequently, the climate of France somewhat
changed), for his piercing and scrutinising glance, and for the style
of his conversation both with his masters and comrades. His conversation
almost always bore the appearance of ill-humour, and he was certainly
not very amiable. This I attribute to the misfortunes his family had
sustained and the impressions made on his mind by the conquest of his
country.
The pupils were invited by turns to dine with Father Berton, the head of
the school. One day, it being Bonaparte's turn to enjoy this indulgence,
some of the professors who were at table designedly made some
disrespectful remarks on Paoli, of whom they knew the young Corsican was
an enthusiastic admirer. "Paoli," observed Bonaparte, "was a great man;
he loved his country; and I will never forgive my father, who was his
adjutant, for having concurred in the union of Corsica with France. He
ought to have followed Paoli's fortune, and have fallen with him."
--[The Duchesse d'Abrantes, speaking of the personal characteristics
of Bonaparte in youth and manhood, says, "Saveria told me that
Napoleon was never a pretty boy, as Joseph was, for example: his
head always appeared too large for his body, a defect common to the
Bonaparte family. When Napoleon grew up, the peculiar charm of his
countenance lay in his eye, especially in the mild expression it
assumed in his moments of kindness. His anger, to be sure, was
frightful, and though I am no coward, I never could look at him in
his fits of rage without shuddering. Though his smile was
captivating, yet the expression of his mouth when disdainful or
angry could scarcely be seen without terror. But that forehead
which seemed formed to bear the crowns of a whole world; those
hands, of which the most coquettish women might have been vain, and
whose white skin covered muscles of iron; in short, of all that
personal beauty which distinguished Napoleon as a young man, no
traces were discernible in the boy. Saveria spoke truly when she
said, that of all the children of Signora Laetitia, the Emperor was
the one from whom future greatness was least to be prognosticated"
(vol. i. p. 10, edit. 1883)]--
Generally speaking, Bonaparte was not much liked by his comrades at
Brienne. He was not social with them, and rarely took part in their
amusements. His country's recent submission to France always caused in
his mind a painful feeling, which estranged him from his schoolfellows.
I, however, was almost his constant companion. During play-hours he used
to withdraw to the library, where he-read with deep interest works
of history, particularly Polybius and Plutarch. He was also fond of
Arrianus, but did not care much for Quintus Gurtius. I often went off to
play with my comrades, and left him by himself in the library.
The temper of the young Corsican was not improved by the teasing he
frequently experienced from his comrades, who were fond of ridiculing
him about his Christian name Napoleon and his country. He often said to
me, "I will do these French all the mischief I can;" and when I tried to
pacify him he would say, "But you do not ridicule me; you like me."
Father Patrauld, our mathematical professor, was much attached to
Bonaparte. He was justly proud of him as a pupil. The other professors,
in whose classes he was not distinguished, took little notice of him. He
had no taste for the study of languages, polite literature, or the arts.
As there were no indications of his ever becoming a scholar, the pedants
of the establishment were inclined to think him stupid. His superior
intelligence was, however, sufficiently perceptible, even through
the reserve under which it was veiled. If the monks to whom the
superintendence of the establishment was confided had understood the
organisation of his mind, if they had engaged more able mathematical
professors, or if we had had any incitement to the study of chemistry,
natural philosophy, astronomy, etc., I am convinced that Bonaparte
would have pursued these sciences with all the genius and spirit of
investigation which he displayed in a career, more brilliant it is true,
but less useful to mankind. Unfortunately, the monks did not perceive
this, and were too poor to pay for good masters. However, after
Bonaparte left the college they found it necessary to engage two
professors from Paris, otherwise the college would have fallen to
nothing. These two new professors, MM. Durfort and Desponts, finished
my education; and I regretted that they did not come sooner. The
often-repeated assertion of Bonaparte having received a careful
education at Brienne is therefore untrue. The monks were incapable of
giving it him; and, for my own part, I must confess that the extended
information of the present day is to me a painful contrast with the
limited course of education I received at the Military College. It is
only surprising that the establishment should have produced a single
able man.
Though Bonaparte had no reason to be satisfied with the treatment he
received from his comrades, yet he was above complaining of it; and when
he had the supervision of any duty which they infringed, he would rather
go to prison than denounce the criminals.
I was one day his accomplice in omitting to enforce a duty which we were
appointed to supervise. He prevailed on me to accompany him to prison,
where we remained three days. We suffered this sort of punishment
several times, but with less severity.
In 1783 the Duke of Orleans and Madame de Montesson visited Brienne;
and, for upwards of a month, the magnificent chateau of the Comte
de Brienne was a Versailles in miniature. The series of brilliant
entertainments which were given to the august travellers made them
almost forget the royal magnificence they had left behind them.
The Prince and Madame de Montesson expressed a wish to preside at the
distribution of the prizes of our college. Bonaparte and I won the
prizes in the class of mathematics, which, as I have already observed,
was the branch of study to which he confined his attention, and in
which he excelled. When I was called up for the seventh time Madame de
Montesson said to my mother, who had come from Sens to be present at
the distribution, "Pray, madame, crown your son this time; my hands are
a-weary."
There was an inspector of the military schools, whose business it was
to make an annual report on each pupil, whether educated at the public
expense or paid for by his family. I copied from the report of 1784 a
note which was probably obtained surreptitiously from the War Office. I
wanted to purchase the manuscript, but Louis Bonaparte bought it. I did
not make a copy of the note which related to myself, because I should
naturally have felt diffident in making any use of it. It would,
however, have served to show how time and circumstances frequently
reversed the distinctions which arise at school or college. Judging from
the reports of the inspector of military schools, young Bonaparte was
not, of all the pupils at Brienne in 1784, the one most calculated to
excite prognostics of future greatness and glory.
The note to which I have just alluded, and which was written by M. de
Kerralio, then inspector of the military schools, describes Bonaparte in
the following terms:
INSPECTION OF MILITARY SCHOOLS
1784.
REPORT MADE FOR HIS MAJESTY BY M. DE KERALIO.
M. de Buonaparte (Napoleon), born 15th August 1769, height 4 feet 10
inches 10 lines, is in the fourth class, has a good constitution,
excellent health, character obedient, upright, grateful, conduct
very regular; has been always distinguished by his application to
mathematics. He knows history and geography very passably. He is
not well up in ornamental studies or in Latin in which he is only in
the fourth class. He will be an excellent sailor. He deserves to
be passed on to the Military School of Paris.
Father Berton, however, opposed Bonaparte's removal to Paris, because
he had not passed through the fourth Latin class, and the regulations
required that he should be in the third. I was informed by the
vice-principal that a report relative to Napoleon was sent from the
College of Brienne to that of Paris, in which he was described as being
domineering, imperious, and obstinate.
--[Napoleon remained upwards of five years at Brienne, from April
1779 till the latter end of 1784. In 1783 the Chevalier Keralio,
sub-inspector of the military schools, selected him to pass the year
following to the military school at Paris, to which three of the
best scholars were annually sent from each of the twelve provincial
military schools of France. It is curious as well as satisfactory
to know the opinion at this time entertained of him by those who
were the best qualified to judge. His old master, Le Guille,
professor of history at Paris, boasted that, in a list of the
different scholars, he had predicted his pupil's subsequent career.
In fact, to the name of Bonaparte the following note is added: "a
Corsican by birth and character--he will do something great, if
circumstances favour him." Menge was his instructor in geometry,
who also entertained a high opinion of him. M. Bauer, his German
master, was the only one who saw nothing in him, and was surprised
at being told he was undergoing his examination for the artillery.
--Hazlitt.]--
I knew Bonaparte well; and I think M. de Keralio's report of him was
exceedingly just, except, perhaps, that he might have said he was very
well as to his progress in history and geography, and very backward in
Latin; but certainly nothing indicated the probability of his being an
excellent seaman. He himself had no thought of the navy.
--[Bourrienne is certainly wrong as to Bonaparte having no thought
of the navy. In a letter of 1784 to the Minister of War his father
says of Napoleon that, "following the advice of the Comte de
Marbeuf, he has turned his studies towards the navy; and so well has
he succeeded that he was intended by M. de Keralio for the school of
Paris, and afterwards for the department of Toulon. The retirement
of the former professor (Keralio) has changed the fate of my son."
It was only on the failure of his intention to get into the navy
that his father, on 15th July 1784 applied for permission for him to
enter the artillery; Napoleon having a horror of the infantry, where
he said they did nothing. It was on the success of this application
that he was allowed to enter the school of Parts (Iung, tome i. pp.
91-103). Oddly enough, in later years, on 30th August 1792, having
just succeeded in getting himself reinstated as captain after his
absence, overstaying leave, he applied to pass into the Artillerie
de la Marine. "The application was judged to be simply absurd, and
was filed with this note, 'S. R.' ('sans reponse')" (Iung, tome ii.
p. 201)]--
In consequence of M. de Keralio's report, Bonaparte was transferred to
the Military College of Paris, along with MM. Montarby de Dampierre, de
Castres, de Comminges, and de Laugier de Bellecourt, who were all, like
him, educated at the public expense, and all, at least, as favorably
reported.
What could have induced Sir Walter Scott to say that Bonaparte was the
pride of the college, that our mathematical master was exceedingly fond
of him, and that the other professors in the different sciences had
equal reason to be satisfied with him? What I have above stated,
together with the report of M. de Keralio, bear evidence of his
backwardness in almost every branch of education except mathematics.
Neither was it, as Sir Walter affirms, his precocious progress in
mathematics that occasioned him to be removed to Paris. He had attained
the proper age, and the report of him was favourable, therefore he was
very naturally included among the number of the five who were chosen in
1784.
In a biographical account of Bonaparte I have read the following
anecdote:--When he was fourteen years of age he happened to be at a
party where some one pronounced a high eulogium on Turenne; and a lady
in the company observed that he certainly was a great man, but that
she should like him better if he had not burned the Palatinate. "What
signifies that," replied Bonaparte, "if it was necessary to the object
he had in view?"
This is either an anachronism or a mere fabrication. Bonaparte was
fourteen in the year 1783. He was then at Brienne, where certainly he
did not go into company, and least of all the company of ladies.
CHAPTER II.
1784-1794.
Bonaparte enters the Military College of Paris--He urges me to
embrace the military profession--His report on the state of the
Military School of Paris--He obtains a commission--I set off for
Vienna--Return to Paris, where I again meet Bonaparte--His singular
plans for raising money--Louis XVI, with the red cap on his head--
The 10th of August--My departure for Stuttgart--Bonaparte goes to
Corsica--My name inscribed on the list of emigrants--Bonaparte at
the siege of Toulon--Le Souper de Beaucaire--Napoleon's mission to
Genoa--His arrest--His autographical justification
--Duroc's first connection with Bonaparte.
Bonaparte was fifteen years and two months old when he went to the
Military College of Paris.
--[Madame Junot relates some interesting particulars connected with
Napoleon's first residence in Paris:
"My mother's first care," says she, "on arriving in Paris was to
inquire after Napoleon Bonaparte. He was at that time in the
military school at Paris, having quitted Brienne in the September of
the preceding year.
"My uncle Demetrius had met him just after he alighted from the coach
which brought him to town; 'And truly.' said my uncle, 'he had the
appearance of a fresh importation. I met him in the Palms Royal,
where he was gaping and staring with wonder at everything he saw.
He would have been an excellent subject for sharpers, if, indeed, he
had had anything worth taking!' My uncle invited him to dine at his
house; for though my uncle was a bachelor, he did not choose to dine
at a 'traiteur' (the name 'restaurateur' was not then introduced).
He told my mother that Napoleon was very morose. 'I fear,' added
he, 'that that young man has more self-conceit than is suitable to
his condition. When he dined with me he began to declaim violently
against the luxury of the young men of the military school. After a
little he turned the conversation on Mania, and the present
education of the young Maniotes, drawing a comparison between it and
the ancient Spartan system of education. His observations on this
head he told me he intended to embody in a memorial to be presented
to the Minister of War. All this, depend upon it, will bring him
under the displeasure of his comrades; and it will be lucky if he
escape being run through.' A few days afterwards my mother saw
Napoleon, and then his irritability was at its height. He would
scarcely bear any observations, even if made in his favour, and I am
convinced that it is to this uncontrollable irritability that he
owed the reputation of having been ill-tempered in his boyhood, and
splenetic in his youth. My father, who was acquainted with almost
all the heads of the military school, obtained leave for him
sometimes to come out for recreation. On account of an accident (a
sprain, if I recollect rightly) Napoleon once spent a whole week at
our house. To this day, whenever I pass the Quai Conti, I cannot
help looking up at a 'mansarde' at the left angle of the house on
the third floor. That was Napoleon's chamber when he paid us a
visit, and a neat little room it was. My brother used to occupy the
one next to it. The two young men were nearly of the same age: my
brother perhaps had the advantage of a year or fifteen months. My
mother had recommended him to cultivate the friendship of young
Bonaparte; but my brother complained how unpleasant it was to find
only cold politeness where he expected affection. This
repulsiveness on the part of Napoleon was almost offensive, and must
have been sensibly felt by my brother, who was not only remarkable
for the mildness of his temper and the amenity and grace of his
manner, but whose society was courted in the most distinguished
circles of Paris on account of his accomplishments. He perceived in
Bonaparte a kind of acerbity and bitter irony, of which he long
endeavoured to discover the cause. 'I believe,' said Albert one day
to my mother, 'that the poor young man feels keenly his dependent
situation.'" ('Memoirs of the Duchesse d'Abrantes, vol. i. p. 18,
edit. 1883).]--
I accompanied him in a carriole as far as Nogent Sur Seine, whence the
coach was to start. We parted with regret, and we did not meet again
till the year 1792. During these eight years we maintained an active
correspondence; but so little did I anticipate the high destiny which,
after his elevation, it was affirmed the wonderful qualities of his
boyhood plainly denoted, that I did not preserve one of the letters
he wrote to me at that period, but tore them up as soon as they were
answered.
--[I remember, however, that in a letter which I received from him
about a year after his arrival in Paris he urged me to keep my
promise of entering the army with him. Like him, I had passed
through the studies necessary for the artillery service; and in 1787
I went for three months to Metz, in order to unite practice with
theory. A strange Ordinance, which I believe was issued in 1778 by
M. de Segur, required that a man should possess four quarterings of
nobility before he could be qualified to serve his king and country
as a military officer. My mother went to Paris, taking with her the
letters patent of her husband, who died six weeks after my birth.
She proved that in the year 1640 Louis XIII. had, by letters
patent, restored the titles of one Fauvelet de Villemont, who in
1586 had kept several provinces of Burgundy subject to the king's
authority at the peril of his life and the loss of his property; and
that his family had occupied the first places in the magistracy
since the fourteenth century. All was correct, but it was observed
that the letters of nobility had not been registered by the
Parliament, and to repair this little omission, the sum of twelve
thousand francs was demanded. This my mother refused to pay, and
there the matter rested.]--
On his arrival at the Military School of Paris, Bonaparte found
the establishment on so brilliant and expensive a footing that he
immediately addressed a memorial on the subject to the Vice-Principal
Berton of Brienne.
--[A second memoir prepared by him to the same effect was intended
for the Minister of War, but Father Berton wisely advised silence to
the young cadet (Iung, tome i. p. 122). Although believing in the
necessity of show and of magnificence in public life, Napoleon
remained true to these principles. While lavishing wealth on his
ministers and marshals, "In your private life," said be, "be
economical and even parsimonious; in public be magnificent"
(Meneval, tome i. p. 146).]--
He showed that the plan of education was really pernicious, and far from
being calculated to fulfil the object which every wise government must
have in view. The result of the system, he said, was to inspire
the pupils, who were all the sons of poor gentlemen, with a love of
ostentation, or rather, with sentiments of vanity and self-sufficiency;
so that, instead of returning happy to the bosom of their families, they
were likely to be ashamed of their parents, and to despise their humble
homes. Instead of the numerous attendants by whom they were surrounded,
their dinners of two courses, and their horses and grooms, he suggested
that they should perform little necessary services for themselves, such
as brushing their clothes, and cleaning their boots and shoes; that
they should eat the coarse bread made for soldiers, etc. Temperance and
activity, he added, would render them robust, enable them to bear the
severity of different seasons and climates, to brave the fatigues of
war, and to inspire the respect and obedience of the soldiers under
their command. Thus reasoned Napoleon at the age of sixteen, and time
showed that he never deviated from these principles. The establishment
of the military school at Fontainebleau is a decided proof of this.
As Napoleon was an active observer of everything passing around him, and
pronounced his opinion openly and decidedly, he did not remain long at
the Military School of Paris. His superiors, who were anxious to get rid
of him, accelerated the period of his examination, and he obtained the
first vacant sub-lieutenancy in a regiment of artillery.
I left Brienne in 1787; and as I could not enter the artillery,
I proceeded in the following year to Vienna, with a letter of
recommendation to M. de Montmorin, soliciting employment in the French
Embassy at the Court of Austria.
I remained two months at Vienna, where I had the honour of twice seeing
the Emperor Joseph. The impression made upon me by his kind reception,
his dignified and elegant manners, and graceful conversation, will never
be obliterated from my recollection. After M. de Noailles had initiated
me in the first steps of diplomacy, he advised me to go to one of the
German universities to study the law of nations and foreign languages.
I accordingly repaired to Leipsic, about the time when the French
Revolution broke out.
I spent some time at Leipsic, where I applied myself to the study of
the law of nations, and the German and English languages. I afterwards
travelled through Prussia and Poland, and passed a part of the winter
of 1791 and 1792 at Warsaw, where I was most graciously received by
Princess Tyszicwiez, niece of Stanislaus Augustus, the last King of
Poland, and the sister of Prince Poniatowski. The Princess was very
well informed, and was a great admirer of French literature: At her
invitation I passed several evenings in company with the King in a
circle small enough to approach to something like intimacy. I remember
that his Majesty frequently asked me to read the Moniteur; the speeches
to which he listened with the greatest pleasure were those of the
Girondists. The Princess Tyszicwiez wished to print at Warsaw, at her
own expense, a translation I had executed of Kotzebue's 'Menschenhass
and Reue, to which I gave the title of 'L'Inconnu'.
--[A play known on the English stage as The Stranger.]--
I arrived at Vienna on the 26th of March 1792, when I was informed
of the serious illness of the Emperor, Leopold II, who died on the
following day. In private companies, and at public places, I heard vague
suspicions expressed of his having been poisoned; but the public, who
were admitted to the palace to see the body lie in state, were soon
convinced of the falsehood of these reports. I went twice to see the
mournful spectacle, and I never heard a word which was calculated to
confirm the odious suspicion, though the spacious hall in which the
remains of the Emperor were exposed was constantly thronged with people.
In the month of April 1792 I returned to Paris, where I again met
Bonaparte,
--[Bonaparte is said, on very doubtful authority, to have spent five
or six weeks in London in 1791 or 1792, and to have "lodged in a
house in George Street, Strand. His chief occupation appeared to be
taking pedestrian exercise in the streets of London--hence his
marvellous knowledge of the great metropolis which used to astonish
any Englishmen of distinction who were not aware of this visit. He
occasionally took his cup of chocolate at the 'Northumberland,'
occupying himself in reading, and preserving a provoking taciturnity
to the gentlemen in the room; though his manner was stern, his
deportment was that of a gentleman." The story of his visit is
probably as apocryphal as that of his offering his services to the
English Government when the English forces wore blockading the coast
of Corsica,]--
and our college intimacy was fully renewed. I was not very well off, and
adversity was hanging heavily on him; his resources frequently failed
him. We passed our time like two young fellows of twenty-three who have
little money and less occupation. Bonaparte was always poorer than
I. Every day we conceived some new project or other. We were on the
look-out for some profitable speculation. At one time he wanted me to
join him in renting several houses, then building in the Rue Montholon,
to underlet them afterwards. We found the demands of the landlords
extravagant--everything failed.
At the same time he was soliciting employment at the War Office, and I
at the office of Foreign Affairs. I was for the moment the luckier of
the two.
While we were spending our time in a somewhat vagabond way,
--[It was before the 20th of June that in our frequent excursions
around Paris we went to St. Cyr to see his sister Marianne (Elisa).
We returned to dine alone at Trianon.--Bourrienne.]--
the 20th of June arrived. We met by appointment at a restaurateur's
in the Rue St. Honore, near the Palais Royal, to take one of our daily
rambles. On going out we saw approaching, in the direction of the
market, a mob, which Bonaparte calculated at five or six thousand
men. They were all in rags, ludicrously armed with weapons of every
description, and were proceeding hastily towards the Tuilleries,
vociferating all kinds of gross abuse. It was a collection of all that
was most vile and abject in the purlieus of Paris. "Let us follow the
mob," said Bonaparte. We got the start of them, and took up our station
on the terrace of the banks of the river. It was there that he witnessed
the scandalous scenes which took place; and it would be difficult to
describe the surprise and indignation which they excited in him. When
the King showed himself at the windows overlooking the garden, with the
red cap, which one of the mob had put on his head, he could no longer
repress his indignation. "Che coglione!" he loudly exclaimed. "Why have
they let in all that rabble! They should sweep off four or five hundred
of them with the cannon; the rest would then set off fast enough."
When we sat down to dinner, which I paid for, as I generally did, for
I was the richer of the two, he spoke of nothing but the scene we
had witnessed. He discussed with great good sense the causes and
consequences of this unrepressed insurrection. He foresaw and developed
with sagacity all that would ensue. He was not mistaken. The 10th of
August soon arrived. I was then at Stuttgart, where I was appointed
Secretary of Legation.
At St. Helena Bonaparte said, "On the news of the attack of the
Tuilleries, on the 10th of August, I hurried to Fauvelet, Bourrienne's
brother, who then kept a furniture warehouse at the Carrousel." This
is partly correct. My brother was connected with what was termed an
'enterprise d'encan national', where persons intending to quit France
received an advance of money, on depositing any effects which they
wished to dispose of, and which were sold for them immediately.
Bonaparte had some time previously pledged his watch in this way.
After the fatal 10th of August Bonaparte went to Corsica, and did not
return till 1793. Sir Walter Scott says that after that time he never
saw Corsica again. This is a mistake, as will be shown when I speak of
his return from Egypt.
--[Sir Walter appears to have collected his information for the Life
of Napoleon only from those libels and vulgar stories which
gratified the calumnious spirit and national hatred. His work is
written with excessive negligence, which, added to its numerous
errors, shows how much respect he must have entertained for his
readers. It would appear that his object was to make it the inverse
of his novels, where everything is borrowed from history. I have
been assured that Marshal Macdonald having offered to introduce
Scott to some generals who could have furnished him with the most
accurate, information respecting military events, the glory of which
they had shared, Sir Walter replied, "I thank you, but I shall
collect my information from unprofessional reports."--Bourrienne.]--
Having been appointed Secretary of Legation to Stuttgart, I set off for
that place on the 2d of August, and I did not again see my ardent young
friend until 1795. He told me that my departure accelerated his for
Corsica. We separated, as may be supposed, with but faint hopes of ever
meeting again.
By a decree of the 28th of March of 1793, all French agents abroad were
ordered to return to France, within three months, under pain of being
regarded as emigrants. What I had witnessed before my departure for
Stuttgart, the excitement in which I had left the public mind, and the
well-known consequences of events of this kind, made me fear that
I should be compelled to be either an accomplice or a victim in the
disastrous scenes which were passing at home. My disobedience of the law
placed my name on the list of emigrants.
It has been said of me, in a biographical publication, that "it was as
remarkable as it was fortunate for Bourrienne that, on his return, he
got his name erased from the list of emigrants of the department of
the Yonne, on which it had been inscribed during his first journey to
Germany. This circumstance has been interpreted in several different
ways, which are not all equally favourable to M. de Bourrienne."
I do not understand what favourable interpretations can be put upon a
statement entirely false. General Bonaparte repeatedly applied for the
erasure of my name, from the month of April 1797, when I rejoined him
at Leoben, to the period of the signature of the treaty of Campo-Formio;
but without success. He desired his brother Louis, Berthier, Bernadotte,
and others, when he sent them to the Directory, to urge my erasure; but
in vain. He complained of this inattention to his wishes to Bottot,
when he came to Passeriano, after the 18th Fructidor. Bottot, who was
secretary to Barras, was astonished that I was not erased, and he made
fine promises of what he would do. On his return to France he wrote to
Bonaparte: "Bourrienne is erased." But this was untrue. I was not
erased until November 1797, upon the reiterated solicitations of General
Bonaparte.
It was during my absence from France that Bonaparte, in the rank of
'chef de bataillon', performed his first campaign, and contributed so
materially to the recapture of Toulon. Of this period of his life I
have no personal knowledge, and therefore I shall not speak of it as an
eye-witness. I shall merely relate some facts which fill up the interval
between 1793 and 1795, and which I have collected from papers which
he himself delivered to me. Among these papers is a little production,
entitled 'Le Souper de Beaucaire', the copies of which he bought up at
considerable expense, and destroyed upon his attaining the Consulate.
This little pamphlet contains principles very opposite to those he
wished to see established in 1800, a period when extravagant ideas of
liberty were no longer the fashion, and when Bonaparte entered upon a
system totally the reverse of those republican principles professed in
'Le Souper de Beaucaire.
--[This is not, as Sir Walter says, a dialogue between Marat and a
Federalist, but a conversation between a military officer, a native
of Nismes, a native of Marseilles, and a manufacturer from
Montpellier. The latter, though he takes a share in the
conversation, does not say much. 'Le Souper de Beaucaire' is given
at full length in the French edition of these Memoirs, tome i. pp.
319-347; and by Iung, tome ii. p. 354, with the following remarks:
"The first edition of 'Le Souper de Beaucaire' was issued at the
cost of the Public Treasury, in August 1798. Sabin Tournal, its
editor, also then edited the 'Courrier d'Avignon'. The second
edition only appeared twenty-eight years afterwards, in 1821,
preceded by an introduction by Frederick Royou (Paris: Brasseur
Aine, printer, Terrey, publisher, in octavo). This pamphlet did not
make any sensation at the time it appeared. It was only when
Napoleon became Commandant of the Army of Italy that M. Loubet,
secretary and corrector of the press for M. Tournal, attached some
value to the manuscript, and showed it to several persona. Louis
Bonaparte, later, ordered several copies from M. Aurel. The
pamphlet, dated 29th duly 1793, is in the form of a dialogue between
an officer of the army, a citizen of Nismes, a manufacturer of
Montpellier, and a citizen of Marseilles. Marseilles was then in a
state of insurrection against the Convention. Its forces had seized
Avignon, but had been driven out by the army of Cartesna, which was
about to attack Marseilles itself." In the dialogue the officer
gives most excellent military advice to the representative of
Marseilles on the impossibility of their resisting the old soldiers
of Carteaux. The Marseilles citizen argues but feebly, and is
alarmed at the officer's representations; while his threat to call
in the Spaniards turns the other speakers against him. Even Colonel
Iung says, tome ii. p. 372, "In these concise judgments is felt the
decision of the master and of the man of war..... These marvellous
qualities consequently struck the members of the Convention, who
made much of Bonaparte, authorised him to have it published at the
public expense, and made him many promises." Lanfrey, vol. i. pp.
201, says of this pamphlets "Common enough ideas, expressed in a
style only remarkable for its 'Italianisms,' but becoming singularly
firm and precise every time the author expresses his military views.
Under an apparent roughness, we find in it a rare circumspection,
leaving no hold on the writer, even if events change."]--
It may be remarked, that in all that has come to us from St. Helena, not
a word is said of this youthful production. Its character sufficiently
explains this silence. In all Bonaparte's writings posterity will
probably trace the profound politician rather than the enthusiastic
revolutionist.
Some documents relative to Bonaparte's suspension and arrest, by order
of the representatives Albitte and Salicetti, serve to place in their
true light circumstances which have hitherto been misrepresented. I
shall enter into some details of this event, because I have seen it
stated that this circumstance of Bonaparte's life has been perverted and
misrepresented by every person who has hitherto written about him;
and the writer who makes this remark, himself describes the affair
incorrectly and vaguely. Others have attributed Bonaparte's misfortune
to a military discussion on war, and his connection with Robespierre the
younger.
--[It will presently be seen that all this is erroneous, and that
Sir Walter commits another mistake when he says that Bonaparte's
connection with Robespierre was attended with fatal consequences to
him, and that his justification consisted in acknowledging that his
friends were very different from what he had supposed them to be.
--Bourrienne.]--
It has, moreover, been said that Albitte and Salicetti explained to
the Committee of Public Safety the impossibility of their resuming the
military operations unaided by the talents of General Bonaparte. This is
mere flattery. The facts are these:
On the 13th of July 1794 (25th Messidor, year II), the representatives
of the people with the army of Italy ordered that General Bonaparte
should proceed to Genoa, there, conjointly with the French 'charge
d'affaires', to confer on certain subjects with the Genoese Government.
This mission, together with a list of secret instructions, directing him
to examine the fortresses of Genoa and the neighbouring country, show
the confidence which Bonaparte, who was then only twenty-five, inspired
in men who were deeply interested in making a prudent choice of their
agents.
Bonaparte set off for Genoa, and fulfilled his mission. The 9th
Thermidor arrived, and the deputies, called Terrorists, were superseded
by Albitte and Salicetti. In the disorder which then prevailed they were
either ignorant of the orders given to General Bonaparte, or persons
envious of the rising glory of the young general of artillery inspired
Albitte and Salicetti with suspicions prejudicial to him. Be this as it
may, the two representatives drew up a resolution, ordering that General
Bonaparte should be arrested, suspended from his rank, and arraigned
before the Committee of Public Safety; and, extraordinary as it may
appear, this resolution was founded in that very journey to Genoa
which Bonaparte executed by the direction of the representatives of the
people.
--[Madame Junot throws some light on this Persecution of Bonaparte
by Salicetti. "One motive (I do not mean to say the only one),"
remarks this lady, "of the animosity shown by Salicetti to
Bonaparte, in the affair of Loano, was that they were at one time
suitors to the same lady. I am not sure whether it was in Corsica
or in Paris, but I know for a fact that Bonaparte, in spite of his
youth, or perhaps I should rather say on account of his youth, was
the favoured lover. It was the opinion of my brother, who was
secretary to Salicetti, that Bonaparte owed his life to a
circumstance which is not very well known. The fact is, that
Salicetti received a letter from Bonaparte, the contents of which
appeared to make a deep impression on him. Bonaparte's papers had
been delivered into Salicetti's hands, who, after an attentive
perusal of them, laid them aside with evident dissatisfaction. He
then took them up again, and read them a second time. Salicetti
declined my brother's assistance is the examination of the papers,
and after a second examination, which was probably as unsatisfactory
as the first, he seated himself with a very abstracted air. It
would appear that he had seen among the papers some document which
concerned himself. Another curious fact is, that the man who had
the care of the papers after they were sealed up was an inferior
clerk entirely under the control of Salicetti; and my brother, whose
business it was to have charge of the papers, was directed not to
touch them. He has often spoken to me of this circumstance, and I
mention it here as one of importance to the history of the time.
Nothing that relates to a man like Napoleon can be considered
useless or trivial.
"What, after all, was the result of this strange business which
might have cost Bonaparte his head?--for, had he been taken to Paris
and tried by the Committee of Public Safety, there is little doubt
that the friend of Robespierre the younger would have been condemned
by Billaud-Varennes and Collot d'Herbois. The result was the
acquittal of the accused. This result is the more extraordinary,
since it would appear that at that time Salicetti stood in fear of
the young general. A compliment is even paid to Bonaparte in the
decree, by which he was provisionally restored to liberty. That
liberation was said to be granted on the consideration that General
Bonaparte might be useful to the Republic. This was foresight; but
subsequently when measures were taken which rendered Bonaparte no
longer an object of fear, his name was erased from the list of
general officers, and it is a curious fact that Cambacérès, who was
destined to be his colleague in the Consulate, was one of the
persons who signed the act of erasure" (Memoirs of the Duchesse
d'Abrantes, vol. i, p. 69, edit. 1843).]--
Bonaparte said at St. Helena that he was a short time imprisoned by
order of the representative Laporte; but the order for his arrest was
signed by Albitte, Salicetti, and Laporte.
--[Albitte and Laporte were the representatives sent from the
Convention to the army of the Alps, and Salicetti to the army of
Italy.]--
Laporte was not probably the most influential of the three, for
Bonaparte did not address his remonstrance to him. He was a fortnight
under arrest.
Had the circumstance occurred three weeks earlier, and had Bonaparte
been arraigned before the Committee of Public Safety previous to the 9th
Thermidor, there is every probability that his career would have been
at an end; and we should have seen perish on the scaffold, at the age of
twenty-five, the man who, during the twenty-five succeeding years, was
destined to astonish the world by his vast conceptions, his gigantic
projects, his great military genius, his extraordinary good fortune, his
faults, reverses, and final misfortunes.
It is worth while to remark that in the post-Thermidorian resolution
just alluded to no mention is made of Bonaparte's association with
Robespierre the younger. The severity with which he was treated is the
more astonishing, since his mission to Genoa was the alleged cause of
it. Was there any other charge against him, or had calumny triumphed
over the services he had rendered to his country? I have frequently
conversed with him on the subject of this adventure, and he invariably
assured me that he had nothing to reproach himself with, and that his
defence, which I shall subjoin, contained the pure expression of his
sentiments, and the exact truth.
In the following note, which he addressed to Albitte and Salicetti,
he makes no mention of Laporte. The copy which I possess is in the
handwriting of, Junot, with corrections in the General's hand. It
exhibits all the characteristics of Napoleon's writing: his short
sentences, his abrupt rather than concise style, sometimes his elevated
ideas, and always his plain good sense.
TO THE REPRESENTATIVES ALBITTE AND SALICETTI:
You have suspended me from my duties, put me under arrest, and declared me to be suspected.
Thus I am disgraced before being judged, or indeed judged before being heard.
In a revolutionary state there are two classes, the suspected and the patriots.
When the first are aroused, general measures are adopted towards them for the sake of security.
The oppression of the second class is a blow to public liberty. The magistrate cannot condemn until after the fullest evidence and a succession of facts. This leaves nothing to arbitrary decision.
To declare a patriot suspected is to deprive him of all that he most highly values--confidence and esteem.
In what class am I placed?
Since the commencement of the Revolution, have I not always been attached to its principles?
Have I not always been contending either with domestic enemies or foreign foes?
I sacrificed my home, abandoned my property, and lost everything for the Republic?
I have since served with some distinction at Toulon, and earned a part of the laurels of the army of Italy at the taking of Saorgio, Oneille, and Tanaro.
On the discovery of Robespierre's conspiracy, my conduct was that of a man accustomed to look only to principles.
My claim to the title of patriot, therefore cannot be disputed.
Why, then, am I declared suspected without being heard, and arrested eight days after I heard the news of the tyrant's death.
I am declared suspected, and my papers are placed under seal.
The reverse of this course ought to have been adopted. My papers should first have been sealed; then I should have been called on for my explanation; and, lastly, declared suspected, if there was reason for coming to, such a decision.
It is wished that I should go to Paris with an order which declares me suspected. It will naturally be presumed that the representatives did not draw up this decree without accurate information, and I shall be judged with the bias which a man of that class merits.
Though a patriot and an innocent and calumniated man, yet whatever measures may be adopted by the Committee I cannot complain.
If three men declare that I have committed a crime, I cannot complain of the jury who condemns me.
Salicetti, you know me; and I ask whether you have observed anything in my conduct for the last five years which can afford ground of suspicion?
Albitte, you do not know me; but you have received proof of no fact against me; you have not heard me, and you know how artfully the tongue of calumny sometimes works.
Must I then be confounded with the enemies of my country and ought the patriots inconsiderately to sacrifice a general who has not been useless to the Republic? Ought the representatives to reduce the Government to the necessity of being unjust and impolitic?
Hear me; destroy the oppression that overwhelms me, and restore me to the esteem of the patriots.
An hour after, if my enemies wish for my life, let them take it. I have often given proofs how little I value it. Nothing but the thought that I may yet be useful to my country makes me bear the burden of existence with courage.
It appears that this defence, which is remarkable for its energetic
simplicity, produced an effect on Albitte and Salicetti. Inquiries more
accurate, and probably more favourable to the General, were instituted;
and on the 3d Fructidor (20th August 1794) the representatives of the
people drew up a decree stating that, after a careful examination of
General Bonaparte's papers, and of the orders he had received relative
to his mission to Genoa, they saw nothing to justify any suspicion of
his conduct; and that, moreover, taking into consideration the advantage
that might accrue to the Republic from the military talents of the said
General Bonaparte, it was resolved that he should be provisionally set
at liberty.
--[With reference to the arrest of Bonaparte (which lasted thirteen
days) see 'Bourrienne et ses Erreurs', tome i. pp. 16-28, and Iung,
tome ii. pp. 443-457. Both, in opposition to Bourrienne, attribute
the arrest to his connection with the younger Robespierre.
Apparently Albitte and Salicetti wets not acquainted with the secret
plan of campaign prepared by the younger Robespierre and by
Bonaparte, or with the real instructions given for the mission to
Genoa. Jealousy between the representatives in the staff of the
army of the Alps and those with the army of Italy, with which
Napoleon was, also played a part in the affair. Iung looks on
Salicetti as acting as the protector of the Bonapartes; but Napoleon
does not seem to have regarded him in that light; see the letter
given in Tunot, vol. i. p. 106, where in 1795 he takes credit for
not returning the ill done to him; see also the same volume, p. 89.
Salicetti eventually became Minister of Police to Joseph, when King
of Naples, in 1806; but when he applied to return to France,
Napoleon said to Mathieu Dumas, "Let him know that I am not powerful
enough to protect the wretches who voted for the death of Louis XVI.
from the contempt and indignation of the public" (Dumas, tome iii.
p. 318). At the same time Napoleon described Salicetti as worse
than the lazzaroni.]--
Salicetti afterwards became the friend and confidant of young Bonaparte;
but their intimacy did not continue after his elevation.
What is to be thought of the motives for Bonaparte's arrest and
provisional liberation, when his innocence and the error that had been
committed were acknowledged? The importance of the General's military
talents, though no mention is made about the impossibility of dispensing
with them, is a pretence for restoring him to that liberty of which he
had been unjustly deprived.
It was not at Toulon, as has been stated, that Bonaparte took Duroc into
the artillery, and made him his 'aide de camp'.
--[Michel Duroc (1773-1813) at first only aide de camp to Napoleon,
was several times entrusted with special diplomatic missions (for
example, to Berlin, etc.) On the formation of the Empire he became
Grand Marechal du Palais, and Duc de Frioul. He always remained in
close connection with Napoleon until he was killed in 1813. As he
is often mentioned in contemporary memoirs under his abbreviated
title of 'Marshal', he has sometimes been erroneously included in
the number of the Marshals of the Empire--a military rank he never
attained to.]--
The acquaintance was formed at a subsequent period, in Italy. Duroc's
cold character and unexcursive mind suited Napoleon, whose confidence
he enjoyed until his death, and who entrusted him with missions perhaps
above his abilities. At St. Helena Bonaparte often declared that he was
much attached to Duroc. I believe this to be true; but I know that the
attachment was not returned. The ingratitude of princes is proverbial.
May it not happen that courtiers are also sometimes ungrateful?--[It is
only just to Duroc to add that this charge does not seem borne out by
the impressions of those more capable than Bourrienne of judging in the
matter.]
CHAPTER III.
1794-1795.
Proposal to send Bonaparte to La Vendée--He is struck off the list
of general officers--Salicetti--Joseph's marriage with Mademoiselle
Clary--Bonaparte's wish to go to Turkey--Note explaining the plan of
his proposed expedition--Madame Bourrienne's character of Bonaparte,
and account of her husband's arrest--Constitution of the year III--
The 13th Vendemiaire--Bonaparte appointed second in command of the
army of the interior--Eulogium of Bonaparte by Barras, and its
consequences--St. Helena manuscript.
General Bonaparte returned to Paris, where I also arrived from Germany
shortly after him. Our intimacy was resumed, and he gave me an account
of, all that had passed in the campaign of the south. He frequently
alluded to the persecutions he had suffered, and he delivered to me the
packet of papers noticed in the last chapter, desiring me to communicate
their contents to my friends. He was very anxious, he said, to do away
with the supposition that he was capable of betraying his country,
and, under the pretence of a mission to Genoa, becoming a SPY on the
interests of France. He loved to talk over his military achievements at
Toulon and in Italy. He spoke of his first successes with that feeling
of pleasure and gratification which they were naturally calculated to
excite in him.
The Government wished to send him to La Vendée, with the rank of
brigadier-general of infantry. Bonaparte rejected this proposition on
two grounds. He thought the scene of action unworthy of his talents, and
he regarded his projected removal from the artillery to the infantry as
a sort of insult. This last was his most powerful objection, and was the
only one he urged officially. In consequence of his refusal to accept
the appointment offered him, the Committee of Public Safety decreed that
he should be struck off the list of general officers.
--[This statement as to the proposed transfer of Bonaparte to the
infantry, his disobedience to the order, and his consequent
dismissal, is fiercely attacked in the 'Erreurs', tome i. chap. iv.
It is, however, correct in some points; but the real truths about
Bonaparte's life at this time seem so little known that it may be
well to explain the whole matter. On the 27th of March 1795
Bonaparte, already removed from his employment in the south, was
ordered to proceed to the army of the west to command its artillery
as brigadier-general. He went as far as Paris, and then lingered
there, partly on medical certificate. While in Paris he applied, as
Bourrienne says, to go to Turkey to organise its artillery. His
application, instead of being neglected, as Bourrienne says, was
favourably received, two members of the 'Comite de Saint Public'
putting on its margin most favorable reports of him; one, Jean
Debry, even saying that he was too distinguished an officer to be
sent to a distance at such a time. Far from being looked on as the
half-crazy fellow Bourrienne considered him at that time, Bonaparte
was appointed, on the 21st of August 1795, one of four generals
attached as military advisers to the Committee for the preparation
of warlike operations, his own department being a most important
one. He himself at the time tells Joseph that he is attached to the
topographical bureau of the Comite de Saint Public, for the
direction of the armies in the place of Carnot. It is apparently
this significant appointment to which Madame Junot, wrongly dating
it, alludes as "no great thing" (Junot, vol. i, p. 143). Another
officer was therefore substituted for him as commander of Roches
artillery, a fact made use of in the Erreurs (p. 31) to deny his
having been dismissed--But a general re-classification of the
generals was being made. The artillery generals were in excess of
their establishment, and Bonaparte, as junior in age, was ordered on
13th June to join Hoche's army at Brest to command a brigade of
infantry. All his efforts to get the order cancelled failed, and as
he did not obey it he was struck off the list of employed general
officers on the 15th of September 1795, the order of the 'Comite de
Salut Public' being signed by Cambacérès, Berber, Merlin, and
Boissy. His application to go to Turkey still, however, remained;
and it is a curious thing that, on the very day he was struck off
the list, the commission which had replaced the Minister of War
recommended to the 'Comite de Saint Public' that he and his two
aides de camp, Junot and Livrat, with other officers, under him,
should be sent to Constantinople. So late as the 29th of September,
twelve days later, this matter was being considered, the only
question being as to any departmental objections to the other
officers selected by him, a point which was just being settled. But
on the 13th Vendemiaire (5th October 1795), or rather on the night
before, only nineteen days after his removal, he was appointed
second in command to Barras, a career in France was opened to him,
and Turkey was no longer thought of.
Thiers (vol. iv, p. 326) and most writers, contemporary and
otherwise, say that Aubry gave the order for his removal from the
list. Aubry, himself a brigadier-general of artillery, did not
belong to the 'Comite de Salut Public' at the time Bonaparte was
removed from the south; and he had left the Comite early is August,
that is, before the order striking Bonaparte off was given. Aubry
was, however, on the Comite in June 1795, and signed the order,
which probably may have originated from him, for the transfer of
Bonaparte to the infantry. It will be seen that, in the ordinary
military sense of the term, Napoleon was only in Paris without
employment from the 15th of September to the 4th or 6th of October
1796; all the rest of the time in Paris he had a command which he
did not choose to take up. The distress under which Napoleon is
said to have laboured in pecuniary matters was probably shared by
most officers at that time; see 'Erreurs', tome i. p. 32. This
period is fully described in Iung, tome ii. p. 476, and tome iii.
pp. 1-93.]--
Deeply mortified at this unexpected stroke, Bonaparte retired into
private life, and found himself doomed to an inactivity very uncongenial
with his ardent character. He lodged in the Rue du Mail, in an hotel
near the Place des Victoires, and we recommenced the sort of life we
had led in 1792, before his departure for Corsica. It was not without
a struggle that he determined to await patiently the removal of the
prejudices which were cherished against him by men in power; and he
hoped that, in the perpetual changes which were taking place, those
men might be superseded by others more favourable to him. He frequently
dined and spent the evening with me and my elder brother; and his
pleasant conversation and manners made the hours pass away very
agreeably. I called on him almost every morning, and I met at his
lodgings several persons who were distinguished at the time; among
others Salicetti, with whom he used to maintain very animated
conversations, and who would often solicit a private interview with him.
On one occasion Salicetti paid him three thousand francs, in assignats,
as the price of his carriage, which his straitened circumstances obliged
him to dispose of.
--[Of Napoleon's poverty at this time Madame Junot says, "On
Bonaparte's return to Paris, after the misfortunes of which he
accused Salicetti of being the cause, he was in very destitute
circumstances. His family, who were banished from Corsica, found an
asylum at Marseilles; and they could not now do for him what they
would have done had they been in the country whence they derived
their pecuniary resources. From time to time he received
remittances of money, and I suspect they came from his excellent
brother Joseph, who had then recently married 'Mademoiselle Clary;
but with all his economy these supplies were insufficient.
Bonaparte was therefore in absolute distress. Junot often used to
speak of the six months they passed together in Paris at this time.
When they took an evening stroll on the Boulevard, which used to be
the resort of young men, mounted on fine horses, and displaying all
the luxury which they were permitted to show at that time, Bonaparte
would declaim against fate, and express his contempt for the dandies
with their whiskers and their 'orielles de chiene', who, as they
rode Past, were eulogising in ecstasy the manner in which Madame
Scio sang. And it is on such beings as these,' he would say, 'that
Fortune confers her favours. Grand Dieu! how contemptible is human
nature!'" (Memoirs of the Duchesse d'Abrantes, vol. i. p. 80,
edit. 1883.)]--
I could, easily perceive that our young friend either was or wished to
be initiated in some political intrigue; and I moreover suspected that
Salicetti had bound him by an oath not to disclose the plans that were
hatching.
He became pensive, melancholy, and anxious; and he always looked with
impatience for Salicetti's daily visit.
--[Salicetti was implicated in the insurrection of the 20th May
1795, 1st Prairial, Year III., and was obliged to fly to Venice.]--
Sometimes, withdrawing his mind from political affairs, he would
envy the happiness of his brother Joseph, who had just then married
Mademoiselle Clary, the daughter of a rich and respectable merchant of
Marseilles. He would often say, "That Joseph is a lucky rogue."
Meanwhile time passed away, and none of his projects succeeded--none of
his applications were listened to. He was vexed by the injustice with
which he was treated, and tormented by the desire of entering upon some
active pursuit. He could not endure the thought of remaining buried in
the crowd. He determined to quit France; and the favourite idea, which
he never afterwards relinquished, that the East is a fine field for
glory, inspired him with the wish to proceed to Constantinople, and
to enter the service of the Grand Seignior. What romantic plans, what
stupendous projects he conceived! He asked me whether I would go with
him? I replied in the negative. I looked upon him as a half-crazy
young fellow, who was driven to extravagant enterprises and desperate
resolutions by his restless activity of mind, joined to the irritating
treatment he had experienced, and, perhaps, it may be added, his want of
money. He did not blame me for my refusal to accompany him; and he told
me that Junot, Marmont, and some other young officers whom he had known
at Toulon, would be willing to follow his fortunes.
He drew up a note which commenced with the words 'Note for . . .' It was
addressed to no one, and was merely a plan. Some days after he wrote out
another, which, however, did not differ very materially from the first,
and which he addressed to Aubert and Coni. I made him a fair copy of it,
and it was regularly for forwarded. It was as follows:--
NOTE.
At a moment when the Empress of Russia has strengthened her union with
the Emperor of Germany (Austria), it is the interest of France to do
everything in her power to increase the military power of Turkey.
That power possesses a numerous and brave militia but is very backward
in the scientific part of the art of war.
The organization and the service of the artillery, which, in our modern
tactics, so powerfully facilitate the gaining of battles, and on which,
almost exclusively, depend the attack and defence of fortresses, are
especially the points in which France excels, and in which the Turks are
most deficient.
They have several times applied to us for artillery officers, and
we have sent them some; but the officers thus sent have not been
sufficiently powerful, either in numbers or talent, to produce any
important result.
General Bonaparte, who, from his youth, has served in the artillery, of
which he was entrusted with the command at the siege of Toulon, and in
the two campaigns of Italy, offers his services to proceed to Turkey,
with a mission from the (French) Government.
He proposes to take along with him six or seven officers, of different
kinds, and who may be, altogether, perfect masters of the military art.
He will have the satisfaction of being useful to his country in this new
career, if he succeed in rendering the Turkish power more formidable, by
completing the defence of their principal fortresses, and constructing
new ones.
This note shows the error of the often-repeated assertion, that he
proposed entering the service of the Turks against Austria. He makes no
mention of such a thing; and the two countries were not at war.
--[The Scottish biographer makes Bonaparte say that it would be
strange if a little Corsican should become King of Jerusalem. I
never heard anything drop from him which supports the probability of
such a remark, and certainly there is nothing in his note to warrant
the inference of his having made it.--Bourrienne.]--
No answer was returned to this note. Turkey remained unaided, and
Bonaparte unoccupied. I must confess that for the failure of this
project, at least I was not sorry. I should have regretted to see a
young man of great promise, and one for whom I cherished a sincere
friendship, devote himself to so uncertain a fate. Napoleon has less
than any man provoked the events which have favoured him; no one has
more yielded to circumstances from which he was so skilful to derive
advantages. If, however, a clerk of the War Office had but written on
the note, "Granted," that little word would probably have changed the
fate of Europe.
Bonaparte remained in Paris, forming schemes for the gratification
of his ambition, and his desire of making a figure in the world; but
obstacles opposed all he attempted.
Women are better judges of character than men. Madame de Bourrienne,
knowing the intimacy which subsisted between us, preserved some notes
which she made upon Bonaparte, and the circumstances which struck her as
most remarkable, during her early connection with him. My wife did not
entertain so favourable an opinion of him as I did; the warm friendship
I cherished for him probably blinded me to his faults. I subjoin Madame
de Bourrienne's notes, word for word:
On the day after our second return from Germany, which was in May 1795,
we met Bonaparte in the Palais Royal, near a shop kept by a man named
Girardin. Bonaparte embraced Bourrienne as a friend whom he loved and
was glad to see. We went that evening to the Theatre Francais. The
performance consisted of a tragedy; and 'Le Sourd, ou l'Auberge pleine'.
During the latter piece the audience was convulsed with laughter. The
part of Dasnieres was represented by Batiste the younger, and it was
never played better. The bursts of laughter were so loud and frequent
that the actor was several times obliged to stop in the midst of his
part. Bonaparte alone (and it struck me as being very extraordinary) was
silent, and coldly insensible to the humour which was so irresistibly
diverting to everyone else. I remarked at this period that his character
was reserved, and frequently gloomy. His smile was hypocritical, and
often misplaced; and I recollect that a few days after our return
he gave us one of these specimens of savage hilarity which I greatly
disliked, and which prepossessed me against him. He was telling us
that, being before Toulon, where he commanded the artillery, one of his
officers was visited by his wife, to whom he had been but a short time
married, and whom he tenderly loved. A few days after, orders were
given for another attack upon the town, in which this officer was to be
engaged. His wife came to General Bonaparte, and with tears entreated
him to dispense with her husband's services that day. The General was
inexorable, as he himself told us, with a sort of savage exaltation. The
moment for the attack arrived, and the officer, though a very brave man,
as Bonaparte himself-assured us, felt a presentiment of his approaching
death. He turned pale and trembled. He was stationed beside the General,
and during an interval when the firing from the town was very heavy,
Bonaparte called out to him, "Take care, there is a shell coming!" The
officer, instead of moving to one side, stooped down, and was literally
severed in two. Bonaparte laughed loudly while he described the event
with horrible minuteness. At this time we saw him almost every day. He
frequently came to dine with us. As there was a scarcity of bread,
and sometimes only two ounces per head daily were distributed in the
section, it was customary to request one's guests to bring their own
bread, as it could not be procured for money. Bonaparte and his brother
Louis (a mild, agreeable young man, who was the General's aide de army)
used to bring with them their ration bread, which was black, and mixed
with bran. I was sorry to observe that all this bad bread fell to the
share of the poor aide de camp, for we provided the General with a finer
kind, which was made clandestinely by a pastrycook, from flour which we
contrived to smuggle from Sens, where my husband had some farms. Had we
been denounced, the affair might have cost us our heads.
We spent six weeks in Paris, and we went frequently with Bonaparte to
the theatres, and to the fine concerts given by Garat in the Rue St.
Marc. These were the first brilliant entertainments that took place
after the death of Robespierre. There was always something original in
Bonaparte's behaviour, for he often slipped away from us without saying
a word; and when we were supposing he had left the theatre, we would
suddenly discover him in the second or third tier, sitting alone in a
box, and looking rather sulky.
Before our departure for Sens, where my husband's family reside, and
which was fixed upon for the place of my first accouchement, we looked
out for more agreeable apartments than we had in the Rue Grenier St.
Lazare, which we only had temporarily. Bonaparte used to assist us in
our researches. At last we took the first floor of a handsome new house,
No. 19 Rue des Marais. Bonaparte, who wished to stop in Paris, went
to look at a house opposite to ours. He had thoughts of taking it for
himself, his uncle Fesch (afterwards Cardinal Fesch), and a gentleman
named Patrauld, formerly one of his masters at the Military School.
One day he said, "With that house over there, my friends in it, and a
cabriolet, I shall be the happiest fellow in the world."
We soon after left town for Sens. The house was not taken by him, for
other and great affairs were preparing. During the interval between
our departure and the fatal day of Vendemiaire several letters passed
between him and his school companion. These letters were of the most
amiable and affectionate description. They have been stolen. On our
return, in November of the same year, everything was changed. The
college friend was now a great personage. He had got the command of
Paris in return for his share in the events of Vendemiaire. Instead of
a small house in the Rue des Marais, he occupied a splendid hotel in
the Rue des Capucines; the modest cabriolet was converted into a superb
equipage, and the man himself was no longer the same. But the friends of
his youth were still received when they made their morning calls.
They were invited to grand dejeuners, which were sometimes attended
by ladies; and, among others, by the beautiful Madame Tallien and her
friend the amiable Madame de Beauharnais, to whom Bonaparte had begun
to pay attention. He cared little for his friends, and ceased to address
them in the style of familiar equality.
After the 13th of Vendemiaire M. de Bourrienne saw Bonaparte only at
distant periods. In the month of February 1796 my husband was arrested,
at seven in the morning, by a party of men, armed with muskets, on the
charge of being a returned emigrant. He was torn from his wife and his
child, only six months old, being barely allowed time to dress himself.
I followed him. They conveyed him to the guard-house of the Section, and
thence I know not whither; and, finally, in the evening, they placed him
in the lockup-house of the prefecture of police, which, I believe, is
now called the central bureau. There he passed two nights and a day,
among men of the lowest description, some of whom were even malefactors.
I and his friends ran about everywhere, trying to find somebody to
rescue him, and, among the rest, Bonaparte was applied to. It was with
great difficulty he could be seen. Accompanied by one of my husband's
friends, I waited for the commandant of Paris until midnight, but he did
not come home. Next morning I returned at an early hour, and found him.
I stated what had happened to my husband, whose life was then at stake.
He appeared to feel very little for the situation of his friend, but,
however; determined to write to Merlin, the Minister of Justice. I
carried the letter according to its address, and met the Minister as
he was coming downstairs, on his way to the Directory. Being in grand
costume, he wore a Henri IV. hat, surmounted with a multitude of plumes,
a dress which formed a singular contrast with his person. He opened the
letter; and whether it was that he cared as little for the General as
for the cause of M. de Bourrienne's arrest, he replied that the matter
was no longer in his hands, and that it was now under the cognisance of
the public administrators of the laws. The Minister then stepped into
his carriage, and the writer was conducted to several offices in his
hotel. She passed through them with a broken heart, for she met with
none but harsh men, who told her that the prisoner deserved death. From
them she learned that on the following day he would be brought before
the judge of the peace for his Section, who would decide whether there
was ground for putting him on his trial. In fact, this proceeding took
place next day. He was conveyed to the house of the judge of the peace
for the Section of Bondy, Rue Grange-sue-Belles, whose name was Lemaire.
His countenance was mild; and though his manner was cold, he had none of
the harshness and ferocity common to the Government agents of that time.
His examination of the charge was long, and he several times shook
his head. The moment of decision had arrived, and everything seemed
to indicate that the termination would be to place the prisoner under
accusation. At seven o'clock be desired me to be called. I hastened to
him, and beheld a most heart rending scene. Bourrienne was suffering
under a hemorrhage, which had continued since two o'clock, and had
interrupted the examination. The judge of the peace, who looked sad,
sat with his head resting on his hand. I threw myself at his feet and
implored his clemency. The wife and the two daughters of the judge
visited this scene of sorrow, and assisted me in softening him. He was
a worthy and feeling man, a good husband and parent, and it was evident
that he struggled between compassion and duty. He kept referring to the
laws on the subject, and, after long researches said to me, "To-morrow
is Decadi, and no proceedings can take place on that day. Find, madams,
two responsible persons, who will answer for the appearance of your
husband, and I will permit him to go home with you, accompanied by the
two guardians." Next day two friends were found, one of whom was
M. Desmaisons, counsellor of the court, who became bail for M. de
Bourrienne. He continued under these guardians six months, until a law
compelled the persons who were inscribed on the fatal list to remove to
the distance of ten leagues from Paris. One of the guardians was a man
of straw; the other was a knight of St. Louis. The former was left in
the antechamber; the latter made, every evening, one of our party at
cards. The family of M. de Bourrienne have always felt the warmest
gratitude to the judge of the peace and his family. That worthy man
saved the life of M. de Bourrienne, who, when he returned from Egypt,
and had it in his power to do him some service, hastened to his house;
but the good judge was no more!
The letters mentioned in the narrative were at this time stolen from me
by the police officers.
Everyone was now eager to pay court to a man who had risen from the
crowd in consequence of the part he had acted at an extraordinary
crisis, and who was spoken of as the future General of the Army of
Italy. It was expected that he would be gratified, as he really was, by
the restoration of some letters which contained the expression of
his former very modest wishes, called to recollection his unpleasant
situation, his limited ambition, his pretended aversion for public
employment, and finally exhibited his intimate relations with those who
were, without hesitation, characterised as emigrants, to be afterwards
made the victims of confiscation and death.
The 13th of Vendemiaire (5th October 1795) was approaching. The National
Convention had been painfully delivered of a new constitution, called,
from the epoch of its birth, "the Constitution of Year III." It was
adopted on the 22d of August 1795. The provident legislators did not
forget themselves. They stipulated that two-thirds of their body should
form part of the new legislature. The party opposed to the Convention
hoped, on the contrary, that, by a general election, a majority would be
obtained for its opinion. That opinion was against the continuation of
power in the hands of men who had already so greatly abused it.
The same opinion was also entertained by a great part of the most
influential Sections of Paris, both as to the possession of property and
talent. These Sections declared that, in accepting the new constitution,
they rejected the decree of the 30th of August, which required the
re-election of two-thirds The Convention, therefore, found itself
menaced in what it held most dear--its power;--and accordingly resorted
to measures of defence. A declaration was put forth, stating that the
Convention, if attacked, would remove to Chalons-sur-Marne; and the
commanders of the armed force were called upon to defend that body.
The 5th of October, the day on which the Sections of Paris attacked the
Convention, is certainly one which ought to be marked in the wonderful
destiny of Bonaparte.
With the events of that day were linked, as cause and effect, many great
political convulsions of Europe. The blood which flowed ripened the
seeds of the youthful General's ambition. It must be admitted that the
history of past ages presents few periods full of such extraordinary
events as the years included between 1795 and 1815. The man whose name
serves, in some measure, as a recapitulation of all these great events
was entitled to believe himself immortal.
Living retired at Sens since the month of July, I only learned what had
occasioned the insurrection of the Sections from public report and the
journals. I cannot, therefore, say what part Bonaparte may have taken in
the intrigues which preceded that day. He was officially characterised
only as secondary actor in the scene. The account of the affair
which was published announces that Barras was, on that very day,
Commander-in-chief of the Army of the Interior, and Bonaparte second in
command. Bonaparte drew up that account. The whole of the manuscript was
in his handwriting, and it exhibits all the peculiarity of his style and
orthography. He sent me a copy.
Those who read the bulletin of the 13th Vendemiaire, cannot fail to
observe the care which Bonaparte took to cast the reproach of shedding
the first blood on the men he calls rebels. He made a great point of
representing his adversaries as the aggressors. It is certain he long
regretted that day. He often told me that he would give years of his
life to blot it out from the page of his history. He was convinced that
the people of Paris were dreadfully irritated against him, and he would
have been glad if Barras had never made that Speech in the Convention,
with the part of which, complimentary to himself, he was at the time so
well pleased. Barras said, "It is to his able and prompt dispositions
that we are indebted for the defence of this assembly, around which he
had posted the troops with so much skill." This is perfectly true, but
it is not always agreeable that every truth should be told. Being out
of Paris, and a total stranger to this affair, I know not how far he was
indebted for his success to chance, or to his own exertions, in the part
assigned to him by the miserable Government which then oppressed France.
He represented himself only as secondary actor in this sanguinary
scene in which Barras made him his associate. He sent to me, as already
mentioned, an account of the transaction, written entirely in his
own hand, and distinguished by all the peculiarities of his style and
orthography.
--[Joseph Bonaparte, in a note on this peerage, insinuates that the
account of the 13th Vendemiaire was never sent to Sens, but was
abstracted by Bourrienne, with other documents, from Napoleon's
Cabinet (Erreurs, tome i. p. 239).]--
"On the 13th," says Bonaparte, "at five o'clock in the morning, the
representative of the people, Barras, was appointed Commander-in-chief
of the Army of the Interior, and General Bonaparte was nominated second
in command.
"The artillery for service on the frontier was still at the camp of
Sablons, guarded solely by 150 men; the remainder was at Marly with
200 men. The depot of Meudon was left unprotected. There were at the
Feuillans only a few four-pounders without artillerymen, and but 80,000
cartridges. The victualling depots were dispersed throughout Paris.
In many Sections the drums beat to arms; the Section of the Theatre
Francais had advanced posts even as far as the Pont Neuf, which it had
barricaded.
"General Barras ordered the artillery to move immediately from the camp
of Sablons to the Tuileries, and selected the artillerymen from the
battalions of the 89th regiment, and from the gendarmerie, and placed
them at the Palace; sent to Meudon 200 men of the police legion whom he
brought from Versailles, 50 cavalry, and two companies of veterans; he
ordered the property which was at Marly to be conveyed to Meudon; caused
cartridges to be brought there, and established a workshop at that place
for the manufacture of more. He secured means for the subsistence of the
army and of the Convention for many days, independently of the depots
which were in the Sections.
"General Verdier, who commanded at the Palais National, exhibited great
coolness; he was required not to suffer a shot to be fired till the
last extremity. In the meantime reports reached him from all quarters
acquainting him that the Sections were assembled in arms, and had formed
their columns. He accordingly arrayed his troops so as to defend the
Convention, and his artillery was in readiness to repulse the rebels.
His cannon was planted at the Feuillans to fire down the Rue Honore.
Eight-pounders were pointed at every opening, and in the event of any
mishap, General Verdier had cannon in reserve to fire in flank upon
the column which should have forced a passage. He left in the Carrousel
three howitzers (eight-pounders) to batter down the houses from which
the Convention might be fired upon. At four o'clock the rebel columns
marched out from every street to unite their forces. It was necessary
to take advantage of this critical moment to attack the insurgents, even
had they been regular troops. But the blood about to flow was French; it
was therefore for these misguided people, already guilty of rebellion,
to embrue their hands in the blood of their countrymen by striking the
first blow.
"At a quarter before five o'clock the insurgents had formed. The attack
was commenced by them on all sides. They were everywhere routed. French
blood was spilled: the crime, as well as the disgrace, fell this day
upon the Sections.
"Among the dead were everywhere to be recognized emigrants, landowners,
and nobles; the prisoners consisted for the most part of the 'chouans'
of Charette.
"Nevertheless the Sections did not consider themselves beaten: they took
refuge in the church of St. Roch, in the theatre of the Republic, and
in the Palais Egalite; and everywhere they were heard furiously exciting
the inhabitants to arms. To spare the blood which would have been shed
the next day it was necessary that no time should be given them to
rally, but to follow them with vigour, though without incurring fresh
hazards. The General ordered Montchoisy, who commanded a reserve at the
Place de la Resolution, to form a column with two twelve-pounders, to
march by the Boulevard in order to turn the Place Vendome, to form a
junction with the picket stationed at headquarters, and to return in the
same order of column.
"General Brune, with two howitzers, deployed in the streets of St.
Nicaise and St. Honore. General Cartaux sent two hundred men and a
four-pounder of his division by the Rue St. Thomas-du-Louvre to debouch
in the square of the Palais Egalite. General Bonaparte, who had his
horse killed under him, repaired to the Feuillans.
"The columns began to move, St. Roch and the theatre of the Republic
were taken, by assault, when the rebels abandoned them, and retreated
to the upper part of the Rue de la Loi, and barricaded themselves on all
sides. Patrols were sent thither, and several cannon-shots were fired
during the night, in order to prevent them from throwing up defences,
which object was effectually accomplished.
"At daybreak, the General having learned that some students from the St.
Genevieve side of the river were marching with two pieces of cannon to
succour the rebels, sent a detachment of dragoons in pursuit of them,
who seized the cannon and conducted them to the Tuileries. The enfeebled
Sections, however, still showed a front. They had barricaded the Section
of Grenelle, and placed their cannon in the principal streets. At nine
o'clock General Beruyer hastened to form his division in battle array
in the Place Vendome, marched with two eight-pounders to the Rue des
Vieux-Augustins, and pointed them in the direction of the Section Le
Pelletier. General Vachet, with a corps of 'tirailleurs', marched on his
right, ready to advance to the Place Victoire. General Brune marched
to the Perron, and planted two howitzers at the upper end of the Rue
Vivienne. General Duvigier, with his column of six hundred men, and two
twelve-pounders, advanced to the streets of St. Roch and Montmartre. The
Sections lost courage with the apprehension of seeing their retreat cut
off, and evacuated the post at the sight of our soldiers, forgetting
the honour of the French name which they had to support. The Section of
Brutus still caused some uneasiness. The wife of a representative had
been arrested there. General Duvigier was ordered to proceed along the
Boulevard as far as the Rue Poissonniere. General Beruyer took up a
position at the Place Victoire, and General Bonaparte occupied the
Pont-au-Change.
"The Section of Brutus was surrounded, and the troops advanced upon the
Place de Greve, where the crowd poured in from the Isle St. Louis, from
the Theatre Francais, and from the Palace. Everywhere the patriots
had regained their courage, while the poniards of the emigrants, armed
against us, had disappeared. The people universally admitted their
error.
"The next day the two Sections of Les Pelletier and the Theatre Francais
were disarmed."
The result of this petty civil war brought Bonaparte forward; but the
party he defeated at that period never pardoned him for the past, and
that which he supported dreaded him in the future. Five years after he
will be found reviving the principles which he combated on the 5th
of October 1795. On being appointed, on the motion of Barras,
Lieutenant-General of the Army of the Interior, he established his
headquarters in the Rue Neuve des Capucines. The statement in the
'Manuscrit de Sainte Helene', that after the 13th Brumaire he remained
unemployed at Paris, is therefore obviously erroneous. So far from this,
he was incessantly occupied with the policy of the nation, and with his
own fortunes. Bonaparte was in constant, almost daily, communication
with every one then in power, and knew how to profit by all he saw or
heard.
To avoid returning to this 'Manuscrit de Sainte Helene', which at the
period of its appearance attracted more attention than it deserved, and
which was very generally attributed to Bonaparte, I shall here say a few
words respecting it. I shall briefly repeat what I said in a note when
my opinion was asked, under high authority, by a minister of Louis
XVIII.
No reader intimately acquainted with public affairs can be deceived by
the pretended authenticity of this pamphlet. What does it contain? Facts
perverted and heaped together without method, and related in an obscure,
affected, and ridiculously sententious style. Besides what appears in
it, but which is badly placed there, it is impossible not to remark the
omission of what should necessarily be there, were Napoleon the author.
It is full of absurd and of insignificant gossip, of thoughts Napoleon
never had, expressions unknown to him, and affectations far removed
from his character. With some elevated ideas, more than one style and an
equivocal spirit can be seen in it. Professed coincidences are put close
to unpardonable anachronisms, and to the most absurd revelations. It
contains neither his thoughts, his style, his actions, nor his life.
Some truths are mimed up with an inconceivable mass of falsehoods. Some
forms of expression used by Bonaparte are occasionally met with, but
they are awkwardly introduced, and often with bad taste.
It has been reported that the pamphlet was written by M. Bertrand,
formerly an officer of the army of the Vistula, and a relation of the
Comte de Simeon, peer of France.
--['Manuscrit de Sainte Helene d'une maniere inconnue', London.
Murray; Bruxelles, De Mat, 20 Avril 1817. This work merits a note.
Metternich (vol, i. pp. 312-13) says, "At the time when it appeared
the manuscript of St. Helena made a great impression upon Europe.
This pamphlet was generally regarded as a precursor of the memoirs
which Napoleon was thought to be writing in his place of exile. The
report soon spread that the work was conceived and executed by
Madame de Stael. Madame de Stael, for her part, attributed it to
Benjamin Constant, from whom she was at this time separated by some
disagreement." Afterwards it came to be known that the author was
the Marquis Lullin de Chateauvieux, a man in society, whom no one
had suspected of being able to hold a pen: Jomini (tome i. p. 8
note) says. "It will be remarked that in the course of this work
[his life of Napoleon] the author has used some fifty pages of the
pretended 'Manuscrit de Sainte Helene'. Far from wishing to commit
a plagiarism, he considers he ought to render this homage to a
clever and original work, several false points of view in which,
however, he has combated. It would have been easy for him to
rewrite these pages in other terms, but they appeared to him to be
so well suited to the character of Napoleon that he has preferred to
preserve them." In the will of Napoleon occurs (see end of this
work): "I disavow the 'Manuscrit de Sainte Helene', and the other
works under the title of Maxims, Sentences, etc., which they have
been pleased to publish during the last six years. Such rules are
not those which have guided my life: This manuscript must not be
confused with the 'Memorial of Saint Helena'.]--
CHAPTER IV.
1795-1797
On my return to Paris I meet Bonaparte--His interview with Josephine
--Bonaparte's marriage, and departure from Paris ten days after--
Portrait and character of Josephine--Bonaparte's dislike of national
property--Letter to Josephine--Letter of General Colli, and
Bonaparte's reply--Bonaparte refuses to serve with Kellerman--
Marmont's letters--Bonaparte's order to me to join the army--My
departure from Sens for Italy--Insurrection of the Venetian States.
After the 13th Vendemiaire I returned to Paris from Sens. During
the short time I stopped there I saw Bonaparte less frequently than
formerly. I had, however, no reason to attribute this to anything but
the pressure of public business with which he was now occupied. When
I did meet him it was most commonly at breakfast or dinner. One day he
called my attention to a young lady who sat opposite to him, and asked
what I thought of her. The way in which I answered his question appeared
to give him much pleasure. He then talked a great deal to me about
her, her family, and her amiable qualities; he told me that he should
probably marry her, as he was convinced that the union would make him
happy. I also gathered from his conversation that his marriage with
the young widow would probably assist him in gaining the objects of
his ambition. His constantly-increasing influence with her had already
brought him into contact with the most influential persons of that
epoch. He remained in Paris only ten days after his marriage, which took
place on the 9th of March 1796. It was a union in which great harmony
prevailed, notwithstanding occasional slight disagreements. Bonaparte
never, to my knowledge, caused annoyance to his wife. Madame Bonaparte
possessed personal graces and many good qualities.
--["Eugène was not more than fourteen years of age when he ventured
to introduce himself to General Bonaparte, for the purpose of
soliciting his father's sword, of which he understood the General
had become possessed. The countenance, air, and frank manner of
Eugène pleased Bonaparte, and he immediately granted him the boon he
sought. As soon as the sword was placed in the boy's hands he
burst into tears, and kissed it. This feeling of affection for his
father's memory, and the natural manner in which it was evinced,
increased the interest of Bonaparte in his young visitor. Madame de
Beauharnais, on learning the kind reception which the General had
given her son, thought it her duty to call and thank him. Bonaparte
was much pleased with Josephine on this first interview, and he
returned her visit. The acquaintance thus commenced speedily led to
their marriage."--Constant]--
--[Bonaparte himself, at St. Helena, says that he first met
Josephine at Barras' (see Iung's Bonaparte, tome iii. p. 116).]--
--["Neither of his wives had ever anything to complain of from
Napoleon's personal manners" (Metternich, vol. 1 p. 279).]--
--[Madame de Rémusat, who, to paraphrase Thiers' saying on
Bourrienne himself, is a trustworthy witness, for if she received
benefits from Napoleon they did not weigh on her, says, "However,
Napoleon had some affection for his first wife; and, in fact, if he
has at any time been touched, no doubt it has been only for her and
by her" (tome i. p. 113). "Bonaparte was young when he first knew
Madame de Beauharnais. In the circle where he met her she had a
great superiority by the name she bore and by the extreme elegance
of her manners. . . . In marrying Madame de Beauharnais,
Bonaparte believed he was allying himself to a very grand lady; thus
this was one more conquest" (p. 114). But in speaking of
Josephine's complaints to Napoleon of his love affairs, Madame de
Rémusat says, "Her husband sometimes answered by violences, the
excesses of which I do not dare to detail, until the moment when,
his new fancy having suddenly passed, he felt his tenderness for his
wife again renewed. Then he was touched by her sufferings, replaced
his insults by caresses which were hardly more measured than his
violences and, as she was gentle and untenacious, she fell back into
her feeling of security" (p. 206).]--
--[Miot de Melito, who was a follower of Joseph Bonaparte, says, "No
woman has united so much kindness to so much natural grace, or has
done more good with more pleasure than she did. She honoured me
with her friendship, and the remembrance of the benevolence she has
shown me, to the last moment of her too short existence, will never
be effaced from my heart" (tome i. pp.101-2).]--
--[Meneval, the successor of Bourrienne in his place of secretary to
Napoleon, and who remained attached to the Emperor until the end,
says of Josephine (tome i. p. 227), "Josephine was irresistibly
attractive. Her beauty was not regular, but she had 'La grace, plus
belle encore que la beaute', according to the good La Fontaine. She
had the soft abandonment, the supple and elegant movements, and the
graceful carelessness of the creoles.--(The reader must remember
that the term 'Creole' does not imply any taint of black blood, but
only that the person, of European family, has been born in the West
Indies.)--Her temper was always the same. She was gentle and
kind."]--
I am convinced that all who were acquainted with her must have felt
bound to speak well of her; to few, indeed, did she ever give cause for
complaint. In the time of her power she did not lose any of her friends,
because she forgot none of them. Benevolence was natural to her, but she
was not always prudent in its exercise. Hence her protection was often
extended to persons who did not deserve it. Her taste for splendour and
expense was excessive. This proneness to luxury became a habit which
seemed constantly indulged without any motive. What scenes have I not
witnessed when the moment for paying the tradesmen's bills arrived! She
always kept back one-half of their claims, and the discovery of this
exposed her to new reproaches. How many tears did she shed which might
have been easily spared!
When fortune placed a crown on her head she told me that the event,
extraordinary as it was, had been predicted: It is certain that she put
faith in fortune-tellers. I often expressed to her my astonishment that
she should cherish such a belief, and she readily laughed at her own
credulity; but notwithstanding never abandoned it: The event had given
importance to the prophecy; but the foresight of the prophetess, said to
be an old regress, was not the less a matter of doubt.
Not long before the 13th of Vendemiaire, that day which opened for
Bonaparte his immense career, he addressed a letter to me at Sens, in
which, after some of his usually friendly expressions, he said, "Look
out a small piece of land in your beautiful valley of the Yonne. I will
purchase it as soon as I can scrape together the money. I wish to
retire there; but recollect that I will have nothing to do with national
property."
Bonaparte left Paris on the 21st of March 1796, while I was still with
my guardians. He no sooner joined the French army than General Colli,
then in command of the Piedmontese army, transmitted to him the
following letter, which, with its answer, I think sufficiently
interesting to deserve preservation:
GENERAL--I suppose that you are ignorant of the arrest of one of my
officers, named Moulin, the bearer of a flag of truce, who has been
detained for some days past at Murseco, contrary to the laws of war,
and notwithstanding an immediate demand for his liberation being
made by General Count Vital. His being a French emigrant cannot
take from him the rights of a flag of truce, and I again claim him
in that character. The courtesy and generosity which I have always
experienced from the generals of your nation induces me to hope that
I shall not make this application in vain; and it is with regret
that I mention that your chief of brigade, Barthelemy, who ordered
the unjust arrest of my flag of truce, having yesterday by the
chance of war fallen into my hands, that officer will be dealt with
according to the treatment which M. Moulin may receive.
I most sincerely wish that nothing may occur to change the noble and
humane conduct which the two nations have hitherto been accustomed
to observe towards each other. I have the honour, etc.,
(Signed) COLLI.
CEVA. 17th April 1796.
Bonaparte replied as follows:
GENERAL--An emigrant is a parricide whom no character can render
sacred. The feelings of honour, and the respect due to the French
people, were forgotten when M. Moulin was sent with a flag of truce.
You know the laws of war, and I therefore do not give credit to the
reprisals with which you threaten the chief of brigade, Barthelemy.
If, contrary to the laws of war, you authorise such an act of
barbarism, all the prisoners taken from you shall be immediately
made responsible for it with the most deplorable vengeance, for I
entertain for the officers of your nation that esteem which is due
to brave soldiers.
The Executive Directory, to whom these letters were transmitted,
approved of the arrest of M. Moulin; but ordered that he should be
securely guarded, and not brought to trial, in consequence of the
character with which he had been invested.
About the middle of the year 1796 the Directory proposed to appoint
General Kellerman, who commanded the army of the Alps, second in command
of the army of Italy.
On the 24th of May 1796 Bonaparte wrote to, Carnot respecting, this
plan, which was far from being agreeable to him. He said, "Whether I
shall be employed here or anywhere else is indifferent to me: to serve
the country, and to merit from posterity a page in our history, is all
my ambition. If you join Kellerman and me in command in Italy you will
undo everything. General Kellerman has more experience than I, and knows
how to make war better than I do; but both together, we shall make it
badly. I will not willingly serve with a man who considers himself the
first general in Europe."
Numbers of letters from Bonaparte to his wife have been published. I
cannot deny their authenticity, nor is it my wish to do so. I will,
however, subjoin one which appears to me to differ a little from the
rest. It is less remarkable for exaggerated expressions of love, and a
singularly ambitious and affected style, than most of the correspondence
here alluded to. Bonaparte is announcing the victory of Arcola to
Josephine.
VERONA, the 29th, noon.
At length, my adored Josephine, I live again. Death is no longer
before me, and glory and honour are still in my breast. The enemy
is beaten at Arcola. To-morrow we will repair the blunder of
Vaubois, who abandoned Rivoli. In eight days Mantua will be ours,
and then thy husband will fold thee in his arms, and give thee a
thousand proofs of his ardent affection. I shall proceed to Milan
as soon as I can: I am a little fatigued. I have received letters
from Eugène and Hortense. I am delighted with the children. I will
send you their letters as soon as I am joined by my household, which
is now somewhat dispersed.
We have made five thousand prisoners, and killed at least six
thousand of the enemy. Adieu, my adorable Josephine. Think of me
often. When you cease to love your Achilles, when your heart grows
cool towards him, you wilt be very cruel, very unjust. But I am
sure you will always continue my faithful mistress, as I shall ever
remain your fond lover ('tendre amie'). Death alone can break the
union which sympathy, love, and sentiment have formed. Let me have
news of your health. A thousand and a thousand kisses.
It is impossible for me to avoid occasionally placing myself in the
foreground in the course of these Memoirs. I owe it to myself to answer,
though indirectly, to certain charges which, on various occasions, have
been made against me. Some of the documents which I am about to insert
belong, perhaps, less to the history of the General-in-Chief of the army
of-Italy than to that of his secretary; but I must confess I wish
to show that I was not an intruder, nor yet pursuing, as an obscure
intriguer, the path of fortune. I was influenced much more by friendship
than by ambition when I took a part on the scene where the rising-glory
of the future Emperor already shed a lustre on all who were attached
to his destiny. It will be seen by the following letters with what
confidence I was then honoured; but these letters, dictated by
friendship, and not written for history, speak also of our military
achievements; and whatever brings to recollection the events of that
heroic period must still be interesting to many.
HEADQUARTERS AT MILAN,
20th Prairial, year IV. (8th June 1796).
The General-in-Chief has ordered me, my dear Bourrienne, to make
known to you the pleasure he experienced on hearing of you, and his
ardent desire that you should join us. Take your departure, then,
my dear Bourrienne, and arrive quickly. You may be certain of
obtaining the testimonies of affection which are your due from all
who know you; and we much regret that you were not with us to have a
share in our success. The campaign which we have just concluded
will be celebrated in the records of history. With less than 30,000
men, in a state of almost complete destitution, it is a fine thing
to have, in the course of less than two months, beaten, eight
different times, an army of from 65 to 70,000 men, obliged the King
of Sardinia to make a humiliating peace, and driven the Austrians
from Italy. The last victory, of which you have doubtless had an
account, the passage of the Mincio, has closed our labours. There
now remain for us the siege of Mantua and the castle of Milan; but
these obstacles will not detain us long. Adieu, my dear Bourrienne:
I repeat General Bonaparte's request that you should repair hither,
and the testimony of his desire to see you.
Receive, etc., (Signed) MARMONT.
Chief of Brigade (Artillery) and Aide de camp to the
General-in-Chief.
I was obliged to remain at Sens, soliciting my erasure from the emigrant
list, which I did not obtain, however, till 1797, and to put an end to a
charge made against me of having fabricated a certificate of residence.
Meanwhile I applied myself to study, and preferred repose to the
agitation of camps. For these reasons I did not then accept his friendly
invitation, notwithstanding that I was very desirous of seeing my young
college friend in the midst of his astonishing triumphs. Ten months
after, I received another letter from Marmont, in the following terms:--
HEADQUARTERS GORIZIA
2d Germinal, year V. (22d March 1797).
The General-in-Chief, my dear Bourrienne, has ordered me to express
to you his wish for your prompt arrival here. We have all along
anxiously desired to see you, and look forward with great pleasure
to the moment when we shall meet. I join with the General, my dear
Bourrienne, in urging you to join the army without loss of time.
You will increase a united family, happy to receive you into its
bosom. I enclose an order written by the General, which will serve
you as a passport. Take the post route and arrive as soon as you
can. We are on the point of penetrating into Germany. The language
is changing already, and in four days we shall hear no more Italian.
Prince Charles has been well beaten, and we are pursuing him. If
this campaign be fortunate, we may sign a peace, which is so
necessary for Europe, in Vienna. Adieu, my dear Bourrienne: reckon
for something the zeal of one who is much attached to you.
(Signed) MARMONT.
BONAPARTE, GENERAL-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMY OF ITALY.
Headquarters, Gorizia, 2d Germinal, year V.
The citizen Bourrienne is to come to me on receipt
of the present order.
(Signed) BONAPARTE.
The odious manner in which I was then harassed, I know not why, on the
part of the Government respecting my certificate of residence, rendered
my stay in France not very agreeable. I was even threatened with being
put on my trial for having produced a certificate of residence which was
alleged to be signed by nine false witnesses. This time, therefore, I
resolved without hesitation to set out for the army. General Bonaparte's
order, which I registered at the municipality of Sens, answered for a
passport, which otherwise would probably have been refused me. I have
always felt a strong sense of gratitude for his conduct towards me on
this occasion.
Notwithstanding the haste I made to leave Sens, the necessary
formalities and precautions detained me some days, and at the moment I
was about to depart I received the following letter:
HEADQUARTERS, JUDENBOURG,
19th Germinal, Year V. (8th April 1797).
The General-in-Chief again orders me, my dear Bourrienne, to urge
you to come to him quickly. We are in the midst of success and
triumphs. The German campaign begins even more brilliantly than did
the Italian. You may judge, therefore, what a promise it holds out
to us. Come, my dear Bourrienne, immediately--yield to our
solicitations--share our pains and pleasures, and you will add to
our enjoyments.
I have directed the courier to pass through Sens, that he may
deliver this letter to you, and bring me back your answer.
(Signed) MARMONT.
To the above letter this order was subjoined:
The citizen Fauvelet de Bourrienne is ordered to leave Sens, and
repair immediately by post to the headquarters of the army of Italy.
(Signed) BONAPARTE.
I arrived at the Venetian territory at the moment when the insurrection
against the French was on the point of breaking out. Thousands of
peasants were instigated to rise under the pretext of appeasing the
troubles of Bergamo and Brescia. I passed through Verona on the 16th of
April, the eve of the signature of the preliminaries of Leoben and of
the revolt of Verona. Easter Sunday was the day which the ministers
of Jesus Christ selected for preaching "that it was lawful, and even
meritorious, to kill Jacobins." Death to Frenchmen!--Death to Jacobins!
as they called all the French, were their rallying cries. At the time I
had not the slightest idea of this state of things, for I had left Sens
only on the 11th of April.
After stopping two hours at Verona, I proceeded on my journey without
being aware of the massacre which threatened that city. When about a
league from the town I was, however, stopped by a party of insurgents
on their way thither, consisting, as I estimated, of about two thousand
men. They only desired me to cry 'El viva Santo Marco', an order with
which I speedily complied, and passed on. What would have become of me
had I been in Verona on the Monday? On that day the bells were rung,
while the French were butchered in the hospitals. Every one met in the
streets was put to death. The priests headed the assassins, and more
than four hundred Frenchmen were thus sacrificed. The forts held
out against the Venetians, though they attacked them with fury; but
repossession of the town was not obtained until after ten days. On the
very day of the insurrection of Verona some Frenchmen were assassinated
between that city and Vicenza, through which I passed on the day before
without danger; and scarcely had I passed through Padua, when I learned
that others had been massacred there. Thus the assassinations travelled
as rapidly as the post.
I shall say a few words respecting the revolt of the Venetian States,
which, in consequence of the difference of political opinions, has been
viewed in very contradictory lights.
The last days of Venice were approaching, and a storm had been brewing
for more than a year. About the beginning of April 1797 the threatening
symptoms of a general insurrection appeared. The quarrel commenced when
the Austrians entered Peschiera, and some pretext was also afforded by
the reception given to Monsieur, afterwards Louis XVIII. It was certain
that Venice had made military preparations during the siege of Mantua
in 1796. The interests of the aristocracy outweighed the political
considerations in our favour. On, the 7th of June 1796 General Bonaparte
wrote thus to the Executive Directory:
The Senate of Venice lately sent two judges of their Council here to
ascertain definitively how things stand. I repeated my complaints.
I spoke to them about the reception given to Monsieur. Should it be
your plan to extract five or six millions from Venice, I have
expressly prepared this sort of rupture for you. If your intentions
be more decided, I think this ground of quarrel ought to be kept up.
Let me know what you mean to do, and wait till the favourable
moment, which I shall seize according to circumstances; for we must
not have to do with all the world at once.
The Directory answered that the moment was not favourable; that it
was first necessary to take Mantua, and give Wurmser a sound beating.
However, towards the end of the year 1796 the Directory began to give
more credit to the sincerity of the professions of neutrality made
on the part of Venice. It was resolved, therefore, to be content with
obtaining money and supplies for the army, and to refrain from violating
the neutrality. The Directory had not then in reserve, like Bonaparte,
the idea of making the dismemberment of Venice serve as a compensation
for such of the Austrian possessions as the French Republic might
retain.
In 1797 the expected favourable moment had arrived. The knell of Venice
was rung; and Bonaparte thus wrote to the Directory on the 30th of
April: "I am convinced that the only course to be now taken is to
destroy this ferocious and sanguinary Government." On the 3d of May,
writing from Palma Nuova, he says: "I see nothing that can be done but
to obliterate the Venetian name from the face of the globe."
Towards the end of March 1797 the Government of Venice was in a
desperate state. Ottolini, the Podesta of Bergamo, an instrument of
tyranny in the hands of the State inquisitors, then harassed the people
of Bergamo and Brescia, who, after the reduction of Mantua, wished to
be separated from Venice. He drew up, to be sent to the Senate, a long
report respecting the plans of separation, founded on information given
him by a Roman advocate, named Marcelin Serpini; who pretended to have
gleaned the facts he communicated in conversation with officers of the
French army. The plan of the patriotic party was, to unite the Venetian
territories on the mainland with Lombardy, and to form of the whole
one republic. The conduct of Ottolini exasperated the party inimical to
Venice, and augmented the prevailing discontent. Having disguised his
valet as a peasant, he sent him off to Venice with the report he had
drawn up on Serpini's communications, and other information; but this
report never reached the inquisitors. The valet was arrested, his
despatches taken, and Ottolini fled from Bergamo. This gave a beginning
to the general rising of the Venetian States. In fact, the force of
circumstances alone brought on the insurrection of those territories
against their old insular government. General La Hoz, who commanded
the Lombard Legion, was the active protector of the revolution,
which certainly had its origin more in the progress of the prevailing
principles of liberty than in the crooked policy of the Senate of
Venice. Bonaparte, indeed, in his despatches to the Directory, stated
that the Senate had instigated the insurrection; but that was not quite
correct, and he could not wholly believe his own assertion.
Pending the vacillation of the Venetian Senate, Vienna was exciting the
population of its States on the mainland to rise against the French.
The Venetian Government had always exhibited an extreme aversion to the
French Revolution, which had been violently condemned at Venice. Hatred
of the French had been constantly excited and encouraged, and religious
fanaticism had inflamed many persons of consequence in the country. From
the end of 1796 the Venetian Senate secretly continued its armaments,
and the whole conduct of that Government announced intentions which
have been called perfidious, but the only object of which was to defeat
intentions still more perfidious. The Senate was the irreconcilable
enemy of the French Republic. Excitement was carried to such a point
that in many places the people complained that they were not permitted
to arm against the French. The Austrian generals industriously
circulated the most sinister reports respecting the armies of the
Sombre-et-Meuse and the Rhine, and the position of the French troops in
the Tyrol. These impostures, printed in bulletins, were well calculated
to instigate the Italians, and especially the Venetians, to rise in mass
to exterminate the French, when the victorious army should penetrate
into the Hereditary States.
The pursuit of the Archduke Charles into the heart of Austria encouraged
the hopes which the Venetian Senate had conceived, that it would be easy
to annihilate the feeble remnant of the French army, as the troops were
scattered through the States of Venice on the mainland. Wherever the
Senate had the ascendency, insurrection was secretly fomented; wherever
the influence of the patriots prevailed, ardent efforts were made to
unite the Venetian terra firma to the Lombard Republic.
Bonaparte skillfully took advantage of the disturbances, and the
massacres consequent on them, to adopt towards the Senate the tone of
an offended conqueror. He published a declaration that the Venetian
Government was the most treacherous imaginable. The weakness and cruel
hypocrisy of the Senate facilitated the plan he had conceived of making
a peace for France at the expense of the Venetian Republic. On returning
from Leoben, a conqueror and pacificator, he, without ceremony, took
possession of Venice, changed the established government, and, master of
all the Venetian territory, found himself, in the negotiations of Campo
Formio, able to dispose of it as he pleased, as a compensation for the
cessions which had been exacted from Austria. After the 19th of May he
wrote to the Directory that one of the objects of his treaty with Venice
was to avoid bringing upon us the odium of violating the preliminaries
relative to the Venetian territory, and, at the same time, to afford
pretexts and to facilitate their execution.
At Campo Formio the fate of this republic was decided. It disappeared
from the number of States without effort or noise. The silence of its
fall astonished imaginations warmed by historical recollections from
the brilliant pages of its maritime glory. Its power, however, which had
been silently undermined, existed no longer except in the prestige of
those recollections. What resistance could it have opposed to the man
destined to change the face of all Europe?
CHAPTER V
1797.
Signature of the preliminaries of peace--Fall of Venice--My arrival
and reception at Leoben--Bonaparte wishes to pursue his success--
The Directory opposes him--He wishes to advance on Vienna--Movement
of the army of the Sombre-et-Mouse--Bonaparte's dissatisfaction--
Arrival at Milan--We take up our residence at Montebello--Napoleon's
judgment respecting Dandolo and Melzi.
I joined Bonaparte at Leoben on the 19th of April, the day after the
signature of the preliminaries of peace. These preliminaries resembled
in no respect the definitive treaty of Campo Formio. The still
incomplete fall of the State of Venice did not at that time present an
available prey for partition. All was arranged afterwards. Woe to the
small States that come in immediate contact with two colossal empires
waging war!
Here terminated my connection with Bonaparte as a comrade and equal, and
those relations with him commenced in which I saw him suddenly great,
powerful, and surrounded with homage and glory. I no longer addressed
him as I had been accustomed to do. I appreciated too well his personal
importance. His position placed too great a social distance between
him and me not to make me feel the necessity of fashioning my demeanour
accordingly. I made with pleasure, and without regret, the easy
sacrifice of the style of familiar companionship and other little
privileges. He said, in a loud voice, when I entered the salon where
he was surrounded by the officers who formed his brilliant staff, "I am
glad to see you, at last"--"Te voila donc, enfin;", but as soon as we
were alone he made me understand that he was pleased with my reserve,
and thanked me for it. I was immediately placed at the head of his
Cabinet. I spoke to him the same evening respecting the insurrection of
the Venetian territories, of the dangers which menaced the French, and
of those which I had escaped, etc. "Care thou' nothing about it," said
he;
--[He used to 'tutoyer' me in this familiar manner until his return
to Milan.]--
"those rascals shall pay for it. Their republic has had its day, and is
done." This republic was, however, still existing, wealthy and powerful.
These words brought to my recollection what I had read in a work by one
Gabriel Naude, who wrote during the reign of Louis XIII. for Cardinal de
Bagin: "Do you see Constantinople, which flatters itself with being the
seat of a double empire; and Venice, which glories in her stability of a
thousand years? Their day will come."
In the first conversation which Bonaparte had with me, I thought I could
perceive that he was not very well satisfied with the preliminaries. He
would have liked to advance with his army to Vienna. He did not conceal
this from me. Before he offered peace to Prince Charles, he wrote to
the Directory that he intended to pursue his success, but that for
this purpose he reckoned on the co-operation of the armies of the
Sambre-et-Meuse and the Rhine. The Directory replied that he must
not reckon on a diversion in Germany, and that the armies of the
Sambre-et-Meuse and the Rhine were not to pass that river. A resolution
so unexpected--a declaration so contrary to what he had constantly
solicited, compelled him to terminate his triumphs, and renounce his
favourite project of planting the standard of the republic on the
ramparts of Vienna, or at least of levying contributions on the suburbs
of that capital.
A law of the 23d of August 1794 forbade the use of any other names than
those in the register of births. I wished to conform to this law, which
very foolishly interfered with old habits. My eldest brother was living,
and I therefore designated myself Fauvelet the younger. This annoyed
General Bonaparte. "Such change of name is absolute nonsense," said he.
"I have known you for twenty years by the name of Bourrienne. Sign as
you still are named, and see what the advocates with their laws will
do."
On the 20th of April, as Bonaparte was returning to Italy, he was
obliged to stop on an island of the Tagliamento, while a torrent passed
by, which had been occasioned by a violent storm. A courier appeared on
the right bank of the river. He reached the island. Bonaparte read in
the despatches of the Directory that the armies of the Sambre-et-Meuse
and the Rhine were in motion; that they were preparing to cross the
Rhine, and had commenced hostilities on the very day of the signing
of the preliminaries. This information arrived seven days after the
Directory had written that "he must not reckon on the co-operation
of the armies of Germany." It is impossible to describe the General's
vexation on reading these despatches. He had signed the preliminaries
only because the Government had represented the co-operation of the
armies of the Rhine as impracticable at that moment, and shortly
afterwards he was informed that the co-operation was about to take
place! The agitation of his mind was so great that he for a moment
conceived the idea of crossing to the left bank of the Tagliamento, and
breaking off the negotiations under some pretext or other. He persisted
for some time in this resolution, which, however, Berthier and some
other generals successfully opposed. He exclaimed, "What a difference
would there have been in the preliminaries, if, indeed, there had been
any!"
His chagrin, I might almost say his despair, increased when, some days
after his entry into the Venetian States, he received a letter from
Moreau, dated the 23d of April, in which that general informed him that,
having passed the Rhine on the 20th with brilliant success, and taken
four thousand prisoners, it would not be long before he joined him. Who,
in fact, can say what would have happened but for the vacillating
and distrustful policy of the Directory, which always encouraged low
intrigues, and participated in the jealousy excited by the renown of
the young conqueror? Because the Directory dreaded his ambition they
sacrificed the glory of our arms and the honour of the nation; for
it cannot be doubted that, had the passage of the Rhine, so urgently
demanded by Bonaparte, taken place some days sooner, he would have been
able, without incurring any risk, to dictate imperiously the conditions
of peace on the spot; or, if Austria were obstinate, to have gone on to
Vienna and signed it there. Still occupied with this idea, he wrote to
the Directory on the 8th of May: "Since I have received intelligence of
the passage of the Rhine by Hoche and Moreau, I much regret that it did
not take place fifteen days sooner; or, at least, that Moreau did not
say that he was in a situation to effect it." (He had been informed to
the contrary.) What, after this, becomes of the unjust reproach against
Bonaparte of having, through jealousy of Moreau, deprived France of the
advantages which a prolonged campaign would have procured her? Bonaparte
was too devoted to the glory of France to sacrifice it to jealousy of
the glory of any individual.
In traversing the Venetian States to return to Milan, he often spoke
to me of Venice. He always assured me that he was originally entirely
unconnected with the insurrections which had agitated that country; that
common sense would show, as his project was to advance into the basin of
the Danube, he had no interest in having his rear disturbed by revolts,
and his communications interrupted or cut off: "Such an idea," said he,
"would be absurd, and could never enter into the mind of a man to whom
even his enemies cannot deny a certain degree of tact." He acknowledged
that he was not vexed that matters had turned out as they had done,
because he had already taken advantage of these circumstances in the
preliminaries and hoped to profit still more from them in the definitive
peace. "When I arrive at Milan," said he, "I will occupy myself with
Venice." It is therefore quite evident to me that in reality the
General-in-Chief had nothing to do with the Venetian insurrections; that
subsequently he was not displeased with them; and that, later still, he
derived great advantage from them.
We arrived at Milan on the 5th of May, by way of Lawbook, Thrust,
Palma-Nova, Padua, Verona, and Mantua. Bonaparte soon took up his
residence at Montebello, a very fine chateau, three leagues from
Milan, with a view over the rich and magnificent plains of Lombard. At
Montebello commenced the negotiations for the definitive peace which
were terminated at Passeriano. The Marquis de Gallo, the Austrian
plenipotentiary, resided half a league from Montebello.
During his residence at Montebello the General-in-Chief made an
excursion to the Lake of Como and to the Ago Maguire. He visited the
Borromean Islands in succession, and occupied himself on his return with
the organization of the towns of Venice, Genoa, and Milan. He sought for
men and found none. "Good God," said he, "how rare men are! There
are eighteen millions in Italy, and I have with difficulty found two,
Dandolo and Melzi."
He appreciated them properly. Dandolo was one of the men who, in those
revolutionary times, reflected the greatest honour upon Italy. After
being a member of the great council of the Cisalpine Republic, he
exercised the functions of Proveditore-General in Dalmatia. It is only
necessary to mention the name of Dandolo to the Dalmatians to learn from
the grateful inhabitants how just and vigorous his administration was.
The services of Melzi are known. He was Chancellor and Keeper of the
Seals of the Italian monarchy, and was created Duke of Lodi.
--[Francesco, Comte de Melzi d'Eryl (1753-1816), vice President of
the Italian Republic, 1802; Chancellor of the Kingdom of Italy,
1805; Duc de Loth, 1807.]--
In those who have seen the world the truth of Napoleon's reproach
excites little astonishment. In a country which, according to
biographies and newspapers, abounds with extraordinary men, a woman of
much talent--(Madame Roland.)--said, "What has most surprised me, since
the elevation of my husband has afforded me the opportunity of knowing
many persons, and particularly those employed in important affairs,
is the universal mediocrity which exists. It surpasses all that the
imagination can conceive, and it is observable in all ranks, from
the clerk to the minister. Without this experience I never could have
believed my species to be so contemptible."
Who does not remember Oxenstiern's remark to his son, who trembled at
going so young to the congress of Munster: "Go, my son. You will see by
what sort of men the world is governed."
CHAPTER VI.
1797.
Napoleon's correspondence--Release of French prisoners at Olmutz--
Negotiations with Austria--Bonaparte's dissatisfaction--Letter of
complaint from Bonaparte to the Executive Directory--Note respecting
the affairs of Venice and the Club of Clichy, written by Bonaparte
and circulated in the army--Intercepted letter of the Emperor
Francis.
During the time when the preliminaries of Leoben suspended military
operations, Napoleon was not anxious to reply immediately to all
letters. He took a fancy to do, not exactly as Cardinal Dubois did, when
he threw into the fire the letters he had received, saying, "There! my
correspondents are answered," but something of the same kind. To satisfy
himself that people wrote too much, and lost, in trifling and useless
answers, valuable time, he told me to open only the letters which came
by extraordinary couriers, and to leave all the rest for three weeks
in the basket. At the end of that time it was unnecessary to reply to
four-fifths of these communications. Some were themselves answers; some
were acknowledgments of letters received; others contained requests
for favours already granted, but of which intelligence had not been
received. Many were filled with complaints respecting provisions, pay,
or clothing, and orders had been issued upon all these points before
the letters were written. Some generals demanded reinforcements, money,
promotion, etc. By not opening their letters Bonaparte was spared the
unpleasing office of refusing. When the General-in-Chief compared the
very small number of letters which it was necessary to answer with the
large number which time alone had answered, he laughed heartily at his
whimsical idea. Would not this mode of proceeding be preferable to that
of causing letters to be opened by any one who may be employed, and
replying to them by a circular to which it is only necessary to attach a
date?
During the negotiations which followed the treaty of Leoben, the
Directory ordered General Bonaparte to demand the liberty of MM. de La
Fayette, Latour-Marbourg, and Bureau de Puzy, detained at Olmutz
since 1792 as prisoners of state. The General-in-Chief executed
this commission with as much pleasure as zeal, but he often met with
difficulties which appeared to be insurmountable. It has been very
incorrectly stated that these prisoners obtained their liberty by one
of the articles of the preliminaries of Leoben. I wrote a great deal
on this subject to the dictation of General Bonaparte, and I joined him
only on the day after the signature of these preliminaries. It was
not till the end of May of the year 1797 that the liberation of these
captives was demanded, and they did not obtain their freedom till the
end of August. There was no article in the treaty, public or secret,
which had reference to them. Neither was it at his own suggestion that
Bonaparte demanded the enlargement of the prisoners, but by order of the
Directory. To explain why they did not go to France immediately after
their liberation from Olmutz, it is necessary to recollect that the
events of the 18th Fructidor occurred between the period when the
first steps were taken to procure their liberty and the date of their
deliverance. It required all Bonaparte's ascendency and vigour of
character to enable him to succeed in his object at the end of three
months.
We had arrived at the month of July, and the negotiations were tediously
protracted. It was impossible to attribute the embarrassment which was
constantly occurring to anything but the artful policy of Austria:
Other affairs occupied Bonaparte. The news from Paris engrossed all
his attention. He saw with extreme displeasure the manner in which the
influential orators of the councils, and pamphlets written in the same
spirit as they spoke, criticised him, his army, his victories, the
affairs of Venice, and the national glory. He was quite indignant at
the suspicions which it was sought to create respecting his conduct and
ulterior views.
The following excerpts, attributed to the pens of Dumouriez or Rivarol,
are specimens of some of the comments of the time:
EXTRACTS OF LETTERS IN "LE SPECTATUER DU NORD" of 1797.
General Bonaparte is, without contradiction, the most brilliant
warrior who has appeared at the head of the armies of the French
Republic. His glory is incompatible with democratic equality, and
the services he has rendered are too great to be recompensed except
by hatred and ingratitude. He is very young, and consequently has
to pursue a long career of accusations and of persecutions.
........Whatever may be the crowning event of his military career,
Bonaparte is still a great man. All his glory is due to himself
alone; because he alone has developed a character and a genius of
which no one else has furnished an example.
EXTRACT OF LETTER OR 18TH APRIL 1797 in "THE SPECTATEUR DU NORD."
Regard, for instance, this wretched war. Uncertain in Champagne, it
becomes daring under Dumouriez, unbridled under the brigands who
fought the Vendeeans, methodic under Pichegru, vulgar under Jourdan,
skilled under Moreau, rash under Bonaparte. Each general has put
the seal of his genius on his career, and has given life or death to
his army. From the commencement of his career Bonaparte has
developed an ardent character which is irritated by obstacles, and a
quickness which forestalls every determination of the enemy. It is
with heavier and heavier blows that, he strikes. He throws his army
on the enemy like an unloosed torrent. He is all action, and he is
so in everything. See him fight, negotiate, decree, punish, all is
the matter of a moment. He compromises with Turin as with Rome. He
invades Modena as he burns Binasco. He never hesitates; to cut the
Gordian knot is always his method.
Bonaparte could not endure to have his conduct predicated; and enraged
at seeing his campaigns depreciated, his glory and that of his army
disparaged,
--[The extraordinary folly of the opposition to the Directory in
throwing Bonaparte on to the side of the Directory, will be seen by
reading the speech of Dumolard, so often referred to by Bourrienne
(Thiers, vol. v. pp. 110-111), and by the attempts of Mathieu Dumas
to remove the impression that the opposition slighted the fortunate
General. (See Dumas, tome iii. p. 80; see also Lanfrey, tome i.
pp. 257-299).]--
and intrigues formed against him in the Club of Clichy, he wrote the
following letter to the Directory:--
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTORY.
I have just received, Citizens-Directors, a copy of the motion of
Dumolard (23d June 1797).
This motion, printed by order of the Assembly, it is evident, is
directed against me. I was entitled, after, having five times
concluded peace, and given a death-blow to the coalition, if not to
civic triumphs, at least to live tranquilly under the protection of
the first magistrates of the Republic. At present I find myself
ill-treated, persecuted, and disparaged, by every shameful means,
which their policy brings to the aid of persecution. I would have
been indifferent to all except that species of opprobrium with which
the first magistrates of the Republic endeavour to overwhelm me.
After having deserved well of my country by my last act, I am not
bound to hear myself accused in a manner as absurd as atrocious.
I have not expected that a manifesto, signed by emigrants, paid by
England, should obtain more credit with the Council of Five Hundred
than the evidence of eighty thousand men--than mine! What! we were
assassinated by traitors--upwards of four hundred men perished; and
the first magistrates of the Republic make it a crime to have
believed the statement for a moment. Upwards of four hundred
Frenchmen were dragged through the streets. They were assassinated
before the eyes of the governor of the fort. They were pierced with
a thousand blows of stilettos, such as I sent you and the
representatives of the French people cause it to be printed, that if
they believed this fact for an instant, they were excusable. I know
well there are societies where it is said, "Is this blood, then, so
pure?"
If only base men, who are dead to the feeling of patriotism and
national glory, had spoken of me thus, I would not have complained.
I would have disregarded it; but I have a right to complain of the
degradation to which the first magistrates of the Republic reduce
those who have aggrandised, and carried the French name to so high a
pitch of glory. Citizens-Directors, I reiterate the demand I made
for my dismissal; I wish to live in tranquillity, if the poniards of
Clichy will allow me to live. You have employed me in negotiations.
I am not very fit to conduct them.
About the same time he drew up the following note respecting the affairs
of Venice, which was printed without the author's name, and circulated
through the whole army:--
NOTE.
Bonaparte, pausing before the gates of Turin, Parma, Rome, and
Vienna, offering peace when he was sure of obtaining nothing but
fresh triumphs--Bonaparte, whose every operation exhibits respect
for religion, morality, and old age; who, instead of heaping, as he
might have done, dishonour upon the Venetians, and humbling their
republic to the earth, loaded her with acts of kindness, and took
such great interest in her glory--is this the same Bonaparte who is
accused of destroying the ancient Government of Venice, and
democratising Genoa, and even of interfering in the affairs of the
prudent and worthy people of the Swiss Cantons? Bonaparte had
passed the Tagliamento, and entered Germany, when insurrections
broke out in the Venetian States; these insurrections were,
therefore, opposed to Bonaparte's project; surely, then, he could
not favour them. When he was in the heart of Germany the Venetians
massacred more than four hundred French troops, drove their quarters
out of Verona, assassinated the unfortunate Laugier, and presented
the spectacle of a fanatical party in arms. He returned to Italy;
and on his arrival, as the winds cease their agitation at the
presence of Neptune, the whole of Italy, which was in commotion,
which was in arms, was restored to order.
However, the deputies from Bonaparte drew up different articles
conformable to the situation of the country, and in order to
prevent, not a revolution in the Government, for the Government was
defunct, and had died a natural death, but a crisis, and to save the
city from convulsion, anarchy, and pillage. Bonaparte spared a
division of his army to save Venice from pillage and massacre. All
the battalions were in the streets of Venice, the disturbers were
put down, and the pillage discontinued. Property and trade were
preserved, when General Baragney d'Hilliers entered Venice with his
division. Bonaparte, as usual, spared blood, and was the protector
of Venice. Whilst the French troops remained they conducted
themselves peaceably, and only interfered to support the provisional
Government.
Bonaparte could not say to the deputies of Venice, who came to ask
his protection and assistance against the populace, who wished to
plunder them, "I cannot meddle with your affairs." He could not say
this, for Venice, and all its territories, had really formed the
theatre of war; and, being in the rear of the army of Italy, the
Republic of Venice was really under the jurisdiction of that army.
The rights of war confer upon a general the powers of supreme police
over the countries which are the seat of war. As the great
Frederick said, "There are no neutrals where there is war."
Ignorant advocates and babblers have asked, in the Club of Clichy,
why we occupy the territory of Venice. These declaimers should
learn war, and they would know that the Adige, the Brenta, and the
Tagliamento, where we have been fighting for two years, are within
the Venetian States. But, gentlemen of Clichy, we are at no loss to
perceive your meaning. You reproach the army of Italy for having
surmounted all difficulties--for subduing all Italy for having twice
passed the Alps--for having marched on Vienna, and obliged Austria
to acknowledge the Republic that, you, men of Clichy, would destroy.
You accuse Bonaparte, I see clearly, for having brought about peace.
But I know you, and I speak in the name of eighty thousand soldiers.
The time is gone when base advocates and wretched declaimers could
induce soldiers to revolt. If, however, you compel them, the
soldiers of the army of Italy will soon appear at the Barrier of
Clichy, with their General. But woe unto you if they do!
Bonaparte having arrived at Palma-Nova, issued a manifesto on the 2d
of May 1797. Arrived at Mestre, where he posted his troops, the
Government sent three deputies to him, with a decree of the Great
Council, without Bonaparte having solicited it and without his
having thought of making any change in the Government of that
country: The governor of Venice was an old man, ninety-nine years-of
age, confined by illness to his apartment. Everyone felt the
necessity of renovating this Government of twelve hundred years'
existence, and to simplify its machinery, in order to preserve its
independence, honour, and glory. It was necessary to deliberate,
first, on the manner of renovating the Government; secondly, on the
means of atoning for the massacre of the French, the iniquity of
which every one was sensible..
Bonaparte, after having received the deputation at Mestre, told them
that in order to obtain satisfaction, for the assassination of his
brethren is arms, he wished the Great Council to arrest the
inquisitors. He afterwards granted them an armistice, and appointed
Milan as the place of conference. The deputies arrived at Milan on
the . . . A negotiation commenced to re-establish harmony between
the Governments. However, anarchy, with all its horrors, afflicted
the city of Venice. Ten thousand Sclavonians threatened to pillage
the shops. Bonaparte acquiesced in the proposition submitted by the
deputies, who promised to verify the loss which had been sustained
by pillage.
Bonaparte also addressed a manifesto to the Doge, which appeared in all
the public papers. It contained fifteen articles of complaint, and was
followed by a decree ordering the French Minister to leave Venice, the
Venetian agents to leave Lombard, and the Lion of St. Mark to be pulled
down in all the Continental territories of Venice.
The General-in-Chief now openly manifested his resolution of marching on
Paris; and this disposition, which was well known in the army, was soon
communicated to Vienna. At this period a letter from the Emperor Francis
II. to his brother, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, was intercepted by
Bonaparte. I translated the letter, which proved to him that Francis
II. was acquainted with his project. He likewise saw with pleasure the
assurances which the Emperor gave his brother of his love of peace,
as well as the wavering of the imperial resolves, and the incertitude
respecting the fate of the Italian princes, which the Emperor easily
perceived to depend on Bonaparte. The Emperor's letter was as follows:--
MY DEAR BROTHER--I punctually received your third letter, containing
a description of your unhappy and delicate situation. You may be
assured that I perceive it as clearly as you do yourself; and I pity
you the more because, in truth, I do not know what advice to give
you. You are, like me, the victim of the former inactivity of the
princes of Italy, who ought, at once, to have acted with all their
united forces, while I still possessed Mantua. If Bonaparte's
project be, as I learn, to establish republics in Italy, this is
likely to end in spreading republicanism over the whole country. I
have already commenced negotiations for peace, and the preliminaries
are ratified. If the French observe them as strictly as I do, and
will do, then your situation will be improved; but already the
French are beginning to disregard them. The principal problem which
remains to be solved is, whether the French Directory approve of
Bonaparte's proceedings, and whether the latter, as appears by some
papers distributed through his army, is not disposed to revolt
against his country, which also seems to be probable, from his
severe conduct towards Switzerland, notwithstanding the assurances
of the Directory, that he had been ordered to leave the country
untouched. If this should be the case, new and innumerable
difficulties may arise. Under these circumstances I can, at
present, advise nothing; for, as to myself, it is only time and the
circumstances of the moment which can point out how I am to act.
There is nothing new here. We are all well; but the heat is
extraordinary. Always retain your friendship and love for me.
Make my compliments to your wife, and believe me ever
Your best Friend and Brother,
FRANCIS.
HETZENDORF, July 20, 1797.
CHAPTER VII.
1797.
Unfounded reports--Carnot--Capitulation of Mantua--General Clarke--
The Directory yields to Bonaparte--Berthier--Arrival of Eugène
Beauharnais at Milan--Comte Delannay d'Entraigues--His interview
with Bonaparte--Seizure of his papers--Copy of one describing a
conversation between him and Comte de Montgaillard--The Emperor
Francis--The Prince de Condé and General Pichegru.
While Bonaparte was expressing his opinion on his campaigns and the
injustice with which they had been criticised, it was generally believed
that Carnot dictated to him from a closet in the Luxembourg all the
plans of his operations, and that Berthier was at his right hand,
without whom, notwithstanding Carnot's plans, which were often
mere romances, he would have been greatly embarrassed. This twofold
misrepresentation was very current for some time; and, notwithstanding
it was contrary to the evidence of facts, it met with much credence,
particularly abroad. There was, however, no foundation for the opinion:
Let us render to Caesar that which is Caesar's due. Bonaparte was a
creator in the art of war, and no imitator. That no man was superior to
him in that art is incontestable. At the commencement of the glorious
campaign in Italy the Directory certainly sent out instructions to him;
but he always followed his own plans, and continually, wrote back that
all would be lost if movements conceived at a distance from the scene of
action were to be blindly executed. He also offered to resign. At length
the Directory perceived the impossibility of prescribing operations of
war according to the view of persons in Paris; and when I became the
secretary of the General-in-Chief I saw a despatch of the Directory,
dated May, 1796, committing the whole plan of the campaign to his
judgment; and assuredly there was not a single operation or movement
which did not originate with him. Carnot was obliged to yield to his
firmness. When the Directory, towards the end of 1796, felt disposed to
treat for peace, General Clarke, appointed to conclude the armistice,
was authorised, in case Mantua should not be taken before the
negotiation was brought to a close, to propose leaving the blockade in
statu quo. Had such a condition been adopted it would doubtless had been
stipulated that the Emperor of Austria should be allowed to provision
the garrison and inhabitants of the city day by day. Bonaparte,
convinced that an armistice without Mantua would by no means conduce to
peace, earnestly opposed such a condition. He carried his point; Mantua
capitulated, and the result is well known. Yet he was not blind to the
hazards of war; while preparing, during the blockade, an assault on
Mantua, he wrote thus to the Directory: "A bold stroke of this nature
depends absolutely for success on a dog or a goose." This was about a
question of surprise.
Bonaparte was exceedingly sensitive to the rumours which reached him
respecting Carnot and Berthier. He one day said to me: "What gross
stupidity, is this? It is very well to say to a general, 'Depart for
Italy, gain battles, and sign a peace at Vienna;' but the execution
that is not so easy. I never attached any value to the plans which the
Directory sent me. Too many circumstances occur on the spot to modify
them. The movement of a single corps of the enemy's army may confound a
whole plan arranged by the fireside. Only fools can believe such stuff!
As for Berthier, since you have been with me, you see what he is--he is
a blockhead. Yet it is he who does it all; it is he who gathers a great
part of the glory of the army of Italy." I told him that this erroneous
opinion could not last long; that each person would be allowed his
merit, and that at least posterity would judge rightly. This observation
seemed to please him.
Berthier was a man full of honour, courage, and probity, and exceedingly
regular in the performance of his duties. Bonaparte's attachment to
him arose more from habit than liking. Berthier did not concede with
affability, and refused with harshness. His abrupt, egotistic, and
careless manners did not, however, create him many enemies, but, at the
same time, did not make him many friends. In consequence of our frequent
intercourse he had contracted the friendly practice of speaking to me in
the second person singular; but he never wrote to me in that style.
He was perfectly acquainted with the disposition of all the corps, and
could name their commanders and their respective forces. Day or night he
was always at hand and made out with clearness all the secondary orders
which resulted from the dispositions of the General-in-Chief. In fact,
he was, an excellent head of the staff of an army; but that is all the
praise that can be given, and indeed he wished for no greater. He had
such entire confidence in Bonaparte, and looked up to him with so much
admiration, that he never would have presumed to oppose his plans or
give any advise. Berthier's talent was very limited, and of a special
nature; his character was one of extreme weakness. Bonaparte's
friendship for him and the frequency of his name in the bulletins and
official despatches have unduly elevated his reputation. Bonaparte,
giving his opinion to the Directory respecting the generals employed in
his army, said, "Berthier has talents, activity, courage, character--all
in his favour." This was in 1796. He then made an eagle of him; at St.
Helena he called him a goose. He should neither have, raised him so high
nor sunk him so low.
Berthier neither merited the one nor the other. Bonaparte was a man of
habit; he was much attached to all the people about him, and did not
like new faces. Berthier loved him. He carried out his orders well, and
that enabled him to pass off with his small portion of talent.
It was about this time that young Beauharnais came to Milan. He was
seventeen years old. He had lived in Paris with his mother since the
departure of Bonaparte. On his arrival he immediately entered the
service as 'aide de camp' to the General-in-Chief, who felt for him an
affection which was justified by his good qualities.
Comte Delaunay d'Entraigues, well known in the French Revolution, held
a diplomatic post at Venice when that city was threatened by the French.
Aware of his being considered the agent of all the machinations then
existing against France, and especially against the army of Italy, he
endeavoured to escape; but the city being, surrounded, he was seized,
together with all his papers. The apparently frank manners of the Count
pleased Bonaparte, who treated him with indulgence. His papers were
restored, with the exception of three relating to political subjects. He
afterwards fled to Switzerland, and ungratefully represented himself as
having been oppressed by Bonaparte. His false statements have induced
many writers to make of him an heroic victim. He was assassinated by his
own servant in 1802.
I kept a copy of one of his most interesting papers. It has been much
spoken of, and Fauche-Borel has, I believe, denied its authenticity and
the truth of its contents. The manner in which it fell into the hands of
the General-in-Chief, the importance attached to it by d'Entraigues, the
differences I have observed between the manuscript I copied and versions
which I have since read, and the knowledge of its authenticity, having
myself transcribed it from the handwriting of the Count, who in my
presence vouched for the truth of the facts it details--all these
circumstances induce me to insert it here, and compel me to doubt that
it was, as Fauche-Borel asserted, a fabrication.
This manuscript is entitled, 'My Conversation with Comte de
Montgaillard, on the 4th of December 1796, from Six in the Afternoon
till midnight, in the presence of the Abbe Dumontel.'
[On my copy are written the words, "Extracts from this conversation,
made by me, from the original." I omitted what I thought unimportant,
and transcribed only the most interesting passages. Montgaillard spoke
of his escape, of his flight to England, of his return to France, of his
second departure, and finally of his arrival at Bale in August 1795.]
The Prince de Condé soon afterwards, he said, called me to Mulheim,
and knowing the connections I had had in France, proposed that I
should sound General Pichegru, whose headquarters were at Altkirch,
where he then was, surrounded by four representatives of the
Convention.
I immediately went to Neufchatel, taking with me four or five
hundred Louis. I cast my eyes on Fauche-Borel, the King's printer
at Neufchatel, and also yours and mine, as the instrument by which
to make the first overture, and I selected as his colleague M.
Courant, a native of Neufchatel. I persuaded them to undertake the
business: I supplied them with instructions and passports. They
were foreigners: so I furnished them with all the necessary
documents to enable them to travel in France as foreign merchants
and purchasers of national property. I went to Bale to wait for
news from them.
On the 13th of August Fauche and Courant set out for the
headquarters at Altkirch. They remained there eight days without
finding an opportunity to speak to Pichegru, who was surrounded by
representatives and generals. Pichegru observed them, and seeing
them continually wheresoever he went, he conjectured that they had
something to say to him, and he called out in a loud voice, while
passing them, "I am going to Huningen." Fauche contrived to throw
himself in his way at the end of a corridor. Pichegru observed him,
and fixed his eyes upon him, and although it rained in torrents, he
said aloud, "I am going to dine at the chateau of Madame Salomon."
This chateau was three leagues from Huningen, and Madame Salomon was
Pichegru's mistress.
Fauche set off directly to the chateau, and begged to speak with
General Pichegru. He told the general that, being in the possession
of some of J. J. Rousseau's manuscripts, he wished to publish them
and dedicate them to him. "Very good," said Pichegru; "but I should
like to read them first; for Rousseau professed principles of
liberty in which I do not concur, and with which I should not like
to have my name connected."--"But," said Fauche, "I have something
else to speak to you about."--"What is it, and on whose behalf?"--
"On behalf of the Prince de Condé."--"Be silent, then, and follow
me."
He conducted Fauche alone into a retired cabinet, and said to
him, "Explain yourself; what does Monseigneur le Prince de Condé
wish to communicate to me?" Fauche was embarrassed, and stammered
out something unintelligible. "Compose yourself." said Pichegru;
"my sentiments are the same, as the Prince de Condé's. What does he
desire of me?" Fauche, encouraged by these words, replied, "The
Prince wishes to join you. He counts on you, and wishes to connect
himself with you."
"These are vague and unmeaning words," observed Pichegru. "All this
amounts to nothing. Go back, and ask for written instructions, and
return in three days to my headquarters at Altkirch. You will find
me alone precisely at six o'clock in the evening."
Fauche immediately departed, arrived at Bale, and informed me of all
that had passed. I spent the night in writing a letter to General
Pichegru. (The Prince de Condé, who was invested with all the
powers of Louis XVIII, except that of granting the 'cordon-bleu',
had, by a note in his own handwriting, deputed to me all his powers,
to enable me to maintain a negotiation with General Pichegru).
I therefore wrote to the general, stating, in the outset, everything
that was calculated to awaken in him that noble sentiment of pride
which is the instinct of great minds; and after pointing out to him
the vast good it was in his power to effect, I spoke of the
gratitude of the King, and the benefit he would confer on his
country by restoring royalty. I told him that his Majesty would
make him a marshal of France, and governor of Alsace, as no one
could better govern the province than he who had so valiantly
defended it. I added that he would have the 'cordon-rouge', the
Chateau de Chambord, with its park, and twelve pieces of cannon
taken from the Austrians, a million of ready money, 200,000 livres
per annum, and an hotel in Paris; that the town of Arbors,
Pichegru's native place, should bear his name, and be exempt from
all taxation for twenty-five years; that a pension of 200,000 livres
would be granted to him, with half reversion to his wife, and 50,000
livres to his heirs for ever, until the extinction of his family.
Such were the offers, made in the name of the King, to General
Pichegru. (Than followed the boons to be granted to the officers
and soldiers, an amnesty to the people, etc). I added that the
Prince de Coude desired that he would proclaim the King in the
camps, surrender the city of Huningen to him, and join him for the
purpose of marching on Paris.
Pichegru, having read my letter with great attention, said to
Fauche, "This is all very well; but who is this M. de Montgaillard
who talks of being thus authorised? I neither know him nor his
signature. Is he the author?"--"Yes," replied Fauche. "But," said
Pichegru, "I must, before making any negotiation on my part, be
assured that the Prince de Condé, with whose handwriting I am well
acquainted, approves of all that has been written is his name by M.
de Montgaillard. Return directly to M. de Montgaillard, and tell
him to communicate my answer to the Prince."
Fauche immediately departed, leaving M. Courant with Pichegru. He
arrived at Bale at nine o'clock in the evening. I set off directly
for Malheim, the Prince de Condé's headquarters, and arrived there
at half-past twelve. The Prince was in bed, but I awoke him. He
made me sit down by his bedside, and our conference then commenced.
After having informed the Prince of the state of affairs, all that
remained was to prevail on him to write to General Pichegru to
confirm the truth of what had been stated in his name. This matter,
which appeared so simple, and so little liable to objection,
occupied the whole night. The Prince, as brave a man as can
possibly be, inherited nothing from the great Condé but his
undaunted courage. In other respects he is the most insignificant
of men; without resources of mind, or decision of character;
surrounded by men of mediocrity, and even baseness; and though he
knows them well, he suffers himself to be governed by them.
It required nine hours of hard exertion on my part to get him to
write to General Pichegru a letter of eight lines. 1st. He did not
wish it to be in his handwriting. 2d. He objected to dating it
3d. He was unwilling to call him General, lest he should recognise
the republic by giving that title. 4th. He did not like to address
it, or affix his seal to it.
At length he consented to all, and wrote to Pichegru that he might
place full confidence in the letters of the Comte de Montgaillard.
When all this was settled, after great difficulty, the Prince next
hesitated about sending the letter; but at length he yielded. I set
off for Bale, and despatched Fauche to Altkirch, to General
Pichegru.
The general, after reading the letter of eight lines, and
recognising the handwriting and signature, immediately returned it
to Fauche, saying, "I have seen the signature: that is enough for
me. The word of the Prince is a pledge with which every Frenchman
ought to be satisfied. Take back his letter." He then inquired
what was the Prince's wish. Fauche explained that he wished--1st.
That Pichegru should proclaim the King to his troops, and hoist the
White flag. 2d. That he should deliver up Huningen to the Prince.
Pichegru objected to this. "I will never take part in such a plot,"
said he; "I have no wish to make the third volume of La Fayette and
Dumouriez. I know my resources; they are as certain as they are
vast. Their roots are not only in my army, but in Paris, in the
Convention, in the departments, and in the armies of those generals,
my colleagues, who think as I do. I wish to do nothing by halves.
There must be a complete end of the present state of things. France
cannot continue a Republic. She must have a king, and that king
must be Louis XVIII. But we must not commence the counter-
revolution until we are certain of effecting it. 'Surely and
rightly' is my motto. The Prince's plan leads to nothing. He would
be driven from Huningen in four days, and in fifteen I should be
lost. My army is composed both of good men and bad. We must
distinguish between them, and, by a bold stroke, assure the former
of the impossibility of drawing back, and that their only safety
lies in success. For this purpose I propose to pass the Rhine, at
any place and any time that may be thought necessary. In the
advance I will place those officers on whom I can depend, and who
are of my way of thinking. I will separate the bad, and place them
in situations where they can do no harm, and their position shall be
such as to prevent them from uniting. That done, as soon as I shall
be on the other side of the Rhine, I will proclaim the King, and
hoist the white flag. Condé's corps and the Emperor's army will
then join us. I will immediately repass the Rhine, and re-enter
France. The fortresses will be surrendered, and will be held in the
King's name by the Imperial troops. Having joined Condé's army, I
immediately advance. All my means now develop themselves on every
side. We march upon Paris, and in a fortnight will be there. But
it is necessary that you should know that you must give the French
soldier wine and a crown in his hand if you would have him cry 'Vive
le Roi! Nothing must be wanting at the first moment. My army must
be well paid as far as the fourth or fifth march in the French
territory. There go and tell all this to the Prince, show my
handwriting, and bring me back his answer."
During these conferences Pichegru was surrounded by four
representatives of the people, at the head of whom was Merlin de
Thionville, the most insolent and the most ferocious of inquisitors.
These men, having the orders of the Committee, pressed Pichegru to
pass the Rhine and go and besiege Manheim, where Merlin had an
understanding with the inhabitants. Thus, if on the one hand the
Committee by its orders made Pichegru wish to hasten the execution
of his plan, on the other he had not a moment to lose; for to delay
obeying the orders of the four representatives was to render himself
suspected. Every consideration, therefore, called upon the Prince
to decide, and decide promptly. Good sense required him also to do
another thing, namely, to examine without prejudice what sort of man
Pichegru was, to consider the nature of the sacrifice he made, and
what were his propositions. Europe acknowledged his talents, and he
had placed the Prince in a condition to judge of his good faith.
Besides, his conduct and his plan afforded fresh proofs of his
sincerity. By passing the Rhine and placing himself between the
armies of Condé and Wurmser, he rendered desertion impossible; and,
if success did not attend his attempt, his own acts forced him to
become an emigrant. He left in the power of his fierce enemies his
wife, his father, his children. Everything bore testimony to his
honesty; the talents he had shown were a pledge for his genius, his
genius for his resources; and the sacrifices he would have to make
in case of failure proved that he was confident of success.
What stupid conceit was it for any one to suppose himself better
able to command Pichegru's army than Pichegru himself!--to pretend
to be better acquainted with the frontier provinces than Pichegru,
who commanded them, and had placed his friends in them as commanders
of the towns! This self-conceit, however, ruined the monarchy at
this time, as well as at so many others. The Prince de Condé, after
reading the plan, rejected it in toto. To render it successful it
was necessary to make the Austrians parties to it. This Pichegru
exacted, but the Prince of Condé would not hear a word of it,
wishing to have confined to himself the glory of effecting the
counter-revolution. He replied to Pichegru by a few observations,
and concluded his answer by returning to his first plan--that
Pichegru should proclaim the King without passing the Rhine, and
should give up Huningen; that then the army of Condé by itself, and
without the aid of the Austrians, would join him. In that case he
could promise 100,000 crowns in louis, which he had at Bale, and
1,400,000 livres, which he had in good bills payable at sight.
No argument or entreaty had any effect on the Prince de Condo. The
idea of communicating his plan to Wurmser and sharing his glory with
him rendered him blind and deaf to every consideration. However, it
was necessary to report to Pichegru the observations of the Prince
de Condé, and Courant was commissioned to do so.
This document appeared so interesting to me that while Bonaparte was
sleeping I was employed in copying it. Notwithstanding posterior and
reiterated denials of its truth, I believe it to be perfectly correct.
Napoleon had ordered plans of his most famous battles to be engraved,
and had paid in advance for them. The work was not done quickly enough
for him. He got angry, and one day said to his geographer, Bacler
d'Albe, whom he liked well enough, "Ah! do hurry yourself, and think
all this is only the business of a moment. If you make further delay you
will sell nothing; everything is soon forgotten!"
We were now in July, and the negotiations were carried on with a
tardiness which showed that something was kept in reserve on both sides.
Bonaparte at this time was anything but disposed to sign a peace,
which he always hoped to be able to make at Vienna, after a campaign in
Germany, seconded by the armies of the Rhine and the Sambre-et-Meuse.
The minority of the Directory recommended peace on the basis of
the preliminaries, but the majority wished for more honourable and
advantageous terms; while Austria, relying on troubles breaking out in
France, was in no haste to conclude a treaty. In these circumstances
Bonaparte drew up a letter to be sent to the Emperor of Austria,
in which he set forth the moderation of France; but stated that, in
consequence of the many delays, nearly all hope of peace had vanished.
He advised the Emperor not to rely on difficulties arising in France,
and doubted, if war should continue and the Emperor be successful in the
next campaign, that he would obtain a more advantageous peace than was
now at his option. This letter was never sent to the Emperor, but was
communicated as the draft of a proposed despatch to the Directory.
The Emperor Francis, however, wrote an autograph letter to the
General-in-Chief of the army of Italy, which will be noticed when I come
to the period of its reception: It is certain that Bonaparte at this
time wished for war. He was aware that the Cabinet of Vienna was playing
with him, and that the Austrian Ministers expected some political
convulsion in Paris, which they hoped would be favourable to the
Bourbons. He therefore asked for reinforcements. His army consisted of
35,900 men, and he desired it to be raised to 60,000 infantry and 10,000
cavalry ready for the field.
General Desaix, profiting by the preliminaries of Leoben, came in the
end of July to visit the scene of the army of Italy's triumphs. His
conversations with Bonaparte respecting the army of the Rhine were
far from giving him confidence in his military situation in Italy,
or assurance of support from that army in the event of hostilities
commencing beyond the mountains. It was at this period that their
intimacy began. Bonaparte conceived for Desaix the greatest esteem and
the sincerest friendship.
--[Desaix discontented with the conduct of affairs in Germany,
seceded from the army of the Rhine, to which he belonged, to join
that of Napoleon. He was sent to Italy to organise the part of the
Egyptian expedition starting from Civita Vecchia. He took with him
his two aides de camp, Rapp and Savary (later Duc de Rovigo), both
of whom, on his death, were given the same post with Bonaparte.]--
When Desaix was named temporary commander of the force called the army
of England, during the absence of General Bonaparte, the latter wrote
to the Directory that they could not have chosen a more distinguished
officer than Desaix; these sentiments he never belied. The early death
of Desaix alone could break their union, which, I doubt not, would
eventually have had great influence on the political and military career
of General Bonaparte.
All the world knows the part which the General-in-Chief of the army of
Italy took at the famous crisis of the 18th Fructidor; his proclamation,
his addresses to the army, and his celebrated order of the day.
Bonaparte went much into detail on this subject at St. Helena; and
I shall now proceed to state what I knew at the time respecting that
memorable event, which was in preparation in the month of June.
CHAPTER VIII.
1797.
The royalists of the interior--Bonaparte's intention of marching on
Paris with 25,000 men--His animosity against the emigrants and the
Clichy Club--His choice between the two parties of the Directory--
Augereau's order of the day against the word 'Monsieur'--Bonaparte
wishes to be made one of the five Directors--He supports the
majority of the Directory--La Vallette, Augereau, and Bernadotte
sent to Paris--Interesting correspondence relative to the 18th
Fructidor.
Bonaparte had long observed the struggle which was going on between the
partisans of royalty and the Republic. He was told that royalism was
everywhere on the increase. All the generals who returned from Paris
to the army complained of the spirit of reaction they had noticed.
Bonaparte was constantly urged by his private correspondents to take
one side or the other, or to act for himself. He was irritated by the
audacity of the enemies of the Republic, and he saw plainly that the
majority of the councils had an evident ill-will towards him. The
orators of the Club of Clichy missed no opportunity of wounding his
self-love in speeches and pamphlets. They spared no insults, disparaged
his success, and bitterly censured his conduct in Italy, particularly
with respect to Venice. Thus his services were recompensed by hatred or
ingratitude. About this time he received a pamphlet, which referred
to the judgments pronounced upon him by the German journals, and more
particularly by the Spectator of the North, which he always made me
translate.
Bonaparte was touched to the quick by the comparison make between him
and Moreau, and by the wish to represent him as foolhardy ("savants sous
Moreau, fougueuse sous Buonaparte"). In the term of "brigands," applied
to the generals who fought in La Vendée, he thought he recognized the
hand of the party he was about to attack and overthrow. He was tired of
the way in which Moreau's system of war was called "savants." But what
grieved him still more was to see sitting in the councils of the nation
Frenchmen who were detractors and enemies of the national glory.
He urged the Directory to arrest the emigrants, to destroy the influence
of foreigners, to recall the armies, to suppress the journals sold to
England, such as the 'Quotidienne', the 'Memorial', and the 'The', which
he accused of being more sanguinary than Marat ever was. In case
of there being no means of putting a stop to assassinations and the
influence of Louis XVIII., he offered to resign.
His resolution of passing the Alps with 25,000 men and marching by Lyons
and Paris was known in the capital, and discussions arose respecting the
consequences of this passage of another Rubicon. On the 17th of August
1797 Carnot wrote to him: "People attribute to you a thousand absurd
projects. They cannot believe that a man who has performed so many great
exploits can be content to live as a private citizen." This observation
applied to Bonaparte's reiterated request to be permitted to retire
from the service on account of the state of his health, which, he
said, disabled him from mounting his horse, and to the need which he
constantly urged of having two years' rest.
The General-in-Chief was justly of opinion that the tardiness of the
negotiations and the difficulties which incessantly arose were founded
on the expectation of an event which would change the government of
France, and render the chances of peace more favourable to Austria. He
still urgently recommended the arrest of the emigrants, the stopping of
the presses of the royalist journals, which he said were sold to England
and Austria, the suppression of the Clichy Club. This club was held at
the residence of Gerard Desodieres, in the Rue de Clichy. Aubry, was
one of its warmest partisans, and he was the avowed enemy of the
revolutionary cause which Bonaparte advocated at this period. Aubry's
conduct at this time, together with the part he had taken in provoking
Bonaparte's dismissal in 1795, inspired the General with an implacable
hatred of him.
Bonaparte despised the Directory, which he accused of weakness,
indecision, pusillanimity, wasteful expenditure, of many errors, and
perseverance in a system degrading to the national glory.
--[The Directory merited those accusations. The following sketches
of two of their official sittings present a singular contrast:
"At the time that the Directory were first installed in the
Luxembourg (27th October 1795)." says M. Baileul, "there was hardly
a single article of furniture in it. In a small room, round a
little broken table, one of the legs of which had given way from
age, on which table they had deposited a quire of letter-paper, and
a writing desk 'a calamet', which luckily they had had the
precaution to bring with them from the Committee of Public safety,
seated on four rush-bottomed chairs, in front of some logs of wood
ill-lighted, the whole borrowed from the porter Dupont; who would
believe that it was in this deplorable condition that the member's
of the new Government, after having examined all the difficulties,
nay, let me add, all the horrors of their situation, resolved to
confront all obstacles, and that they would either deliver France
from the abyss in which she was plunged or perish in the attempt?
They drew up on a sheet of letter-paper the act by which they
declared themselves constituted, and immediately forwarded it to the
Legislative Bodies."
And the Comte de La Vallette, writing to M. Cuvillier Fleury, says:
"I saw our five kings, dressed in the robes of Francis I., his hat,
his pantaloons, and his lace: the face of La Reveilliere looked like
a cork upon two pins, with the black and greasy hair of Clodion. M.
de Talleyrand, in pantaloons of the colour of wine dregs, sat in a
folding chair at the feet of the Director Barras, in the Court of
the Petit Luxembourg, and gravely presented to his sovereigns as
ambassador from the Grand Duke of Tuscany, while the French were
eating his master's dinner, from the soup to the cheese. At the
right hand there were fifty musicians and singers of the Opera,
Laine, Lays, Regnault, and the actresses, not all dead of old age,
roaring a patriotic cantata to the music of Mehul. Facing them, on
another elevation, there were two hundred young and beautiful women,
with their arms and bosoms bare, all in ecstasy at the majesty of
our Pentarchy and the happiness of the Republic. They also wore
tight flesh-coloured pantaloons, with rings on their toes. That was
a sight that never will be seen again. A fortnight after this
magnificent fete, thousands of families wept over their banished
fathers, forty-eight departments were deprived of their
representatives, and forty editors of newspapers were forced to go
and drink the waters of the Elbe, the Synamary or the Ohio! It
would be a curious disquisition to seek to discover what really were
at that time the Republic and Liberty."]
He knew that the Clichy party demanded his dismissal and arrest. He was
given to understand that Dumolard was one of the most decided against
him, and that, finally, the royalist party was on the point of
triumphing.
Before deciding for one party or the other Bonaparte first thought of
himself. He did not imagine that he had yet achieved enough to venture
on possessing himself of that power which certainly he might easily have
obtained. He therefore contented himself with joining the party
which was, for the moment, supported by public opinion. I know he was
determined to march upon Paris with 25,000 men had affairs taken a
turn unfavourable to the Republic, which he preferred to royalty. He
cautiously formed his plan. To defend the Directory was, he conceived,
to defend his own future fortune; that is to say, it was protecting a
power which appeared to have no other object than to keep a place for
him until his return.
The parties which rose up in Paris produced a reaction in the army.
The employment of the word 'Monsieur' had occasioned quarrels, and even
bloodshed. General Augereau, in whose division these contests had
taken place, published an order of the day, setting forth that every
individual in his division who should use the word 'Monsieur', either
verbally or in writing, under any pretence whatever, should be deprived
of his rank, and declared incapable of serving in the Republican armies.
This order was read at the head of each company.
Bonaparte viewed the establishment of peace as the close of his military
career. Repose and inactivity were to him unbearable. He sought to take
part in the civil affairs of the Republic, and was desirous of becoming
one of the five Directors, convinced that, if he obtained that object,
he would speedily stand single and alone. The fulfilment of this wish
would have prevented the Egyptian expedition, and placed the imperial
crown much sooner upon his head. Intrigues were carried on in Paris in
his name, with the view of securing to him a legal dispensation on the
score of age. He hoped, though he was but eight-and-twenty, to supersede
one of the two Directors who were to go out of office.
--[The Directors had to be forty years of ago before they could be
appointed.]--
His brothers and their friends made great exertions for the success of
the project, which, however, was not officially proposed, because it was
too adverse to the prevailing notions of the day, and seemed too early a
violation of the constitution of the year III., which, nevertheless, was
violated in another way a few months after.
The members of the Directory were by no means anxious to have Bonaparte
for their colleague. They dissembled, and so did he. Both parties were
lavish of their mutual assurances of friendship, while they cordially
hated each other. The Directory, however, appealed for the support of
Bonaparte, which he granted; but his subsequent conduct clearly proves
that the maintenance of the constitution of the year III. was a mere
pretext. He indeed defended it meanwhile, because, by aiding the triumph
of the opposite party, he could not hope to preserve the influence which
he exercised over the Directory. I know well that, in case of the Clichy
party gaining the ascendency, he was determined to cross the Alps with
his army, and to assemble all the friends of the Republic at Lyons,
thence to march upon Paris.
In the Memorial of St. Helena it is stated, in reference to the 18th
Fructidor, "that the triumph of the majority of the councils was his
desire and hope, we are inclined to believe from the following fact,
viz., that at the crisis of the contest between the two factions a
secret resolution was drawn up by three of the members of the Directory,
asking him for three millions to support the attack on the councils, and
that Napoleon, under various pretences, did not send the money, though
he might easily have done so."
This is not very comprehensible. There was no secret resolution of the
members who applied for the three millions. It was Bonaparte who offered
the money, which, however, he did not send; it was he who despatched
Augereau; and he who wished for the triumph of the Directorial majority.
His memory served him badly at St. Helena, as will be seen from some
correspondence which I shall presently submit to the reader. It is very
certain that he did offer the money to the Directory; that is to say, to
three of its members.
--[Barras, La Revelliere-Lepaux, and Rewbell, the three Directors
who carried out the 'coup d'etat' of the 18th Fructidor against
their colleagues Carnot and Bartholemy. (See Thiers' "French
Revolution", vol. v. pp. 114,139, and 163.)]--
Bonaparte had so decidedly formed his resolution that on the 17th of
July, wishing to make Augereau his confidant, he sent to Vicenza for him
by an extraordinary courier.
Bonaparte adds that when Bottot, the confidential agent of Barras, came
to Passeriano, after the 18th Fructidor, he declared to him that as soon
as La Vallette should make him acquainted with the real state of things
the money should be transmitted. The inaccuracy of these statements will
be seen in the correspondence relative to the event. In thus distorting
the truth Napoleon's only object could have been to proclaim his
inclination for the principles he adopted and energetically supported
from the year 1800, but which, previously to that period, he had with no
less energy opposed.
He decidedly resolved to support the majority of the Directory, and
to oppose the royalist faction; the latter, which was beginning to be
important, would have been listened to had it offered power to him.
About the end of July he sent his 'aide de camp' La Vallette to Paris.
La Vallette was a man of good sense and education, pleasing manners,
pliant temper, and moderate opinions. He was decidedly devoted to
Bonaparte. With his instructions he received a private cipher to enable
him to correspond with the General-in-Chief.
Augereau went, after La Vallette, on the 27th of July. Bonaparte
officially wrote to the Directory that Augereau "had solicited leave to
go to Paris on his own private business."
But the truth is, Augereau was sent expressly to second the revolution
which was preparing against the Clichy party and the minority of the
Directory.
Bonaparte made choice of Augereau because he knew his staunch republican
principles, his boldness, and his deficiency in political talent. He
thought him well calculated to aid a commotion, which his own presence
with the army of Italy prevented him from directing in person; and
besides, Augereau was not an ambitious rival who might turn events
to his own advantage. Napoleon said, at St. Helena, that he sent the
addresses of the army of Italy by Augereau because he was a decided
supporter of the opinions of the day. That was the true reason for
choosing him.
Bernadotte was subsequently despatched on the same errand. Bonaparte's
pretence for sending him was, that he wished to transmit to the
Directory four flags, which, out of the twenty-one taken at the battle
of Rivoli, had been left, by mistake, at Peschiera. Bernadotte, however,
did not take any great part in the affair. He was always prudent.
The crisis of the 18th Fructidor, which retarded for three years the
extinction of the pentarchy, presents one of the most remarkable events
of its short existence. It will be seen how the Directors extricated
themselves from this difficulty. I subjoin the correspondence relating
to this remarkable episode of our Revolution, cancelling only such
portions of it as are irrelevant to the subject. It exhibits several
variations from the accounts given by Napoleon at St. Helena to his
noble companions in misfortune.
Augereau thus expressed himself on the 18th Fructidor (4th September
1797):--
At length, General, my mission is accomplished, and the promises of
the army of Italy are fulfilled. The fear of being anticipated has
caused measures to be hurried.
At midnight I despatched orders to all the troops to march towards
the points specified. Before day all the bridges and principal
places were planted with cannon. At daybreak the halls of the
councils were surrounded, the guards of the councils were amicably
mingled with our troops, and the members, of whom I send you a list,
were arrested and conveyed to the Temple. The greater number have
escaped, and are being pursued. Carnot has disappeared.'
--[In 1824 Louis XVIII. sent letters of nobility to those members
of the two councils who were, as it was termed, 'fructidorized'.
--Bourrienne]--
Paris is tranquil, and every one is astounded at an event which
promised to be awful, but which has passed over like a fete.
The stout patriots of the faubourgs proclaim the safety of the
Republic, and the black collars are put down. It now remains for
the wise energy of the Directory and the patriots of the two
councils to do the rest. The place of sitting is changed, and the
first operations promise well. This event is a great step towards
peace; which it is your task finally to secure to us.
On the 24th Fructidor (10th September 1797) Augereau writes:
My 'aide de camp', de Verine, will acquaint you with the events of
the 18th. He is also to deliver to you some despatches from the
Directory, where much uneasiness is felt at not hearing from you.
No less uneasiness is experienced on seeing in Paris one of your
'aides de camp',--(La Vallette)--whose conduct excites the
dissatisfaction and distrust of the patriots, towards whom he has
behaved very ill.
The news of General Clarke's recall will have reached you by this
time, and I suspect has surprised you. Amongst the thousand and one
motives which have determined the Government to take this step may
be reckoned his correspondence with Carnot, which has been
communicated to me, and in which he treated the generals of the army
of Italy as brigands.
Moreau has sent the Directory a letter which throws a new light on
Pichegru's treason. Such baseness is hardly to be conceived.
The Government perseveres in maintaining the salutary measures which
it has adopted. I hope it will be in vain for the remnant of the
factions to renew their plots. The patriots will continue united.
Fresh troops having been summoned to Paris, and my presence at their
head being considered indispensable by the Government, I shall not
have the satisfaction of seeing you so soon as I hoped. This has
determined me to send for my horses and carriages, which I left at
Milan.
Bernadotte wrote to Bonaparte on the 24th Fructidor as follows:--
The arrested deputies are removed to Rochefort, where they will be
embarked for the island of Madagascar. Paris is tranquil. The
people at first heard of the arrest of the deputies with
indifference. A feeling of curiosity soon drew them into the
streets; enthusiasm followed, and cries of 'Vive la Republique',
which had not been heard for a long time, now resounded in every
street. The neighbouring departments have expressed their
discontent. That of Allier has, it is said, protested; but it will
cut a fine figure. Eight thousand men are marching to the environs
of Paris. Part is already within the precincts; under the orders of
General Lemoine. The Government has it at present in its power to
elevate public spirit; but everybody feels that it is necessary the
Directory should be surrounded by tried and energetic Republicans.
Unfortunately a host of men, without talent and resources, already
suppose that what has taken place has been done only in order to
advance their interests. Time is necessary to set all to rights.
The armies have regained consistency. The soldiers of the interior
are esteemed, or at least feared. The emigrants fly, and the
non-juring priests conceal themselves. Nothing could have happened
more fortunately to consolidate the Republic.
Bonaparte wrote as follows, to the Directory on the 26th Fructidor:
Herewith you will receive a proclamation to the army, relative to
the events of the 18th. I have despatched the 45th demi-brigade,
commanded by General Bon, to Lyons, together with fifty cavalry;
also General Lannes, with the 20th light infantry and the 9th
regiment of the line, to Marseilles. I have issued the enclosed
proclamation in the southern departments. I am about to prepare a
proclamation for the inhabitants of Lyons, as soon as I obtain some
information of what may have passed there.
If I find there is the least disturbance, I will march there with
the utmost rapidity. Believe that there are here a hundred thousand
men, who are alone sufficient to make the measures you have taken to
place liberty on a solid basis be respected. What avails it that we
gain victories if we are not respected in our country. In speaking
of Paris, one may parody what Cassius said of Rome: "Of what use to
call her queen on the banks of the Seine, when she is the slave of
Pitt's gold?"
After the 18th Fructidor Augereau wished to have his reward for his
share in the victory, and for the service which he had rendered. He
wished to be a Director. He got, however, only the length of being a
candidate; honour enough for one who had merely been an instrument on
that day.
CHAPTER IX.
1797.
Bonaparte's joy at the result of the 18th Fructidor.--His letter to
Augereau--His correspondence with the Directory and proposed
resignation--Explanation of the Directory--Bottot--General Clarke--
Letter from Madame Bacciocchi to Bonaparte--Autograph letter of the
Emperor Francis to Bonaparte--Arrival of Count Cobentzel--Autograph
note of Bonaparte on the conditions of peace.
Bonaparte was delighted when he heard of the happy issue of the 18th
Fructidor. Its result was the dissolution of the Legislative Body and
the fall of the Clichyan party, which for some months had disturbed his
tranquillity. The Clichyans had objected to Joseph Bonaparte's right to
sit as deputy for Liamone in the Council of Five Hundred.
--[He was ambassador to Rome, and not a deputy at this time. When
he became a member of the council, after his return from Rome, he
experienced no opposition (Bourrienne et ses Erreurs, tome i.
p. 240).]--
His brother's victory removed the difficulty; but the General-in-Chief
soon perceived that the ascendant party abused its power, and
again compromised the safety of the Republic, by recommencing the
Revolutionary Government. The Directors were alarmed at his discontent
and offended by his censure. They conceived the singular idea of
opposing to Bonaparte, Augereau, of whose blind zeal they had received
many proofs. The Directory appointed Augereau commander of the army of
Germany. Augereau, whose extreme vanity was notorious, believed himself
in a situation to compete with Bonaparte. What he built his arrogance
on was, that, with a numerous troop, he had arrested some unarmed
representatives, and torn the epaulettes from the shoulders of the
commandant of the guard of the councils. The Directory and he filled the
headquarters at Passeriano with spies and intriguers.
Bonaparte, who was informed of everything that was going on, laughed at
the Directory, and tendered his resignation, in order that he might be
supplicated to continue in command.
The following post-Thermidorian letters will prove that the General's
judgment on this point was correct.
On the 2d Vendemiaire, year VI. (23d September 1797), he wrote to
Augereau, after having announced the arrival of his 'aide de camp' as
follows:
The whole army applauds the wisdom and vigour which you have
displayed upon this important occasion, and participates in the
success of the country with the enthusiasm and energy which
characterise our soldiers. It is only to be hoped, however, that
the Government will not be playing at see saw, and thus throw itself
into the opposite party. Wisdom and moderate views alone can
establish the happiness of the country on a sure foundation. As for
myself, this is the most ardent wish of my heart. I beg that you
will sometimes let me know what you are doing in Paris.
On the 4th Vendemiaire Bonaparte wrote a letter to the Directory in the
following terms:
The day before yesterday an officer arrived at the army from Paris.
He reported that he left Paris on the 25th, when anxiety prevailed
there as to the feelings with which I viewed the events of the 18th
He was the bearer of a sort of circular from General Augereau to all
the generals of division; and he brought a letter of credit from the
Minister of War to the commissary-general, authorising him to draw
as much money as he might require for his journey.
It is evident from these circumstances that the Government is acting
towards me in somewhat the same way in which Pichegru was dealt with
after Vendemiaire (year IV.).
I beg of you to receive my resignation, and appoint another to my
place. No power on earth shall make me continue in the service
after this shocking mark of ingratitude on the part of the
Government, which I was very far from expecting. My health, which
is considerably impaired, imperiously demands repose and
tranquillity.
The state of my mind, likewise, requires me to mingle again in the
mass of citizens. Great power has for a longtime been confided to
my hands. I have employed it on all occasions for the advantage of
my country; so much the worse for those who put no faith in virtue,
and may have suspected mine. My recompense is in my own conscience,
and in the opinion of posterity.
Now that the country is tranquil and free from the dangers which
have menaced it, I can, without inconvenience, quit the post in
which I have been placed.
Be sure that if there were a moment of danger, I would be found in
the foremost rank of the defenders of liberty and of the
constitution of the year III.
The Directory, judging from the account which Bottot gave of his
mission that he had not succeeded in entirely removing the suspicions of
Bonaparte, wrote the following letter on the 30th Vendemiaire:
The Directory has itself been troubled about the impression made on
you by the letter to the paymaster-general, of which an 'aide de
camp' was the bearer. The composition of this letter has very much
astonished the Government, which never appointed nor recognised such
an agent: it is at least an error of office. But it should not
alter the opinion you ought otherwise to entertain of the manner in
which the Directory thinks of and esteems you. It appears that the
18th Fructidor was misrepresented in the letters which were sent to
the army of Italy. You did well to intercept them, and it may be
right to transmit the most remarkable to the Minister of Police.
--(What an ignoble task to propose to the conqueror of Italy.)
In your observations on the too strong tendency of opinion towards
military government, the Directory recognises an equally enlightened
and ardent friend of the Republic.
Nothing is wiser than the maxim, 'cedant arma togae', for the
maintenance of republics. To show so much anxiety on so important a
point is not one of the least glorious features in the life of a
general placed at the head of a triumphant army.
The Directory had sent General Clarke
--[H. J. G. Clarke, afterwards Minister of War under Napoleon,
1807-1814, acid under the Bourbons in 1816, when he was made a
Marshal of France. He was created Duc de Feltre in 1819.]--
to treat for peace, as second plenipotentiary. Bonaparte has often told
me he had no doubt from the time of his arrival that General Clarke
was charged with a secret mission to act as a spy upon him, and even to
arrest him if an opportunity offered for so doing without danger. That
he had a suspicion of this kind is certain; but I must own that I
was never by any means able to discover its grounds; for in all my
intercourse since with Clarke he never put a single question to me, nor
did I ever hear a word drop from his mouth, which savoured of such a
character. If the fact be that he was a spy, he certainly played his
part well. In all the parts of his correspondence which were intercepted
there never was found the least confirmation of this suspicion. Be
this as it may, Bonaparte could not endure him; he did not make him
acquainted with what was going on, and his influence rendered this
mission a mere nullity. The General-in-Chief concentrated all the
business of the negotiation in his own closet; and, as to what was going
on, Clarke continued a mere cipher until the 18th Fructidor, when he was
recalled. Bonaparte made but little count of Clarke's talents. It is but
justice, however, to say that he bore him no grudge for the conduct of
which he suspected he was guilty in Italy. "I pardon him because I alone
have the right to be offended."
He even had the generosity to make interest for an official situation
for him. These amiable traits were not uncommon with Bonaparte.
Bonaparte had to encounter so many disagreeable contrarieties, both
in the negotiators for peace and the events at Paris, that he often
displayed a good deal of irritation and disgust. This state of mind was
increased by the recollection of the vexation his sister's marriage had
caused him, and which was unfortunately revived by a letter he received
from her at this juncture. His excitement was such that he threw it down
with an expression of anger. It has been erroneously reported in several
publications that "Bacciocchi espoused Marie-Anne-Eliza Bonaparte on the
5th of May 1797. The brother of the bride was at the time negotiating
the preliminaries of peace with Austria."
In fact, the preliminaries were signed in the month of April, and it was
for the definitive peace we were negotiating in May. But the reader will
find by the subjoined letter that Christine applied to her brother to
stand godfather to her third child. Three children in three months would
be rather quick work.
AJACCIO, 14th, Thermidor, year V. (1st August 1797).
GENERAL--Suffer me to write to you and call you by the name of
brother. My first child was born at a time when you were much
incensed against us. I trust she may soon caress you, and so make
you forget the pain my marriage has occasioned you. My second child
was still-born. Obliged to quit Paris by your order,
--[Napoleon had written in August 1796 to Carnot, to request that
Lucien might be ordered to quit Paris; see Iung, tome iii.
p. 223.]--
I miscarried in Germany. In a month's time I hope to present you
with a nephew. A favourable time, and other circumstances, incline
me to hope my next will be a boy, and I promise you I will make a
soldier of him; but I wish him to bear your name, and that you
should be his godfather. I trust you will not refuse your sister's
request.
Will you send, for this purpose, your power of attorney to
Baciocchi, or to whomsoever you think fit? I shall expect with
impatience your assent. Because we are poor let not that cause you
to despise us; for, after all, you are our brother, mine are the
only children that call you uncle, and we all love you more than we
do the favours of fortune. Perhaps I may one day succeed in
convincing you of the love I bear you.--Your affectionate sister,
CHRISTINE BONAPARTE.
--[Madame Bacciocchi went by the name of Marianne at St. Cyr, of
Christine while on her travels, and of Eliza under the Consulate.--
Bourrienne.]--
P.S.--Do not fail to remember me to your wife, whom I strongly
desire to be acquainted with. They told me at Paris I was very like
her. If you recollect my features you can judge. C. B.
This letter is in the handwriting of Lucien Bonaparte.'
--[Joseph Bonaparte in his Notes says, "It is false that Madame
Bonaparte ever called herself Christine; it is false that she ever
wrote the letter of which M. de Bourrienne here gives a copy." It
will be observed that Bourrienne says it was written by her brother
Lucien. This is an error. The letter is obviously from Christine
Boyer, the wife of Lucien Bonaparte, whose marriage had given such
displeasure to Napoleon. (See Erreurs, tome i. p. 240, and Iung's
Lucien, tome i p. 161).]--
General Bonaparte had been near a month at Passeriano when he received
the following autograph letter from the Emperor of Austria:
TO MONSIEUR LE GENERAL BONAPARTE, GENERAL-IN-CHIEF
OF THE ARMY OF ITALY.
MONSIEUR LE GENERAL BONAPARTE--When I thought I had given my
plenipotentiaries full powers to terminate the important negotiation
with which they were charged, I learn, with as much pain as
surprise, that in consequence of swerving continually from the
stipulations of the preliminaries, the restoration of tranquillity,
with the tidings of which I desire to gladden the hearts of my
subjects, and which the half of Europe devoutly prays for, becomes
day after day more uncertain.
Faithful to the performance of my engagements, I am ready to execute
what was agreed to at Leoben, and require from you but the
reciprocal performance of so sacred a duty. This is what has
already been declared in my name, and what I do not now hesitate
myself to declare. If, perhaps, the execution of some of the
preliminary articles be now impossible, in consequence of the events
which have since occurred, and in which I had no part, it may be
necessary to substitute others in their stead equally adapted to the
interests and equally conformable to the dignity of the two nations.
To such alone will I put my hand. A frank and sincere explanation,
dictated by the same feelings which govern me, is the only way to
lead to so salutary a result. In order to accelerate this result as
far as in me lies, and to put an end at once to the state of
uncertainty we remain in, and which has already lasted too long, I
have determined to despatch to the place of the present negotiations
Comte de Cobentzel, a man who possesses my most unlimited
confidence, and who is instructed as to my intentions and furnished
with my most ample powers. I have authorised him to receive and
accept every proposition tending to the reconciliation of the two
parties which may be in conformity with the principles of equity and
reciprocal fitness, and to conclude accordingly.
After this fresh assurance of the spirit of conciliation which
animates me, I doubt not you will perceive that peace lies in your
own hands, and that on your determination will depend the happiness
or misery of many thousand men. If I mistake as to the means I
think best adapted to terminate the calamities which for along time
have desolated Europe, I shall at least have the consolation of
reflecting that I have done all that depended on me. With the
consequences which may result I can never be reproached.
I have been particularly determined to the course I now take by the
opinion I entertain of your upright character, and by the personal
esteem I have conceived towards you, of which I am very happy, M. le
General Bonaparte, to give you here an assurance.
(Signed) FRANCIS.
In fact, it was only on the arrival of the Comte de Cobentzel that the
negotiations were seriously set on foot. Bonaparte had all along clearly
perceived that Gallo and Meerweldt were not furnished with adequate
powers. He saw also clearly enough that if the month of September were,
to be trifled away in unsatisfactory negotiations, as the month which
preceded it had been, it would be difficult in October to strike a blow
at the house of Austria on the side of Carinthia. The Austrian Cabinet
perceived with satisfaction the approach of the bad weather, and
insisted more strongly on its ultimatum, which was the Adige, with
Venice.
Before the 18th Fructidor the Emperor of Austria hoped that the
movement which was preparing in Paris would operate badly for France
and favourably to the European cause. The Austrian plenipotentiaries, in
consequence, raised their pretensions, and sent notes and an ultimatum
which gave the proceedings more an air of trifling than of serious
negotiation. Bonaparte's original ideas, which I have under his hand,
were as follows:
1. The Emperor to have Italy as far as the Adda.
2. The King of Sardinia as far as the Adda.
3. The Genoese Republic to have the boundary of Tortona as far as
the Po (Tortona to be demolished), as also the imperial fiefs.
(Coni to be ceded to France, or to be demolished.)
4. The Grand Duke of Tuscany to be restored.
5. The Duke of Parma to be restored.
CHAPTER X.
1797.
Influence of the 18th Fructidor on the negotiations--Bonaparte's
suspicion of Bottot--His complaints respecting the non-erasure of
Bourrienne--Bourrienne's conversation with the Marquis of Gallo--
Bottot writes from Paris to Bonaparte on the part of the Directory
Agents of the Directory employed to watch Bonaparte--Influence of
the weather on the conclusion of peace--Remarkable observation of
Bonaparte--Conclusion of the treaty--The Directory dissatisfied with
the terms of the peace--Bonaparte's predilection for representative
government--Opinion on Bonaparte.
After the 18th Fructidor Bonaparte was more powerful, Austria less
haughty and confident. Venice was the only point of real difficulty.
Austria wanted the line of the Adige, with Venice, in exchange for
Mayence, and the boundary of the Rhine until that river enters Holland.
The Directory wished to have the latter boundary, and to add Mantua to
the Italian Republic, without giving up all the line of the Adige and
Venice. The difficulties were felt to be so irreconcilable that within
about a month of the conclusion of peace the Directory wrote to General
Bonaparte that a resumption of hostilities was preferable to the state
of uncertainty which was agitating and ruining France. The Directory,
therefore, declared that both the armies of the Rhine should take the
field. It appears from the Fructidorian correspondence, which has been
already given, that the majority of the Directory then looked upon a
peace such as Bonaparte afterwards made as infamous.
But Bonaparte, from the moment the Venetian insurrection broke out,
perceived that Venice might be used for the pacification. Bonaparte, who
was convinced that, in order to bring matters to an issue, Venice and
the territory beyond the Adige must fall beneath the Hapsburg
sceptre, wrote to the Directory that he could not commence operations,
advantageously, before the end of March, 1798; but that if the
objections to giving Venice to the Emperor of Austria were persisted in,
hostilities would certainly be resumed in the month of October, for the
Emperor would not renounce Venice. In that case it would be necessary to
be ready on the Rhine for an advance in Germany, as the army of Italy,
if it could make head against the Archduke Charles, was not sufficiently
strong for any operations on a grand scale. At this period the
conclusion of peace was certainly very doubtful; it was even seriously
considered in what form the rupture should be notified.
Towards the end of September Bottot, Barras' secretary, arrived at
Passeriano. He was despatched by the Directory. Bonaparte immediately
suspected he was a new spy, come on a secret mission, to watch him. He
was therefore received and treated with coolness; but Bonaparte never
had, as Sir Walter Scott asserts, the idea of ordering him to be shot.
That writer is also in error when he says that Bottot was sent to
Passeriano to reproach Bonaparte for failing to fulfil his promise of
sending money to the Directory.
Bonaparte soon gave Bottot an opportunity of judging of the kind
of spirit which prevailed at headquarters. He suddenly tendered
his resignation, which he had already several times called upon the
Directory to accept. He accused the Government, at table, in Bottot's
presence, of horrible ingratitude. He recounted all his subjects of
complaint, in loud and impassioned language, without any restraint, and
before twenty or thirty persons.
Indignant at finding that his reiterated demands for the erasure of my
name from the list of emigrants had been slighted, and that, in spite
of his representations, conveyed to Paris by General Bernadotte, Louis
Bonaparte, and others, I was still included in that fatal list, he
apostrophised M. Bottot at dinner one day, before forty individuals,
among whom were the diplomatists Gallo, Cobentzel, and Meerweldt. The
conversation turned upon the Directory. "Yes, truly," cried Bonaparte,
in a loud voice, "I have good reason to complain; and, to pass from
great to little things, look, I pray you, at Bourrienne's case. He
possesses my most unbounded confidence. He alone is entrusted, under my
orders, with all the details of the negotiation. This you well know; and
yet your Directory will not strike him off the list. In a word it is not
only an inconceivable, but an extremely stupid piece of business; for
he has all my secrets; he knows my ultimatum, and could by a single word
realize a handsome fortune, and laugh at your obstinacy. Ask M. de Gallo
if this be not true."
Bottot wished to offer some excuse; but the general murmur which
followed this singular outburst reduced him to silence.
The Marquis de Gallo had conversed with me but three days before, in the
park of Passeriano, on the subject of my position with regard to France,
of the determination expressed by the Directory not to erase my name,
and of the risk I thereby ran. "We have no desire," continued he, "to
renew the war; we wish sincerely for peace; but it must be an honourable
one. The Republic of Venice presents a large territory for partition,
which would be sufficient for both parties. The cessions at present
proposed are not, however, satisfactory. We want to know Bonaparte's
ultimatum; and I am authorised to offer an estate in Bohemia, with a
title and residence, and an annual revenue of 90,000 florins."
I quickly interrupted M. de Gallo, and assured him that both my
conscience and my duty obliged me to reject his proposal; and so put at
once an end to the conversation.
I took care to let the General-in-Chief know this story, and he was not
surprised at my reply. His conviction, however, was strong, from all
that M. de Gallo had said, and more particularly from the offer he had
made, that Austria was resolved to avoid war, and was anxious for peace.
After I had retired to rest M. Bottot came to my bedroom and asked me,
with a feigned surprise, if it was true that my name was still on the
list of emigrants. On my replying in the affirmative, he requested me to
draw up a note on the subject. This I declined doing, telling him that
twenty notes of the kind he required already existed; that I would take
no further steps; and that I would henceforth await the decision in a
state of perfect inaction.
General Bonaparte thought it quite inexplicable that the Directory
should express dissatisfaction at the view he took of the events of
the 18th Fructidor, as, without his aid, they would doubtless have been
overcome. He wrote a despatch, in which he repeated that his health and
his spirits were affected--that he had need of some years' repose--that
he could no longer endure the fatigue of riding; but that the prosperity
and liberty of his country would always command his warmest interests.
In all this there was not a single word of truth. The Directory thought
as much, and declined to accept his resignation in the most flattering
terms.
Bottot proposed to him, on the part of the Directory, to revolutionise
Italy. The General inquired whether the whole of Italy would be included
in the plan. The revolutionary commission had, however, been entrusted
to Bottot in so indefinite a way that he could only hesitate, and give
a vague reply. Bonaparte wished for more precise orders. In the interval
peace was concluded, and the idea of that perilous and extravagant
undertaking was no longer agitated. Bottot, soon after his return to
Paris, wrote a letter to General Bonaparte, in which he complained that
the last moments he had passed at Passeriano had deeply afflicted his
heart. He said that cruel suspicions had followed him even to the gates
of the Directory. These cruel suspicions had, however, been dissipated
by the sentiments of admiration and affection which he had found the
Directory entertained for the person of Bonaparte.
These assurances, which were precisely what Bonaparte had expected, did
not avail to lessen the contempt he entertained for the heads of the
Government, nor to change his conviction of their envy and mistrust of
himself. To their alleged affection he made no return. Bottot assured
the hero of Italy of "the Republican docility" of the Directory, and
touched upon the reproaches Bonaparte had thrown out against them, and
upon his demands which had not been granted. He said:
"The three armies, of the North, of the Rhine, and of the
Sambre-et-Meuse, are to form only one, the army of Germany.--Augereau?
But you yourself sent him. The fault committed by the Directory is
owing to yourself! Bernadotte?--he is gone to join you. Cacault?--he is
recalled. Twelve thousand men for your army?--they are on their march.
The treaty with Sardinia?--it is ratified. Bourrienne?--he is erased.
The revolution of Italy?--it is adjourned. Advise the Directory, then: I
repeat it, they have need of information, and it is to you they look for
it."
The assertion regarding me was false. For six months Bonaparte demanded
my erasure without being able to obtain it. I was not struck off the
list until the 11th of November 1797.
Just before the close of the negotiation Bonaparte, disgusted at the
opposition and difficulties with which he was surrounded, reiterated
again and again the offer of his resignation, and his wish to have
a successor appointed. What augmented his uneasiness was an idea he
entertained that the Directory had penetrated his secret, and attributed
his powerful concurrence on the 18th Fructidor to the true cause--his
personal views of ambition. In spite of the hypocritical assurances of
gratitude made to him in writing, and though the Directory knew that his
services were indispensable, spies were employed to watch his movements,
and to endeavour by means of the persons about him to discover his
views. Some of the General's friends wrote to him from Paris, and for my
part I never ceased repeating to him that the peace, the power of making
which he had in his own hands, would render him far more popular than
the renewal of hostilities undertaken with all the chances of success
and reverse. The signing of the peace, according to his own ideas, and
in opposition to those of the Directory, the way in which he just halted
at Rastadt, and avoided returning to the Congress, and, finally, his
resolution to expatriate himself with an army in order to attempt new
enterprises, sprung more than is generally believed from the ruling
idea that he was distrusted, and that his ruin was meditated. He
often recalled to mind what La Vallette had written to him about
his conversation with Lacuee; and all he saw and heard confirmed the
impression he had received on this subject.
The early appearance of bad weather precipitated his determination. On
the 13th of October, at daybreak, on opening my window, I perceived the
mountains covered with snow. The previous night had been superb, and the
autumn till then promised to be fine and late. I proceeded, as I always
did, at seven o'clock in the morning, to the General's chamber. I woke
him, and told him what I had seen. He feigned at first to disbelieve
me, then leaped from his bed, ran to the window, and, convinced of the
sudden change, he calmly said, "What! before the middle of October! What
a country is this! Well, we must make peace!" While he hastily put on
his clothes I read the journals to him, as was my daily custom. He paid
but little attention to them.
Shutting himself up with me in his closet, he reviewed with the greatest
care all the returns from the different corps of his army. "Here are,"
said he, "nearly 80,000 effective men. I feed, I pay them: but I can
bring but 60,000 into the field on the day of battle. I shall gain it,
but afterwards my force will be reduced 20,000 men--by killed, wounded,
and prisoners. Then how oppose all the Austrian forces that will march
to the protection of Vienna? It would be a month before the armies of
the Rhine could support me, if they should be able; and in a fortnight
all the roads and passages will be covered deep with snow. It is
settled--I will make peace. Venice shall pay for the expense of the war
and the boundary of the Rhine: let the Directory and the lawyers say
what they like."
He wrote to the Directory in the following words: "The summits of the
hills are covered with snow; I cannot, on account of the stipulations
agreed to for the recommencement of hostilities, begin before
five-and-twenty days, and by that time we shall be overwhelmed with
snow."
Fourteen years after, another early winter, in a more severe climate,
was destined to have a fatal influence on his fortunes. Had he but then
exercised equal foresight!
It is well known that, by the treaty of Campo-Formio, the two
belligerent powers made peace at the expense of the Republic of Venice,
which had nothing to do with the quarrel in the first instance, and
which only interfered at a late period, probably against her own
inclination, and impelled by the force of inevitable circumstances. But
what has been the result of this great political spoliation? A portion
of the Venetian territory was adjudged to the Cisalpine Republic; it is
now in the possession of Austria.
Another considerable portion, and the capital itself, fell to the lot of
Austria in compensation for the Belgic provinces and Lombard, which she
ceded to France. Austria has now retaken Lombard, and the additions then
made to it, and Belgium is in the possession of the House of Orange.
France obtained Corfu and some of the Ionian isles; these now belong to
England.
--[Afterwards to be ceded by her to Greece. Belgium is free.]--
Romulus never thought he was founding Rome for Goths and priests.
Alexander did not foresee that his Egyptian city would belong to the
Turks; nor did Constantine strip Rome for the benefit of Mahomet II. Why
then fight for a few paltry villages?
Thus have we been gloriously conquering for Austria and England. An
ancient State is overturned without noise, and its provinces, after
being divided among different bordering States, are now all under the
dominion of Austria. We do not possess a foot of ground in all the
fine countries we conquered, and which served as compensations for the
immense acquisitions of the House of Hapsburgh in Italy. Thus that
house was aggrandised by a war which was to itself most disastrous.
But Austria has often found other means of extending her dominion than
military triumphs, as is recorded in the celebrated distich of Mathias
Corvinus:
"Bella gerunt alli, to felix Austria nube;
Nam quae Mars allis, dat tibi regna Venus."
["Glad Austria wins by Hymen's silken chain
What other States by doubtful battle gain,
And while fierce Mars enriches meaner lands,
Receives possession from fair Venus' hands."]
The Directory was far from being satisfied with the treaty of
Campo-Formio, and with difficulty resisted the temptation of not
ratifying it. A fortnight before the signature the Directors wrote to
General Bonaparte that they would not consent to give to the Emperor
Venice, Frioul, Padua, and the 'terra firma' with the boundary of the
Adige. "That," said they, "would not be to make peace, but to adjourn
the war. We shall be regarded as the beaten party, independently of the
disgrace of abandoning Venice, which Bonaparte himself thought so
worthy of freedom. France ought not, and never will wish, to see Italy
delivered up to Austria. The Directory would prefer the chances of a
war to changing a single word of its ultimatum, which is already too
favourable to Austria."
All this was said in vain. Bonaparte made no scruple of disregarding his
instructions. It has been said that the Emperor of Austria made an offer
of a very considerable sum of money, and even of a principality, to
obtain favourable terms. I was never able to find the slightest ground
for this report, which refers to a time when the smallest circumstance
could not escape my notice. The character of Bonaparte stood too high
for him to sacrifice his glory as a conqueror and peacemaker for even
the greatest private advantage. This was so thoroughly known, and he was
so profoundly esteemed by the Austrian plenipotentiaries, that I will
venture to say none of them would have been capable of making the
slightest overture to him of so debasing a proposition. Besides,
it would have induced him to put an end to all intercourse with the
plenipotentiaries. Perhaps what I have just stated of M. de Gallo will
throw some light upon this odious accusation. But let us dismiss this
story with the rest, and among them that of the porcelain tray, which
was said to have been smashed and thrown at the head of M. de Cobentzel.
I certainly know nothing of any such scene; our manners at Passeriano
were not quite so bad!
The presents customary on such occasions were given, and the Emperor of
Austria also took that opportunity to present to General Bonaparte six
magnificent white horses.
Bonaparte returned to Milan by way of Gratz, Laybach, Thrust, Mestre,
Verona, and Mantua.
At this period Napoleon was still swayed by the impulse of the age. He
thought of nothing but representative governments. Often has he said
to me, "I should like the era of representative governments to be dated
from my time." His conduct in Italy and his proclamations ought to give,
and in fact do give, weight to this account of his opinion. But there is
no doubt that this idea was more connected with lofty views of ambition
than a sincere desire for the benefit of the human race; for, at a later
period, he adopted this phrase: "I should like to be the head of the
most ancient of the dynasties of Europe." What a difference between
Bonaparte, the author of the 'Souper de Beaucaire', the subduer of
royalism at Toulon; the author of the remonstrance to Albitte and
Salicetti, the fortunate conqueror of the 13th Vendemiaire, the
instigator and supporter of the revolution of Fructidor, and the founder
of the Republics of Italy, the fruits of his immortal victories,--and
Bonaparte, First Consul in 1800, Consul for life in 1802, and, above
all, Napoleon, Emperor of the French in 1804, and King of Italy in 1805!
CHAPTER XI.
1797
Effect of the 18th Fructidor on the peace--The standard of the army
of Italy--Honours rendered to the memory of General Hoche and of
Virgil at Mantua--Remarkable letter--In passing through Switzerland
Bonaparte visits the field of Morat--Arrival at Rastadt--Letter from
the Directory calling Bonaparte to Paris--Intrigues against
Josephine--Grand ceremony on the reception of Bonaparte by the
Directory--The theatres--Modesty of Bonaparte--An assassination--
Bonaparte's opinion of the Parisians--His election to the National
Institute--Letter to Camus--Projects--Reflections.
The day of the 18th Fructidor had, without any doubt, mainly contributed
to the conclusion of peace at Campo Formio. On the one hand, the
Directory, hitherto not very pacifically inclined, after having
effected a 'coup d'etat', at length saw the necessity of appeasing the
discontented by giving peace to France. On the other hand, the Cabinet
of Vienna, observing the complete failure of all the royalist plots in
the interior, thought it high time to conclude with the French Republic
a treaty which, notwithstanding all the defeats Austria had sustained,
still left her a preponderating influence over Italy.
Besides, the campaign of Italy, so fertile in glorious achievements
of arms, had not been productive of glory alone. Something of greater
importance followed these conquests. Public affairs had assumed a
somewhat unusual aspect, and a grand moral influence, the effect
of victories and of peace, had begun to extend all over France.
Republicanism was no longer so sanguinary and fierce as it had been some
years before. Bonaparte, negotiating with princes and their ministers
on a footing of equality, but still with all that superiority to which
victory and his genius entitled him, gradually taught foreign courts to
be familiar with Republican France, and the Republic to cease regarding
all States governed by Kings as of necessity enemies.
In these circumstances the General-in-Chief's departure and his expected
visit to Paris excited general attention. The feeble Directory was
prepared to submit to the presence of the conqueror of Italy in the
capital.
It was for the purpose of acting as head of the French legation at
the Congress of Rastadt that Bonaparte quitted Milan on the 17th of
November. But before his departure he sent to the Directory one of those
monuments, the inscriptions on which may generally be considered as
fabulous, but which, in this case, were nothing but the truth. This
monument was the "flag of the Army of Italy," and to General Joubert
was assigned the honourable duty of presenting it to the members of the
Executive Government.
On one side of the flag were the words "To the Army of Italy, the
grateful country." The other contained an enumeration of the battles
fought and places taken, and presented, in the following inscriptions, a
simple but striking abridgment of the history of the Italian campaign.
150,000 PRISONERS; 170 STANDARDS; 550 PIECES OF SIEGE ARTILLERY;
600 PIECES OF FIELD ARTILLERY; FIVE PONTOON EQUIPAGES; NINE 64-GUN
SHIPS; TWELVE 32-GUN FRIGATES; 12 CORVETTES; 18 GALLEYS; ARMISTICE
WITH THE KING OF SARDINIA; CONVENTION WITH GENOA; ARMISTICE WITH THE
DUKE OF PARMA; ARMISTICE WITH THE KING OF NAPLES; ARMISTICE WITH THE
POPE; PRELIMINARIES OF LEOBEN; CONVENTION OF MONTEBELLO WITH THE
REPUBLIC OF GENOA; TREATY OF PEACE WITH THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY AT
CAMPO-FORMIO.
LIBERTY GIVEN TO THE PEOPLE OF BOLOGNA, FERRARA, MODENA,
MASSA-CARRARA, LA ROMAGNA, LOMBARD, BRESCIA, BERGAMO, MANTUA, CREMONA.
PART OF THE VERONESE, CHIAVENA, BORMIO, THE VALTELINE, THE GENOESE,
THE IMPERIAL FIEFS, THE PEOPLE OF THE DEPARTMENTS OF CORCYRA, OF THE
AEGEAN SEA, AND OF ITHACA.
SENT TO PARIS ALL THE MASTERPIECES OF MICHAEL ANGELO, OF GVERCINO,
OF TITIAN, OF PAUL VERONESE, OF CORREGGIO, OF ALBANA, OF THE
CARRACCI, OF RAPHAEL, AND OF LEONARDO DA VINCI.
Thus were recapitulated on a flag, destined to decorate the Hall of the
Public Sittings of the Directory, the military deeds of the campaign in
Italy, its political results, and the conquest of the monuments of art.
Most of the Italian cities looked upon their conqueror as a
liberator--such was the magic of the word liberty, which resounded from
the Alps to the Apennines. On his way to Mantua the General took up his
residence in the palace of the ancient dukes. Bonaparte promised the
authorities of Mantua that their department should be one of the most
extensive; impressed on them the necessity of promptly organising
a local militia, and of putting in execution the plans of Mari,
the mathematician, for the navigation of the Mincio from Mantua to
Peschiera.
He stopped two days at Mantua, and the morrow of his arrival was devoted
to the celebration of a military funeral solemnity, in honour of General
Hoche, who had just died. His next object was to hasten the execution
of the monument which was erecting to the memory of Virgil. Thus, in one
day, he paid honour to France and Italy, to modern and to ancient glory,
to the laurels of war and to the laurels of poetry.
A person who saw Bonaparte on this occasion for the first time thus
described him in a letter he wrote to Paris:--"With lively interest
and extreme attention I have observed this extraordinary man, who has
performed such great deeds, and about whom there is something which
seems to indicate that his career is not yet terminated. I found him
very like his portraits--little, thin, pale, with an air of fatigue,
but not of ill-health, as has been reported of him. He appears to me
to listen with more abstraction than interest, and that he was more
occupied with what he was thinking of than with what was said to him.
There is great intelligence in his countenance, along with which may be
marked an air of habitual meditation, which reveals nothing of what
is passing within. In that thinking head, in that bold mind, it is
impossible not to believe that some daring designs are engendering which
will have their influence an the destinies of Europe."
From the last phrase, in particular, of this letter, one might suspect
that it was written after Bonaparte had made his name feared throughout
Europe; but it really appeared in a journal in the month of December
1797, a little before his arrival in Paris.
There exists a sort of analogy between celebrated men and celebrated
places; it was not, therefore, an uninteresting spectacle to see
Bonaparte surveying the field of Morat, where, in 1476, Charles the
Bold, Duke of Burgundy, daring like himself, fell with his powerful army
under the effects of Helvetian valour. Bonaparte slept during the
night at Maudon, where, as in every place through which he passed, the
greatest honours were paid him. In the morning, his carriage having
broken down, we continued our journey an foot, accompanied only by some
officers and an escort of dragoons of the country. Bonaparte stopped
near the Ossuary, and desired to be shown the spot where the battle of
Morat was fought. A plain in front of the chapel was pointed out to him.
An officer who had served in France was present, and explained to him
how the Swiss, descending from the neighbouring mountains, were enabled,
under cover of a wood, to turn the Burgundian army and put it to the
rout. "What was the force of that army?" asked Bonaparte.--"Sixty
thousand men."--"Sixty thousand men!" he exclaimed: "they ought to have
completely covered these mountains!"--"The French fight better now,"
said Lannes, who was one of the officers of his suite. "At that
time," observed Bonaparte, interrupting him, "the Burgundians were not
Frenchmen."
Bonaparte's journey through Switzerland was not without utility; and his
presence served to calm more than one inquietude. He proceeded on his
journey to Rastadt by Aix in Savoy, Berne, and Bale. On arriving at
Berne during night we passed through a double file of well-lighted
equipages, filled with beautiful women, all of whom raised the cry of
"Long live, Bonaparte!--long live the Pacificator!" To have a proper
idea of this genuine enthusiasm it is necessary to have seen it.
The position in society to which his services had raised him rendered
it unfit to address him in the second person singular and the familiar
manner sometimes used by his old schoolfellows of Brienne. I thought,
this very natural.
M. de Cominges, one of those who went with him to the military school at
Paris, and who had emigrated, was at Bale. Having learned our arrival,
he presented himself without ceremony, with great indecorum, and with a
complete disregard of the respect due to a man who had rendered himself
so illustrious. General Bonaparte, offended at this behaviour, refused
to receive him again, and expressed himself to me with much warmth on
the occasion of this visit. All my efforts to remove his displeasure
were unavailing, this impression always continued, and he never did for
M. de Cominges what his means and the old ties of boyhood might well
have warranted.
On arriving at Rastadt
--[The conference for the formal peace with the Empire of Germany
was held there. The peace of Leoben was only one made with
Austria.]--
Bonaparte found a letter from the Directory summoning him to Paris. He
eagerly obeyed this invitation, which drew him from a place where he
could act only an insignificant part, and which he had determined to
leave soon, never again to return. Some time after his arrival in Paris,
on the ground that his presence was necessary for the execution of
different orders, and the general despatch of business, he required that
authority should be given to a part of his household, which he had left
at Rastadt, to return.
How could it ever be said that the Directory "kept General Bonaparte
away from the great interests which were under discussion at Rastadt"?
Quite the contrary! The Directory would have been delighted to see him
return there, as they would then have been relieved from his presence
in Paris; but nothing was so disagreeable to Bonaparte as long and
seemingly interminable negotiations. Such tedious work did not suit
his character, and he had been sufficiently disgusted with similar
proceedings at Campo-Formio.
On our arrival at Rastadt I soon found that General Bonaparte was
determined to stay there only a short time. I therefore expressed to
him my decided desire to remain in Germany. I was then ignorant that my
erasure from the emigrant list had been ordered on the 11th of November,
as the decree did not reach the commissary of the Executive Directory at
Auxerre until the 17th of November, the day of our departure from Milan.
The silly pretext of difficulties by which my erasure, notwithstanding
the reiterated solicitations of the victorious General, was so long
delayed made me apprehensive of a renewal, under a weak and jealous
pentarchy, of the horrible scenes of 1796. Bonaparte said to me, in
atone of indignation, "Come, pass the Rhine; they will not dare to seize
you while near me. I answer for your safety." On reaching Paris I found
that my erasure had taken place. It was at this period only that General
Bonaparte's applications in my favour were tardily crowned with success.
Sotin, the Minister of General Police, notified the fact to Bonaparte;
but his letter gave a reason for my erasure very different from that
stated in the decree. The Minister said that the Government did not
wish to leave among the names of traitors to their country the name of a
citizen who was attached to the person of the conqueror of Italy; while
the decree itself stated as the motive for removing my name from the
list that I never had emigrated.
At St. Helena it seems Bonaparte said that he did not return from Italy
with more than 300,000 francs; but I assert that he had at that time in
his possession something more than 3,000,000.
--[Joseph says that Napoleon, when he exiled for Egypt, left with
him all his fortune, and that it was much nearer 300,000 francs than
3,000,000. (See Erreurs, tome i. pp. 243, 259)]--
How could he with 300,000 francs have been able to provide for the
extensive repairs, the embellishment, and the furnishing of his house
in the Rue Chantereine? How could he have supported the establishment
he did with only 15,000 francs of income and the emoluments of his rank?
The excursion which he made along the coast, of which I have yet to
speak, of itself cost near 12,000 francs in gold, which he transferred
to me to defray the expense of the journey; and I do not think that this
sum was ever repaid him. Besides, what did it signify, for any object
he might have in disguising his fortune, whether he brought 3,000,000
or 300,000 francs with him from Italy? No one will accuse him of
peculation. He was an inflexible administrator. He was always irritated
at the discovery of fraud, and pursued those guilty of it with all the
vigour of his character. He wished to be independent, which he well knew
that no one could be without fortune. He has often said to me, "I am no
Capuchin, not I." But after having been allowed only 300,000 francs on
his arrival from the rich Italy, where fortune never abandoned him,
it has been printed that he had 20,000,000 (some have even doubled the
amount) on his return from Egypt, which is a very poor country, where
money is scarce, and where reverses followed close upon his victories.
All these reports are false. What he brought from Italy has just been
stated, and it will be seen when we come to Egypt what treasure he
carried away from the country of the Pharaohs.
Bonaparte's brothers, desirous of obtaining complete dominion over his
mind, strenuously endeavoured to lessen the influence which Josephine
possessed from the love of her husband. They tried to excite his
jealousy, and took advantage of her stay at Milan after our departure,
which had been authorised by Bonaparte himself. My intimacy with both
the husband and the wife fortunately afforded me an opportunity of
averting or lessening a good deal of mischief. If Josephine still lived
she would allow me this merit. I never took part against her but once,
and that unwillingly. It was on the subject of the marriage of her
daughter Hortense. Josephine had never as yet spoken to me on the
subject. Bonaparte wished to give his stepdaughter to Duroc, and his
brothers were eager to promote the marriage, because they wished to
separate Josephine from Hortense, for whom Bonaparte felt the tenderest
affection. Josephine, on the other hand, wished Hortense to marry Louis
Bonaparte. Her motives, as may easily be divined, were to, gain support
in a family where she experienced nothing but enmity, and she carried
her point.
--[Previous to her marriage with Louis, Hortense cherished an
attachment for Duroc, who was at that time a handsome man about
thirty, and a great favourite of Bonaparte. However, the
indifference with which Duroc regarded the marriage of Louis
Bonaparte sufficiently proves that the regard with which he had
inspired Hortense was not very ardently returned. It is certain
that Duroc might have become the husband of Mademoiselle de
Beauharnais had he been willing to accede to the conditions on which
the First Consul offered him his step-daughter's hand. But Duroc
looked forward to something better, and his ordinary prudence
forsook him at a moment when he might easily have beheld a
perspective calculated to gratify even a more towering ambition than
his. He declined the proposed marriage; and the union of Hortense
and Louis, which Madame Bonaparte, to conciliate the favour of her
brothers-in-law, had endeavoured to bring about, was immediately
determined on (Memoires de Constant).
In allusion to the alleged unfriendly feeling of Napoleon's brothers
towards Josephine, the following observation occurs in Joseph
Bonaparte's Notes on Bourrienne:
"None of Napoleon's brothers," he says, "were near him from the time
of his departure for Italy except Louis who cannot be suspected of
having intrigued against Josephine, whose daughter he married.
These calumnies are without foundation" (Erreurs, tome i. p. 244)]--
On his arrival from Rastadt the most magnificent preparations were made
at the Luxembourg for the reception of Bonaparte. The grand court of the
Palace was elegantly ornamented; and at its farther end, close to
the Palace, a large amphitheatre was erected for the accommodation
of official persons. Curiosity, as on all like occasions, attracted
multitudes, and the court was filled. Opposite to the principal
vestibule stood the altar of the country, surrounded by the statues
of Liberty, Equality, and Peace. When Bonaparte entered every head was
uncovered. The windows were full of young and beautiful females. But
notwithstanding this great preparation an icy coldness characterized
the ceremony. Every one seemed to be present only for the purpose of
beholding a sight, and curiosity was the prevailing expression rather
than joy or gratitude. It is but right to say, however, that an
unfortunate event contributed to the general indifference. The right
wing of the Palace was not occupied, but great preparations had been
making there, and an officer had been directed to prevent anyone from
ascending. One of the clerks of the Directory, however, contrived to
get upon the scaffolding, but had scarcely placed his foot on the first
plank when it tilted up, and the imprudent man fell the whole height
into the court. This accident created a general stupor. Ladies fainted,
and the windows were nearly deserted.
However, the Directory displayed all the Republican splendour of which
they were so prodigal on similar occasions. Speeches were far from
being scarce. Talleyrand, who was then Minister for Foreign Affairs,
on introducing Bonaparte to the Directory, made a long oration, in the
course of which he hinted that the personal greatness of the General
ought not to excite uneasiness, even in a rising Republic. "Far from
apprehending anything from his ambition, I believe that we shall one day
be obliged to solicit him to tear himself from the pleasures of studious
retirement. All France will be free, but perhaps he never will; such is
his destiny."
Talleyrand was listened to with impatience, so anxious was every one to
hear Bonaparte. The conqueror of Italy then rose, and pronounced with
a modest air, but in a firm voice, a short address of congratulation on
the improved position of the nation.
Barras, at that time President of the Directory, replied to Bonaparte
with so much prolixity as to weary everyone; and as soon as he had
finished speaking he threw himself into the arms of the General, who was
not much pleased with such affected displays, and gave him what was
then called the fraternal embrace. The other members of the Directory,
following the example of the President, surrounded Bonaparte and pressed
him in their arms; each acted, to the best of his ability, his part in
the sentimental comedy.
Chenier composed for this occasion a hymn, which Mehul set to music. A
few days after an opera was produced, bearing the title of the 'Fall of
Carthage', which was meant as an allusion to the anticipated exploits of
the conqueror of Italy, recently appointed to the command of the "Army
of England." The poets were all employed in praising him; and Lebrun,
with but little of the Pindaric fire in his soul, composed the following
distich, which certainly is not worth much:
"Heros, cher a la paix, aux arts, a la victoire--
Il conquit en deux ans mille siecles de gloire."
The two councils were not disposed to be behind the Directory in the
manifestation of joy. A few days after they gave a banquet to the
General in the gallery of the Louvre, which had recently been enriched
by the masterpieces of painting conquered in Italy.
At this time Bonaparte displayed great modesty in all his transactions
in Paris. The administrators of the department of the Seine having sent
a deputation to him to inquire what hour and day he would allow them
to wait on him, he carried himself his answer to the department,
accompanied by General Berthier. It was also remarked that the judge of
the peace of the arrondissement where the General lived having called on
him on the 6th of December, the evening of his arrival, he returned the
visit next morning. These attentions, trifling as they may appear, were
not without their effect on the minds of the Parisians.
In consequence of General Bonaparte's victories, the peace he had
effected, and the brilliant reception of which he had been the object,
the business of Vendemiaire was in some measure forgotten. Every one was
eager to get a sight of the young hero whose career had commenced with
so much 'eclat'. He lived very retiredly, yet went often to the theatre.
He desired me, one day, to go and request the representation of two
of the best pieces of the time, in which Elleviou, Mesdames St. Aubin,
Phillis, and other distinguished performers played. His message was,
that he only wished these two pieces on the same night, if that were
possible. The manager told me that nothing that the conqueror of Italy
wished for was impossible, for he had long ago erased that word from the
dictionary. Bonaparte laughed heartily at the manager's answer. When we
went to the theatre he seated himself, as usual, in the back of the box,
behind Madame Bonaparte, making me sit by her side. The pit and boxes,
however, soon found out that he was in the house, and loudly called for
him. Several times an earnest desire to see him was manifested, but all
in vain, for he never showed himself.
Some days after, being at the Theatre des Arts, at the second
representation of 'Horatius Cocles', although he was sitting at the back
of a box in the second tier, the audience discovered that he was in the
house. Immediately acclamations arose from all quarters; but he kept
himself concealed as much as possible, and said to a person in the next
box, "Had I known that the boxes were so exposed, I should not have
come."
During Bonaparte's stay at Paris a woman sent a messenger to warn him
that his life would be attempted, and that poison was to be employed for
that purpose. Bonaparte had the bearer of this information arrested, who
went, accompanied by the judge of the peace, to the woman's house, where
she was found extended on the floor, and bathed in her blood. The men
whose plot she had overheard, having discovered that she had revealed
their secret, murdered her. The poor woman was dreadfully mangled: her
throat was cut; and, not satisfied with that, the assassins had also
hacked her body with sharp instruments.
On the night of the 10th of Nivôse the Rue Chantereine, in which
Bonaparte had a small house (No. 6), received, in pursuance of a decree
of the department, the name of Rue de la Victoire. The cries of "Vive
Bonaparte!" and the incense prodigally offered up to him, did not
however seduce him from his retired habits. Lately the conqueror and
ruler of Italy, and now under men for whom he had no respect, and who
saw in him a formidable rival, he said to me one day, "The people
of Paris do not remember anything. Were I to remain here long, doing
nothing, I should be lost. In this great Babylon one reputation
displaces another. Let me be seen but three times at the theatre and I
shall no longer excite attention; so I shall go there but seldom." When
he went he occupied a box shaded with curtains. The manager of the opera
wished to get up a special performance in his honour; but he declined
the offer. When I observed that it must be agreeable to him to see his
fellow-citizens so eagerly running after him, he replied, "Bah! the
people would crowd as fast to see me if I were going to the scaffold."
--[A similar remark made to William III. on his lending at Brixham
elicited the comment, "Like the Jews, who cried one day 'Hosanna!'
and the next 'Crucify Him! crucify Him!'"]--
On the 28th of December Bonaparte was named a member of the Institute,
in the class of the Sciences and arts.
--[Napoleon seems to have really considered this nomination as a
great honour. He was fond of using the title in his proclamations;
and to the last the allowance attached to the appointment figured in
the Imperial accounts. He replaced Carnot, the exiled Director.]--
He showed a deep sense of this honour, and wrote the following letter to
Camus; the president of the class:
CITIZEN PRESIDENT--The suffrage of the distinguished men who compose
the institute confers a high honour on me. I feel well assured
that, before I can be their equal, I must long be their scholar. If
there were any way more expressive than another of making known my
esteem for you, I should be glad to employ it. True conquests--the
only ones which leave no regret behind them--are those which are
made over ignorance. The most honourable, as well as the most
useful, occupation for nations is the contributing to the extension
of human knowledge. The true power of the French Republic should
henceforth be made to consist in not allowing a single new idea to
exist without making it part of its property.
BONAPARTE.
The General now renewed, though unsuccessfully, the attempt he had made
before the 18th Fructidor to obtain a dispensation of the age necessary
for becoming a Director. Perceiving that the time was not yet favourable
for such a purpose, he said to me, on the 29th of January 1798,
"Bourrienne, I do not wish to remain here; there is nothing to do. They
are unwilling to listen to anything. I see that if I linger here, I
shall soon lose myself. Everything wears out here; my glory has already
disappeared. This little Europe does not supply enough of it for me. I
must seek it in the East, the fountain of glory. However, I wish first
to make a tour along the coast, to ascertain by my own observation what
may be attempted. I will take you, Lannes, and Sulkowsky, with me. If
the success of a descent on England appear doubtful, as I suspect it
will, the army of England shall become the army of the East, and I will
go to Egypt."
This and other conversations give a correct insight into his
character. He always considered war and conquest as the most noble and
inexhaustible source of that glory which was the constant object of his
desire. He revolted at the idea of languishing in idleness at Paris,
while fresh laurels were growing for him in distant climes. His
imagination inscribed, in anticipation, his name on those gigantic
monuments which alone, perhaps, of all the creations of man, have the
character of eternity. Already proclaimed the most illustrious of living
generals, he sought to efface the rival names of antiquity by his
own. If Caesar fought fifty battles, he longed to fight a hundred--if
Alexander left Macedon to penetrate to the Temple of Ammon, he wished to
leave Paris to travel to the Cataracts of the Nile. While he was thus to
run a race with fame, events would, in his opinion, so proceed in France
as to render his return necessary and opportune. His place would be
ready for him, and he should not come to claim it a forgotten or unknown
man.
CHAPTER XII.
1798.
Bonaparte's departure from Paris--His return--The Egyptian
expedition projected--M. de Talleyrand--General Desaix--Expedition
against Malta--Money taken at Berne--Bonaparte's ideas respecting
the East--Monge--Non-influence of the Directory--Marriages of
Marmont and La Valette--Bonaparte's plan of colonising Egypt--His
camp library--Orthographical blunders--Stock of wines--Bonaparte's
arrival at Toulon--Madame Bonaparte's fall from a balcony--Execution
of an old man--Simon.
Bonaparte left Paris for the north on the 10th of February 1798--but
he received no order, though I have seen it everywhere so stated, to go
there--"for the purpose of preparing the operations connected with
the intended invasion of England." He occupied himself with no such
business, for which a few days certainly would not have been sufficient.
His journey to the coast was nothing but a rapid excursion, and its sole
object was to enable him to form an opinion on the main point of the
question. Neither did he remain absent several weeks, for the journey
occupied only one. There were four of us in his carriage--himself,
Lannes, Sulkowsky, and I. Moustache was our courier. Bonaparte was not a
little surprised on reading, in the 'Moniteur' of the 10th February,
an article giving greater importance to his little excursion than it
deserved.
"General Bonaparte," said the 'Moniteur', "has departed for Dunkirk
with some naval and engineer officers. They have gone to visit the
coasts and prepare the preliminary operations for the descent [upon
England]. It may be stated that he will not return to Rastadt, and
that the close of the session of the Congress there is approaching."
Now for the facts. Bonaparte visited Etaples, Ambleteuse, Boulogne,
Calais, Dunkirk, Furnes, Niewport, Ostend, and the Isle of Walcheren. He
collected at the different ports all the necessary information with that
intelligence and tact for which he was so eminently distinguished.
He questioned the sailors, smugglers, and fishermen, and listened
attentively to the answers he received.
We returned to Paris by Antwerp, Brussels, Lille, and St. Quentin. The
object of our journey was accomplished when we reached the first of
these towns. "Well, General," said I, "what think you of our journey?
Are you satisfied? For my part, I confess I entertain no great hopes
from anything I have seen and heard." Bonaparte immediately answered,
"It is too great a chance. I will not hazard it. I would not thus sport
with the fate of my beloved France." On hearing this I already fancied
myself in Cairo!
On his return to Paris Bonaparte lost no time in setting on foot the
military and scientific preparations for the projected expedition to
the banks of the Nile, respecting which such incorrect statements have
appeared. It had long occupied his thoughts, as the following facts will
prove.
In the month of August 1797 he wrote "that the time was not far distant
when we should see that, to destroy the power of England effectually,
it would be necessary to attack Egypt." In the same month he wrote to
Talleyrand, who had just succeeded Charles de Lacroix as Minister of
Foreign Affairs, "that it would be necessary to attack Egypt, which did
not belong to the Grand Signior." Talleyrand replied, "that his ideas
respecting Egypt were certainly grand, and that their utility could not
fail to be fully appreciated." He concluded by saying he would write to
him at length on the subject.
History will speak as favourably of M. de Talleyrand as his
contemporaries have spoken ill of him. When a statesman, throughout
a great, long, and difficult career, makes and preserves a number of
faithful friends, and provokes but few enemies, it must be acknowledged
that his character is honourable and his talent profound, and that his
political conduct has been wise and moderate. It is impossible to know
M. de Talleyrand without admiring him. All who have that advantage, no
doubt, judge him as I do.
In the month of November of the same year Bonaparte sent Poussielgue,
under the pretence of inspecting the ports of the Levant, to give the
finishing stroke to the meditated expedition against Malta.
General Desaix, whom Bonaparte had made the confidant of all his plans
at their interview in Italy after the preliminaries of Leoben, wrote
to him from Affenbourg, on his return to Germany, that he regarded the
fleet of Corfu with great interest. "If ever," said he, "it should be
engaged in the grand enterprises of which I have heard you speak, do
not, I beseech you, forget me." Bonaparte was far from forgetting him.
The Directory at first disapproved of the expedition against Malta,
which Bonaparte had proposed long before the treaty of Campo-Formio
was signed. The expedition was decided to be impossible, for Malta had
observed strict neutrality, and had on several occasions even assisted
our ships and seamen. Thus we had no pretext for going to war with her.
It was said, too, that the legislative body would certainly not look
with a favourable eye on such a measure. This opinion, which, however,
did not last long, vexed Bonaparte. It was one of the disappointments
which made him give a rough welcome to Bottot, Barras' agent, at the
commencement of October 1797.
In the course of an animated conversation he said to Bottot, shrugging
his shoulders, "Mon Dieu! Malta is for sale!" Sometime after he himself
was told that "great importance was attached to the acquisition of
Malta, and that he must not suffer it to escape." At the latter end of
September 1797 Talleyrand, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, wrote to
him that the Directory authorized him to give the necessary orders to
Admiral Brueys for taking Malta. He sent Bonaparte some letters for
the island, because Bonaparte had said it was necessary to prepare the
public mind for the event.
Bonaparte exerted himself night and day in the execution of his
projects. I never saw him so active. He made himself acquainted with
the abilities of the respective generals, and the force of all the army
corps. Orders and instructions succeeded each other with extraordinary
rapidity. If he wanted an order of the Directory he ran to the
Luxembourg to get it signed by one of the Directors. Merlin de Douai
was generally the person who did him this service, for he was the
most constant at his post. Lagarde, the Secretary-General, did not
countersign any document relative to this expedition, Bonaparte not
wishing him to be informed of the business. He transmitted to Toulon the
money taken at Berne, which the Directory had placed at his disposal. It
amounted to something above 3,000,000 francs. In those times of disorder
and negligence the finances were very badly managed. The revenues were
anticipated and squandered away, so that the treasury never possessed so
large a sum as that just mentioned.
It was determined that Bonaparte should undertake an expedition of an
unusual character to the East. I must confess that two things cheered
me in this very painful interval; my friendship and admiration for the
talents of the conqueror of Italy, and the pleasing hope of traversing
those ancient regions, the historical and religious accounts of which
had engaged the attention of my youth.
It was at Passeriano that, seeing the approaching termination of his
labours in Europe, he first began to turn serious attention to the East.
During his long strolls in the evening in the magnificent park there he
delighted to converse about the celebrated events of that part of the
world, and the many famous empires it once possessed. He used to
say, "Europe is a mole-hill. There have never been great empires and
revolutions except in the East, where there are 600,000,000 men." He
considered that part of the world as the cradle of all religious, of all
metaphysical extravagances. This subject was no less interesting than
inexhaustible, and he daily introduced it when conversing with the
generals with whom he was intimate, with Monge, and with me.
Monge entirely concurred in the General-in-Chief's opinions on
this point; and his scientific ardour was increased by Bonaparte's
enthusiasm. In short, all were unanimously of one opinion. The Directory
had no share in renewing the project of this memorable expedition, the
result of which did not correspond with the grand views in which it
had been conceived. Neither had the Directory any positive control over
Bonaparte's departure or return. It was merely the passive instrument
of the General's wishes, which it converted into decrees, as the law
required. He was no more ordered to undertake the conquest of Egypt than
he was instructed as to the plan of its execution. Bonaparte organised
the army of the East, raised money, and collected ships; and it was
he who conceived the happy idea of joining to the expedition men
distinguished in science and art, and whose labours have made known, in
its present and past state, a country, the very name of which is never
pronounced without exciting grand recollections.
Bonaparte's orders flew like lightning from Toulon to Civita Vecchia.
With admirable precision he appointed some forces to assemble before
Malta, and others before Alexandria. He dictated all these orders to me
in his Cabinet.
In the position in which France stood with respect to Europe, after
the treaty of Campo-Formio, the Directory, far from pressing or even
facilitating this expedition, ought to have opposed it. A victory on the
Adige would have been far better for France than one on the Nile. From
all I saw, I am of opinion that the wish to get rid of an ambitious and
rising man, whose popularity excited envy, triumphed over the evident
danger of removing, for an indefinite period, an excellent army, and the
possible loss of the French fleet. As to Bonaparte, he was well assured
that nothing remained for him but to choose between that hazardous
enterprise and his certain ruin. Egypt was, he thought, the right place
to maintain his reputation, and to add fresh glory to his name.
On the 12th of April 1798 he was appointed General-in-Chief of the army
of the East.
It was about this time that Marmont was married to Mademoiselle
Perregaux; and Bonaparte's aide de camp, La Valletta, to Mademoiselle
Beauharnais.
--[Sir Walter Scott informs us that Josephine, when she became
Empress, brought about the marriage between her niece and La
Vallette. This is another fictitious incident of his historical
romance.--Bourrienne.]--
Shortly before our departure I asked Bonaparte how long he intended to
remain in Egypt. He replied, "A few months, or six years: all depends
on circumstances. I will colonise the country. I will bring them artists
and artisans of every description; women, actors, etc. We are but
nine-and-twenty now, and we shall then be five-and-thirty. That is not
an old age. Those six years will enable me, if all goes well, to get
to India. Give out that you are going to Brest. Say so even to your
family." I obeyed, to prove my discretion and real attachment to him.
Bonaparte wished to form a camp library of cabinet editions, and he gave
me a list of the books which I was to purchase. This list is in his own
writing, and is as follows:
CAMP LIBRARY.
1. ARTS AND SCIENCE.--Fontenelle's Worlds, 1 vol. Letters to a German
Princess, 2 vols. Courses of the Normal School, 6 vols. The Artillery
Assistant, 1 vol. Treatise on Fortifications, 3 vols. Treatise on
Fireworks, 1 vol.
2. GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.--Barclay's Geography, 12 vols. Cook's Voyages,
3 vols. La Harpe's Travels, 24 vols.
3. HISTORY.--Plutarch, 12 vols. Turenne, 2 vols. Condé, 4 vols. Villars,
4 vols. Luxembourg, 2 vols. Duguesclin, 2 vols. Saxe, 3 vols. Memoirs of
the Marshals of France, 20 vols. President Hainault, 4 vols. Chronology,
2 vols. Marlborough, 4 vols. Prince Eugène, 6 vols. Philosophical
History of India, 12 vols. Germany, 2 vols. Charles XII., 1 vol. Essay
on the Manners of Nations, 6 vols. Peter the Great, 1 vol. Polybius,
6 vols. Justin, 2 vols. Arrian, 3 vols. Tacitus, 2 vols. Titus Livy,
Thucydides, 2 vols. Vertot, 4 vols. Denina, 8 vols. Frederick II, 8
vols.
4. POETRY.--Osaian, 1 vol. Tasso, 6 vols. Ariosto, 6 vols. Homer, 6
vols. Virgil, 4 vols. The Henriade, 1 vol. Telemachus, 2 vols. Les
Jardin, 1 vol. The Chefs-d'Oeuvre of the French Theatre, 20 vols. Select
Light Poetry, 10 vols. La Fontaine.
5. ROMANCE.--Voltaire, 4 vols. Heloise, 4 vols. Werther, 1 vol.
Marmontel, 4 vols. English Novels, 40 vols. Le Sage, 10 vols. Prevost,
10 vols.
6. POLITICS AND MORALS.--The Old Testament. The New Testament. The
Koran. The Vedan. Mythology. Montesquieu. The Esprit des Lois.
It will be observed that he classed the books of the religious creeds of
nations under the head of "politics."
The autograph copy of the above list contains some of those
orthographical blunders which Bonaparte so frequently committed. Whether
these blunders are attributable to the limited course of instruction he
received at Brienne, to his hasty writing, the rapid flow of his ideas,
or the little importance he attached to that indispensable condition of
polite education, I know not. Knowing so well as he did the authors and
generals whose names appear in the above list, it is curious that he
should have written Ducecling for Duguesclin, and Ocean for Ossian. The
latter mistake would have puzzled me not a little had I not known his
predilection for the Caledonian bard.
Before his departure Bonaparte laid in a considerable stock of Burgundy.
It was supplied by a man named James, of Dijon. I may observe that on
this occasion we had an opportunity of ascertaining that good Burgundy,
well racked off, and in casks hermetically sealed, does not lose its
quality on a sea voyage. Several cases of this Burgundy twice crossed
the desert of the Isthmus of Suez on camels' backs. We brought some of
it back with us to Fréjus, and it was as good as when we departed. James
went with us to Egypt.
During the remainder of our stay in Paris nothing occurred worthy of
mention, with the exception of a conversation between Bonaparte and
me some days before our departure for Toulon. He went with me to the
Luxembourg to get signatures to the official papers connected with his
expedition. He was very silent. As we passed through the Rue Sainte Anne
I asked him, with no other object than merely to break a long pause,
whether he was still determined to quit France. He replied, "Yes: I have
tried everything. They do not want me (probably alluding to the office
of Director). I ought to overthrow them, and make myself King; but it
will not do yet. The nobles will never consent to it. I have tried my
ground. The time is not yet come. I should be alone. But I will dazzle
them again." I replied, "Well, we will go to Egypt;" and changed the
conversation.
--[Lucien and the Bonapartists of course deny that Napoleon wished
to become Director, or to seize on power at this time; see Lucien,
tome 1. p. 154. Thiers (vol. v. p. 257) takes the same view.
Lanfrey (tome i. p. 363) believes Napoleon was at last compelled by
the Directory to start and he credits the story told by Desaix to
Mathieu Dumas, or rather to the wife of that officer, that there was
a plot to upset the Directory, but that when all was ready Napoleon
judged that the time was not ripe. Lanfrey, however, rather
enlarges what Dumas says; see Dumas, tome iii. p. 167. See also
the very remarkable conversation of Napoleon with Miot de Melito
just before leaving Italy for Rastadt: "I cannot obey any longer. I
have tasted the pleasures of command, and I cannot renounce it. My
decision is taken. If I cannot be master, I shall quit France."
(Miot, tome i. p. 184).]--
The squabble with Bernadotte at Vienna delayed our departure for a
fortnight, and might have had the most disastrous influence on the fate
of the squadron, as Nelson would most assuredly have waited between
Malta and Sicily if he had arrived there before us.'
--[Sir Walter Scott, without any authority, states that, at the
moment of his departure, Bonaparte seemed disposed to abandon the
command of an expedition so doubtful and hazardous, and that for
this purpose he endeavoured to take advantage of what had occurred
at Vienna. This must be ranked in the class of inventions, together
with Barras mysterious visit to communicate the change of
destination, and also the ostracism and honourable exile which the
Directory wished to impose on Bonaparte.--Bourrienne.]--
It is untrue that he ever entertained the idea of abandoning the
expedition in consequence of Bernadotte's affair. The following letter
to Brueys, dated the 28th of April 1798, proves the contrary:
Some disturbances which have arisen at Vienna render my presence in
Paris necessary for a few days. This will not change any of the
arrangements for the expedition. I have sent orders by this courier
for the troops at Marseilles to embark and proceed to Toulon. On
the evening of the 30th I will send you a courier with orders for
you to embark and proceed with the squadron and convoy to Genoa,
where I will join you.
The delay which this fresh event has occasioned will, I imagine,
have enabled you to complete every preparation.
We left Paris on the 3d of May 1798. Ten days before Bonaparte's
departure for Egypt a prisoner (Sir Sidney Smith) escaped from the
Temple who was destined to contribute materially to his reverses. An
escape so unimportant in itself afterwards caused the failure of the
most gigantic projects and daring conceptions. This escape was pregnant
with future events; a false order of the Minister of Police prevented
the revolution of the East!
We were at Toulon on the 8th. Bonaparte knew by the movements of the
English that not a moment was to be lost; but adverse winds detained
us ten days, which he occupied in attending to the most minute details
connected with the fleet.
Bonaparte, whose attention was constantly occupied with his army, made
a speech to the soldiers, which I wrote to his dictation, and which
appeared in the public papers at the time. This address was followed by
cries of "The Immortal Republic for ever!" and the singing of national
hymns.
Those who knew Madame Bonaparte are aware that few women were more
amiable and fascinating. Bonaparte was passionately fond of her, and
to enjoy the pleasure of her society as long as possible he brought her
with him to Toulon. Nothing could be more affecting than their parting.
On leaving Toulon Josephine went to the waters of Plombieres. I
recollect that during her stay at Plombieres she incurred great danger
from a serious accident. Whilst she was one day sitting at the balcony
of the hotel, with her suite, the balcony suddenly gave way, and all the
persons in it fell into the street. Madame Bonaparte was much hurt, but
no serious consequences ensued.
Bonaparte had scarcely arrived at Toulon when he heard that the law for
the death of emigrants was enforced with frightful rigour; and that but
recently an old man, upwards of eighty, had been shot. Indignant at this
barbarity, he dictated to me, in a tone of anger, the following letter:
HEADQUARTERS TOULON,
27th Floréal, year VI. (16th May 1798).
BONAPARTE, MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE, TO THE MILITARY
COMMISSIONERS OF THE NINTH DIVISION, ESTABLISHED BY THE LAW OF
THE 19TH FRUCTIDOR.
I have learned, citizens, with deep regret, that an old man, between
seventy and eighty years of age, and some unfortunate women, in a
state of pregnancy, or surrounded with children of tender age, have
been shot on the charge of emigration.
Have the soldiers of liberty become executioners? Can the mercy
which they have exercised even in the fury of battle be extinct in
their hearts?
The law of the 19th Fructidor was a measure of public safety. Its
object was to reach conspirators, not women and aged men.
I therefore exhort you, citizens, whenever the law brings to your
tribunals women or old men, to declare that in the field of battle
you have respected the women and old men of your enemies.
The officer who signs a sentence against a person incapable of
bearing arms is a coward.
(Signed) BONAPARTE.
This letter saved the life of an unfortunate man who came under the
description of persons to whom Bonaparte referred. The tone of this note
shows what an idea he already entertained of his power. He took upon
him, doubtless from the noblest motives, to step out of his way to
interpret and interdict the execution of a law, atrocious, it is true,
but which even in those times of weakness, disorder, and anarchy was
still a law. In this instance, at least, the power of his name was nobly
employed. The letter gave great satisfaction to the army destined for
the expedition.
A man named Simon, who had followed his master in emigration, and
dreaded the application of the law, heard that I wanted a servant. He
came to me and acknowledged his situation. He suited me, and I hired
him. He then told me he feared he should be arrested whilst going to the
port to embark. Bonaparte, to whom I mentioned the circumstance, and
who had just given a striking proof of his aversion to these acts of
barbarity, said to me in a tone of kindness, "Give him my portfolio
to carry, and let him remain with you." The words "Bonaparte,
General-in-Chief of the Army of the East," were inscribed in large
gold letters on the green morocco. Whether it was the portfolio or his
connection with us that prevented Simon from being arrested I know not;
but he passed on without interruption. I reprimanded him for having
smiled derisively at the ill humour of the persons appointed to
arrest him. He served me faithfully, and was even sometimes useful to
Bonaparte.
CHAPTER XIII.
1798.
Departure of the squadron--Arrival at Malta--Dolomieu--General
Barguay d'Hilliers--Attack on the western part of the island--
Caffarelli's remark--Deliverance of the Turkish prisoners--Nelson's
pursuit of the French fleet--Conversations on board--How Bonaparte
passed his, time--Questions to the Captains--Propositions discussed
--Morning music--Proclamation--Admiral Brueys--The English fleet
avoided Dangerous landing--Bonaparte and his fortune--Alexandria
taken--Kléber wounded--Bonaparte's entrance into Alexandria.
The squadron sailed on the 19th of May. The Orient, which, owing to her
heavy lading, drew too much water, touched the ground; but she was got
off without much difficulty.
We arrived off Malta on the 10th of June. We had lost two days in
waiting for some convoys which joined us at Malta.
The intrigues throughout Europe had not succeeded in causing the ports
of that island to be opened to us immediately on our arrival. Bonaparte
expressed much displeasure against the persons sent from Europe to
arrange measures for that purpose. One of them, however, M. Dolomieu,
had cause to repent his mission, which occasioned him to be badly
treated by the Sicilians. M. Poussielgue had done all he could in the
way of seduction, but he had not completely succeeded. There was some
misunderstanding, and, in consequence, some shots were interchanged.
Bonaparte was very much pleased with General Baraguay d'Hilliers'
services in Italy. He could not but praise his military and political
conduct at Venice when, scarcely a year before, he had taken possession
of that city by his orders. General Baraguay d'Hilliers joined us with
his division,--which had embarked in the convoy that sailed from Genoa.
The General-in-Chief ordered him to land and attack the western part of
the island. He executed this order with equal prudence and ability, and
highly to the satisfaction of the General-in-Chief. As every person
in the secret knew that all this was a mere form, these hostile
demonstrations produced no unpleasant consequences. We wished to save
the honour of the knights--that was all; for no one who has seen Malta
can imagine that an island surrounded with such formidable and perfect
fortifications would have surrendered in two days to a fleet which was
pursued by an enemy. The impregnable fortress of Malta is so secure
against a 'coup de main' that General Caffarelli, after examining its
fortifications, said to the General-in-Chief, in my presence, "Upon my
word, General, it is luck: there is some one in the town to open the
gates for us."
By comparing the observation of General Caffarelli with what has been
previously stated respecting the project of the expedition to Egypt and
Malta, an idea may be formed of the value of Bonaparte's assertion at
St. Helena:
"The capture of Malta was not owing to private intrigues, but to the
sagacity of the Commander-in-chief. I took Malta when I was in Mantua!"
It is not the less true, however, that I wrote, by his dictation, a mass
of instructions for private intrigues. Napoleon also said to another
noble companion of his exile at St Helena, "Malta certainly possessed
vast physical means of resistance; but no moral means. The knights did
nothing dishonourable, nobody is obliged to do impossibilities. No; but
they were sold; the capture of Malta was assured before we left Toulon."
The General-in-Chief proceeded to that part of the port where the Turks
made prisoners by the knights were kept.
The disgusting galleys were emptied of their occupants: The same
principles which, a few days after, formed the basis of Bonaparte's
proclamation to the Egyptians, guided him in this act of reason and
humanity.
He walked several times in the gardens of the grandmaster. They were in
beautiful order, and filled with magnificent orange-trees. We regaled
ourselves with their fruit, which the great heat rendered most
delicious.
On the 19th of June, after having settled the government and defence of
the island, the General left Malta, which he little dreamed he had taken
for the English, who have very badly requited the obligation. Many of
the knights followed Bonaparte and took civil and military appointments.
During the night of the 22d of June the English squadron was almost
close upon us. It passed at about six leagues from the French fleet.
Nelson, who learned the capture of Malta at Messina on the day we left
the island, sailed direct for Alexandria, without proceeding into the
north. He considered that city to be the place of our destination. By
taking the shortest course, with every sail set, and unembarrassed by
any convoy, he arrived before Alexandria on the 28th of June, three days
before the French fleet, which, nevertheless, had sailed before him from
the shores of Malta. The French squadron took the direction of Candia,
which we perceived on the 25th of June, and afterwards stood to the
south, favoured by the Etesian winds, which regularly prevail at that
season. The French fleet did not reach Alexandria till the 30th of June.
When on board the 'Orient' he took pleasure in conversing frequently
with Monge and Berthollet. The subjects on which they usually talked
were chemistry, mathematics, and religion. General Caffarelli, whose
conversation, supplied by knowledge, was at once energetic, witty,
and lively, was one of those with whom he most willingly discoursed.
Whatever friendship he might entertain for Berthollet, it was easy to
perceive that he preferred Monge, and that he was led to that preference
because Monge, endowed with an ardent imagination, without exactly
possessing religious principles, had a kind of predisposition for
religious ideas which harmonised with the notions of Bonaparte. On
this subject Berthollet sometimes rallied his inseparable friend Monge.
Besides, Berthollet was, with his cold imagination, constantly devoted
to analysis and abstractions, inclined towards materialism, an opinion
with which the General was always much dissatisfied.
Bonaparte sometimes conversed with Admiral Brueys. His object was always
to gain information respecting the different manoeuvres, and nothing
astonished the Admiral more than the sagacity of his questions. I
recollect that one day, Bonaparte having asked Brueys in what manner the
hammocks were disposed of when clearing for action, he declared, after
he had received an answer, that if the case should occur he would order
every one to throw his baggage overboard.
He passed a great part of his time in his cabin, lying on a bed,
which, swinging on a kind of castors, alleviated the severity of the
sea-sickness from which he frequently suffered much when the ship
rolled.
I was almost always with him in his cabin, where I read to him some of
the favourite works which he had selected for his camp library. He
also frequently conversed, for hours together, with the captains of the
vessels which he hailed. He never failed to ask whence they came? what
was their destination? what ships they had met? what course they had
sailed? His curiosity being thus satisfied, he allowed them to continue
their voyage, after making them promise to say nothing of having seen
the French squadron.
Whilst we were at sea he seldom rose before ten o'clock in the morning.
The 'Orient' had the appearance of a populous town, from which women had
been excluded; and this floating city was inhabited by 2000 individuals,
amongst whom were a great number of distinguished men. Bonaparte every
day invited several persons to dine with him, besides Brueys, Berthier,
the colonels, and his ordinary household, who were always present at the
table of the General-in-Chief. When the weather was fine he went up to
the quarter-deck, which, from its extent, formed a grand promenade.
I recollect once that when walking the quarter-deck with him whilst we
were in Sicilian waters I thought I could see the summits of the Alps
beautifully lighted by the rays of the setting sun. Bonaparte laughed
much, and joked me about it. He called Admiral Brueys, who took his
telescope and soon confirmed my conjecture. The Alps!
At the mention of that word by the Admiral I think I can see Bonaparte
still. He stood for a long time motionless; then, suddenly bursting from
his trance, exclaimed, "No! I cannot behold the land of Italy without
emotion! There is the East: and there I go; a perilous enterprise
invites me. Those mountains command the plains where I so often had the
good fortune to lead the French to victory. With them we will conquer
again."
One of Bonaparte's greatest pleasures during the voyage was, after
dinner, to fix upon three or four persons to support a proposition
and as many to oppose it. He had an object in view by this. These
discussions afforded him an opportunity of studying the minds of
those whom he had an interest in knowing well, in order that he might
afterwards confide to each the functions for which he possessed the
greatest aptitude: It will not appear singular to those who have been
intimate with Bonaparte, that in these intellectual contests he gave the
preference to those who had supported an absurd proposition with ability
over those who had maintained the cause of reason; and it was not
superiority of mind which determined his judgment, for he really
preferred the man who argued well in favour of an absurdity to the
man who argued equally well in support of a reasonable proposition. He
always gave out the subjects which were to be discussed; and they most
frequently turned upon questions of religion, the different kinds of
government, and the art of war. One day he asked whether the planets
were inhabited; on another, what was the age of the world; then he
proposed to consider the probability of the destruction of our globe,
either by water or fire; at another time, the truth or fallacy of
presentiments, and the interpretation of dreams. I remember the
circumstance which gave rise to the last proposition was an allusion
to Joseph, of whom he happened to speak, as he did of almost everything
connected with the country to which we were bound, and which that
able administrator had governed. No country came under Bonaparte's
observation without recalling historical recollections to his mind. On
passing the island of Candia his imagination was excited, and he spoke
with enthusiasm of ancient Crete and the Colossus, whose fabulous renown
has surpassed all human glories. He spoke much of the fall of the
empire of the East, which bore so little resemblance to what history has
preserved of those fine countries, so often moistened with the blood of
man. The ingenious fables of mythology likewise occurred to his mind,
and imparted to his language something of a poetical, and, I may say,
of an inspired character. The sight of the kingdom of Minos led him to
reason on the laws best calculated for the government of nations; and
the birthplace of Jupiter suggested to him the necessity of a religion
for the mass of mankind. This animated conversation lasted until the
favourable north winds, which drove the clouds into the valley of the
Nile, caused us to lose sight of the island of Candia.
The musicians on board the Orient sometimes played serenades; but only
between decks, for Bonaparte was not yet sufficiently fond of music to
wish to hear it in his cabin. It may be said that his taste for this art
increased in the direct ratio of his power; and so it was with his taste
for hunting, of which he gave no indication until after his elevation
to the empire; as though he had wished to prove that he possessed within
himself not only the genius of sovereignty for commanding men, but also
the instinct for those aristocratical pleasures, the enjoyment of which
is considered by mankind to be amongst the attributes of kings.
It is scarcely possible that some accidents should not occur during
a long voyage in a crowded vessel--that some persons should not fall
overboard. Accidents of this kind frequently happened on board the
'Orient'. On those occasions nothing was more remarkable than the great
humanity of the man who has since been so prodigal of the blood of
his fellow-creatures on the field of battle, and who was about to shed
rivers of it even in Egypt, whither we were bound. When a man fell into
the sea the General-in-Chief was in a state of agitation till he was
saved. He instantly had the ship hove-to, and exhibited the greatest
uneasiness until the unfortunate individual was recovered. He ordered me
to reward those who ventured their lives in this service. Amongst these
was a sailor who had incurred punishment for some fault. He not only
exempted him from the punishment, but also gave him some money. I
recollect that one dark night we heard a noise like that occasioned by
a man falling into the sea. Bonaparte instantly caused the ship to be
hove-to until the supposed victim was rescued from certain death. The
men hastened from all sides, and at length they picked up-what?--the
quarter of a bullock, which had fallen from the hook to which it was
hung. What was Bonaparte's conduct? He ordered me to reward the sailors
who had exerted themselves in this occasion even more generously than
usual, saying, "It might have been a sailor, and these brave fellows
have shown as much activity and courage as if it had."
After the lapse of thirty years all these things are as fresh in my
recollection as if they were passing at the present moment. In this
manner Bonaparte employed his time on board the Orient during the
voyage, and it was also at this time that he dictated to me the
following proclamation:
HEADQUARTERS ON BOARD THE "ORIENT,"
The 4th Messidor, Year VI.
BONAPARTE, MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE,
GENERAL-IN-CHIEF.
SOLDIERS--You are about to undertake a conquest the effects of which
on civilisation and commerce are incalculable. The blow you are
about to give to England will be the best aimed, and the most
sensibly felt, she can receive until the time arrive when you can
give her her deathblow.
We must make some fatiguing marches; we must fight several battles;
we shall succeed in all we undertake. The destinies are with us.
The Mameluke Beys who favour exclusively English commerce, whose
extortions oppress our merchants, and who tyrannise over the
unfortunate inhabitants of the Nile, a few days after our arrival
will no longer exist.
The people amongst whom we are going to live are Mahometans. The
first article of their faith is this: "There is no God but God, and
Mahomet is his prophet." Do not contradict them. Behave to them as
you have behaved to the Jews--to the Italians. Pay respect to their
muftis, and their Imaums, as you did to the rabbis and the bishops.
Extend to the ceremonies prescribed by the Koran and to the mosques
the same toleration which you showed to the synagogues, to the
religion of Moses and of Jesus Christ.
The Roman legions protected all religions. You will find here
customs different from those of Europe. You must accommodate
yourselves to them. The people amongst whom we are to mix differ
from us in the treatment of women; but in all countries he who
violates is a monster. Pillage enriches only a small number of men;
it dishonours us; it destroys our resources; it converts into
enemies the people whom it is our interest to have for friends.
The first town we shall come to was built by Alexander. At every
step we shall meet with grand recollections, worthy of exciting the
emulation of Frenchmen.
BONAPARTE.
During the voyage, and particularly between Malta and Alexandria, I
often conversed with the brave and unfortunate Admiral Brueys. The
intelligence we heard from time to time augmented his uneasiness. I
had the good fortune to obtain the confidence of this worthy man. He
complained bitterly of the imperfect manner in which the fleet had been
prepared for sea; of the encumbered state of the ships of the line
and frigates, and especially of the 'Orient'; of the great number of
transports; of the bad Outfit of all the ships and the weakness of their
crews. He assured me that it required no little courage to undertake the
command of a fleet so badly equipped; and he often declared, that in
the event of our falling in with the enemy, he could not answer for the
consequences. The encumbered state of the vessels, the immense quantity
of civic and military baggage which each person had brought, and would
wish to save, would render proper manoeuvres impracticable. In case of
an attack, added Brueys, even by an inferior squadron, the confusion
and disorder amongst so great a number of persons would produce an
inevitable catastrophe. Finally, if the English had appeared with ten
vessels only, the Admiral could not have guaranteed a fortunate result.
He considered victory to be a thing that was impossible, and even with a
victory, what would have become of the expedition? "God send," he said,
with a sigh, "that we may pass the English without meeting them!" He
appeared to foresee what did afterwards happen to him, not in the open
sea, but in a situation which he considered much more favourable to his
defence.
On the morning of the 1st of July the expedition arrived off the coast
of Africa, and the column of Septimus-Severus pointed out to us the city
of Alexandria. Our situation and frame of mind hardly permitted us to
reflect that in the distant point we beheld the city of the Ptolemies
and Caesars, with its double port, its pharos, and the gigantic
monuments of its ancient grandeur. Our imaginations did not rise to this
pitch.
Admiral Brueys had sent on before the frigate Juno to fetch M. Magallon,
the French Consul. It was near four o'clock when he arrived, and the sea
was very rough. He informed the General-in-Chief that Nelson had been
off Alexandria on the 28th--that he immediately dispatched a brig to
obtain intelligence from the English agent. On the return of the brig
Nelson instantly stood away with his squadron towards the north-east.
But for a delay which our convoy from Civita Vecchia occasioned, we
should have been on this coast at the same time as Nelson.
It appeared that Nelson supposed us to be already at Alexandria when he
arrived there. He had reason to suppose so, seeing that we left Malta on
the 19th of June, whilst he did not sail from Messina till the 21st.
Not finding us where he expected, and being persuaded we ought to have
arrived there had Alexandria been the place of our destination; he
sailed for Alexandretta in Syria, whither he imagined we had gone to
effect a landing. This error saved the expedition a second time.
Bonaparte, on hearing the details which the French Consul communicated,
resolved to disembark immediately. Admiral Brueys represented the
difficulties and dangers of a disembarkation--the violence of the surge,
the distance from the coast,--a coast, too, lined with reefs of rocks,
the approaching night, and our perfect ignorance of the points suitable
for landing. The Admiral, therefore, urged the necessity of waiting
till next morning; that is to say, to delay the landing twelve hours.
He observed that Nelson could not return from Syria for several
days. Bonaparte listened to these representations with impatience and
ill-humour. He replied peremptorily, "Admiral, we have no time to lose.
Fortune gives me but three days; if I do not profit by them we are
lost." He relied much on fortune; this chimerical idea constantly
influenced his resolutions.
Bonaparte having the command of the naval as well as the military force,
the Admiral was obliged to yield to his wishes.
I attest these facts, which passed in my presence, and no part of which
could escape my observation. It is quite false that it was owing to the
appearance of a sail which, it is pretended, was descried, but of which,
for my part, I saw nothing, that Bonaparte exclaimed, "Fortune, have you
abandoned me? I ask only five days!" No such thing occurred.
It was one o'clock in the morning of the 2d of July when we landed on
the soil of Egypt, at Marabou, three leagues to the west of Alexandria.
We had to regret the loss of some lives; but we had every reason to
expect that our losses would have been greater.
At three o'clock the same morning the General-in-Chief marched on
Alexandria with the divisions of Kléber, Bon, and Menou. The Bedouin
Arabs, who kept hovering about our right flank and our rear, picked up
the stragglers.
Having arrived within gunshot of Alexandria, we scaled the ramparts, and
French valour soon triumphed over all obstacles.
The first blood I saw shed in war was General Kléber's. He was struck
in the head by a ball, not in storming the walls, but whilst heading the
attack. He came to Pompey's Pillar, where many members of the staff were
assembled, and where the General-in-Chief was watching the attack.
I then spoke to Kléber for the first time, and from that day our
friendship commenced. I had the good fortune to contribute somewhat
towards the assistance of which he stood in need, and which, as we were
situated, could not be procured very easily.
It has been endeavoured to represent the capture of Alexandria,
which surrendered after a few hours, as a brilliant exploit. The
General-in-Chief himself wrote that the city had been taken after a
few discharges of cannon; the walls, badly fortified, were soon scaled.
Alexandria was not delivered up to pillage, as has been asserted, and
often repeated. This would have been a most impolitic mode of commencing
the conquest of Egypt, which had no strong places requiring to be
intimidated by a great example.
Bonaparte, with some others, entered the city by a narrow street which
scarcely allowed two persons to walk abreast; I was with him. We were
stopped by some musket-shots fired from a low window by a man and a
woman. They repeated their fire several times. The guides who preceded
their General kept up a heavy fire on the window. The man and woman fell
dead, and we passed on in safety, for the place had surrendered.
Bonaparte employed the six days during which he remained in Alexandria
in establishing order in the city and province, with that activity
and superior talent which I could never sufficiently admire, and in
directing the march of the army across the province of Bohahire'h. He
sent Desaix with 4500 infantry and 60 cavalry to Beda, on the road to
Damanhour. This general was the first to experience the privations and
sufferings which the whole army had soon to endure. His great mind,
his attachment to Bonaparte, seemed for a moment about to yield to the
obstacles which presented themselves. On the 15th of July he wrote from
Bohahire'h as follows: "I beseech you do not let us stop longer in this
position. My men are discouraged and murmur. Make us advance or fall
back without delay. The villages consist merely of huts, absolutely
without resources."
In these immense plains, scorched by the vertical rays of a burning
sun, water, everywhere else so common, becomes an object of contest. The
wells and springs, those secret treasures of the desert, are carefully
concealed from the travellers; and frequently, after our most oppressive
marches, nothing could be found to allay the urgent cravings of thirst
but a little brackish water of the most disgusting description.
--[Some idea of the misery endured by the French troops on this
occasion may be gathered from the following description is
Napoleon's Memoirs, dictated at St. Helena:
"As the Hebrews wandering in the wilderness complained, and angrily
asked Moses for the onions and flesh-pots of Egypt, the French
soldiers constantly regretted the luxuries of Italy. In vain were
they assured that the country was the most fertile in the world,
that it was even superior to Lombard; how were they to be persuaded
of this when they could get neither bread nor wine? We encamped on
immense quantities of wheat, but there was neither mill nor oven in
the country. The biscuit brought from Alexandria had long been
exhausted; the soldiers were even reduced to bruise the wheat
between two stones and to make cake which they baked under the
ashes. Many parched the wheat in a pan, after which they boiled it.
This was the best way to use the grain; but, after all, it was not
bread. The apprehensions of the soldiers increased daily, and rose
to such a pitch that a great number of them said there was no great
city of calm; and that the place bring that name was, like
Damanhour, a vast assemblage of mere huts, destitute of everything
that could render life comfortable or agreeable. To such a
melancholy state of mind had they brought themselves that two
dragoons threw themselves, completely clothed, into the Nile, where
they were drowned. It is nevertheless true that, though there was
neither bread nor wine, the resources which were procured with
wheat, lentils, meat, and sometimes pigeons, furnished the army with
food of some kind. But the evil was, in the ferment of the mind.
The officers complained more loudly than the soldiers, because the
comparison was proportionately more disadvantageous to them. In
Egypt they found neither the quarters, the good table, nor the
luxury of Italy. The General-in-Chief, wishing to set an example,
tried to bivouac in the midst of the army, and in the least
commodious spots. No one had either tent or provisions; the dinner
of Napoleon and his staff consisted of a dish of lentils. The
soldiers passed the evenings in political conversations, arguments,
and complaints. 'For what purpose are we come here?' said some of
them, 'the Directory has transported us.' 'Caffarelli,' said others,
'is the agent that has been made use of to deceive the
General-in-Chief.' Many of them, having observed that wherever there
were vestiges of antiquity they were carefully searched, vented their
spite in invective against the savants, or scientific men, who, they
said, had started the idea of she expedition to order to make these
searches. Jests were showered upon them, even in their presence.
The men called an ass a savant; and said of Caffarelli Dufalga,
alluding to his wooden leg, 'He laughs at all these troubles; he has
one foot to France.'"]
CHAPTER XIV.
1798.
The mirage--Skirmishes with the Arabs--Mistake of General Desaix's
division--Wretchedness of a rich sheik--Combat beneath the General's
window--The flotilla on the Nile--Its distress and danger--The
battle of Chebreisse--Defeat of the Mamelukes--Bonaparte's reception
of me--Letter to Louis Bonaparte--Success of the French army--
Triumphal entrance into Cairo--Civil and military organisation of
Cairo--Bonaparte's letter to his brother Joseph--Plan of
colonisation.
On the 7th of July General Bonaparte left Alexandria for Damanhour. In
the vast plains of Bohahire'h the mirage every moment presented to the
eye wide sheets of water, while, as we advanced, we found nothing but
barren ground full of deep cracks. Villages, which at a distance appear
to be surrounded with water, are, on a nearer approach, discovered to be
situated on heights, mostly artificial, by which they are raised above
the inundations of the Nile. This illusion continually recurs; and it
is the more treacherous, inasmuch as it presents to the eye the perfect
representation of water, at the time when the want of that article is
most felt. This mirage is so considerable in the plain of Pelusium that
shortly after sunrise no object is recognisable. The same phenomenon
has been observed in other countries. Quintus Curtius says that in the
deserts of Sogdiana, a fog rising from the earth obscures the light,
and the surrounding country seems like a vast sea. The cause of this
singular illusion is now fully explained; and, from the observations of
the learned Monge, it appears that the mirage will be found in almost
every country situated between the tropics where the local circumstances
are similar.
The Arabs harassed the army without intermission. The few wells met with
in the desert were either filled up or the water was rendered unfit for
use. The intolerable thirst with which the troops were tormented, even
on this first march, was but ill allayed by brackish and unwholesome
water. The army crossed the desert with the rapidity of lightning,
scarcely tasting a drop of water. The sufferings of the troops were
frequently expressed by discouraging murmurs.
On the first night a mistake occurred which might have proved fatal. We
were advancing in the dark, under feeble escort, almost sleeping on our
horses, when suddenly we were assailed by two successive discharges
of musketry. We aroused ourselves and reconnoitred, and to our great
satisfaction discovered that the only mischief was a alight wound
received by one of our guides. Our assailants were the division of
General Desaix, who, forming the advanced guard of the army, mistook us
for a party of the enemy, and fired upon us. It was speedily ascertained
that the little advanced guard of the headquarters had not heard the
"Qui vive?" of Desaix's advanced posts.
On reaching Damanhour our headquarters were established at the residence
of a sheik. The house had been new whitened, and looked well enough
outside, but the interior was inconceivably wretched. Every domestic
utensil was broken, and the only seats were a few dirty tattered mats.
Bonaparte knew that the sheik was rich, and having somewhat won his
confidence, he asked him, through the medium of the interpreter, why,
being in easy circumstances, he thus deprived himself of all comfort.
"Some years ago," replied the sheik, "I repaired and furnished my house.
When this became known at Cairo a demand was made upon me for money,
because it was said my expenses proved me to be rich. I refused to pay
the money, and in consequence I was ill-treated, and at length forced to
pay it. From that time I have allowed myself only the bare necessaries
of life, and I shall buy no furniture for my house." The old man was
lame in consequence of the treatment he had suffered. Woe to him who in
this country is suspected of having a competency--a hundred spies are
always ready to denounce him. The appearance of poverty is the only
security against the rapine of power and the cupidity of barbarism.
A little troop of Arabs on horseback assailed our headquarters.
Bonaparte, who was at the window of the sheik's house, indignant at this
insolence, turned to one of his aides de camp, who happened to be on
duty, and said, "Croisier, take a few guides and drive those fellows
away!" In an instant Croisier was in the plain with fifteen guides.
A little skirmish ensued, and we looked on from the window. In the
movement and in the attack of Croisier and his party there was a sort of
hesitation which the General-in-Chief could not comprehend. "Forward,
I say! Charge!" he exclaimed from the window, as if he could have been
heard. Our horsemen seemed to fall back as the Arabs returned to the
attack; and after a little contest, maintained with tolerable spirit,
the Arabs retired without loss, and without being molested in their
retreat. Bonaparte could no longer repress his rage; and when Croisier
returned he experienced such a harsh reception that the poor fellow
withdrew deeply mortified and distressed. Bonaparte desired me to follow
him and say something to console him: but all was in vain. "I cannot
survive this," he said. "I will sacrifice my life on the first occasion
that offers itself. I will not live dishonoured." The word coward had
escaped the General's lips. Poor Croisier died at Saint Jean d'Acre.
On the 10th of July our headquarters were established at Rahmahanie'h,
where they remained during the 11th and 12th. At this place commences
the canal which was cut by Alexander to convey water to his new city;
and to facilitate commercial intercourse between Europe and the East.
The flotilla, commanded by the brave chief of division Perree, had just
arrived from Rosette. Perree was on board the xebec 'Cerf'.
--[Bonaparte had great confidence in him. He had commanded, under
the General's orders, the naval forces in the Adriatic in 1797.--
Bourrienne]--
Bonaparte placed on board the Cerf and the other vessels of the flotilla
those individuals who, not being military, could not be serviceable in
engagements, and whose horses served to mount a few of the troops.
On the night of the 14th of July the General-in-Chief directed his march
towards the south, along the left bank of the Nile. The flotilla sailed
up the river parallel with the left wing of the army. But the force of
the wind, which at this season blows regularly from the Mediterranean
into the valley of the file, carried the flotilla far in advance of the
army, and frustrated the plan of their mutually defending and supporting
each other. The flotilla thus unprotected fell in with seven Turkish
gunboats coming from Cairo, and was exposed simultaneously to their fire
and to that of the Mamelukes, fellahs, and Arabs who lined both banks of
the river. They had small guns mounted on camels.
Perree cast anchor, and an engagement commenced at nine o'clock on the
14th of July, and continued till half past twelve.
At the same time the General-in-Chief met and attacked a corps of about
4000 Mamelukes. His object, as he afterwards said, was to turn the corps
by the left of the village of Chebreisse, and to drive it upon the Nile.
About eleven in the morning Perree told me that the Turks were doing
us more harm than we were doing them; that our ammunition would soon be
exhausted; that the army was far inland, and that if it did not make
a move to the left there would be no hope for us. Several vessels had
already been boarded and taken by the Turks, who massacred the crews
before our eyes, and with barbarous ferocity showed us the heads of the
slaughtered men.
Perree, at considerable risk, despatched several persons to inform
the General-in-Chief of the desperate situation of the flotilla. The
cannonade which Bonaparte had heard since the morning, and the explosion
of a Turkish gunboat, which was blown up by the artillery of the xebec,
led him to fear that our situation was really perilous. He therefore
made a movement to the left, in the direction of the Nile and
Chebreisse, beat the Mamelukes, and forced them to retire on Cairo. At
sight of the French troops the commander of the Turkish flotilla
weighed anchor and sailed up the Nile. The two banks of the river were
evacuated, and the flotilla escaped the destruction which a short time
before had appeared inevitable. Some writers have alleged that the
Turkish flotilla was destroyed in this engagement. The truth is, the
Turks did us considerable injury, while on their part they suffered but
little. We had twenty men killed and several wounded. Upwards of 1500
cannon-shots were fired during the action.
General Berthier, in his narrative of the Egyptian expedition,
enumerates the individuals who, though not in the military service,
assisted Perree in this unequal and dangerous engagement. He mentions
Monge, Berthollet, Andreossy, the paymaster, Junot, and Bourrienne,
secretary to the General-in-Chief. It has also been stated that Sucy,
the commissary-general, was seriously wounded while bravely defending a
gunboat laden with provisions; but this is incorrect.
We had no communication with the army until the 23d of July. On the 22d
we came in sight of the Pyramids, and were informed that we were only
about, ten leagues from Gizeh, where they are situated. The cannonade
which we heard, and which augmented in proportion as the north wind
diminished, announced a serious engagement; and that same day we saw
the banks of the Nile strewed with heaps of bodies, which the waves were
every moment washing into the sea. This horrible spectacle, the silence
of the surrounding villages, which had hitherto been armed against us,
and the cessation of the firing from the banks of the river, led us to
infer, with tolerable certainty, that a battle fatal to the Mamelukes
had been fought. The misery we suffered on our passage from Rahmahanie'h
to Gizeh is indescribable. We lived for eleven days on melons and water,
besides being momentarily exposed to the musketry of the Arabs and
the fellahs. We luckily escaped with but a few killed and wounded. The
rising of the Nile was only beginning. The shallowness of the river near
Cairo obliged us to leave the xebec and get on board a djerm. We reached
Gizeh at three in the afternoon of the 23d of July.
When I saluted the General, whom I had not seen for twelve days, he thus
addressed me: "So you are here, are you? Do you know that you have all
of you been the cause of my not following up the battle of Chebreisse?
It was to save you, Monge, Berthollet, and the others on board the
flotilla that I hurried the movement of my left upon the Nile before my
right had turned Chebreisse. But for that, not a single Mameluke would
have escaped."
"I thank you for my own part," replied I; "but in conscience could you
have abandoned us, after taking away our horses, and making us go on
board the xebec, whether we would or not?" He laughed, and then told
me how sorry he was for the wound of Sucy, and the death of many useful
men, whose places could not possibly be filled up.
He made me write a letter to his brother Louis, informing him that he
had gained a complete victory over the Mamelukes at Embabeh, opposite
Boulac, and that the enemy's loss was 2000 men killed and wounded, 40
guns, and a great number of horses.
The occupation of Cairo was the immediate consequence of the victory
of Embabeh. Bonaparte established his head-quarters in the home of Elfy
Bey, in the great square of Ezbekye'h.
The march of the French army to Cairo was attended by an uninterrupted
succession of combats and victories. We had won the battles of
Rahmahanie'h, Chebreisse, and the Pyramids. The Mamelukes were defeated,
and their chief, Mourad Bey, was obliged to fly into Upper Egypt.
Bonaparte found no obstacle to oppose his entrance into the capital of
Egypt, after a campaign of only twenty days.
No conqueror, perhaps, ever enjoyed a victory so much as Bonaparte, and
yet no one was ever less inclined to abuse his triumphs.
We entered Cairo on the 24th of July, and the General-in-Chief
immediately directed his attention to the civil and military
organization of the country. Only those who saw him in the vigour of his
youth can form an idea of his extraordinary intelligence and activity.
Nothing escaped his observation. Egypt had long been the object of his
study; and in a few weeks he was as well acquainted with the country
as if he had lived in it ten years. He issued orders for observing the
strictest discipline, and these orders were punctually obeyed.
The mosques, the civil and religious institutions, the harems, the
women, the customs of the country--all were scrupulously respected. A
few days after they entered Cairo the French were freely admitted
into the shops, and were seen sociably smoking their pipes with the
inhabitants, assisting them in their occupations, and playing with their
children.
The day after his arrival in Cairo Bonaparte addressed to his brother
Joseph the following letter, which was intercepted and printed. Its
authenticity has been doubted, but I saw Napoleon write it, and he read
it to me before he sent it off.
CAIRO,
7th. Thermidor (25th July 1798)
You will see in the public papers the bulletins of the battles and
conquest of Egypt, which were sufficiently contested to add another
wreath to the laurels of this army. Egypt is richer than any
country in the world in coin, rice, vegetables, and cattle. But the
people are in a state of utter barbarism. We cannot procure money,
even to pay the troops. I maybe in France in two months.
Engage a country-house, to be ready for me on my arrival, either
near Paris or in Burgundy, where I mean to pass the winter.
--[Bonaparte's autograph note, after enumerating the troops and
warlike stores he wished to be sent, concluded with the following
list:
1st, a company of actors; 2d, a company of dancers; 3d, some dealers
in marionettes, at least three or four; 9th, a hundred French women;
5th, the wives of all the men employed in the corps; 6th, twenty
surgeons, thirty apothecaries, and ten Physicians; 7th, some
founders; 8th, some distillers and dealers in liquor; 9th fifty
gardeners with their families, and the seeds of every kind of
vegetable; 10th, each party to bring with them: 200,000 pints of
brandy; 11th, 30,000 ells of blue and scarlet cloth; 12th, a supply
of soap and oil.--Bourrienne.]--
(Signed) BONAPARTE
This announcement of his departure to his brother is corroborated by a
note which he despatched some days after, enumerating the supplies and
individuals which he wished to have sent to Egypt. His note proves,
more convincingly than any arguments, that Bonaparte earnestly wished to
preserve his conquest, and to make it a French colony. It must be borne
in mind that the note here alluded to, as well as the letter above
quoted, was written long before the destruction of the fleet.
CHAPTER XV.
1798.
Establishment of a divan in each Egyptian province--Desaix in Upper
Egypt--Ibrahim Bey beaten by Bonaparte at Salehye'h--Sulkowsky
wounded--Disaster at Aboukir--Dissatisfaction and murmurs of the
army--Dejection of the General-in-Chief--His plan respecting Egypt
--Meditated descent upon England--Bonaparte's censure of the
Directory--Intercepted correspondence.
From the details I have already given respecting Bonaparte's plans for
colonising Egypt, it will be seen that his energy of mind urged him to
adopt anticipatory measures for the accomplishment of objects which were
never realised. During the short interval in which he sheathed his sword
he planned provisional governments for the towns and provinces occupied
by the French troops, and he adroitly contrived to serve the interests
of his army without appearing to violate those of the country. After he
had been four days at Cairo, during which time he employed himself in
examining everything, and consulting every individual from whom he could
obtain useful information, he published the following order:
HEADQUARTERS, CAIRO,
9th Thermidor, year VI.
BONAPARTE, MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE,
AND GENERAL-IN-CHIEF, ORDERS:
Art. 1. There shall be in each province of Egypt a divan, composed
of seven individuals, whose duty will be to superintend the
interests of the province; to communicate to me any complaints that
may be made; to prevent warfare among the different villages; to
apprehend and punish criminals (for which purpose they may demand
assistance from the French commandant); and to take every
opportunity of enlightening the people.
Art. 2. There shall be in each province an aga of the Janizaries,
maintaining constant communication with the French commandant. He
shall have with him a company of sixty armed natives, whom he may
take wherever he pleases, for the maintenance of good order,
subordination, and tranquillity.
Art. 3. There shall be in each province an intendant, whose
business will be to levy the miri, the feddam, and the other
contributions which formerly belonged to the Mamelukes, but which
now belong to the French Republic. The intendants shall have as
many agents as may be necessary.
Art. 4. The said intendant shall have a French agent to correspond
with the Finance Department, and to execute all the orders he may
receive.
(Signed) BONAPARTE.
While Bonaparte was thus actively taking measures for the organization
of the country,
--[Far more thoroughly and actively than those taken by the English
Government in 1882-3-4]--
General Desaix had marched into Upper Egypt in pursuit of Mourad Bey. We
learned that Ibrahim, who, next to Mourad, was the most influential
of the beys, had proceeded towards Syria, by the way of Belbeis and
Salehye'h. The General-in-Chief immediately determined to march in
person against that formidable enemy, and he left Cairo about fifteen
days after he had entered it. It is unnecessary to describe the
well-known engagement in which Bonaparte drove Ibrahim back upon
El-Arish; besides, I do not enter minutely into the details of battles,
my chief object being to record events which I personally witnessed.
At the battle of Salehye'h Bonaparte thought he had lost one of his
'aides de camp', Sulkowsky, to whom he was much attached, and who had
been with us during the whole of the campaign of Italy. On the field of
battle one object of regret cannot long engross the mind; yet, on his
return to Cairo, Bonaparte frequently spoke to me of Sulkowsky in terms
of unfeigned sorrow.
"I cannot," said he one day, "sufficiently admire the noble spirit and
determined courage of poor Sulkowsky." He often said that Sulkowsky
would have been a valuable aid to whoever might undertake the
resuscitation of Poland. Fortunately that brave officer was not killed
on that occasion, though seriously wounded. He was, however, killed
shortly after.
The destruction of the French squadron in the roads of Aboukir occurred
during the absence of the General-in-Chief. This event happened on
the 1st of August. The details are generally known; but there is one
circumstance to which I cannot refrain from alluding, and which excited
deep interest at the time. This was the heroic courage of the son
of Casablanca, the captain of the 'Orient'. Casablanca was among the
wounded, and when the vessel was blown up his son, a lad of ten years of
age, preferred perishing with him rather than saving himself, when one
of the seamen had secured him the means of escape. I told the 'aide de
camp', sent by General Kléber, who had the command of Alexandria,
that the General-in-Chief was near Salehye'h. He proceeded thither
immediately, and Bonaparte hastened back to Cairo, a distance of about
thirty-three leagues.
In spite of any assertions that may have been made to the contrary, the
fact is, that as soon as the French troops set foot in Egypt, they were
filled with dissatisfaction, and ardently longed to return home.
--['Erreurs' objects to this description of the complaints of the
army, but Savary (tome i. pp. 66, 67, and tome i. p. 89) fully
confirms it, giving the reason that the army was not a homogeneous
body, but a mixed force taken from Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice,
Genoa, and Marseilles; see also Thiers, tome v. p. 283. But the
fact is not singular. For a striking instance, in the days of the
Empire, of the soldiers in 1809, in Spain, actually threatening
Napoleon in his own hearing, see De Gonneville (tome i.
pp. 190-193): "The soldiers of Lapisse's division gave loud
expression to the most sinister designs against the Emperor's
person, stirring up each other to fire a shot at him, and bandying
accusations of cowardice for not doing it." He heard it all as
plainly as we did, and seemed as if he did not care a bit for it,
but "sent the division into good quarters, when the men were as
enthusiastic as they were formerly mutinous." In 1796
d'Entraigues, the Bourbon spy, reports, "As a general rule, the
French soldier grumbles and is discontented. He accuses Bonaparte
of being a thief and a rascal. But to-morrow the very same soldier
will obey him blindly" (Iung's Bonaparte, tome iii. p. 152).]--
The illusion of the expedition had disappeared, and only its reality
remained. What bitter murmuring have I not heard from Murat, Lannes,
Berthier, Bessières, and others! Their complaints were, indeed, often
so unmeasured as almost to amount to sedition. This greatly vexed
Bonaparte, and drew from him severe reproaches and violent language.
--[Napoleon related at St. Helena that in a fit of irritation he
rushed among a group of dissatisfied generals, and said to one of
them, who was remarkable for his stature, "you have held seditious
language; but take care I do not perform my duty. Though you are
five feet ten inches high, that shall not save you from being
shot."--Bourrienne.]--
When the news arrived of the loss of the fleet, discontent increased.
All who had acquired fortunes under Napoleon now began to fear that
they would never enjoy them. All turned their thoughts to Paris, and its
amusements, and were utterly disheartened at the idea of being separated
from their homes and their friends for a period, the termination of
which it was impossible to foresee.
The catastrophe of Aboukir came like a thunderbolt upon the
General-in-Chief. In spite of all his energy and fortitude, he was
deeply distressed by the disasters which now assailed him. To the
painful feelings excited by the complaints and dejection of his
companions in arms was now added the irreparable misfortune of the
burning of our fleet. He measured the fatal consequences of this event
at a single glance. We were now cut off from all communication with
France, and all hope of returning thither, except by a degrading
capitulation with an implacable and hated enemy. Bonaparte had lost all
chance of preserving his conquest, and to him this was indeed a bitter
reflection. And at what a time did this disaster befall him? At the very
moment when he was about to apply for the aid of the mother-country.
From what General Bonaparte communicated to me previously to the 1st of
August, his object was, having once secured the possession of Egypt; to
return to Toulon with the fleet; then to send troops and provisions of
every kind to Egypt; and next to combine with the fleet all the forces
that could be supplied, not only by France, but by her allies, for
the purpose of attacking England. It is certain that previously to his
departure for Egypt he had laid before the Directory a note relative to
his plans. He always regarded a descent upon England as possible, though
in its result fatal, so long as we should be inferior in naval strength;
but he hoped by various manoeuvres to secure a superiority on one point.
His intention was to return to France. Availing himself of the departure
of the English fleet for the Mediterranean, the alarm excited by his
Egyptian expedition, the panic that would be inspired by his sudden
appearance at Boulogne, and his preparations against England, he hoped
to oblige that power to withdraw her naval force from the Mediterranean,
and to prevent her sending out troops to Egypt. This project was often
in his head. He would have thought it sublime to date an order of the
day from the ruins of Memphis, and three months later, one from London.
The loss of the fleet converted all these bold conceptions into mere
romantic visions.
When alone with me he gave free vent to his emotion. I observed to
him that the disaster was doubtless great, but that it would have been
infinitely more irreparable had Nelson fallen in with us at Malta, or
had he waited for us four-and-twenty hours before Alexandria, or in
the open sea. "Any one of these events," said I, "which were not only
possible but probable, would have deprived us of every resource. We
are blockaded here, but we have provisions and money. Let us then wait
patiently to see what the Directory will do for us."--"The Directory!"
exclaimed he angrily, "the Directory is composed of a set of scoundrels!
they envy and hate me, and would gladly let me perish here. Besides, you
see how dissatisfied the whole army is: not a man is willing to stay."
The pleasing illusions which were cherished at the outset of the
expedition vanished long before our arrival in Cairo. Egypt was no
longer the empire of the Ptolemies, covered with populous and wealthy
cities; it now presented one unvaried scene of devastation and misery.
Instead of being aided by the inhabitants, whom we had ruined, for the
sake of delivering them from the yoke of the beys, we found all against
us: Mamelukes, Arabs, and fellahs. No Frenchman was secure of his life
who happened to stray half a mile from any inhabited place, or the corps
to which he belonged. The hostility which prevailed against us and the
discontent of the army were clearly developed in the numerous letters
which were written to France at the time, and intercepted.
The gloomy reflections which at first assailed Bonaparte, were speedily
banished; and he soon recovered the fortitude and presence of mind which
had been for a moment shaken by the overwhelming news from Aboukir. He,
however, sometimes repeated, in a tone which it would be difficult to
describe, "Unfortunate Brueys, what have you done!"
I have remarked that in some chance observations which escaped Napoleon
at St. Helena he endeavoured to throw all the blame of the affair
on Admiral Brueys. Persons who are determined to make Bonaparte an
exception to human nature have unjustly reproached the Admiral for the
loss of the fleet.
CHAPTER XVI.
1798.
The Egyptian Institute--Festival of the birth of Mahomet--Bonaparte's
prudent respect for the Mahometan religion--His Turkish dress--
Djezzar, the Pasha of Acre--Thoughts of a campaign in Germany--Want
of news from France--Bonaparte and Madame Fourés--The Egyptian
fortune-teller, M. Berthollet, and the Sheik El Bekri--The air
"Marlbrook"--Insurrection in Cairo--Death of General Dupuis--Death
of Sulkowsky--The insurrection quelled--Nocturnal executions--
Destruction of a tribe of Arabs--Convoy of sick and wounded--
Massacre of the French in Sicily--projected expedition to Syria--
Letter to Tippoo Saib.
The loss of the fleet convinced General Bonaparte of the necessity of
speedily and effectively organising Egypt, where everything denoted that
we should stay for a considerable time, excepting the event of a forced
evacuation, which the General was far from foreseeing or fearing. The
distance of Ibrahim Bey and Mourad Bey now left him a little at rest.
War, fortifications, taxation, government, the organization of the
divans, trade, art, and science, all occupied his attention. Orders and
instructions were immediately despatched, if not to repair the defeat,
at least to avert the first danger that might ensue from it. On the 21st
of August Bonaparte established at Cairo an institute of the arts and
sciences, of which he subsequently appointed me a member in the room of
M. de Sucy, who was obliged to return to France, in consequence of the
wound he received on board the flotilla in the Nile.
--[The Institute of Egypt was composed of members of the French
Institute, and of the men of science and artists of the commission
who did not belong to that body. They assembled and added to their
number several officers of the artillery and staff, and others who
had cultivated the sciences and literature.
The Institute was established in one of the palaces of the bey's.
A great number of machines, and physical, chemical, and astronomical
instruments had been brought from France. They were distributed in
the different rooms, which were also successively filled with all
the curiosities of the country, whether of the animal, vegetable, or
mineral kingdom.
The garden of the palace became a botanical garden. A chemical
laboratory was formed at headquarters; Berthollet performed
experiments there several times every week, which Napoleon and a
great number of officers attended ('Memoirs of Napoleon')]--
In founding this Institute, Bonaparte wished to afford an example of his
ideas of civilisation. The minutes of the sittings of that learned body,
which have been printed, bear evidence of its utility, and of Napoleon's
extended views. The objects of the Institute were the advancement and
propagation of information in Egypt, and the study and publication of
all facts relating to the natural history, trade, and antiquities of
that ancient country.
On the 18th Bonaparte was present at the ceremony of opening the dyke of
the canal of Cairo, which receives the water of the Nile when it reaches
the height fired by the Mequyas.
Two days after came the anniversary festival of the birth of Mahomet. At
this Napoleon was also present, in company with the sheik El Bekri, who
at his request gave him two young Mamelukes, Ibrahim, and Roustan.
--[The General-in-Chief went to celebrate the feast of the Prophet
at the house of the sheik El Bekri. The ceremony was begun by the
recital of a kind of litany, containing the life of Mahomet from his
birth to his death. About a hundred sheiks, sitting in a circle, on
carpets, with their legs crossed, recited all the verses, swinging
their bodies violently backwards and forwards, and altogether.
A grand dinner was afterwards served up, at which the guests sat on
carpets, with their legs across. There were twenty tables, and five
or six people at each table. That of the General-in-Chief and the
sheik El Bekri was in the middle; a little slab of a precious kind
of wood ornamented with mosaic work was placed eighteen inches above
the floor and covered with a great number of dishes in succession.
They were pillaws of rice, a particular kind of roast, entrees, and
pastry, all very highly spiced. The sheiks picked everything with
their fingers. Accordingly water was brought to wash the hands
three times during dinner. Gooseberry-water, lemonade, and other
sorts of sherbets were served to drink, and abundance of preserves
and confectionery with the dessert. On the whole, the dinner was
not disagreeable; it was only the manner of eating it that seemed
strange to us.
In the evening the whole city was illuminated. After dinner the
party went into the square of El Bekri, the illumination of which,
in coloured lamps, was very beautiful. An immense concourse of
people attended. They were all placed in order, in ranks of from
twenty to a hundred persons, who, standing close together, recited
the prayers and litanies of the Prophet with movements which kept
increasing, until at length they seemed to be convulsive, and some
of the most zealous fainted away ('Memoirs of Napoleon').]--
--[Roustan or Rustan, a Mameluke, was always with Napoleon from the
time of the return from Egypt till 1814, when he abandoned his
master. He slept at or near the door of Napoleon. See Rémusat,
tome i, p. 209, for an amusing description of the alarm of
Josephine, and the precipitate flight of Madame de Rémusat, at the
idea of being met and killed by this man in one of Josephine's
nocturnal attacks on the privacy of her husband when closeted with
his mistress.]--
It has been alleged that Bonaparte, when in Egypt, took part in the
religious ceremonies and worship of the Mussulmans; but it cannot be
said that he celebrated the festivals of the overflowing of the Nile and
the anniversary of the Prophet. The Turks invited him to these merely as
a spectator; and the presence of their new master was gratifying to the
people. But he never committed the folly of ordering any solemnity. He
neither learned nor repeated any prayer of the Koran, as many persons
have asserted; neither did he advocate fatalism, polygamy, or any
other doctrine of the Koran. Bonaparte employed himself better than in
discussing with the Imaums the theology of the children of Ismael. The
ceremonies, at which policy induced him to be present, were to him, and
to all who accompanied him, mere matters of curiosity. He never set foot
in a mosque; and only on one occasion, which I shall hereafter mention,
dressed himself in the Mahometan costume. He attended the festivals to
which the green turbans invited him. His religious tolerance was the
natural consequence of his philosophic spirit.
--[From this Sir Walter Scott infers that he did not scruple to join
the Musselmans in the external ceremonies of their religion. He
embellishes his romance with the ridiculous farce of the sepulchral
chamber of the grand pyramid, and the speeches which were addressed
to the General as well as to the muftis and Imaums; and he adds that
Bonaparte was on the point of embracing Islamism. All that Sir
Walter says on this subject is the height of absurdity, and does not
even deserve to be seriously refuted. Bonaparte never entered a
mosque except from motives of curiosity,(see contradiction in
previous paragraph. D.W.) and he never for one moment afforded any
ground for supposing that he believed in the mission of Mahomet.--
Bourrienne.]--
Doubtless Bonaparte did, as he was bound to do, show respect for the
religion of the country; and he found it necessary to act more like a
Mussulman than a Catholic. A wise conqueror supports his triumphs by
protecting and even elevating the religion of the conquered people.
Bonaparte's principle was, as he himself has often told me, to look
upon religions as the work of men, but to respect them everywhere as a
powerful engine of government. However, I will not go so far as to say
that he would not have changed his religion had the conquest of the East
been the price of that change. All that he said about Mahomet, Islamism,
and the Koran to the great men of the country he laughed at himself. He
enjoyed the gratification of having all his fine sayings on the subject
of religion translated into Arabic poetry, and repeated from mouth to
mouth. This of course tended to conciliate the people.
I confess that Bonaparte frequently conversed with the chiefs of the
Mussulman religion on the subject of his conversion; but only for the
sake of amusement. The priests of the Koran, who would probably have
been delighted to convert us, offered us the most ample concessions.
But these conversations were merely started by way of entertainment, and
never could have warranted a supposition of their leading to any
serious result. If Bonaparte spoke as a Mussulman, it was merely in his
character of a military and political chief in a Mussulman country.
To do so was essential to his success, to the safety of his army, and,
consequently, to his glory. In every country he would have drawn up
proclamations and delivered addresses on the same principle. In India he
would have been for Ali, at Thibet for the Dalai-lama, and in China for
Confucius.
--[On the subject of his alleged conversion to Mahometanism
Bonaparte expressed himself at St. Helena as follows:
"I never followed any of the tenets of that religion. I never
prayed in the mosques. I never abstained from wine, or was
circumcised, neither did I ever profess it. I said merely that we
were the friends of the Mussulmans, and that I respected Mahomet
their prophet, which was true; I respect him now. I wanted to make
the Imaums cause prayers to be offered up in the mosques for me, in
order to make the people respect me still more than they actually
did, and obey me more readily. The Imaums replied that there was a
great obstacle, because their Prophet in the Koran had inculcated to
them that they were not to obey, respect, or hold faith with
infidels, and that I came under that denomination. I then desired
them to hold a consultation, and see what was necessary to be done
in order to become a Mussulman, as some of their tenets could not be
practised by us. That, as to circumcision, God had made us unfit
for that. That, with respect to drinking wine, we were poor cold
people, inhabitants of the north, who could not exist without it.
They consulted together accordingly, and in about three weeks issued
a fetham, declaring that circumcision might be omitted, because it
was merely a profession; that as to drinking wine, it might be drunk
by Mussulmans, but that those who drank it would not go to paradise,
but to hell. I replied that this would not do; that we had no
occasion to make ourselves Mussulmans in order to go to hell, that
there were many ways of getting there without coming to Egypt, and
desired them to hold another consultation. After deliberating and
battling together for I believe three months, they finally decided
that a man might become a Mussulman, and neither circumcise nor
abstain from wine; but that, in proportion to the wine drunk, some
good works must be done. I then told them that we were all
Mussulmans and friends of the Prophet, which they really believed,
as the French soldiers never went to church, and had no priests with
them. For you must know that during the Revolution there was no
religion whatever in the French army. Menou," continued Napoleon,
"really turned Mahometan, which was the reason I left him behind."
--(Voices from St. Helena.)]--
The General-in-Chief had a Turkish dress made, which he once put on,
merely in joke. One day he desired me to go to breakfast without waiting
for him, and that he would follow me. In about a quarter of an hour he
made his appearance in his new costume. As soon as he was recognised he
was received with a loud burst of laughter. He sat down very coolly;
but he found himself so encumbered and ill at ease in his turban and
Oriental robe that he speedily threw them off, and was never tempted to
a second performance of the masquerade.
About the end of August Bonaparte wished to open negotiations with the
Pasha of Acre, nicknamed the Butcher. He offered Djezzar his friendship,
sought his in return, and gave him the most consolatory assurances of
the safety of his dominions. He promised to support him against the
Grand Seignior, at the very moment when he was assuring the Egyptians
that he would support the Grand Seignior against the beys. But Djezzar,
confiding in his own strength and in the protection of the English, who
had anticipated Bonaparte, was deaf to every overture, and would not
even receive Beauvoisin, who was sent to him on the 22d of August. A
second envoy was beheaded at Acre. The occupations of Bonaparte and the
necessity of obtaining a more solid footing in Egypt retarded for the
moment the invasion of that pashalic, which provoked vengeance by its
barbarities, besides being a dangerous neighbour.
From the time he received the accounts of the disaster of Aboukir until
the revolt of Cairo on the 22d of October, Bonaparte sometimes found
the time hang heavily on his hands. Though he devoted attention to
everything, yet there was not sufficient occupation for his singularly
active mind. When the heat was not too great he rode on horseback; and
on his return, if he found no despatches to read (which often happened),
no orders to send off; or no letters to answer, he was immediately
absorbed in reverie, and would sometimes converse very strangely. One
day, after a long pause, he said to me:
"Do you know what I am thinking of?"--"Upon my word, that would be very
difficult; you think of such extraordinary things."--"I don't know,"
continued he, "that I shall ever see France again; but if I do, my only
ambition is to make a glorious campaign in Germany--in the plains of
Bavaria; there to gain a great battle, and to avenge France for the
defeat of Hochstadt. After that I would retire into the country, and
live quietly."
He then entered upon a long dissertation on the preference he would give
to Germany as the theatre of war; the fine character of the people, and
the prosperity and wealth of the country, and its power of supporting
an army. His conversations were sometimes very long; but always replete
with interest.
--[So early as 1794 Napoleon had suggested that Austria should
always be attacked in Germany, not in Italy. "It is Germany that
should be overwhelmed; that done, Italy and Spain fall of
themselves. Germany should be attacked, not Spain or Italy. If we
obtain great success, advantage should never be taken of it to
penetrate into Italy while Germany, unweakened, offers a formidable
front" (Iung's Bonaparte, tome ii. p. 936), He was always opposed
to the wild plans which had ruined so many French armies in Italy,
and which the Directory tried to force on him, of marching on Rome
and Naples after every success in the north.]--
In these intervals of leisure Bonaparte was accustomed to retire to bed
early. I used to read to him every evening. When I read poetry he would
fall asleep; but when he asked for the Life of Cromwell I counted on
sitting up pretty late. In the course of the day he used to read and
make notes. He often expressed regret at not receiving news from France;
for correspondence was rendered impracticable by the numerous English
and Turkish cruisers. Many letters were intercepted and scandalously
published. Not even family secrets and communications of the most
confidential nature were respected.
About the middle of September in this year (1798), Bonaparte ordered
to be brought to the house of Elfy Bey half a dozen Asiatic women
whose beauty he had heard highly extolled. But their ungraceful obesity
displeased him, and they were immediately dismissed. A few days after he
fell violently in love with Madame Foures, the wife of a lieutenant
of infantry. She was very pretty, and her charms were enhanced by the
rarity of seeing a woman in Egypt who was calculated to please the eye
of a European. Bonaparte engaged for her a house adjoining the palace of
Elfy Bey, which we occupied. He frequently ordered dinner to be prepared
there, and I used to go there with him at seven o'clock, and leave him
at nine.
This connection soon became the general subject of gossip at
head-quarters. Through a feeling of delicacy to M. Foures, the
General-in-Chief gave him a mission to the Directory. He embarked
at Alexandria, and the ship was captured by the English, who, being
informed of the cause of his mission, were malicious enough to send him
back to Egypt, instead of keeping him prisoner. Bonaparte wished to have
a child by Madame Foures, but this wish was not realised.
A celebrated soothsayer was recommended to Bonaparte by the inhabitants
of Cairo, who confidentially vouched for the accuracy with which he
could foretell future events. He was sent for, and when he arrived, I,
Venture, and a sheik were with the General. The prophet wished first to
exercise his skill upon Bonaparte, who, however, proposed that I should
have my fortune told first, to which I acceded without hesitation.
To afford an idea of his prophetic skill I must mention that since my
arrival in Cairo I had been in a very weak state. The passage of the
Nile and the bad food we had had for twelve days had greatly reduced me,
so that I was miserably pale and thin.
After examining my hands, feeling my pulse, my forehead, and the nape of
my neck, the fortune-teller shrugged his shoulders, and, in a melancholy
tone, told Venture that he did not think it right to inform me of my
fate. I gave him to understand that he might say what he pleased, as it
was a matter of indifference to me. After considerable hesitation on his
part and pressing on mine, he announced to me that the earth of Egypt
would receive me in two months.
I thanked him, and he was dismissed. When we were alone the General
said to me, "Well, what do you think of that?" I observed that the
fortune-teller did not run any great risk in foretelling my death, which
was a very probable circumstance in the state in which I was; "but,"
added I, "if I procure the wines which I have ordered from France, you
will soon see me get round again."
The art of imposing on mankind has at all times been an important part
of the art of governing; and it was not that portion of the science of
government which Bonaparte was the least acquainted with. He neglected
no opportunity of showing off to the Egyptians the superiority of France
in arts and sciences; but it happened, oftener than once, that the
simple instinct of the Egyptians thwarted his endeavours in this way.
Some days after the visit of the pretended fortune-teller he wished,
if I may so express myself, to oppose conjurer to conjurer. For this
purpose he invited the principal sheiks to be present at some chemical
experiments performed by M. Berthollet. The General expected to be much
amused at their astonishment; but the miracles of the transformation of
liquids, electrical commotions and galvanism, did not elicit from them
any symptom of surprise. They witnessed the operations of our able
chemist with the most imperturbable indifference. When they were ended,
the sheik El Bekri desired the interpreter to tell M. Berthollet that it
was all very fine; "but," said he, "ask him whether he can make me be in
Morocco and here at one and the same moment?" M. Berthollet replied in
the negative, with a shrug of his shoulders. "Oh! then," said the sheik,
"he is not half a sorcerer."
Our music produced no greater effect upon them. They listened with
insensibility to all the airs that were played to them, with the
exception of "Marlbrook." When that was played they became animated, and
were all in motion, as if ready to dance.
An order which had been issued on our arrival in Cairo for watching
the criers of the mosques had for some weeks been neglected. At certain
hours of the night these criers address prayers to the Prophet. As it
was merely a repetition of the same ceremony over and over again, in
a short time no notice was taken of it. The Turks, perceiving this
negligence, substituted for their prayers and hymns cries of revolt,
and by this sort of verbal telegraph, insurrectionary excitement was
transmitted to the northern and southern extremities of Egypt. By
this means, and by the aid of secret emissaries, who eluded our feeble
police, and circulated real or forged firmans of the Sultan disavowing
the concord between France and the Porte, and provoking war, the plan of
a revolution was organised throughout the country.
The signal for the execution of this plan was given from the minarets on
the night of the 20th of October, and on the morning of the 21st it
was announced at headquarters that the city of Cairo was in open
insurrection. The General-in-Chief was not, as has been stated, in the
isle of Raeuddah: he did not hear the firing of the alarm-guns. He rose
when the news arrived; it was then five o'clock. He was informed that
all the shops were closed, and that the French were attacked. A moment
after he heard of the death of General Dupuis, commandant of the
garrison, who was killed by a lance in the street. Bonaparte immediately
mounted his horse, and, accompanied by only thirty guides, visited all
the threatened points, restored confidence, and, with great presence of
mind, adopted measures of defence.
He left me at headquarters with only one sentinel; but he had been
accurately informed of the situation of the insurgents; and such was my
confidence in his activity and foresight that I had no apprehension,
and awaited his return with perfect composure. This composure was not
disturbed even when I saw a party of insurgents attack the house of M.
Estève, our paymaster-general, which was situated on the opposite side
of Ezbekye'h Place. M. Estève was, fortunately, able to resist the
attack until troops from Boulac came up to his assistance.
After visiting all the posts, and adopting every precautionary measure,
Bonaparte returned to headquarters. Finding me still alone with
the sentinel, he asked me, smiling, "whether I had not been
frightened?"--"Not at all, General, I assure you," replied I.
--It was about half-past eight in the morning when Bonaparte returned to
headquarters, and while at breakfast he was informed that some Bedouin
Arabs, on horseback, were trying to force their entrance into Cairo. He
ordered his aide de camp, Sulkowsky, to mount his horse, to take with
him fifteen guides, and proceed to the point where the assailants were
most numerous. This was the Bab-el-Nasser, or the gate of victory.
Croisier observed to the General-in-Chief that Sulkowsky had scarcely
recovered from the wounds at Salehye'h, and he offered to take his
place. He had his motives for this. Bonaparte consented; but Sulkowsky
had already set out. Within an hour after, one of the fifteen guides
returned, covered with blood, to announce that Sulkowsky and the
remainder of his party had been cut to pieces. This was speedy work, for
we were still at table when the sad news arrived.
Mortars were planted on Mount Mokatam, which commands Cairo. The
populace, expelled from all the principal streets by the troops,
assembled in the square of the Great Mosque, and in the little streets
running into it, which they barricaded. The firing of the artillery on
the heights was kept up with vigour for two days.
About twelve of the principal chiefs of Cairo were arrested and
confined in an apartment at headquarters. They awaited with the calmest
resignation the death they knew they merited; but Bonaparte merely
detained them as hostages. The aga in the service of Bonaparte was
astonished that sentence of death was not pronounced upon them; and he
said, shrugging his shoulders, and with a gesture apparently intended to
provoke severity, "You see they expect it."
On the third the insurrection was at an end, and tranquillity restored.
Numerous prisoners were conducted to the citadel. In obedience to an
order which I wrote every evening, twelve were put to death nightly.
The bodies were then put into sacks and thrown into the Nile. There were
many women included in these nocturnal executions.
I am not aware that the number of victims amounted to thirty per day, as
Bonaparte assured General Reynier in a letter which he wrote to him six
days after the restoration of tranquillity. "Every night," said he, "we
cut off thirty heads. This, I hope, will be an effectual example." I am
of opinion that in this instance he exaggerated the extent of his just
revenge.
Some time after the revolt of Cairo the necessity of ensuring our own
safety forced the commission of a terrible act of cruelty. A tribe of
Arabs in the neighbourhood of Cairo had surprised and massacred a party
of French. The General-in-Chief ordered his aide de camp Croisier to
proceed to the spot, surround the tribe, destroy the huts, kill all the
men, and conduct the rest of the population to Cairo. The order was to
decapitate the victims, and bring their heads in sacks to Cairo to be
exhibited to the people. Eugène Beauharnais accompanied Croisier, who
joyfully set out on this horrible expedition, in hope of obliterating
all recollection of the affair of Damanhour.
On the following day the party returned. Many of the poor Arab women
had been delivered on the road, and the children had perished of hunger,
heat, and fatigue. About four o'clock a troop of asses arrived in
Ezbekye'h Place, laden with sacks. The sacks were opened and the heads
rolled out before the assembled populace. I cannot describe the horror
I experienced; but I must nevertheless acknowledge that this butchery
ensured for a considerable time the tranquillity and even the existence
of the little caravans which were obliged to travel in all directions
for the service of the army.
Shortly before the loss of the fleet the General-in Chief had formed
the design of visiting Suez, to examine the traces of the ancient canal
which united the Nile to the Gulf of Arabia, and also to cross the
latter. The revolt at Cairo caused this project to be adjourned until
the month of December.
Before his departure for Suez, Bonaparte granted the commissary Sucy
leave to return to France. He had received a wound in the right hand,
when on board the xebec 'Cerf'. I was conversing with him on deck when
he received this wound. At first it had no appearance of being serious;
but some time after he could not use his hand. General Bonaparte
despatched a vessel with sick and wounded, who were supposed to be
incurable, to the number of about eighty. All envied their fate, and
were anxious to depart with them, but the privilege was conceded to very
few. However, those who were, disappointed had, no cause for regret. We
never know what we wish for. Captain Marengo, who landed at Augusta
in Sicily, supposing it to be a friendly land, was required to observe
quarantine for twenty-two days, and information was given of the arrival
of the vessel to the court, which was at Palermo. On the 25th of January
1799 all on board the French vessel were massacred, with the exception
of twenty-one who were saved by a Neapolitan frigate, and conducted to
Messing, where they were detained.
Before he conceived the resolution of attacking the Turkish advanced
guard in the valleys of Syria, Bonaparte had formed a plan of invading
British India from Persia. He had ascertained, through the medium
of agents, that the Shah of Persia would, for a sum of money paid in
advance, consent to the establishment of military magazines on certain
points of his territory. Bonaparte frequently told me that if, after the
subjugation of Egypt, he could have left 15,000 men in that country,
and have had 30,000 disposable troops, he would have marched on the
Euphrates. He was frequently speaking about the deserts which were to be
crossed to reach Persia.
How many times have I seen him extended on the ground, examining the
beautiful maps which he had brought with him, and he would sometimes
make me lie down in the same position to trace to me his projected
march. This reminded him of the triumphs of his favourite hero,
Alexander, with whom he so much desired to associate his name; but, at
the same time, he felt that these projects were incompatible with our
resources, the weakness of the Government; and the dissatisfaction which
the army already evinced. Privation and misery are inseparable from all
these remote operations.
This favourite idea still occupied his mind a fortnight before his
departure for Syria was determined on, and on the 25th of January 1799
he wrote to Tippoo Saib as follows:--
You are of course already informed of my arrival on the banks of
the Red Sea, with a numerous and invincible army. Eager to deliver
you from the iron yoke of England, I hasten to request that you will
send me, by the way of Mascate or Mocha, an account of the political
situation in which you are. I also wish that you could send to
Suez, or Grand Cairo, some able man, in your confidence, with whom I
may confer.
--[It is not true, as has often been stated, that Tippoo Saib wrote
to General Bonaparte. He could not reply to a letter written on the
23th of January, owing to the great difficulty of communication, the
considerable distance, and the short interval which elapsed between
the 25th of January and the fall of the Empire of Mysore, which
happened on the 20th of April following. The letter to Tippo Saib
commenced "Citizen-Sultan!"--Bourrienne]--
CHAPTER XVII.
1798-1799.
Bonaparte's departure for Suez--Crossing the desert--Passage of the
Red Sea--The fountain of Moses--The Cenobites of Mount Sinai--Danger
in recrossing the Red Sea--Napoleon's return to Cairo--Money
borrowed at Genoa--New designs upon Syria--Dissatisfaction of the
Ottoman Porte--Plan for invading Asia--Gigantic schemes--General
Berthier's permission to return to France--His romantic love and the
adored portrait--He gives up his permission to return home--Louis
Bonaparte leaves Egypt--The first Cashmere shawl in France--
Intercepted correspondence--Departure for Syria--Fountains of
Messoudish--Bonaparte jealous--Discontent of the troops--El-Arish
taken--Aspect of Syria--Ramleh--Jerusalem.
On the 24th of December we set out for Suez, where we arrived on
the 26th. On the 25th we encamped in the desert some leagues before
Ad-Geroth. The heat had been very great during the day; but about eleven
at night the cold became so severe as to be precisely in an inverse
ratio to the temperature of the day. This desert, which is the route of
the caravans from Suez, from Tor and the countries situated on the north
of Arabia, is strewed with the bones of the men and animals who, for
ages past, have perished in crossing it. As there was no wood to be
got, we collected a quantity of these bones for fuel. Monge himself was
induced to sacrifice some of the curious skulls of animals which he
had picked up on the way and deposited in the Berlin of the
General-in-Chief. But no sooner had we kindled our fires than an
intolerable effluvium obliged us to raise our camp and advance farther
on, for we could procure no water to extinguish the fires.
On the 27th Bonaparte employed himself in inspecting the town and port
of Suez, and in giving orders for some naval and military works. He
feared--what indeed really occurred after his departure from Egypt--the
arrival of some English troops from the East Indies, which he had
intended to invade. These regiments contributed to the loss of his
conquest.
--[Sir David Baird, with a force of about 7000 men sent from India,
landed at Cosseir in July 1801.]--
On the morning of the 28th we crossed the Red Sea dry-shod, to go to the
Wells of Moses, which are nearly a myriametre from the eastern coast,
and a little southeast of Suez. The Gulf of Arabia terminates at about
5,000 metres north of that city. Near the port the Red Sea is not above
1,500 metres wide, and is always fordable at low water. The caravans
from Tor and Mount Sinai always pass at that part,
--[I shall say nothing of the Cenobites of Mount Sinai, as I had not
the honour of seeing them. Neither did I see the register
containing the names of Ali, Salah-Eddin, Ibrahim or Abraham,
on which Bonaparte is said to have inscribed his name. I perceived
at a distance some high hills which were said to be Mount Sinai.
I conversed, through the medium of an interpreter, with some Arabian
chiefs of Tor and its neighbourhood. They had been informed of our
excursion to the Wells, and that they might there thank the French
General for the protection granted to their caravans and their trade
with Egypt. On the 19th of December, before his departure from
Suez, Bonaparte signed a sort of safeguard, or exemption from
duties, for the convent of Mount Sinai. This had been granted out
of respect to Moses and the Jewish nation, and also because the
convent of Mount Sinai is a seat of learning and civilisation amidst
the barbarism of the deserts.--Bourrienne.]--
either in going to or returning from Egypt. This shortens their journey
nearly a myriametre. At high tide the water rises five or six feet at
Suez, and when the wind blows fresh it often rises to nine or ten feet.
We spent a few hours seated by the largest of the springs called the
Wells of Moses, situated on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Arabia. We
made coffee with the water from these springs, which, however, gave it
such a brackish taste that it was scarcely drinkable.
Though the water of the eight little springs which form the Wells of
Moses is not so salt as that of many wells dug in other parts of the
deserts, it is, nevertheless, exceedingly brackish, and does not allay
thirst so well as fresh water.
Bonaparte returned to Suez that same night. It was very dark when we
reached the sea-shore. The tide was coming up, and the water was pretty
high. We deviated a little from the way we had taken in the morning; we
crossed a little too low down; we were thrown into disorder, but we did
not lose ourselves in the marshes as has been stated. There were none.
I have read somewhere, though I did not see the fact, nor did I hear it
mentioned at the time, that the tide, which was coming up, would have
been the grave of the General-in-Chief had not one of the guides saved
him by carrying him on his shoulders. If any such danger had existed,
all who had not a similar means of escape must have perished.
This is a fabrication. General Caffarelli was the only person who was
really in danger, for his wooden leg prevented his sitting firmly on
his horse in the water; but some persons came to his assistance and
supported him.
--[Bonaparte extricated himself as the others did from the real
danger he and his escort had run. At St. Helena he said, "Profiting
by the low tide, I crossed the Red Sea dry-shod. On my return I was
overtaken by the night and went astray in the middle of the rising
tide. I ran the greatest danger. I nearly perished in the same
manner as Pharaoh did. This would certainly have furnished all the
Christian preachers with a magnificent test against me."
--Bourrienne.]--
On his return to Cairo the General-in-Chief wished to discover the site
of the canal which in ancient times formed a junction between the Red
Sea and the Nile by Belbeis. M. Lepère, who was a member of the Egyptian
Institute, and is now inspector-general of bridges and highways,
executed on the spot a beautiful plan, which may confidently be
consulted by those who wish to form an accurate idea of that ancient
communication, and the level of the two seas.
--[Since accurately ascertained during the progress of the works for
the Suez Canal.]--
On his arrival at the capital Bonaparte again devoted all his thoughts
to the affairs of the army, which he had not attended to during his
short absence. The revenues of Egypt were far from being sufficient
to meet the military expenditure. To defray his own expenses Bonaparte
raised several considerable loans in Genoa through the medium of M.
James. The connection of James with the Bonaparte family takes its date
from this period.
--[Joseph Bonaparte says that the fathers of Napoleon and of M.
James had long known one another, and that Napoleon had met James at
Autun. ('Erreurs', tome i, p. 296).]--
Since the month of August the attention of General Bonaparte had been
constantly fixed on Syria. The period of the possible landing of an
enemy in Egypt had now passed away, and could not return until the month
of July in the following year. Bonaparte was fully convinced that that
landing would take place, and he was not deceived. The Ottoman Porte
had, indeed, been persuaded that the conquest of Egypt was not in her
interest. She preferred enduring a rebel whom she hoped one day to
subdue to supporting a power which, under the specious pretext of
reducing her insurgent beys to obedience, deprived her of one of her
finest provinces, and threatened the rest of the empire.
On his return to Cairo the General-in-Chief had no longer any doubt as
to the course which the Porte intended to adopt. The numerous class
of persons who believed that the Ottoman Porte had consented to our
occupation of Egypt were suddenly undeceived. It was then asked how we
could, without that consent, have attempted such an enterprise? Nothing,
it was said, could justify the temerity of such an expedition, if it
should produce a rupture between France, the Ottoman empire, and its
allies. However, for the remainder of the year Bonaparte dreaded nothing
except an expedition from Gaza and El-Arish, of which the troops
of Djezzar had already taken possession. This occupation was justly
regarded as a decided act of hostility; war was thus practically
declared. "We must adopt anticipatory measures," thought Napoleon; "we
must destroy this advanced guard of the Ottoman empire, overthrow
the ramparts of Jaffa and Acre, ravage the country, destroy all her
resources, so as to render the passage of an army across the desert
impracticable." Thus was planned the expedition against Syria.
General Berthier, after repeated entreaties, had obtained permission
to return to France. The 'Courageuse' frigate, which was to convey him
home, was fitting out at Alexandria; he had received his instructions,
and was to leave Cairo on the 29th of January, ten days before
Bonaparte's departure for Syria. Bonaparte was sorry to part with him;
but he could not endure to see an old friend, and one who had served
him well in all his campaigns, dying before his eyes, the victim of
nostalgia and romantic love. Besides, Berthier had been for some time
past, anything but active in the discharge of his duties. His passion,
which amounted almost to madness, impaired the feeble faculties with
which nature had endowed him. Some writers have ranked him in the class
of sentimental lovers: be this as it may, the homage which Berthier
rendered to the portrait of the object of his adoration more frequently
excited our merriment than our sensibility.
One day I went with an order from Bonaparte to the chief of his staff,
whom I found on his knees before the portrait of Madame Visconti, which
was hanging opposite the door. I touched him, to let him know I was
there. He grumbled a little, but did not get angry.
The moment was approaching when the two friends were to part, perhaps
forever. Bonaparte was sincerely distressed at this separation, and the
chief of his staff was informed of the fact. At a moment when it was
supposed Berthier was on his way to Alexandria, he presented himself
to the General-in-Chief. "You are, then, decidedly going to Asia?" said
he.--"You know," replied the General, "that all is ready, and I shall
set out in a few days."--"Well, I will not leave you. I voluntarily
renounce all idea of returning to France. I could not endure to forsake
you at a moment when you are going to encounter new dangers. Here are
my instructions and my passport." Bonaparte, highly pleased with this
resolution, embraced Berthier; and the coolness which had been excited
by his request to return home was succeeded by a sincere reconciliation.
Louis Bonaparte, who was suffering from the effects of the voyage, was
still at Alexandria. The General-in-Chief, yielding to the pacific views
of his younger brother, who was also beginning to evince some symptoms
of nostalgia, consented to his return home. He could not, however,
depart until the 11th of March 1799. I felt the absence of Louis very
much.
On his return to France Louis passed through Sens, where he dined with
Madame de Bourrienne, to whom he presented a beautiful shawl, which
General Berthier had given me. This, I believe, was the first Cashmere
that had ever been seen in France. Louis was much surprised when Madame
de Bourrienne showed him the Egyptian correspondence, which had been
seized by the English and printed in London. He found in the collection
some letters addressed to himself, and there were others, he said, which
were likely to disturb the peace of more than one family on the return
of the army.
On the 11th of February 1799 we began our march for Syria, with about
12,000 men. It has been erroneously stated that the army amounted to
only 6000: nearly that number was lost in the course of the campaign.
However, at the very moment we were on our way to Syria, with 12,000
men, scarcely as many being left in Egypt, the Directory published that,
"according to the information which had been received," we had 60,000
infantry and 10,000 cavalry; that the army had doubled its numbers by
battles; and that since our arrival in Egypt, we had lost only 300 men.
Is history to be written from such documents?
We arrived, about four o'clock in the afternoon, at Messoudiah, or, "the
Fortunate Spot." Here we witnessed a kind of phenomenon, which was not
a little agreeable to us. Messoudiah is a place situated on the coast of
the Mediterranean, surrounded with little dunes of very fine sand, which
the copious rains of winter readily penetrate. The rain remains in the
sand, so that on making with the fingers holes of four or five inches in
depth at the bottom of these little hills, the water immediately
flows out. This water was, indeed, rather thick, but its flavour was
agreeable; and it would have become clear if we could have spared time
to allow it to rest and deposit the particles of sand it contained.
It was a curious spectacle to behold us all lying prostrate, digging
wells in miniature; and displaying a laughable selfishness in our
endeavours to obtain the most abundant source. This was a very important
discovery to us. We found these sand-wells at the extremity of the
desert, and it contributed, in no small degree, to revive the courage of
our soldiers; besides, when men are, as was the case with us, subject to
privations of every kind, the least benefit which accrues inspires the
hope of a new advantage. We were approaching the confines of Syria, and
we enjoyed by anticipation, the pleasure we were about to experience, on
treading a soil which, by its variety of verdure and vegetation, would
remind us of our native land. At Messoudiah we likewise possessed the
advantage of bathing in the sea, which was not more than fifty paces
from our unexpected water-supply.
Whilst near the wells of Messoudiah, on the way to El-Arish, I one day
saw Bonaparte walking alone with Junot, as he was often in the habit of
doing. I stood at a little distance, and my eyes, I know not why, were
fixed on him during their conversation. The General's countenance, which
was always pale, had, without my being able to divine the cause, become
paler than usual. There was something convulsive in his features--a
wildness in his look, and he several times struck his head with his
hand. After conversing with Junot about a quarter of an hour he
quitted him and came towards me. I never saw him exhibit such an air
of dissatisfaction, or appear so much under the influence of some
prepossession. I advanced towards him, and as soon as we met, he
exclaimed in an abrupt and angry tone, "So! I find I cannot depend upon
you.--These women!--Josephine! --if you had loved me, you would
before now have told me all I have heard from Junot--he is a real
friend--Josephine!--and I 600 leagues from her--you ought to have told
me.--That she should thus have deceived me!--'Woe to them!--I
will exterminate the whole race of fops and puppies!--As to
her--divorce!--yes, divorce! a public and open divorce!--I must
write!--I know all!--It is your fault--you ought to have told me!"
These energetic and broken exclamations, his disturbed countenance
and altered voice informed me but too well of the subject of his
conversation with Junot. I saw that Junot had been drawn into a culpable
indiscretion; and that, if Josephine had committed any faults, he had
cruelly exaggerated them. My situation was one of extreme delicacy.
However, I had the good fortune to retain my self-possession, and as
soon as some degree of calmness succeeded to this first burst, I replied
that I knew nothing of the reports which Junot might have communicated
to him; that even if such reports, often the offspring of calumny, had
reached my ear, and if I had considered it my duty to inform him of
them, I certainly would not have selected for that purpose the moment
when he was 600 leagues from France. I also did not conceal how blamable
Junot's conduct appeared to me, and how ungenerous I considered it
thus rashly to accuse a woman who was not present to justify or defend
herself; that it was no great proof of attachment to add domestic
uneasiness to the anxiety, already sufficiently great, which the
situation of his brothers in arms, at the commencement of a hazardous
enterprise, occasioned him.
Notwithstanding these observations, which, however, he listened to with
some calmness, the word "divorce" still escaped his lips; and it is
necessary to be aware of the degree of irritation to which he was liable
when anything seriously vexed him, to be able to form an idea of what
Bonaparte was during this painful scene. However, I kept my ground. I
repeated what I had said. I begged of him to consider with what facility
tales were fabricated and circulated, and that gossip such as that which
had been repeated to him was only the amusement of idle persons; and
deserved the contempt of strong minds. I spoke of his glory. "My glory!"
cried he. "I know not what I would not give if that which Junot has
told me should be untrue; so much do I love Josephine! If she be really
guilty a divorce must separate us for ever. I will not submit to be a
laughing-stock for all the imbeciles in Paris. I will write to Joseph;
he will get the divorce declared."
Although his agitation continued long, intervals occurred in which he
was less excited. I seized one of these moments of comparative calm
to combat this idea of divorce which seemed to possess his mind. I
represented to him especially that it would be imprudent to write to his
brother with reference to a communication which was probably false. "The
letter might be intercepted; it would betray the feelings of irritation
which dictated it. As to a divorce, it would be time to think of that
hereafter, but advisedly."
These last words produced an effect on him which I could not have
ventured to hope for so speedily. He became tranquil, listened to me
as if he had suddenly felt the justice of my observations, dropped the
subject, and never returned to it; except that about a fortnight after,
when we were before St. Jean d'Acre, he expressed himself greatly
dissatisfied with Junot, and complained of the injury he had done him by
his indiscreet disclosures, which he began to regard as the inventions
of malignity. I perceived afterwards that he never pardoned Junot for
this indiscretion; and I can state, almost with certainty, that this was
one of the reasons why Junot was not created a marshal of France, like
many of his comrades whom Bonaparte had loved less. It may be supposed
that Josephine, who was afterwards informed by Bonaparte of Junot's
conversation, did not feel particularly interested in his favour. He
died insane on the 27th of July 1813.
--[However indiscreet Junot might on this occasion have shown
himself in interfering in so delicate a matter, it is pretty certain
that his suspicions were breathed to no other ear than that of
Bonaparte himself. Madame Junot, in speaking of the ill-suppressed
enmity between her husband and Madame Bonaparte, says that he never
uttered a word even to her of the subject of his conversation with
the General-in-Chief to Egypt. That Junot's testimony, however,
notwithstanding the countenance it obtained from Bonaparte's
relations, ought to be cautiously received, the following passage
from the Memoirs of the Duchesse d'Abrantes, vol. i. p. 250,
demonstrative of the feelings of irritation between the parties,
will show:
"Junot escorted Madame Bonaparte when she went to join the
General-in-Chief in Italy. I am surprised that M. de Bourrienne
has omitted mentioning this circumstance in his Memoirs. He must
have known it, since he was well acquainted with everything
relating to Josephine, and knew many facts of high interest in her
life at this period and subsequently. How happens it too that he
makes no mention of Mademoiselle Louise, who might be called her
'demoiselle de compagnie' rather than her 'femme de chambre'? At
the outset of the journey to Italy she was such a favourite with
Josephine that she dressed like her mistress, ate at table with
her, and was in all respects her friend and confidante.
"The journey was long, much too long for Junot, though he was very
much in love with Mademoiselle Louise. But he was anxious to join
the army, for to him his General was always the dearest of
mistresses. Junot has often spoken to me, and to me alone, of the
vexations he experienced on this journey. He might have added to
his circumstantial details relative to Josephine the conversation he
is reported to have had with Bonaparte to Egypt; but he never
breathed a word on the subject, for his character was always noble
and generous. The journey to Italy did not produce the effect which
usually arises from such incidents in common life; namely, a closer
friendship and intimacy between the parties. On the contrary,
Madame Bonaparte from that moment evinced some degree of ill-humour
towards Junot, and complained with singular warmth of the want of
respect which he had shown her, in making love to her 'femme de
chambre' before her face."
According to 'Erreurs (tome i. pp. 4, 50) Junot was not then in
Syria. On 10th February Napoleon was at Messoudiah. Junot only
arrived from Egypt at Gaza on the 25th February. Madame d'Abrantes
(ii. 32) treats this conversation as apocryphal. "This (an anecdote
of her own) is not an imaginary episode like that, for example, of
making a person speak at Messoudiah who never was there."]--
Our little army continued its march on El-Arish, where we arrived on
the 17th of February. The fatigues experienced in the desert and the
scarcity of water excited violent murmurs amongst the soldiers during
their march across the isthmus. When any person on horseback passed them
they studiously expressed their discontent. The advantage possessed by
the horsemen provoked their sarcasms. I never heard the verses which
they are said to have repeated, but they indulged in the most violent
language against the Republic, the men of science, and those whom they
regarded as the authors of the expedition. Nevertheless these brave
fellows, from whom it was not astonishing that such great privations
should extort complaints, often compensated by their pleasantries for
the bitterness of their reproaches.
Many times during the crossing of the isthmus I have seen soldiers,
parched with thirst, and unable to wait till the hour for distribution
of water, pierce the leathern bottles which contained it; and this
conduct, so injurious to all, occasioned numerous quarrels.
El-Arish surrendered on the 17th of February. It has been erroneously
stated that the garrison of this insignificant place, which was set at
liberty on condition of not again serving against us, was afterwards
found amongst the besieged at Jaffa. It has also been stated that it
was because the men composing the El-Arish garrison did not proceed to
Bagdad, according to the capitulation, that we shot them at Jaffa. We
shall presently see the falsehood of these assertions.
On the 28th of February we obtained the first glimpse of the green and
fertile plains of Syria, which, in many respects, reminded us of the
climate and soil of Europe. We now had rain, and sometimes rather too
much. The feelings which the sight of the valleys and mountains called
forth made us, in some degree, forget the hardships and vexations of an
expedition of which few persons could foresee the object or end. There
are situations in life when the slightest agreeable sensation alleviates
all our ills.
On the 1st of March we slept at Ramleh, in a small convent occupied by
two monks, who paid us the greatest attention. They gave us the church
for a hospital. These good fathers did not fail to tell us that it was
through this place the family of Jesus Christ passed into Egypt, and
showed us the wells at which they quenched their thirst.
--[Ramleh, the ancient Arimathea, is situated at the base of a chain
of mountains, the eastern extremity of which is washed by the
Persian Gulf, and the western by the Mediterranean.--Bourrienne.]--
The pure and cool water of these wells delighted us.
We were not more than about six leagues from Jerusalem.
I asked the General whether he did not intend to direct his march by the
way of that city, so celebrated in many respects. He replied, "Oh no!
Jerusalem is not in my line of operations. I do not wish to be annoyed
by mountaineers in difficult roads. And, besides, on the other side
of the mountain I should be assailed by swarms of cavalry. I am not
ambitious of the fate of Cassius."
We therefore did not enter Jerusalem, which was not disturbed by the
war. All we did was to send a written declaration to the persons in
power at Jerusalem, assuring them that we had no design against that
country, and only wished them to remain at peace. To this communication
no answer was returned, and nothing more passed on the subject.
--[Sir Walter Scott says, speaking of Bonaparte, that he believes
that little officer of artillery dreamed of being King of Jerusalem.
What I have just stated proves that he never thought of such a
thing. The "little officer of artillery" had a far more splendid
dream in his head.--Bourrienne.]--
We found at Ramleh between two and three hundred Christians in a
pitiable state of servitude, misery, and dejection. On conversing with
them I could not help admiring how much the hope of future rewards may
console men under present ills. But I learned from many of them that
they did not live in harmony together. The feelings of hatred and
jealousy are not less common amongst these people than amongst the
better-instructed inhabitants of rich and populous cities.
CHAPTER XVIII
1799.
Arrival at Jaffa--The siege--Beauharnais and Croisier--Four thousand
prisoners--Scarcity of provisions--Councils of war--Dreadful
necessity--The massacre--The plague--Lannes and the mountaineers--
Barbarity of Djezarr--Arrival at St Jean d'Acre, and abortive
attacks--Sir Sidney Smith--Death of Caffarelli--Duroc wounded--
Rash bathing--Insurrections in Egypt.
On arriving before Jaffa, where there were already some troops, the
first person I met was Adjutant-General Gresieux, with whom I was well
acquainted. I wished him good-day, and offered him my hand. "Good God!
what are you about?" said he, repulsing me with a very abrupt gesture;
"you may have the plague. People do not touch each other here!" I
mentioned the circumstance to Bonaparte, who said, "If he be afraid of
the plague, he will die of it." Shortly after, at St. Jean d'Acre, he
was attacked by that malady, and soon sank under it.
On the 4th of March we commenced the siege of Jaffa. That paltry place,
which, to round a sentence, was pompously styled the ancient Joppa, held
out only to the 6th of March, when it was taken by storm, and given up
to pillage. The massacre was horrible. General Bonaparte sent his aides
de camp Beauharnais and Croisier to appease the fury of the soldiers as
much as possible, and to report to him what was passing. They learned
that a considerable part of the garrison had retired into some vast
buildings, a sort of caravanserai, which formed a large enclosed court.
Beauharnais and Croisier, who were distinguished by wearing the 'aide
de camp' scarf on their arms, proceeded to that place. The Arnauts and
Albanians, of whom these refugees were almost entirely composed, cried
from the windows that they were willing to surrender upon an assurance
that they would be exempted from the massacre to which the town was
doomed; if not, they threatened to fire on the 'aides de camp', and to
defend themselves to the last extremity. The two officers thought that
they ought to accede to the proposition, notwithstanding the decree
of death which had been pronounced against the whole garrison, in
consequence of the town being taken by storm. They brought them to our
camp in two divisions, one consisting of about 2500 men, the other of
about 1600.
I was walking with General Bonaparte, in front of his tent, when he
beheld this mass of men approaching, and before he even saw his 'aides
de camp' he said to me, in a tone of profound sorrow, "What do they wish
me to do with these men? Have I food for them?--ships to convey them to
Egypt or France? Why, in the devil's name, have they served me thus?"
After their arrival, and the explanations which the General-in-Chief
demanded and listened to with anger, Eugène and Croisier received the
most severe reprimand for their conduct. But the deed was done. Four
thousand men were there. It was necessary to decide upon their fate. The
two aides de camp observed that they had found themselves alone in the
midst of numerous enemies, and that he had directed them to restrain
the carnage. "Yes, doubtless," replied the General-in-Chief, with
great warmth, "as to women, children, and old men--all the peaceable
inhabitants; but not with respect to armed soldiers. It was your duty
to die rather than bring these unfortunate creatures to me. What do you
want me to do with them?" These words were pronounced in the most angry
tone.
The prisoners were then ordered to sit down, and were placed, without
any order, in front of the tents, their hands tied behind their backs. A
sombre determination was depicted on their countenances. We gave them a
little biscuit and bread, squeezed out of the already scanty supply for
the army.
On the first day of their arrival a council of war was held in the tent
of the General-in-Chief, to determine what course should be pursued with
respect to them. The council deliberated a long time without coming to
any decision.
On the evening of the following day the daily reports of the generals
of division came in. They spoke of nothing but the insufficiency of the
rations, the complaints of the soldiers--of their murmurs and discontent
at seeing their bread given to enemies who had been withdrawn from their
vengeance, inasmuch as a decree of death, in conformity with the laws
of war, had been passed on Jaffa. All these reports were alarming, and
especially that of General Bon, in which no reserve was made. He spoke
of nothing less than the fear of a revolt, which would be justified by
the serious nature of the case.
The council assembled again. All the generals of division were summoned
to attend, and for several hours together they discussed, under separate
questions, what measures might be adopted, with the most sincere
desire to discover and execute one which would save the lives of these
unfortunate prisoners.
(1.) Should they be sent into Egypt? Could it be done?
To do so, it would be necessary to send with them a numerous escort,
which would too much weaken our little army in the enemy's country. How,
besides, could they and the escort be supported till they reached Cairo,
having no provisions to give them on setting out, and their route being
through a hostile territory, which we had exhausted, which presented no
fresh resources, and through which we, perhaps, might have to return.
(2.) Should they be embarked?
Where were the ships?--Where could they be found? All our telescopes,
directed over the sea, could not descry a single friendly sail.
Bonaparte, I affirm, would have regarded such an event as a real favour
of fortune. It was, and--I am glad to have to say it, this sole idea,
this sole hope, which made him brave, for three days, the murmurs of his
army. But in vain was help looked for seaward. It did not come.
(3.) Should the prisoners be set at liberty?
They would then instantly proceed to St. Jean d'Acre to reinforce the
pasha, or else, throwing themselves into the mountains of Nablous, would
greatly annoy our rear and right-flank, and deal out death to us, as a
recompense for the life we had given them. There could be no doubt
of this. What is a Christian dog to a Turk? It would even have been a
religious and meritorious act in the eye of the Prophet.
(4.) Could they be incorporated, disarmed, with our soldiers in the
ranks?
Here again the question of food presented itself in all its force. Next
came to be considered the danger of having such comrades while marching
through an enemy's country. What might happen in the event of a battle
before St. Jean d'Acre? Could we even tell what might occur during the
march? And, finally, what must be done with them when under the
ramparts of that town, if we should be able to take them there? The same
embarrassments with respect to the questions of provisions and security
would then recur with increased force.
The third day arrived without its being possible, anxiously as it was
desired, to come to any conclusion favourable to the preservation of
these unfortunate men. The murmurs in the camp grew louder--the evil
went on increasing--remedy appeared impossible--the danger was real and
imminent. The order for shooting the prisoners was given and executed
on the 10th of March. We did not, as has been stated, separate the
Egyptians from the other prisoners. There were no Egyptians.
Many of the unfortunate creatures composing the smaller division, which
was fired on close to the seacoast, at some distance from the other
column, succeeded in swimming to some reefs of rocks out of the reach
of musket-shot. The soldiers rested their muskets on the sand, and,
to induce the prisoners to return, employed the Egyptian signs of
reconciliation in use in the country. They came back; but as they
advanced they were killed, and disappeared among the waves.
I confine myself to these details of this act of dreadful necessity,
of which I was an eye-witness. Others, who, like myself, saw it,
have fortunately spared me the recital of the sanguinary result. This
atrocious scene, when I think of it, still makes me shudder, as it did
on the day I beheld it; and I would wish it were possible for me to
forget it, rather than be compelled to describe it. All the horrors
imagination can conceive, relative to that day of blood, would fall
short of the reality.
I have related the truth, the whole truth. I was present at all the
discussions, all the conferences, all the deliberations. I had not, as
may be supposed, a deliberative voice; but I am bound to declare that
the situation of the army, the scarcity of food, our small numerical
strength, in the midst of a country where every individual was an enemy,
would have induced me to vote in the affirmative of the proposition
which was carried into effect, if I had a vote to give. It was necessary
to be on the spot in order to understand the horrible necessity which
existed.
War, unfortunately, presents too many occasions on which a law,
immutable in all ages, and common to all nations, requires that private
interests should be sacrificed to a great general interest, and that
even humanity should be forgotten. It is for posterity to judge whether
this terrible situation was that in which Bonaparte was placed. For my
own part, I have a perfect conviction that he could not do otherwise
than yield to the dire necessity of the case. It was the advice of the
council, whose opinion was unanimous in favour of the execution, that
governed him. Indeed I ought in truth to say, that he yielded only
in the last extremity, and was one of those, perhaps, who beheld the
massacre with the deepest pain.
After the siege of Jaffa the plague began to exhibit itself with a
little more virulence. We lost between seven and eight hundred, men by
the contagion during the campaign of Syria.
--[Sir Walter Scott says, that Heaven sent this pestilence amongst
us to avenge the massacre of Jaffa]--
During our march on St. Jean d'Acre, which was commenced on the 14th of
March, the army neither obtained the brilliant triumphs nor encountered
the numerous obstacles spoken of in certain works. Nothing of importance
occurred but a rash skirmish of General Lannes who, in spite of contrary
orders from Bonaparte, obstinately pursued a troop of mountaineers into
the passes of Nablous. On returning, he found the mountaineers placed in
ambush in great numbers amongst rocks, the windings of which they were
well acquainted with, whence they fired close upon our troops, whose
situation rendered them unable to defend themselves. During the time
of this foolish and useless enterprise, especially while the firing was
brisk, Bonaparte exhibited much impatience, and it must be confessed,
his anger was but natural. The Nablousians halted at the openings of
the mountain defiles. Bonaparte reproached Lannes bitterly for having
uselessly exposed himself, and "sacrificed, without any object, a number
of brave men." Lannes excused himself by saying that the mountaineers
had defied him, and he wished to chastise the rabble. "We are not in a
condition to play the swaggerer," replied Napoleon.
In four days we arrived before St. Jean d'Acre, where we learned that
Djezzar had cut off the head of our envoy, Mailly-de-Chateau-Renaud, and
thrown his body into the sea in a sack. This cruel pasha was guilty of
a great number of similar executions. The waves frequently drove dead
bodies towards the coast, and we came upon them whilst bathing.
The details of the siege of Acre are well known. Although surrounded
by a wall, flanked with strong towers, and having, besides, a broad and
deep ditch defended by works this little fortress did not appear
likely to hold out against French valour and the skill of our corps of
engineers and artillery; but the ease and rapidity with which Jaffa
had been taken occasioned us to overlook in some degree the comparative
strength of the two places, and the difference of their respective
situations. At Jaffa we had sufficient artillery: at St. Jean d'Acre we
had not. At Jaffa we had to deal only with a garrison left to itself:
at St. Jean d'Acre we were opposed by a garrison strengthened by
reinforcements of men and supplies of provisions, supported by the
English fleet, and assisted by European Science. Sir Sidney Smith was,
beyond doubt, the man who did us the greatest injury.
--[Sir Sidney Smith was the only Englishman besides the Duke of
Wellington who defeated Napoleon in military operations. The third
Englishman opposed to him, Sir John Moore, was compelled to make a
precipitate retreat through the weakness of his force]--
Much has been said respecting his communications with the
General-in-Chief. The reproaches which the latter cast upon him for
endeavouring to seduce the soldiers and officers of the army by tempting
offers were the more singular, even if they were well founded, inasmuch
as these means are frequently employed by leaders in war.
--[At one time the French General was so disturbed by them as to
endeavour to put a stop to them; which object he effected by
interdicting all communication with the English, and signifying, in
an order of the day, that their Commodore was a madman. This, being
believed in the army, so enraged Sir Sidney Smith, that in his wrath
he sent a challenge to Napoleon. The latter replied, that he had
too many weighty affairs on his hands to trouble himself in so
trifling a matter. Had it, indeed, been the great Marlborough, it
might have been worthy his attention. Still, if the English sailor
was absolutely bent upon fighting, he would send him a bravo from
the army, and show them a small portion of neutral ground, where the
mad Commodore might land, and satisfy his humour to the full.--
(Editor of 1836 edition.)]--
As to the embarking of French prisoners on board a vessel in which
the plague existed, the improbability of the circumstance alone,
but especially the notorious facts of the case, repel this odious
accusation. I observed the conduct of Sir Sidney Smith closely at the
time, and I remarked in him a chivalric spirit, which sometimes hurried
him into trifling eccentricities; but I affirm that his behaviour
towards the French was that of a gallant enemy. I have seen many
letters, in which the writers informed him that they "were very sensible
of the good treatment which the French experienced when they fell
into his hands." Let any one examine Sir Sidney's conduct before the
capitulation of El-Arish, and after its rupture, and then they can judge
of his character.
--[Napoleon, when at St. Helena, in speaking of the siege of Acre,
said,--Sidney Smith is a brave officer. He displayed considerable
ability in the treaty for the evacuation of Egypt by the French. He
took advantage of the discontent which he found to prevail amongst
the French troops at being so long away from France, and other
circumstances. He manifested great honour in sending immediately to
Kléber the refusal of Lord Keith to ratify the treaty, which saved
the French army; if he had kept it a secret seven or eight days
longer, Cairo would have been given up to the Turks, and the French
army necessarily obliged to surrender to the English. He also
showed great humanity and honour in all his proceedings towards the
French who felt into his hands. He landed at Havre, for some
'sottise' of a bet he had made, according to some, to go to the
theatre; others said it was for espionage; however that may be, he
was arrested and confined in the Temple as a spy; and at one time it
was intended to try and execute him. Shortly after I returned from
Italy he wrote to me from his prison, to request that I would
intercede for him; but, under the circumstances in which he was
taken, I could do nothing for him. He is active, intelligent,
intriguing, and indefatigable; but I believe that he is 'mezzo
pazo'.
"The chief cause of the failure at Acre was, that he took all my
battering train, which was on board of several small vessels.
Had it not been for that, I would have taken Acre in spite of him.
He behaved very bravely, and was well seconded by Phillipeaux, a
Frenchman of talent, who had studied with me as an engineer. There
was a Major Douglas also, who behaved very gallantly. The
acquisition of five or six hundred seamen as gunners was a great
advantage to the Turks, whose spirits they revived, and whom they
showed how to defend the fortress. But he committed a great fault
in making sorties, which cost the lives of two or three hundred
brave fellows without the possibility of success. For it was
impossible he could succeed against the number of the French who
were before Acre. I would lay a wage that he lost half of his crew
in them. He dispersed Proclamations amongst my troops, which
certainly shook some of them, and I in consequence published an
order, stating that he was mad, and forbidding all communication
with him. Some days after he sent, by means of a flag of truce,
a lieutenant or a midshipman with a letter containing a challenge to
me to meet him at some place he pointed out in order to fight a
duel. I laughed at this, and sent him back an intimation that when
he brought Marlborough to fight me I would meet him. Notwithstanding
this, I like the character of the man." (Voices from
St. Helena, vol. 4, p. 208).]--
All our manoeuvres, our works, and attacks were made with that levity
and carelessness which over-confidence inspires. Kléber, whilst walking
with me one day in the lines of our camp, frequently expressed his
surprise and discontent. "The trenches," said, he, "do not come up to
my knees." Besieging artillery was, of necessity, required: we commenced
with field artillery. This encouraged the besieged, who perceived the
weakness of our resources. The besieging artillery, consisting only of
three twenty-four pounders and six eighteen pounders, was not brought up
until the end of April, and before that period three assaults had taken
place with very serious loss. On the 4th of May our powder began to
fail us. This cruel event obliged us to slacken our fire. We also wanted
shot; and an order of the day fixed a price to be given for all balls,
according to their calibre, which might be picked up after being
fired from the fortress or the two ships of the line, the 'Tiger' and
'Theseus', which were stationed on each side of the harbour. These two
vessels embarrassed the communication between the camp and the trenches;
but though they made much noise, they did little harm. A ball from one
of them killed an officer on the evening the siege was raised.
The enemy had within the walls some excellent riflemen, chiefly
Albanians. They placed stones, one over the other, on the walls, put
their firearms through the interstices, and thus, completely sheltered,
fired with destructive precision.
On the 9th of April General Caffarelli, so well known for his courage
and talents, was passing through the trench, his hand resting as he
stooped on his hip, to preserve the equilibrium which his wooden leg
impaired; his elbow only was raised above the trench. He was warned that
the enemy's shot, fired close upon us, did not miss the smallest object.
He paid no attention to any observation of this kind, and in a few
instants his elbow joint was fractured. Amputation of the arm was
judged indispensable. The General survived the operation eighteen days.
Bonaparte went regularly twice a day to his tent. By his order, added
to my friendship for Caffarelli, I scarcely ever quitted him. Shortly
before he expired he said to me, "My dear Bourrienne, be so good as to
read to me Voltaire's preface to 'Esprit des Lois'." When I returned
to the tent of the General-in-Chief he asked, "How is Caffarelli?" I
replied, "He is near his end; but he asked me to read him Voltaire's
preface to the 'Esprit de Lois', he has just fallen asleep." Bonaparte
said, "Bah! to wish to hear that preface? how singular!" He went to see
Caffarelli, but he was still asleep. I returned to him that evening and
received his last breath. He died with the utmost composure. His death
was equally regretted by the soldiers and the men of science, who
accompanied us. It was a just regret due to that distinguished man,
in whom very extensive information was united with great courage and
amiable disposition.
On the 10th of May, when an assault took place, Bonaparte proceeded at
an early hour to the trenches.
--[Sir Sidney Smith, in his official report of the assault of the
8th of May, says that Napoleon was distinctly seen directing the
operation.]--
Croisier, who was mentioned on our arrival at Damanhour and on the
capture of Jaffa, had in vain courted death since the commencement of
the siege. Life had become insupportable to him since the unfortunate
affair at Jaffa. He as usual accompanied his General to the trenches.
Believing that the termination of the siege, which was supposed to be
near, would postpone indefinitely the death which he sought, he mounted
a battery. In this situation his tall figure uselessly provoked all the
enemy's shots. "Croisier, come down, I command you; you have no business
there," cried Bonaparte, in a loud and imperative tone. Croisier
remained without making any reply. A moment after a ball passed through
his right leg. Amputation was not considered indispensable. On the day
of our departure he was placed on a litter, which was borne by sixteen
men alternately, eight at a time. I received his farewell between Gaza
and El-Arish, where he died of tetanus. His modest tomb will not be
often visited.
The siege of St. Jean d'Acre lasted sixty days. During that time eight
assaults and twelve sorties took place. In the assault of the 8th of May
more than 200 men penetrated into the town. Victory was already shouted;
but the breach having been taken in reverse by the Turks, it was not
approached without some degree of hesitation, and the men who had
entered were not supported. The streets were barricaded. The cries, the
howlings of the women, who ran through the streets throwing, according
to the custom of the country, dust in the air, excited the male
inhabitants to a desperate resistance, which rendered unavailing
this short occupation of the town, by a handful of men, who, finding
themselves left without assistance, retreated towards the breach. Many
who could not reach it perished in the town.
During this assault Duroc, who was in the trench, was wounded in
the right thigh by the splinter from a shell fired against the
fortifications. Fortunately this accident only carried away the flesh
from the bone, which remained untouched. He had a tent in common with
several other 'aides de camp'; but for his better accommodation I gave
him mine, and I scarcely ever quitted him. Entering his tent one day
about noon, I found him in a profound sleep. The excessive heat had
compelled him to throw off all covering, and part of his wound was
exposed. I perceived a scorpion which had crawled up the leg of the
camp-bed and approached very near to the wound. I was just in time to
hurl it to the ground. The sudden motion of my hand awoke Duroc.
We often bathed in the sea. Sometimes the English, perhaps after taking
a double allowance of grog, would fire at our heads, which appeared
above water. I am not aware that any accident was occasioned by their
cannonade; but as we were beyond reach of their guns, we paid scarcely
any attention to the firing. It was seen a subject of amusement to us.
Had our attack on St. Jean d'Acre been less precipitate, and had the
siege been undertaken according to the rules of war, the place would
not have held out three days; one assault, like that of the 8th of May,
would have been sufficient. If, in the situation in which we were on the
day when we first came in sight of the ramparts of Acre; we had made
a less inconsiderate estimate of the strength of the place; if we had
likewise taken into consideration the active co-operation of the English
and the Ottoman Porte, our absolute want of artillery of sufficient
calibre, our scarcity of gunpowder and the difficulty of procuring food,
we certainly should not have undertaken the siege; and that would have
been by far the wisest course.
Towards the end of the siege the General-in-Chief received intelligence
of some trifling insurrections in northern Egypt. An angel had excited
them, and the heavenly messenger, who had condescended to assume a name,
was called the Mahdi, or El Mohdy. This religious extravagance, however,
did not last long, and tranquillity was soon restored. All that the
fanatic Mahdi, who shrouded himself in mystery, succeeded in doing was
to attack our rear by some vagabonds, whose illusions were dissipated by
a few musket shots.
CHAPTER XIX.
1799.
The siege of Acre raised--Attention to names in bulletins--Gigantic
project--The Druses--Mount Carmel--The wounded and infected--
Order to march on foot--Loss of our cannon--A Nablousian fires at
Bonaparte--Return to Jaffa--Bonaparte visits the plague hospital--
A potion given to the sick--Bonaparte's statement at St. Helena.
The siege of St. Jean d'Acre was raised on the 20th of May. It cost us
a loss of nearly 3000 men, in killed, deaths by the plague, or wounds.
A great number were wounded mortally. In those veracious documents, the
bulletins, the French loss was made 500 killed, and 1000 wounded, and
the enemy's more than 15,000.
Our bulletins may form curious materials for history; but their value
certainly will not depend on the credit due to their details. Bonaparte
attached the greatest importance to those documents; generally drawing
them up himself, or correcting them, when written by another hand, if
the composition did not please him.
It must be confessed that at that time nothing so much flattered
self-love as being mentioned in a bulletin. Bonaparte was well aware of
this; he knew that to insert a name in a bulletin was conferring a great
honour, and that its exclusion was a severe disappointment. General
Berthier, to whom I had expressed a strong desire to examine the works
of the siege, took me over them; but, notwithstanding his promise of
secrecy, he mentioned the circumstance to the General-in-Chief, who had
desired me not to approach the works. "What did you go there for?" said
Bonaparte to me, with some severity; "that is not your place." I replied
that Berthier told me that no assault would take place that day; and
he believed there would be no sortie, as the garrison had made one the
preceding evening. "What matters that? There might have been another.
Those who have nothing to do in such places are always the first
victims. Let every man mind his own business. Wounded or killed, I would
not even have noticed you in the bulletin. You could have been laughed
at, and that justly."
Bonaparte, not having at this time experienced reverses, having
continually proceeded from triumph to triumph, confidently anticipated
the taking of St. Jean d'Acre. In his letters to the generals in Egypt
he fixed the 25th of April for the accomplishment of that event. He
reckoned that the grand assault against the tower could not be made
before that day; it took place, however, twenty-four hours sooner. He
wrote to Desaix on the 19th of April, "I count on being master of Acre
in six days." On the 2d of May he told Junot, "Our 18 and 24 pounders
have arrived. We hope to enter Acre in a few days. The fire of their
artillery is completely extinguished." Letters have been printed,
dated 30th Floréal (19th May), in which he announces to Dugua and to
Poussielque that they can rely on his being in Acre on 6th Floréal
(25th April). Some mistake has evidently been made. "The slightest
circumstances produce the greatest events," said Napoleon, according to
the Memorial of St. Helena; "had St. Jean d'Acre fallen, I should have
changed the face of the world." And again, "The fate of the East lay in
that small town." This idea is not one which he first began to entertain
at St. Helena; he often repeated the very same words at St. Jean d'Acre.
On the shore of Ptolemes gigantic projects agitated him, as, doubtless,
regret for not having carried them into execution tormented him at St.
Helena.
Almost every evening Bonaparte and myself used to walk together, at
a little distance from the sea-shore. The day after the unfortunate
assault of the 8th of May Bonaparte, afflicted at seeing the blood of so
many brave men uselessly shed, said to me, "Bourrienne, I see that this
wretched place has cost me a number of men, and wasted much time. But
things are too far advanced not to attempt a last effort. If I succeed,
as I expect, I shall find in the town the pasha's treasures, and arms
for 300,000 men. I will stir up and arm the people of Syria, who are
disgusted at the ferocity of Djezzar, and who, as you know, pray for
his destruction at every assault. I shall then march upon Damascus and
Aleppo. On advancing into the country, the discontented will flock
round my standard, and swell my army. I will announce to the people the
abolition of servitude and of the tyrannical governments of the pashas.
I shall arrive at Constantinople with large masses of soldiers. I shall
overturn the Turkish empire, and found in the East a new and grand
empire, which will fix my place in the records of posterity. Perhaps
I shall return to Paris by Adrianople, or by Vienna, after having
annihilated the house of Austria." After I had made some observations
which these grand projects naturally suggested, he replied, "What! do
you not see that the Druses only wait for the fall of Acre to rise in
rebellion? Have not the keys of Damascus already been offered me? I only
stay till these walls fall because until then I can derive no advantage
from this large town. By the operation which I meditate I cut off all
kind of succour from the beys, and secure the conquest of Egypt. I will
have Desaix nominated commander-in-chief; but if I do not succeed in the
last assault I am about to attempt, I set off directly. Time presses,--I
shall not be at Cairo before the middle of June; the winds will then lie
favourable for ships bound to Egypt, from the north. Constantinople will
send troops to Alexandria and Rosetta. I must be there. As for the army,
which will arrive afterwards by land, I do not fear it this year. I will
cause everything to be destroyed, all the way to the entrance of the
desert. I will render the passage of an army impossible for two years.
Troops cannot exist amoung ruins."
As soon as I returned to my tent I committed to paper this conversation,
which was then quite fresh in my memory, and, I may venture to say that
every word I put down is correct. I may add, that during the siege our
camp was constantly filled with the inhabitants, who invoked Heaven to
favour our arms, and prayed fervently at every assault for our success,
many of them on their knees, with their faces to the city. The people
of Damascus, too, had offered the keys to Bonaparte. Thus everything
contributed to make him confident in his favourite plan.
The troops left St. Jean d'Acre on the 20th of May, taking advantage
of the night to avoid a sortie from the besieged, and to conceal the
retreat of the army, which had to march three leagues along the shore,
exposed to the fire of the English vessels lying in the roads of Mount
Carmel. The removal of the wounded and sick commenced on the 18th and
19th of May.
Bonaparte then made a proclamation, which from one end to the other
offends against truth. It has been published in many works. The season
of the year for hostile landing is there very dexterously placed in
the foreground; all the rest is a deceitful exaggeration. It must be
observed that the proclamations which Bonaparte regarded as calculated
to dazzle an ever too credulous public were amplifications often
ridiculous and incomprehensible upon the spot, and which only excited
the laughter of men of common sense. In all Bonaparte's correspondence
there is an endeavour to disguise his reverses, and impose on the
public, and even on his own generals. For example, he wrote to General
Dugua, commandant of Cairo, on the 15th of February, "I will bring you
plenty of prisoners and flags!" One would almost be inclined to say that
he had resolved, during his stay in the East, thus to pay a tribute to
the country of fables.
--[The prisoners and flags were sent. The Turkish flags were
entrusted by Berthier to the Adjutant-Commandant Boyer, who
conducted a convoy of sick and wounded to Egypt. Sidney Smith
acknowledges the loss of some flags by the Turks. The Turkish
prisoners were used as carriers of the litters for the wounded, and
were, for the most part, brought into Egypt. (Erreurs, tome i. pp.
47 and 160)]--
Thus terminated this disastrous expedition. I have read somewhere that
during this immortal campaign the two heroes Murat and Mourad had often
been in face of one another. There is only a little difficulty; Mourad
Bey never put his foot in Syria.
We proceeded along the coast, and passed Mount Carmel. Some of the
wounded were carried on litters, the remainder on horses, mules, and
camels. At a short distance from Mount Carmel we were informed that
three soldiers, ill of the plague, who were left in a convent (which
served for a hospital), and abandoned too confidently to the generosity
of the Turks, had been barbarously put to death.
A most intolerable thirst, the total want of water, an excessive heat,
and a fatiguing march over burning sand-hills, quite disheartened the
men, and made every generous sentiment give way to feelings of the
grossest selfishness and most shocking indifference. I saw officers,
with their limbs amputated, thrown off the litters, whose removal
in that way had been ordered, and who had themselves given money to
recompense the bearers. I saw the amputated, the wounded, the infected,
or those only suspected of infection, deserted and left to themselves.
The march was illumined by torches, lighted for the purpose of setting
fire to the little towns, villages, and hamlets which lay in the route,
and the rich crops with which the land was then covered. The whole
country was in a blaze. Those who were ordered to preside at this work
of destruction seemed eager to spread desolation on every side, as if
they could thereby avenge themselves for their reverses, and find
in such dreadful havoc an alleviation of their sufferings. We were
constantly surrounded by plunderers, incendiaries, and the dying, who,
stretched on the sides of the road, implored assistance in a feeble
voice, saying, "I am not infected--I am only wounded;" and to convince
those whom they addressed, they reopened their old wounds, or inflicted
on themselves fresh ones. Still nobody attended to them. "It is all
over with him," was the observation applied to the unfortunate beings in
succession, while every one pressed onward. The sun, which shone in
an unclouded sky in all its brightness, was often darkened by our
conflagrations. On our right lay the sea; on our left, and behind us,
the desert made by ourselves; before were the privations and sufferings
which awaited us. Such was our true situation.
We reached Tentoura on the 20th of May, when a most oppressive heat
prevailed, and produced general dejection. We had nothing to sleep on
but the parched and burning sand; on our right lay a hostile sea; our
losses in wounded and sick were already considerable since leaving Acre;
and there was nothing consolatory in the future. The truly afflicting
condition in which the remains of an army called triumphant were
plunged, produced, as might well be expected, a corresponding impression
on the mind of the General-in-Chief. Scarcely had he arrived at Tentoura
when he ordered his tent to be pitched. He then called me, and with a
mind occupied by the calamities of our situation, dictated an order
that every one should march on foot; and that all the horses, mules, and
camels should be given up to the wounded, the sick, and infected who
had been removed, and who still showed signs of life. "Carry that to
Berthier," said he; and the order was instantly despatched. Scarcely had
I returned to the tent when the elder Vigogne, the General-in-Chief's
groom, entered, and raising his hand to his cap, said, "General, what
horse do you reserve for yourself?" In the state of excitement in which
Bonaparte was this question irritated him so violently that, raising his
whip, he gave the man a severe blow on the head, saying in a terrible
voice, "Every-one must go on foot, you rascal--I the first--Do you not
know the order? Be off!"
Every one in parting with his horse was now anxious to avoid giving it
to any unfortunate individual supposed to be suffering from plague. Much
pains were taken to ascertain the nature of the diseases of the sick;
and no difficulty was made in accommodating the wounded of amputated.
For my part I had an excellent horse; a mule, and two camels, all which
I gave up with the greatest pleasure; but I confess that I directed my
servant to do all he could to prevent an infected person from getting
my horse. It was returned to me in a very short time. The same thing
happened to many others. The cause may be easily conjectured.
The remains of our heavy artillery were lost in the moving sands of
Tentoura, from the want of horses, the small number that remained being
employed in more indispensable services. The soldiers seemed to forget
their own sufferings, plunged in grief at the loss of their bronze
guns, often the instruments of their triumphs, and which had made Europe
tremble.
We halted at Caesarea on the 22d of May, and we marched all the
following night. Towards daybreak a man, concealed in a bush upon the
left of the road (the sea was two paces from us on the right), fired
a musket almost close to the head of the General-in-Chief, who was
sleeping on his horse. I was beside him. The wood being searched, the
Nablousian was taken without difficulty, and ordered to be shot on the
spot. Four guides pushed him towards the sea by thrusting their carbines
against his back; when close to the water's edge they drew the triggers,
but all the four muskets hung fire: a circumstance which was accounted
for by the great humidity of the night. The Nablousian threw himself
into the water, and, swimming with great agility and rapidity, gained
a ridge of rocks so far off that not a shot from the whole troop, which
fired as it passed, reached him. Bonaparte, who continued his march,
desired me to wait for Kléber, whose division formed the rear-guard,
and to tell him not to forget the Nablousian. He was, I believe, shot at
last.
We returned to Jaffa on the 24th of May, and stopped there during the
25th, 26th, 27th, and 28th. This town had lately been the scene of a
horrible transaction, dictated by necessity, and it was again destined
to witness the exercise of the same dire law. Here I have a painful duty
to perform--I will perform it. I will state what I know, what I saw.
I have seen the following passage in a certain, work:--"Bonaparte,
having arrived at Jaffa, ordered three removals of the infected: one by
sea to Damietta, and also by land; the second to Gaza; and the third to
El-Arish!" So, many words, so many errors!
Some tents were pitched on an eminence near the gardens east of Jaffa.
Orders were given directly to undermine the fortifications and blow them
up; and on the 27th of May, upon the signaling given, the town was in a
moment laid bare. An hour afterwards the General-in-Chief left his tent
and repaired to the town, accompanied by Berthier, some physicians and
surgeons, and his usual staff. I was also one of the party. A long and
sad deliberation took place on the question which now arose relative to
the men who were incurably ill of the plague, or who were at the point
of death. After a discussion of the most serious and conscientious kind
it was decided to accelerate a few moments, by a potion, a death which
was inevitable, and which would otherwise be painful and cruel.
Bonaparte took a rapid view of the destroyed ramparts of the town and
returned to the hospital, where there were men whose limbs had
been amputated, many wounded, many afflicted with ophthalmia, whose
lamentations were distressing, and some infected with the plague. The
beds of the last description of patients were to the right on entering
the first ward. I walked by the General's side, and I assert that I
never saw him touch any one of the infected. And why should he have done
so? They were in the last stage of the disease. Not one of them spoke
a word to him, and Bonaparte well knew that he possessed no protection
against the plague. Is Fortune to be again brought forward here? She
had, in truth, little favoured him during the last few months, when he
had trusted to her favours. I ask, why should he have exposed himself to
certain death, and have left his army in the midst of a desert created
by our ravages, in a desolate town, without succour, and without the
hope of ever receiving any? Would he have acted rightly in doing so--he
who was evidently so necessary, so indispensable to his army; he on
whom depended at that moment the lives of all who had survived the
last disaster, and who had proved their attachment to him by their
sufferings, their privations, and their unshaken courage, and who had
done all that he could have required of men, and whose only trust was in
him?
Bonaparte walked quickly through the rooms, tapping the yellow top of
his boot with a whip he held in his hand. As he passed along with
hasty steps he repeated these words: "The fortifications are destroyed.
Fortune was against me at St. Jean d'Acre. I must return to Egypt to
preserve it from the enemy, who will soon be there: In a few hours the
Turks will be here. Let all those who have strength enough rise and come
along with us. They shall be carried on litters and horses." There were
scarcely sixty cases of plague in the hospital; and all accounts
stating a greater number are exaggerated. The perfect silence,
complete dejection, and general stupor of the patients announced their
approaching end. To carry them away in the state in which they were
would evidently have been doing nothing else than inoculating the rest
of the army with the plague. I have, it is true, learned, since my
return to Europe, that some persons touched the infected with impunity;
nay; that others went so far as to inoculate themselves with the plague
in order to learn how to cure those whom it might attack. It certainly
was a special protection from Heaven to be preserved from it; but to
cover in some degree the absurdity of such a story, it is added that
they knew how to elude the danger, and that any one else who braved it
without using precautions met with death for their temerity. This is, in
fact, the whole point of the question. Either those privileged persons
took indispensable precautions; and in that case their boasted heroism
is a mere juggler's trick; or they touched the infected without using
precautions, and inoculated themselves with the plague, thus voluntarily
encountering death, and then the story is really a good one.
The infected were confided, it has been stated, to the head apothecary
of the army, Royer, who, dying in Egypt three years after, carried the
secret with him to the grave. But on a moment's reflection it will be
evident that the leaving of Royer alone in Jaffa would have been to
devote to certain death; and that a prompt and cruel one, a man who was
extremely useful to the army, and who was at the time in perfect health.
It must be remembered that no guard could be left with him, and that
the Turks were close at our heels. Bonaparte truly said, while walking
through the rooms of the hospital, that the Turks would be at Jaffa in a
few hours. With this conviction, would he have left the head apothecary
in that town?
Recourse has been had to suppositions to support the contrary belief to
what I state. For example, it is said that the infected patients were
embarked in ships of war. There were no such ships. Where had they
disembarked, who had received them; what had been done with them? No
one speaks of them. Others, not doubting that the infected men died
at Jaffa, say, that the rearguard under Kléber, by order of Bonaparte,
delayed its departure for three days, and only began its march when
death had put an end to the sufferings of these unfortunate beings,
unshortened by any sacrifice. All this is incorrect. No rear-guard was
left--it could not be done. Pretence is made of forgetting that the
ramparts were destroyed, that the town was as open and as defenceless as
any village, so this small rear-guard would have been left for certain
destruction. The dates themselves tell against these suppositions. It
is certain, as can be seen by the official account, that we arrived at
Jaffa on 24th May, and stayed there the 25th, 26th, and 27th. We left
it on the 28th. Thus the rear-guard, which, according to these
writers, left-on the 29th, did not remain, even according to their own
hypothesis, three days after the army to see the sick die. In reality it
left on the 29th of May, the day after we did. Here are the very words
of the Major-General (Berthier) in his official account, written under
the eye and under the dictation of the Commander-in-Chief:--
The army arrived at Jaffa, 5th Prairial (24th May), and remained
there the 6th, 7th, and 8th (25th-27th May). This time was employed
in punishing the village, which had behaved badly. The
fortifications of Jaffa were blown up. All the iron guns of the
place were thrown into the sea. The wounded were removed by sea and
by land. There were only a few ships, and to give time to complete
the evacuation by land, the departure of the army had to be deferred
until the 9th (28th May). Kléber's division formed the rear-guard,
and only left Jaffa on the 10th (29th May).
The official report of what passed at Jaffa was drawn up by Berthier,
under the eye of Bonaparte. It has been published; but it may be
remarked that not a word about the infected, not a word of the visit to
the hospital, or the touching of the plague-patients with impunity,
is there mentioned. In no official report is anything said about the
matter. Why this silence? Bonaparte was not the man to conceal a fact
which would have afforded him so excellent and so allowable a text for
talking about his fortune. If the infected were removed, why not mention
it? Why be silent on so important an event? But it would have been
necessary to confess that being obliged to have recourse to so painful a
measure was the unavoidable consequence of this unfortunate expedition.
Very disagreeable details must have been entered into; and it was
thought more advisable to be silent on the subject.
But what did Napoleon himself say on the subject at St. Helena? His
statement there was to the following effect:--"I ordered a consultation
as to what was best to be done. The report which was made stated that
there were seven or eight men (the question is not about the number) so
dangerously ill that they could not live beyond twenty-four hours,
and would besides infect the rest of the army with the plague. It was
thought it would be an act of charity to anticipate their death a few
hours."
Then comes the fable of the 500 men of the rear guard, who, it is
pretended, saw them die! I make no doubt that the story of the poisoning
was the invention of Den----. He was a babbler, who understood a story
badly, and repeated it worse. I do not think it would have been a crime
to have given opium to the infected. On the contrary, it would have been
obedience to the dictates of reason. Where is the man who would not, in
such a situation, have preferred a prompt death, to being exposed to the
lingering tortures inflicted by barbarians? If my child, and I believe
I love him as much as any father does his, had been in such a state,
my advice would have been the same; if I had been among the infected
myself, I should have demanded to be so treated.
Such was the reasoning at St. Helena, and such was the view which he and
every one else took of the case twenty years ago at Jaffa.
Our little army arrived at Cairo on the 14th of June, after a painful
and harassing march of twenty-five days. The heats during the passage of
the desert between El-Arish and Belbeis exceeded thirty-three degrees.
On placing the bulb of the thermometer in the sand the mercury rose to
forty-five degrees. The deceitful mirage was even more vexatious than
in the plains of Bohahire'h. In spite of our experience an excessive
thirst, added to a perfect illusion, made us goad on our wearied horses
towards lakes which vanished at our approach, and left behind nothing
but salt and arid sand. In two days my cloak was completely covered with
salt, left on it after the evaporation of the moisture which held it
in solution. Our horses, who ran eagerly to the brackish springs of
the desert, perished in numbers, after travelling about a quarter of a
league from the spot where they drank the deleterious fluid.
Bonaparte preceded his entry into the capital of Egypt by one of those
lying bulletins which only imposed on fools. "I will bring with me,"
said he, "many prisoners and flags. I have razed the palace of the
Djezzar and the ramparts of Acre--not a stone remains upon another.
All the inhabitants have left the city, by sea. Djezzar is severely
wounded."
I confess that I experienced a painful sensation in writing, by his
dictation, these official words, everyone of which was an imposition.
Excited by all I had just witnessed, it was difficult for me to refrain
from making the observation; but his constant reply was, "My dear
fellow, you are a simpleton: you do not understand this business." And
he observed, when signing the bulletin, that he would yet fill the world
with admiration, and inspire historians and poets.
Our return to Cairo has been attributed to the insurrections which
broke out during the unfortunate expedition into Syria. Nothing is
more incorrect. The term insurrection cannot be properly applied to the
foolish enterprises of the angel El-Mahdi in the Bohahire'h, or to the
less important disturbances in the Charkyeh. The reverses experienced
before St. Jean d'Acre, the fear, or rather the prudent anticipation of
a hostile landing, were sufficient motives, and the only ones, for our
return to Egypt. What more could we do in Syria but lose men and time,
neither of which the General had to spare?
CHAPTER XX.
1799.
Murat and Moarad Bey at the Natron Lakes--Bonaparte's departure for
the Pyramids--Sudden appearance of an Arab messenger--News of
the landing of the Turks at Aboukir--Bonaparte marches against
them--They are immediately attacked and destroyed in the battle of
Aboukir--Interchange of communication with the English--Sudden
determination to return to Europe--Outfit of two frigates--
Bonaparte's dissimulation--His pretended journey to the Delta--
Generous behaviour of Lanusee--Bonaparte's artifice--His bad
treatment of General Kléber.
Bonaparte had hardly set foot in Cairo when he was informed that the
brave and indefatigable Mourad Bey was descending by the Fayoum, in
order to form a junction with reinforcements which had been for some
time past collected in the Bohahire'h. In all probability this movement
of Mourad Bey was the result of news he had received respecting plans
formed at Constantinople, and the landing which took place a short time
after in the roads of Aboukir. Mourad had selected the Natron Lakes for
his place of rendezvous. To these lakes Murat was despatched. The Bey no
sooner got notice of Murat's presence than he determined to retreat and
to proceed by the desert to Gizeh and the great Pyramids. I certainly
never heard, until I returned to France, that Mourad had ascended to
the summit of the great Pyramid for the purpose of passing his time in
contemplating Cairo!
Napoleon said at St. Helena that Murat might have taken Mourad Bey had
the latter remained four-and-twenty hours longer in the Natron Lakes.
Now the fact is, that as soon as the Bey heard of Murat's arrival he was
off. The Arabian spies were far more serviceable to our enemies than to
us; we had not, indeed, a single friend in Egypt. Mourad Bey, on being
informed by the Arabs, who acted as couriers for him, that General
Desaix was despatching a column from the south of Egypt against him,
that the General-in-Chief was also about to follow his footsteps along
the frontier of Gizeh, and that the Natron Lakes and the Bohahire'h were
occupied by forces superior to his own, retired into Fayoum.
Bonaparte attached great importance to the destruction of Mourad, whom
he looked upon as the bravest, the most active, and most dangerous of
his enemies in Egypt. As all accounts concurred in stating that Mourad,
supported by the Arabs, was hovering about the skirts of the desert of
the province of Gizeh, Bonaparte proceeded to the Pyramids, there to
direct different corps against that able and dangerous partisan. He,
indeed, reckoned him so redoubtable that he wrote to Murat, saying he
wished fortune might reserve for him the honour of putting the seal on
the conquest of Egypt by the destruction of this opponent.
On the 14th of July Bonaparte left Cairo for the Pyramids. He intended
spending three or four days in examining the ruins of the ancient
necropolis of Memphis; but he was suddenly obliged to alter his plan.
This journey to the Pyramids, occasioned by the course of war, has given
an opportunity for the invention of a little piece of romance. Some
ingenious people have related that Bonaparte gave audiences to the mufti
and ulemas, and that on entering one of the great Pyramids he cried out,
"Glory to Allah! God only is God, and Mahomet is his prophet!" Now the
fact is, that Bonaparte never even entered the great Pyramid. He never
had any thought of entering it:--I certainly should have accompanied
him had he done so for I never quitted his side a single moment in the
desert. He caused some person to enter into one of the great Pyramids
while he remained outside, and received from them, on their return, an
account of what they had seen. In other words, they informed him there
was nothing to be seen!
On the evening of the 15th of July, while we were taking a walk, we
perceived, on the road leading from Alexandria, an Arab riding up to us
in all haste. He brought to the General-in-Chief a despatch from General
Marmont, who was entrusted with the command of Alexandria, and who had
conducted himself so well, especially during the dreadful ravages of the
plague, that he had gained the unqualified approbation of Bonaparte. The
Turks had landed on the 11th of July at Aboukir, under the escort and
protection of English ships of war. The news of the landing of from
fifteen to sixteen thousand men did not surprise Bonaparte, who had for
some time expected it. It was not so, however, with the generals most in
his favor, whose apprehensions, for reasons which may be conjectured, he
had endeavoured to calm. He had even written to Marmont, who, being in
the most exposed situation, had the more reason to be vigilant, in these
terms:
The army which was to have appeared before Alexandria, and which
left Constantinople on the 1st of the Ramadhan, has been destroyed
under the walls of Acre. If, however, that mad Englishman (Smith)
has embarked the remains of that army in order to convey them to
Aboukir, I do not believe there can be more than 2000 men.
He wrote in the following strain to General Dugua, who had the command
of Cairo:
The English Commander, who has summoned Damietta, is a madman. The
combined army they speak of has been destroyed before Acre, where it
arrived a fortnight before we left that place.
As soon as he arrived at Cairo, in a letter he despatched to Desaix, he
said:
The time has now arrived when disembarkations have become
practicable. I shall lose no time in getting ready. The
probabilities, however, are, that none will take place this year.
What other language could he hold, when he had proclaimed when after the
raising of the siege of Acre, that he had destroyed those 15,000 men who
two months after landed at Aboukir?
No sooner had Bonaparte perused the contents of Marmont's letter than
he retired into his tent and dictated to me, until three in the morning,
his orders for the departure of the troops, and for the routes he wished
to be pursued during his absence by the troops who should remain in
the interior. At this moment I observed in him the development of that
vigorous character of mind which was excited by obstacles until he
overcame them--that celerity of thought which foresaw everything. He was
all action, and never for a moment hesitated. On the 16th of July, at
four in the morning, he was on horseback and the army in full march.
I cannot help doing justice to the presence of mind, promptitude of
decision, and rapidity of execution which at this period of his life
never deserted him on great occasions.
We reached Ouardan, to the north of Gizeh, on the evening of the 16th;
on the 19th we arrived at Rahmalianie'h, and on the 23d at Alexandria,
where every preparation was made for that memorable battle which, though
it did not repair the immense losses and fatal consequences of the naval
conflict of the same name, will always recall to the memory of Frenchmen
one of the most brilliant achievements of their arms.
--[As M. de Bourrienne gives no details of the battle, the
following extract from the Duc de Rovigo's Memoirs, tome i, p. 167,
will supply the deficiency:
"General Bonaparte left Cairo in the utmost haste to place himself
at the head of the troops which he had ordered to quit their
cantonments and march down to the coast.
"Whilst the General was making these arrangements and coming in
person from Cairo, the troops on board the Turkish fleet had
effected a landing and taken possession of the fort of Aboukir, and
of a redoubt placed behind the village of that name which ought to
have been put into a state of defence six months before, but had
been completely neglected.
"The Turks had nearly destroyed the weak garrisons that occupied
those two military points when General Marmont (who commanded at
Alexandria) came to their relief. This general, seeing the two
posts in the power of the Turks, returned to shut himself up in
Alexandria, where he would probably have been blockaded by the
Turkish army had it not been for the arrival of General Bonaparte
with his forces, who was very angry when he saw that the fort and
redoubt had been taken; but he did not blame Marmont for retreating
to Alexandria with the forces at his disposal.
"General Bonaparte arrived at midnight with his guides and the
remaining part of his army, and ordered the Turks to be attacked the
next morning. In this battle, as in the preceding ones, the attack,
the encounter, and the rout were occurrences of a moment, and the
result of a single movement on the part of our troops. The whole
Turkish army plunged into the sea to regain its ships, leaving
behind them everything they had brought on shore.
"Whilst this event was occurring on the seashore a pasha had left
the field of battle with a corps of about 3000 men in order to throw
himself into the fort of Aboukir. They soon felt the extremities
of thirst, which compelled them, after the lapse of a few days, to
surrender unconditionally to General Menou, who was left to close
the operations connected with the recently defeated Turkish army."]
After the battle, which took place on the 25th of July, Bonaparte sent
a flag of truce on board the English Admiral's ship. Our intercourse was
full of politeness, such as might be expected in the communications of
the people of two civilised nations. The English Admiral gave the flag
of truce some presents in exchange for some we sent, and likewise a copy
of the French Gazette of Frankfort, dated 10th of June 1799. For ten
months we had received no news from France. Bonaparte glanced over this
journal with an eagerness which may easily be conceived.
--[The French, on their return from St. Jean d'Acre were totally
ignorant of all that had taken place in Europe for several months.
Napoleon, eager to obtain intelligence, sent a flag of truce on
board the Turkish admiral's ship, under the pretence of treating for
the ransom of the prisoners taken at Aboukir, not doubting but the
envoy would be stopped by Sir Sidney Smith, who carefully prevented
all direct communication between the French and the Turks.
Accordingly the French flag of truce received directions from Sir
Sidney to go on board his ship. He experienced the handsomest
treatment; and the English commander having, among other things,
ascertained that the disasters of Italy were quite unknown to
Napoleon, indulged in the malicious pleasure of sending him a file
of newspapers. Napoleon spent the whole night in his tent perusing
the papers; and he came to the determination of immediately
proceeding to Europe to repair the disasters of France; and if
possible, to save her from destruction (Memorial de Sainte Helene)].
"Heavens!" said he to me, "my presentiment is verified: the fools have
lost Italy. All the fruits of our victories are gone! I must leave
Egypt!"
He sent for Berthier, to whom he communicated the news, adding that
things were going on very badly in France--that he wished to return
home--that he (Berthier) should go along with him, and that, for the
present, only he, Gantheaume, and I were in the secret. He recommended
Berthier to be prudent, not to betray any symptoms of joy, nor to
purchase or sell anything, and concluded by assuring him that
he depended on him. "I can answer," said he, "for myself and for
Bourrienne." Berthier promised to be secret, and he kept his word. He
had had enough of Egypt, and he so ardently longed to return to France,
that there was little reason to fear he would disappoint himself by any
indiscretion.
Gantheaume arrived, and Bonaparte gave him orders to fit out the two
frigates, the 'Muiron' and the 'Carrère', and the two small vessels, the
'Revanche' and the 'Fortune', with a two months' supply of provisions
for from four to five hundred men. He enjoined his secrecy as to
the object of these preparations, and desired him to act with such
circumspection that the English cruisers might have no knowledge of
what was going on. He afterwards arranged with Gantheaume the course he
wished to take. No details escaped his attention.
Bonaparte concealed his preparations with much care, but still some
vague rumours crept abroad. General Dugua, the commandant of Cairo, whom
he had just left for the purpose of embarking, wrote to him on the 18th
of August to the following effect:
I have this moment heard that it is reported at the Institute you
are about to return to France, taking with you Monge, Berthollet,
Berthier, Lannes, and Murat. This news has spread like lightning
through the city, and I should not be at all surprised if it produce
an unfavourable effect, which, however, I hope you will obviate.
Bonaparte embarked five days after the receipt of Dugua's letter, and,
as may be supposed, without replying to it.
On the 18th of August he wrote to the divan of Cairo as follows:
I set out to-morrow for Menouf, whence I intend to make various
excursions in the Delta, in order that I may myself witness the acts
of oppression which are committed there, and acquire some knowledge
of the people.
He told the army but half the truth:
The news from Europe (said he) has determined me to proceed to
France. I leave the command of the army to General Kléber. The
army shall hear from me forthwith. At present I can say no more.
It costs me much pain to quit troops to whom I am so strongly
attached. But my absence will be but temporary, and the general I
leave in command has the confidence of the Government as well as
mine.
I have now shown the true cause of General Bonaparte's departure for
Europe. This circumstance, in itself perfectly natural, has been the
subject of the most ridiculous conjectures to those who always wish
to assign extraordinary causes for simple events. There is no truth
whatever in the assertion of his having planned his departure before
the battle of Aboukir. Such an idea never crossed his mind. He had no
thought whatever of his departure for France when he made the journey to
the Pyramids, nor even when he received the news of the landing of the
Anglo-Turkish force.
At the end of December 1798 Bonaparte thus wrote to the Directory: "We
are without any news from France. No courier has arrived since the month
of June."
Some writers have stated that we received news by the way of Tunis,
Algiers, or Morocco; but there is no contradicting a positive fact. At
that period I had been with Bonaparte more than two years, and during
that time not a single despatch on any occasion arrived of the contents
of which I was ignorant. How then should the news alluded to have
escaped me?
--[Details on the question of the correspondence of Napoleon with
France while he was to Egypt will be found in Colonel Iung's work,
Lucien Bonaparte (Paris. Charpentier, 1882), tome i. pp. 251-274.
It seems most probable that Napoleon was in occasional communication
with his family and with some of the Directors by way of Tunis and
Tripoli. It would not be his interest to let his army or perhaps
even Bourrienne know of the disasters in Italy till he found that
they were sure to hear of them through the English. This would
explain his affected ignorance till such a late date. On the 11th
of April Barras received a despatch by which Napoleon stated his
intention of returning to France if the news brought by Hamelin was
confirmed. On the 26th of May 1799 three of the Directors, Barras,
Rewbell, and La Révellière-Lepeaux, wrote to Napoleon that Admiral
Bruix had been ordered to attempt every means of bringing back his
army. On the 15th of July Napoleon seems to have received this and
other letters. On the 20th of July he warns Admiral Gantheaume to
be ready to start. On the 11th of September the Directors formally
approved the recall of the army from Egypt. Thus at the time
Napoleon landed in France (on the 8th October), his intended return
had been long known to and approved by the majority of the
Directors, and had at last been formally ordered by the Directory.
At the most he anticipated the order. He cannot be said to have
deserted his post. Lantrey (tome i. p. 411) remarks that the
existence and receipt of the letter from Joseph denied by Bourrienne
is proved by Miot (the commissary, the brother of Miot de Melito)
and by Joseph himself. Talleyrand thanks the French Consul at
Tripoli for sending news from Egypt, and for letting Bonaparte know
what passed in Europe. See also Ragusa (Marmont), tome i. p. 441,
writing on 24th December 1798: "I have found an Arab of whom I am
sure, and who shall start to-morrow for Derne. . . . This means
can be used to send a letter to Tripoli, for boats often go there."]
Almost all those who endeavour to avert from Bonaparte the reproach of
desertion quote a letter from the Directory, dated the 26th of May 1799.
This letter may certainly have been written, but it never reached its
destination. Why then should it be put upon record?
The circumstance I have stated above determined the resolution of
Bonaparte, and made him look upon Egypt as an exhausted field of glory,
which it was high time he had quitted, to play another part in France.
On his departure from Europe Bonaparte felt that his reputation was
tottering. He wished to do something to raise up his glory, and to fix
upon him the attention of the world. This object he had in great part
accomplished; for, in spite of serious disasters, the French flag waved
over the cataracts of the Nile and the ruins of Memphis, and the battles
of the Pyramids, and Aboukir were calculated in no small degree to
dazzle the imagination. Cairo and Alexandria too were ours. Finding
that the glory of his arms no longer supported the feeble power of
the Directory, he was anxious to see whether he could not share it, or
appropriate it to himself.
A great deal has been said about letters and secret communications from
the Directory, but Bonaparte needed no such thing. He could do what he
pleased: there was no power to check him; such had been the nature of
his arrangements on leaving France. He followed only the dictates of his
own will, and probably, had not the fleet been destroyed, he would have
departed from Egypt much sooner. To will and to do were with him one
and the same thing. The latitude he enjoyed was the result of his verbal
agreement with the Directory, whose instructions and plans he did not
wish should impede his operations.
Bonaparte left Alexandria on the 5th of August, and on the 10th arrived
at Cairo. He at first circulated the report of a journey to Upper Egypt.
This seemed so much the more reasonable, as he had really entertained
that design before he went to the Pyramids, and the fact was known to
the army and the inhabitants of Cairo. Up to this time our secret
had been studiously kept. However, General Lanusse, the commandant at
Menouf, where we arrived on the 20th of August, suspected it. "You
are going to France," said he to me. My negative reply confirmed his
suspicion. This almost induced me to believe the General-in-Chief had
been the first to make the disclosure. General Lanusse, though he envied
our good fortune, made no complaints. He expressed his sincere wishes
for our prosperous voyage, but never opened his mouth on the subject to
any one.
On the 21st of August we reached the wells of Birkett. The Arabs had
rendered the water unfit for use, but the General-in-Chief was resolved
to quench his thirst, and for this purpose squeezed the juice of several
lemons into a glass of the water; but he could not swallow it without
holding his nose and exhibiting strong feelings of disgust.
The next day we reached Alexandria, where the General informed all
those, who had accompanied him from Cairo that France was their
destination. At this announcement joy was pictured in every countenance.
General Kléber, to whose command Bonaparte had resigned the army,
was invited to come from Damietta to Rosetta to confer with the
General-in-Chief on affairs of extreme importance. Bonaparte, in making
an appointment which he never intended to keep, hoped to escape the
unwelcome freedom of Kléber's reproaches. He afterwards wrote to him all
he had to say; and the cause he assigned for not keeping his appointment
was, that his fear of being observed by the English cruisers had forced
him to depart three days earlier than he intended. But when he wrote
Bonaparte well knew that he would be at sea before Kléber could receive
his letter. Kléber, in his letter to the Directory, complained bitterly
of this deception. The singular fate that befell this letter will be
seen by and by.
CHAPTER XXI
1799.
Our departure from Egypt--Nocturnal embarkation--M. Parseval
Grandmaison--On course--Adverse winds--Fear of the English--
Favourable weather--Vingt-et-un--Chess--We land at Ajaccio--
Bonaparte's pretended relations--Family domains--Want of money--
Battle of Novi--Death of Joubert--Visionary schemes--Purchase of a
boat--Departure from Corsica--The English squadron--Our escape--
The roads of Fréjus--Our landing in France--The plague or the
Austrians--Joy of the people--The sanitary laws--Bonaparte falsely
accused.
We were now to return to our country--again to cross the sea, to us so
pregnant with danger--Caesar and his fortune were once more to embark.
But Caesar was not now advancing to the East to add Egypt to the
conquests of the Republic. He was revolving in his mind vast schemes,
unawed by the idea of venturing everything to chance in his own favour
the Government for which he had fought. The hope of conquering the most
celebrated country of the East no longer excited the imagination, as on
our departure from France. Our last visionary dream had vanished before
the walls of St. Jean d'Acre, and we were leaving on the burning sands
of Egypt most of our companions in arms. An inconceivable destiny seemed
to urge us on, and we were obliged to obey its decrees.
On the 23d of August we embarked on board two frigates, the 'Muiron'
--[Named after Bonaparte's aide de camp killed in the Italian
campaign]--
and 'Carrère'. Our number was between four and five hundred. Such was
our squadron, and such the formidable army with which Bonaparte had
resolved, as he wrote to the divan of Cairo, "to annihilate all his
enemies." This boasting might impose on those who did not see the real
state of things; but what were we to think of it? What Bonaparte himself
thought the day after.
The night was dark when we embarked in the frigates which lay at a
considerable distance from the port of Alexandria; but by the faint
light of the stars we perceived a corvette, which appeared to be
observing our silent nocturnal embarkation.
--[The horses of the escort had been left to run loose on the beach,
and all was perfect stillness in Alexandria, when the advanced posts
of the town were alarmed by the wild galloping of horses, which from
a natural instinct, were returning to Alexandria through the desert.
The picket ran to arms on seeing horses ready saddled and bridled,
which were soon discovered to belong to the regiment of guides.
They at first thought that a misfortune had happened to some
detachment in its pursuit of the Arabs. With these horses came also
those of the generals who had embarked with General Bonaparte; so
that Alexandria was for a time in considerable alarm. The cavalry
was ordered to proceed in all haste in the direction whence the
horses came, and every one was giving himself up to the most gloomy
conjectures, when the cavalry returned to the city with the Turkish
groom, who was bringing back General Bonaparte's horse to Alexandria
(Memoirs of the Duc de Rovigo, tome i. p. 182).]--
Next morning, just as we were on the point of setting sail, we saw,
coming from the port of Alexandria a boat, on board of which was M.
Parseval Grandmaison. This excellent man, who was beloved by all of
us, was not included among the persons whose return to France had been
determined by the General-in-Chief. In his anxiety to get off Bonaparte
would not hear of taking him on board. It will readily be conceived how
urgent were the entreaties of Parseval; but he would have sued in vain
had not Gantheaume, Monge, Berthollet, and I interceded for him. With
some difficulty we overcame Bonaparte's resistance, and our colleague of
the Egyptian Institute got on board after the wind had filled our sails.
It has been erroneously said that Admiral Gantheaume had full control of
the frigates, as if any one could command when Bonaparte was present. On
the contrary, Bonaparte declared to the admiral, in my hearing, that
he would not take the ordinary course and get into the open sea. "Keep
close along the coast of the Mediterranean," said he, "on the African
side, until you get south of Sardinia. I have here a handful of brave
fellows and a few pieces of artillery; if the English should appear I
will run ashore, and with my party, make my way by land to Oran, Tunis,
or some other port, whence we may find an opportunity of getting home."
This was his irrevocable determination.
For twenty-one days adverse winds, blowing from west or north-west,
drove us continually on the coast of Syria, or in the direction of
Alexandria. At one time it was even proposed that we should again put
into the port; but Bonaparte declared he would rather brave every danger
than do so. During the day we tacked to a certain distance northward,
and in the evening we stood towards Africa, until we came within sight
of the coast. Finally after no less than twenty-one days of impatience
and disappointment, a favourable east wind carried us past that point of
Africa on which Carthage formerly stood, and we soon doubled Sardinia.
We kept very near the western coast of that island, where Bonaparte had
determined to land in case of our falling in with the English squadron.
From thence his plan was to reach Corsica, and there to await a
favourable opportunity of returning to France.
Everything had contributed to render our voyage dull and monotonous;
and, besides, we were not entirely without uneasiness as to the steps
which might be taken by the Directory, for it was certain that the
publication of the intercepted correspondence must have occasioned
many unpleasant disclosures. Bonaparte used often to walk on deck to
superintend the execution of his orders. The smallest sail that appeared
in view excited his alarm.
The fear of falling into the hands of the English never forsook him.
That was what he dreaded most of all, and yet, at a subsequent period,
he trusted to the generosity of his enemies.
However, in spite of our well-founded alarm, there were some moments in
which we sought to amuse ourselves, or, to use a common expression,
to kill time. Cards afforded us a source of recreation, and even this
frivolous amusement served to develop the character of Bonaparte. In
general he was not fond of cards; but if he did play, vingt-et-un was
his favourite game, because it is more rapid than many others, and
because, in short, it afforded him an opportunity of cheating. For
example, he would ask for a card; if it proved a bad one he would say
nothing, but lay it down on the table and wait till the dealer had drawn
his. If the dealer produced a good card, then Bonaparte would throw
aside his hand, without showing it, and give up his stake. If, on the
contrary, the dealer's card made him exceed twenty-one, Bonaparte also
threw his cards aside without showing them, and asked for the payment of
his stake. He was much diverted by these little tricks, especially when
they were played off undetected; and I confess that even then we were
courtiers enough to humour him, and wink at his cheating. I must,
however, mention that he never appropriated to himself the fruit of
these little dishonesties, for at the end of the game he gave up all
his winnings, and they were equally divided. Gain, as may readily be
supposed, was not his object; but he always expected that fortune would
grant him an ace or a ten at the right moment with the same confidence
with which he looked for fine weather on the day of battle. If he were
disappointed he wished nobody to know it.
Bonaparte also played at chess, but very seldom, because he was only a
third-rate player, and he did not like to be beaten at that game, which,
I know not why, is said to bear a resemblance to the grand game of
war. At this latter game Bonaparte certainly feared no adversary.
This reminds me that when we were leaving Passeriano he announced his
intention of passing through Mantua. He was told that the commandant of
that town, I believe General Beauvoir, was a great chess-player, and he
expressed a wish to play a game with him. General Beauvoir asked him to
point out any particular pawn with which he would be checkmated; adding,
that if the pawn were taken, he, Bonaparte, should be declared
the winner. Bonaparte pointed out the last pawn on the left of his
adversary. A mark was put upon it, and it turned out that he actually
was checkmated with that very pawn. Bonaparte was not very well pleased
at this. He liked to play with me because, though rather a better player
than himself, I was not always able to beat him. As soon as a game was
decided in his favour he declined playing any longer, preferring to rest
on his laurels.
The favourable wind which had constantly prevailed after the first
twenty days of our voyage still continued while we kept along the coast
of Sardinia; but after we had passed that island the wind again blew
violently from the west, and on the 1st of October we were forced to
enter the Gulf of Ajaccio. We sailed again next day but we found it
impossible to work our way out of the gulf. We were therefore obliged
to put into the port and land at Ajaccio. Adverse winds obliged us to
remain there until the 7th of October. It may readily be imagined
how much this delay annoyed Bonaparte. He sometimes expressed his
impatience, as if he could enforce the obedience of the elements as well
as of men. He was losing time, and time was everything to him.
There was one circumstance which seemed to annoy him as much as any of
his more serious vexations. "What will become of me," said he, "if the
English, who are cruising hereabout, should learn that I have landed in
Corsica? I shall be forced to stay here. That I could never endure. I
have a torrent of relations pouring upon me." His great reputation
had certainly prodigiously augmented the number of his family. He was
overwhelmed with visits, congratulations, and requests. The whole town
was in a commotion. Every one of its inhabitants wished to claim him as
their cousin; and from the prodigious number of his pretended godsons
and goddaughters, it might have been supposed that he had held
one-fourth of the children of Ajaccio at the baptismal font.
Bonaparte frequently walked with us in the neighbourhood of Ajaccio; and
when in all the plenitude of his power he did not count his crowns
with greater pleasure than he evinced in pointing out to us the little
domains of his ancestors.
While we were at Ajaccio M. Fesch gave Bonaparte French money in
exchange for a number of Turkish sequins, amounting in value to 17,000
francs. This sum was all that the General brought with him from Egypt. I
mention this fact because he was unjustly calumniated in letters written
after his departure, and which were intercepted and published by the
English. I ought also to add, that as he would never for his own private
use resort to the money-chest of the army, the contents of which were,
indeed, never half sufficient to defray the necessary expenses, he
several times drew on Genoa, through M. James, and on the funds he
possessed in the house of Clary, 16,000, 25,000, and up to 33,000
francs. I can bear witness that in Egypt I never saw him touch any money
beyond his pay; and that he left the country poorer than he had entered
it is a fact that cannot be denied. In his notes on Egypt it appears
that in one year 12,600,000 francs were received. In this sum were
included at least 2,000,000 of contributions, which were levied at the
expense of many decapitations. Bonaparte was fourteen months in Egypt,
and he is said to have brought away with him 20,000,000. Calumny may be
very gratifying to certain persons, but they should at least give it
a colouring of probability. The fact is, that Bonaparte had scarcely
enough to maintain himself at Ajaccio and to defray our posting expenses
to Paris.
On our arrival at Ajaccio we learnt the death of Joubert, and the loss
of the battle of Novi, which was fought on the 15th of August. Bonaparte
was tormented by anxiety; he was in a state of utter uncertainty as to
the future. From the time we left Alexandria till our arrival in Corsica
he had frequently talked of what he should do during the quarantine,
which he supposed he would be required to observe on reaching Toulon,
the port at which he had determined to land.
Even then he cherished some illusions respecting the state of affairs;
and he often said to me, "But for that confounded quarantine, I would
hasten ashore, and place myself at the head of the army of Italy. All is
not over; and I am sure that there is not a general who would refuse
me the command. The news of a victory gained by me would reach Paris as
soon as the battle of Aboukir; that, indeed, would be excellent."
In Corsica his language was very different. When he was informed of
our reverses, and saw the full extent of the evil, he was for a moment
overwhelmed. His grand projects then gave way to the consideration
of matters of minor import, and he thought about his detention in the
Lazaretto of Toulon. He spoke of the Directory, of intrigues, and of
what would be said of him. He accounted his enemies those who envied
him, and those who could not be reconciled to his glory and the
influence of his name. Amidst all these anxieties Bonaparte was
outwardly calm, though he was moody and reflective.
Providing against every chance of danger, he had purchased at Ajaccio a
large launch which was intended to be towed by the 'Muiron', and it
was manned by twelve of the best sailors the island could furnish. His
resolution was, in case of inevitable danger, to jump into this boat and
get ashore. This precaution had well-nigh proved useful.
--[Sir Walter Scott, at the commencement of his Life of Napoleon,
says that Bonaparte did not see his native City after 1793.
Probably to avoid contradicting himself, the Scottish historian
observes that Bonaparte was near Ajaccio on his return from Egypt.
He spent eight days there.--Bourrienne.]--
After leaving the Gulf of Ajaccio the voyage was prosperous and
undisturbed for one day; but on the second day, just at sunset, an
English squadron of fourteen sail hove in sight. The English, having
advantage of the lights which we had in our faces, saw us better than we
could see them. They recognised our two frigates as Venetian built; but
luckily for us, night came on, for we were not far apart. We saw the
signals of the English for a long time, and heard the report of the guns
more and more to our left, and we thought it was the intention of the
cruisers to intercept us on the south-east. Under these circumstances
Bonaparte had reason to thank fortune; for it is very evident that had
the English suspected our two frigates of coming from the East and going
to France, they would have shut us out from land by running between us
and it, which to them was very easy. Probably they took us for a convoy
of provisions going from Toulon to Genoa; and it was to this error
and the darkness that we were indebted for escaping with no worse
consequence than a fright.
--[Here Bourrienne says in a note "Where did Sir Walter Scott learn
that we were neither seen nor recognised? We were not recognised,
but certainly seen," This is corroborated by the testimony of the
Duc de Rovigo, who, in his Memoirs, says, "I have met officers of
the English navy who assured me that the two frigates had been seen
but were considered by the Admiral to belong to his squadron, as
they steered their course towards him; and as he knew we had only
one frigate in the Mediterranean, and one in Toulon harbour, he was
far from supposing that the frigates which he had descried could
have General Bonaparte on board." (Savary, tome i. p. 226).]--
During the remainder of the night the utmost agitation prevailed on
board the Muiron. Gantheaume especially was in a state of anxiety which
it is impossible to describe, and which it was painful to witness:
he was quite beside himself, for a disaster appeared inevitable. He
proposed to return to Corsica. "No, no!" replied Bonaparte imperiously.
"No! Spread all sail! Every man at his post! To the north-west! To the
north-west!" This order saved us; and I am enabled to affirm that in the
midst of almost general alarm Bonaparte was solely occupied in giving
orders. The rapidity of his judgment seemed to grow in the face of
danger. The remembrance of that night will never be effaced from my
mind. The hours lingered on; and none of us could guess upon what new
dangers the morrow's sun would shine.
However, Bonaparte's resolution was taken: his orders were given, his
arrangements made. During the evening he had resolved upon throwing
himself into the long boat; he had already fixed on the persons who
were to share his fate, and had already named to me the papers which he
thought it most important to save. Happily our terrors were vain and
our arrangements useless. By the first rays of the sun we discovered the
English fleet sailing to the north-east, and we stood for the wished-for
coast of France.
The 8th of October, at eight in the morning, we entered the roads of
Fréjus. The sailors not having recognised the coast during the night, we
did not know where we were. There was, at first, some hesitation whether
we should advance. We were by no means expected, and did not know how to
answer the signals, which has been changed during our absence. Some
guns were even fired upon us by the batteries on the coast; but our bold
entry into the roads, the crowd upon the decks of the two frigates, and
our signs of joy, speedily banished all doubt of our being friends. We
were in the port, and approaching the landing-place, when the rumour
spread that Bonaparte was on board one of the frigates. In an instant
the sea was covered with boats. In vain we begged them to keep at a
distance; we were carried ashore, and when we told the crowd, both of
men and women who were pressing about us, the risk they ran, they all
exclaimed, "We prefer the plague to the Austrians!"
What were our feelings when we again set foot on the soil of France
I will not attempt to describe. Our escape from the dangers that
threatened us seemed almost miraculous. We had lost twenty days at the
beginning of our voyage, and at its close had been almost taken by an
English squadron. Under these circumstances, how rapturously we inhaled
the balmy air of Provence! Such was our joy, that we were scarcely
sensible of the disheartening news which arrived from all quarters.
At the first moment of our arrival, by a spontaneous impulse, we all
repeated, with tears in our eyes, the beautiful lines which Voltaire has
put into the mouth of the exile of Sicily.
Bonaparte has been reproached with having violated the sanitary laws;
but, after what I have already stated respecting his intentions, I
presume there can remain no doubt of the falsehood of this accusation.
All the blame must rest with the inhabitants of Fréjus, who on this
occasion found the law of necessity more imperious than the sanitary
laws. Yet when it is considered that four or five hundred persons, and
a quantity of effects, were landed from Alexandria, where the plague had
been raging during the summer, it is almost a miracle that France, and
indeed Europe escaped the scourge.
CHAPTER XXII.
1799.
Effect produced by Bonaparte's return--His justification--
Melancholy letter to my wife--Bonaparte's intended dinner at Sens--
Louis Bonaparte and Josephine--He changes his intended route--
Melancholy situation of the provinces--Necessity of a change--
Bonaparte's ambitious views--Influence of popular applause--
Arrival in Paris--His reception of Josephine--Their reconciliation--
Bonaparte's visit to the Directory--His contemptuous treatment of
Sieyès.
The effect produced in France and throughout Europe by the mere
intelligence of Bonaparte's return is well known. I shall not yet speak
of the vast train of consequences which that event entailed. I must,
however, notice some accusations which were brought against him from the
time of our landing to the 9th of November. He was reproached for having
left Egypt, and it was alleged that his departure was the result of long
premeditation. But I, who was constantly with him, am enabled positively
to affirm that his return to France was merely the effect of a sudden
resolution. Of this the following fact is in itself sufficient evidence.
While we were at Cairo, a few days before we heard of the landing of
the Anglo-Turkish fleet, and at the moment when we were on the point of
setting off to encamp at the Pyramids, Bonaparte despatched a courier
to France. I took advantage of this opportunity to write to my wife.
I almost bade her an eternal adieu. My letter breathed expressions of
grief such as I had not before evinced. I said, among other things, that
we knew not when or how it would be possible for us to return to France.
If Bonaparte had then entertained any thought of a speedy return I must
have known it, and in that case I should not certainly have distressed
my family by a desponding letter, when I had not had an opportunity of
writing for seven months before.
Two days after the receipt of my letter my wife was awoke very early
in the morning to be informed of our arrival in France. The courier who
brought this intelligence was the bearer of a second letter from me,
which I had written on board ship, and dated from Fréjus. In this letter
I mentioned that Bonaparte would pass through Sens and dine with my
mother.
In fulfilment of my directions Madame de Bourrienne set off for Paris at
five in the morning. Having passed the first post-house she met a Berlin
containing four travellers, among whom she recognised Louis Bonaparte
going to meet the General on the Lyons road. On seeing Madame de
Bourrienne Louis desired the postillion to stop, and asked her whether
she had heard from me. She informed him that we should pass through
Sens, where the General wished to dine with my mother, who had made
every preparation for receiving him. Louis then continued his journey.
About nine o'clock my wife met another Berlin, in which were Madame
Bonaparte and her daughter. As they were asleep, and both carriages were
driving at a very rapid rate, Madame de Bourrienne did not stop them.
Josephine followed the route taken by Louis. Both missed the General,
who changed his mind at Lyons, and proceeded by way of Bourbonnais.
He arrived fifteen hours after my wife; and those who had taken the
Burgundy road proceeded to Lyons uselessly.
Determined to repair in all haste to Paris, Bonaparte had left Fréjus on
the afternoon of the day of our landing. He himself had despatched the
courier to Sens to inform my mother of his intended visit to her; and it
was not until he got to Lyons that he determined to take the Bourbonnais
road. His reason for doing so will presently be seen. All along the
road, at Aix, at Lyons, in every town and village, he was received, as
at Fréjus, with the most rapturous demonstrations of joy.
--[From Fréjus to Aix a crowd of men kindly escorted us, carrying
torches alongside the carriage of the General, not so much to show
their enthusiasm as to ensure our safety (Bourrienne) These brigands
became so bad in France that at one time soldiers were placed in the
imperials of all the diligences, receiving from the wits the
curiously anticipative name of "imperial armies".]--
Only those who witnessed his triumphal journey can form any notion of
it; and it required no great discernment to foresee something like the
18th Brumaire.
The provinces, a prey to anarchy and civil war, were continually
threatened with foreign invasion. Almost all the south presented the
melancholy spectacle of one vast arena of conflicting factions. The
nation groaned beneath the yoke of tyrannical laws; despotism was
systematically established; the law of hostages struck a blow at
personal liberty, and forced loans menaced every man's property. The
generality of the citizens had declared themselves against a pentarchy
devoid of power, justice, and morality, and which had become the sport
of faction and intrigue. Disorder was general; but in the provinces
abuses were felt more sensibly than elsewhere. In great cities it was
found more easy to elude the hand of despotism and oppression.
A change so earnestly wished for could not fail to be realised, and to
be received with transport. The majority of the French people longed to
be relieved from the situation in which they then stood. There were two
dangers bar to cope with--anarchy and the Bourbons. Every one felt the
urgent and indispensable necessity of concentrating the power of
the Government in a single hand; at the same time maintaining the
institutions which the spirit of the age demanded, and which France,
after having so dearly purchased, was now about to lose. The country
looked for a man who was capable of restoring her to tranquillity; but
as yet no such man had appeared. A soldier of fortune presented himself,
covered with glory; he had planted the standard of France on the Capitol
and on the Pyramids. The whole world acknowledged his superior talent;
his character, his courage, and his victories had raised him to the very
highest rank. His great works, his gallant actions, his speeches, and
his proclamations ever since he had risen to eminence left no doubt of
his wish to secure happiness and freedom to France, his adopted country.
At that critical moment the necessity of a temporary dictatorship, which
sometimes secures the safety of a state, banished all reflections on
the consequences of such a power, and nobody seemed to think glory
incompatible with personal liberty. All eyes were therefore directed on
the General, whose past conduct guaranteed his capability of defending
the Republic abroad, and liberty at home,--on the General whom his
flatterers, and indeed some of his sincere friends, styled, "the hero of
liberal ideas," the title to which he aspired.
Under every point of view, therefore, he was naturally chosen as the
chief of a generous nation, confiding to him her destiny, in preference
to a troop of mean and fanatical hypocrites, who, under the names
of republicanism and liberty, had reduced France to the most abject
slavery.
Among the schemes which Bonaparte was incessantly revolving in his
mind may undoubtedly be ranked the project of attaining the head of
the French Government; but it would be a mistake to suppose that on
his return from Egypt he had formed any fixed plan. There was something
vague in his ambitious aspirations; and he was, if I may so express
myself, fond of building those imaginary edifices called castles in the
air. The current of events was in accordance with his wishes; and it may
truly be said that the whole French nation smoothed for Bonaparte the
road which led to power. Certainly the unanimous plaudits and universal
joy which accompanied him along a journey of more than 200 leagues must
have induced him to regard as a national mission that step which was at
first prompted merely by his wish of meddling with the affairs of the
Republic.
This spontaneous burst of popular feeling, unordered and unpaid for,
loudly proclaimed the grievances of the people, and their hope that
the man of victory would become their deliverer. The general enthusiasm
excited by the return of the conqueror of Egypt delighted him to a
degree which I cannot express, and was, as he has often assured me, a
powerful stimulus in urging him to the object to which the wishes of
France seemed to direct him.
Among people of all classes and opinions an 18th Brumaire was desired
and expected. Many royalists even believed that a change would prove
favourable to the King. So ready are we to persuade ourselves of the
reality of what we wish.
As soon as it was suspected that Bonaparte would accept the power
offered him, an outcry was raised about a conspiracy against the
Republic, and measures were sought for preserving it. But necessity,
and indeed, it must be confessed, the general feeling of the people,
consigned the execution of those measures to him who was to subvert the
Republic. On his return to Paris Bonaparte spoke and acted like a man
who felt his own power; he cared neither for flattery, dinners, nor
balls,--his mind took a higher flight.
We arrived in Paris on the 24th Vendemiaire (the 16th of October). As
yet he knew nothing of what was going on; for he had seen neither his
wife nor his brothers, who were looking for him on the Burgundy road.
The news of our landing at Fréjus had reached Paris by a telegraphic
despatch. Madame Bonaparte, who was dining with M. Gohier when that
despatch was communicated to him, as president of the Directory,
immediately set off to meet her husband, well knowing how important it
was that her first interview with him should not be anticipated by his
brothers.
The imprudent communications of Junot at the fountains of Messoudiah
will be remembered, but, after the first ebullition of jealous rage, all
traces of that feeling had apparently disappeared. Bonaparte however,
was still harassed by secret suspicion, and the painful impressions
produced by Junot were either not entirely effaced or were revived after
our arrival in Paris. We reached the capital before Josephine returned.
The recollection of the past, the ill-natured reports of his brothers,
--[Joseph Bonaparte remarks on this that Napoleon met Josephine at
Paris before his brothers arrived there, (Compare d'Abrantès,
vol. 1, pp. 260-262 and Rémusat, tome i. pp. 147-148.)]--
and the exaggeration of facts had irritated Napoleon to the very highest
pitch, and he received Josephine with studied coldness, and with an air
of the most cruel indifference. He had no communication with her for
three days, during which time he frequently spoke to me of suspicions
which his imagination converted into certainty; and threats of divorce
escaped his lips with no less vehemence than when we were on the
confines of Syria. I took upon me the office of conciliator, which I had
before discharged with success. I represented to him the dangers to be
apprehended from the publicity and scandal of such an affair; and that
the moment when his grand views might possibly be realized was not the
fit time to entertain France and Europe with the details of a charge
of adultery. I spoke to him of Hortense and Eugène, to whom he was much
attached. Reflection, seconded by his ardent affection for Josephine,
brought about a complete reconciliation. After these three days of
conjugal misunderstanding their happiness was never afterwards disturbed
by a similar cause.
--[In speaking of the unexpected arrival of Bonaparte and of the
meeting between him and Josephine, Madame Junot says: "On the 10th
October Josephine set off to meet her husband, but without knowing
exactly what road he would take. She thought it likely he would
come by way of Burgundy, and therefore Louis and she set off for
Lyons.
"Madame Bonaparte was a prey to great and well-founded aspersions.
Whether she was guilty or only imprudent, she was strongly accused
by the Bonaparte family, who were desirous that Napoleon should
obtain a divorce. The elder M. de Caulaincourt stated to us his
apprehensions on this point; but whenever the subject was introduced
my mother changed the conversation, because, knowing as she did the
sentiments of the Bonaparte family, she could not reply without
either committing them or having recourse to falsehood. She knew,
moreover, the truth of many circumstances which M. de Caulaincourt
seemed to doubt, and which her situation with respect to Bonaparte
prevented her from communicating to him.
"Madame Bonaparte committed a great fault in neglecting at this
juncture to conciliate her mother-in-law, who might have protected
her against those who sought her ruin and effected it nine years
later; for the divorce in 1809 was brought about by the joint
efforts of all the members of the Bonaparte family, aided by some of
Napoleon's most confidential servants, whom Josephine, either as
Madame Bonaparte or as Empress, had done nothing to make her
friends.
"Bonaparte, on his arrival in Paris, found his house deserted: but
his mother, sisters, and sisters-in-law, and, in short, every member
of his family, except Louis, who had attended Madame Bonaparte to
Lyons, came to him immediately. The impression made upon him by the
solitude of his home and its desertion by its mistress was profound
and terrible, and nine years afterwards, when the ties between him
and Josephine were severed for ever, he showed that it was not
effaced. From not finding her with his family he inferred that she
felt herself unworthy of their presence, and feared to meet the man
she had wronged. He considered her journey to Lyons as a mere
pretence.
"M. de Bourrienne says that for some days after Josephine's return
Bonaparte treated her with extreme coldness. As he was an
eyewitness, why does he not state the whole truth, and say that on
her return Bonaparte refused to see her and did not see her? It was
to the earnest entreaties of her children that she owed the
recovery, not of her husband's love, for that had long ceased, but
of that tenderness acquired by habit, and that intimate intercourse
which made her still retain the rank of consort to the greatest man
of his age. Bonaparte was at this period much attached to Eugène
Beauharnais, who, to do him justice, was a charming youth. He knew
less of Hortense; but her youth and sweetness of temper, and the
protection of which, as his adopted daughter, she besought him not
to deprive her, proved powerful advocates, and overcame his
resistance.
"In this delicate negotiation it was good policy not to bring any
other person into play, whatever might be their influence with
Bonaparte, and Madame Bonaparte did not, therefore, have recourse
either to Barras, Bourrienne, or Berthier. It was expedient that
they who interceded for her should be able to say something without
the possibility of a reply. Now Bonaparte could not with any degree
of propriety explain to such children as Eugène or Hortense the
particulars of their mother's conduct. He was therefore constrained
to silence, and had no argument to combat the tears of two innocent
creatures at his feet exclaiming, 'Do not abandon our mother; she
will break her heart! and ought injustice to take from us, poor
orphans, whose natural protector the scaffold has already deprived
us of, the support of one whom Providence has sent to replace him!'
"The scene, as Bonaparte has since stated, was long and painful, and
the two children at length introduced their mother, and placed her
in his arms. The unhappy woman had awaited his decision at the door
of a small back staircase, extended at almost full length upon the
stairs, suffering the acutest pangs of mental torture.
"Whatever might be his wife's errors, Bonaparte appeared entirely to
forget them, and the reconciliation was complete. Of all the
members of the family Madame Leclerc was most vexed at the pardon
which Napoleon had granted to his wife. Bonaparte's mother was also
very ill pleased; but she said nothing. Madame Joseph Bonaparte,
who was always very amiable, took no part in these family quarrels;
therefore she could easily determine what part to take when fortune
smiled on Josephine. As to Madame Bacciocchi, she gave free vent to
her ill-humour and disdain; the consequence was that her
sister-in-law could never endure her. Christine who was a
beautiful creature, followed the example of Madame Joseph, and
Caroline was so young that her opinion could have no weight in such
an affair. As to Bonaparte's brothers, they were at open war with
Josephine."]--
On the day after his arrival Bonaparte visited the Directors.
--[The Directors at this time were Barras, Sieyès, Moulins, Gohier,
and Roger Ducos.]--
The interview was cold. On the 24th of October he said to me, "I dined
yesterday at Gohier's; Sieyès was present, and I pretended not to
see him. I observed how much he was enraged at this mark of
disrespect."--"But are you sure he is against you?" inquired I. "I know
nothing yet; but he is a scheming man, and I don't like him." Even at
that time Bonaparte had thoughts of getting himself elected a member of
the Directory in the room of Sieyès.
CHAPTER XXIII
1799.
Moreau and Bernadotte--Bonaparte's opinion of Bernadotte--False
report--The crown of Sweden and the Constitution of the year III.--
Intrigues of Bonaparte's brothers--Angry conversation between
Bonaparte and Bernadotte--Bonaparte's version--Josephine's version--
An unexpected visit--The Manege Club--Salicetti and Joseph Bonaparte
--Bonaparte invites himself to breakfast with Bernadotte--Country
excursion--Bernadotte dines with Bonaparte--The plot and conspiracy
--Conduct of Lucien--Dinner given to Bonaparte by the Council of the
Five Hundred--Bonaparte's wish to be chosen a member of the
Directory--His reconciliation with Sieyès--Offer made by the
Directory to Bonaparte--He is falsely accused by Barras.
To throw a clear light on the course of the great events which will
presently be developed it is necessary to state briefly what intrigues
had been hatched and what ambitious hopes had risen up while we were
in Egypt. When in Egypt Bonaparte was entirely deprived of any means
of knowing what was going on in France; and in our rapid journey from
Fréjus to Paris we had no opportunity of collecting much information.
Yet it was very important that we should know the real state of affairs,
and the sentiments of those whom Bonaparte had counted among his rivals
in glory, and whom he might now meet among his rivals in ambition.
Moreau's military reputation stood very high, and Bernadotte's firmness
appeared inflexible. Generally speaking, Bonaparte might have reckoned
among his devoted partisans the companions of his glory in Italy, and
also those whom he subsequently denominated "his Egyptians." But brave
men had distinguished themselves in the army of the Rhine; and if they
did not withhold their admiration from the conqueror of Italy, they
felt at least more personally interested in the admiration which they
lavished on him who had repaired the disaster of Scherer. Besides, it
must be borne in mind that a republican spirit prevailed, almost
without exception, in the army, and that the Directory appeared to be
a Government invented expressly to afford patronage to intriguers. All
this planted difficulties in our way, and rendered it indispensably
necessary that we should know our ground. We had, it is true, been
greeted by the fullest measure of popular enthusiasm on our arrival; but
this was not enough. We wanted suffrages of a more solid kind.
During the campaign of Egypt, Bernadotte, who was a zealous republican,
had been War Minister,
--[Bernadotte was Minister of War from 2d July 1799 to 14th
September 1799, when, as he himself wrote to the Directory, they
"accepted" the resignation he had not offered.]--
but he had resigned the portfolio to Dubois-Crancé three weeks before
Bonaparte's return to France. Some partisans of the old Minister
were endeavouring to get him recalled, and it was very important to
Bonaparte's interests that he should prevent the success of this design.
I recollect that on the second day of our arrival Bonaparte said to
me, "I have learned many things; but we shall see what will happen.
Bernadotte is a singular man. When he was War Minister Augereau,
Salicetti, and some others informed him that the Constitution was in
danger, and that it was necessary to get rid of Sieyès, Barras, and
Fouché, who were at the head of a plot. What did Bernadotte do? Nothing.
He asked for proofs. None could be produced. He asked for powers. Who
could grant them? Nobody. He should have taken them; but he would not
venture on that. He wavered. He said he could not enter into the schemes
which were proposed to him. He only promised to be silent on condition
that they were renounced. Bernadotte is not a help; he is an obstacle.
I have heard from good authority that a great number of influential
persons wished to invest him with extensive power for the public good;
but he was obstinate, and would listen to nothing."
After a brief interval of silence, during which Bonaparte rubbed his
forehead with his right hand, he then resumed:
"I believe I shall have Bernadotte and Moreau against me. But I do not
fear Moreau. He is devoid of energy. I know he would prefer military to
political power. The promise of the command of an army would gain him
over. But Bernadotte has Moorish blood in his veins. He is bold and
enterprising. He is allied to my brothers.
--[Joseph Bonaparte and Bernadotte had married sisters. Marie-Julie
and Eugénie Bernardine-Desirée Clary. The feeling of Bourrienne for
Bernadotte makes this passage doubtful. It is to be noticed that in
the same conversation he makes Napoleon describe Bernadotte as not
venturing to act without powers and as enterprising. The stern
republican becoming Prince de Monte Carlo and King of Sweden, in a
way compatible with his fidelity to the Constitution of the year
III., is good. Lanfrey attributes Bernadotte's refusal to join more
to rivalry than to principle (Lanfrey, tome i. p. 440). But in any
case Napoleon did not dread Bernadotte, and was soon threatening to
shoot him; see Lucien, tome ii. p. 107.]--
"He does not like me, and I am almost certain that he will oppose me.
If he should become ambitious he will venture anything. And yet, you
recollect in what a lukewarm way he acted on the 18th Fructidor, when
I sent him to second Augereau. This devil of a fellow is not to be
seduced. He is disinterested and clever. But, after all, we have but
just arrived, and know not what may happen."
Bernadotte, it was reported, had advised that Bonaparte should be
brought to a court-martial, on the two-fold charge of having abandoned
his army and violated the quarantine laws. This report came to the ear
of Bonaparte; but he refused to believe it and he was right. Bernadotte
thought himself bound to the Constitution which he had sworn to defend.
Hence the opposition he manifested to the measures of the 18th Brumaire.
But he cherished no personal animosity against Bonaparte as long as he
was ignorant of his ambitious designs. The extraordinary and complicated
nature of subsequent events rendered his possession of the crown of
Sweden in no way incompatible with his fidelity to the Constitution of
the year III.
On our first arrival in Paris, though I was almost constantly with the
General, yet, as our routine of occupation was not yet settled, I
was enabled now and then to snatch an hour or two from business. This
leisure time I spent in the society of my family and a few friends, and
in collecting information as to what had happened during our absence,
for which purpose I consulted old newspapers and pamphlets. I was not
surprised to learn that Bonaparte's brothers--that is to say, Joseph and
Lucien--had been engaged in many intrigues. I was told that Sieyès had
for a moment thought of calling the Duke of Brunswick to the head of the
Government; that Barras would not have been very averse to favouring the
return of the Bourbons; and that Moulins, Roger Ducos, and Gohier alone
believed or affected to believe, in the possibility of preserving the
existing form of government. From what I heard at the time I have
good reasons for believing that Joseph and Lucien made all sorts of
endeavours to inveigle Bernadotte into their brother's party, and in
the hope of accomplishing that object they had assisted in getting him
appointed War Minister. However, I cannot vouch for the truth of this.
I was told that Bernadotte had at first submitted to the influence of
Bonaparte's two brothers; but that their urgent interference in their
client's behalf induced him to shake them off, to proceed freely in the
exercise of his duties, and to open the eyes of the Directory on what
the Republic might have to apprehend from the enterprising character
of Bonaparte. It is certain that what I have to relate respecting the
conduct of Bernadotte to Bonaparte is calculated to give credit to these
assertions.
All the generals who were in Paris, with the exception of Bernadotte,
had visited Bonaparte during the first three days which succeeded his
arrival. Bernadotte's absence was the more remarkable because he had
served under Bonaparte in Italy. It was not until a fortnight had
elapsed, and then only on the reiterated entreaties of Joseph and Madame
Joseph Bonaparte (his sister-in-law), that he determined to go and see
his old General-in-Chief. I was not present at their interview, being at
that moment occupied in the little cabinet of the Rue Chantereine. But
I soon discovered that their conversation had been long and warm; for as
soon as it was ended Bonaparte entered the cabinet exceedingly agitated,
and said to me, "Bourrienne, how do you think Bernadotte has behaved?
You have traversed France with me--you witnessed the enthusiasm which my
return excited--you yourself told me that you saw in that enthusiasm the
desire of the French people to be relieved from the disastrous position
in which our reverses have placed them. Well! would you believe it?
Bernadotte boasts, with ridiculous exaggeration, of the brilliant
and victorious situation of France! He talks about the defeat of the
Russians, the occupation of Genoa, the innumerable armies that are
rising up everywhere. In short, I know not what nonsense he has got
in his head."--"What can all this mean?" said I. "Did he speak about
Egypt?"--"Oh, yes! Now you remind me. He actually reproached me for not
having brought the army back with me! 'But,' observed I, 'have you not
just told me that you are absolutely overrun with troops; that all your
frontiers are secure, that immense levies are going on, and that you
will have 200,000 infantry?--If this be true, what do you want with a
few thousand men who may ensure the preservation of Egypt?' He could
make no answer to this. But he is quite elated by the honour of having
been War Minister, and he told me boldly that he looked upon the army
of Egypt as lost nay, more. He made insinuations. He spoke of enemies
abroad and enemies at home; and as he uttered these last words he looked
significantly at me. I too gave him a glance! But stay a little. The
pear will soon be ripe! You know Josephine's grace and address. She was
present. The scrutinising glance of Bernadotte did not escape her, and
she adroitly turned the conversation. Bernadotte saw from my countenance
that I had had enough of it, and he took his leave. But don't let me
interrupt you farther. I am going back to speak to Josephine."
I must confess that this strange story made me very impatient to find
myself alone with Madame Bonaparte, for I wished to hear her account of
the scene. An opportunity occurred that very evening. I repeated to her
what I had heard from the General, and all that she told me tended
to confirm its accuracy. She added that Bernadotte seemed to take the
utmost pains to exhibit to the General a flattering picture of the
prosperity of France; and she reported to me, as follows, that part
of the conversation which was peculiarly calculated to irritate
Bonaparte:--"'I do not despair of the safety of the Republic, which I am
certain can restrain her enemies both abroad and at home.' As Bernadotte
uttered these last words,'" continued Josephine, "his glance made me
shudder. One word more and Bonaparte could have commanded himself no
longer! It is true," added she, "that it was in some degree his own
fault, for it was he who turned the conversation on politics; and
Bernadotte, in describing the flourishing condition of France, was only
replying to the General, who had drawn a very opposite picture of the
state of things. You know, my dear Bourrienne, that Bonaparte is not
always very prudent. I fear he has said too much to Bernadotte about the
necessity of changes in the Government." Josephine had not yet recovered
from the agitation into which this violent scene had thrown her. After I
took leave of her I made notes of what she had told me.
A few days after, when Bonaparte, Josephine, Hortense, Eugène, and I
were together in the drawing-room, Bernadotte unexpectedly entered. His
appearance, after what had passed, was calculated to surprise us. He
was accompanied by a person whom he requested permission to introduce
to Bonaparte. I have forgotten his name, but he was, I think,
secretary-general while Bernadotte was in office. Bonaparte betrayed no
appearance of astonishment. He received Bernadotte with perfect ease,
and they soon entered into conversation. Bonaparte, who seemed to
acquire confidence from the presence of those who were about him, said
a great deal about the agitation which prevailed among the republicans,
and expressed himself in very decided terms against the 'Manège Club.'
--[The Manège Club, the last resort of the Jacobins, formed in 1799,
and closed seven or eight months afterwards. Joseph Bonaparte
(Erreurs, time i. p. 251) denies that he or Lucien--for whom the
allusion is meant--were members of this club, and he disputes this
conversation ever having taken place. Lucien (tome i. p. 219)
treats this club as opposed to his party.]--
I seconded him by observing that M. Moreau de Worms of my department,
who was a member of that club, had himself complained to me of the
violence that prevailed in it. "But, General," said Bernadotte, "your
brothers were its most active originators. Yet," added he in a tone of
firmness, "you accuse me of having favoured that club, and I repel the
charge. It cannot be otherwise than false. When I came into office I
found everything in the greatest disorder. I had no leisure to think
about any club to which my duties did not call me. You know well that
your friend Salicetti, and that your brother, who is in your confidence,
are both leading men in the Manège Club. To the instructions of I know
not whom is to be attributed the violence of which you complain." At
these words, and especially the tone in which Bernadotte uttered 'I know
not whom,' Bonaparte could no longer restrain himself. "Well, General,"
exclaimed he furiously, "I tell you plainly, I would rather live wild
in the woods than in a state of society which affords no security."
Bernadotte then said, with great dignity of manner, "Good God! General,
what security would you have?" From the warmth evinced by Bonaparte
I saw plainly that the conversation would soon be converted into a
dispute, and in a whisper I requested Madame Bonaparte to change the
conversation, which she immediately did by addressing a question to some
one present. Bernadotte, observing Madame Bonaparte's design, checked
his warmth. The subject of conversation was changed, and it became
general. Bernadotte soon took up his hat and departed.
One morning, when I entered Bonaparte's chamber--it was, I believe,
three or four days after the second visit of Bernadotte--he said:
"Well, Bourrienne, I wager you will not guess with whom I am going to
breakfast this morning?"--"Really, General, I --"--"With Bernadotte; and
the best of the joke is, that I have invited myself. You would have
seen how it was all brought about if you had been with us at the Théâtre
Français, yesterday evening. You know we are going to visit Joseph today
at Mortfontaine. Well, as we were coming out of the theatre last night,
finding myself side by side with Bernadotte and not knowing what to talk
about, I asked him whether he was to be of our party to-day? He
replied in the affirmative; and as we were passing his house in the Rue
Cisalpine.
--[Joseph Bonaparte lays great stress on the fact that Napoleon
would not have passed this house, which was far from the theatre
(Erreurs, tome i, p. 251).]--
"I told him, without any ceremony, that I should be happy to come and
take a cup of coffee with him in the morning. He seemed pleased. What
do you think of that, Bourrienne?"--"Why, General, I hope you may have
reason on your part to be pleased with him."--"Never fear, never fear.
I know what I am about. This will compromise him with Gohier. Remember,
you must always meet your enemies with a bold face, otherwise they think
they are feared, and that gives them confidence."
Bonaparte stepped into the carriage with Josephine, who was always
ready when she had to go out with him, for he did not like to wait.
They proceeded first to Bernadotte's to breakfast, and from thence to
Mortfontaine. On his return Bonaparte told me very little about what had
passed during the day, and I could see that he was not in the best of
humours. I afterwards learned that Bonaparte had conversed a good deal
with Bernadotte, and that he had made every effort to render himself
agreeable, which he very well knew how to do when he chose! but that, in
spite of all his conversational talent; and supported as he was by the
presence of his three brothers, and Regnault de St. Jean d'Angély, he
could not withstand the republican firmness of Bernadotte. However,
the number of his partisans daily augmented; for all had not the
uncompromising spirit of Bernadotte; and it will soon be seen that
Moreau himself undertook charge of the Directors who were made prisoners
on the 18th Brumaire.
Bernadotte's shrewd penetration made him one of the first to see clearly
into Bonaparte's designs. He was well convinced of his determination
to overthrow the constitution and possess himself of power. He saw the
Directory divided into two parties; the one duped by the promises
and assurances of Bonaparte, and the other conniving with him for the
accomplishment of his plans. In these circumstances Bernadotte offered
his services to all persons connected with the Government who,
like himself, were averse to the change which he saw good reason to
apprehend. But Bonaparte was not the man to be outdone in cunning or
activity; and every moment swelled the ranks of his adherents.
On the 16th Brumaire I dined in the Rue de la Victoire. Bernadotte was
present, and I believe General Jourdan also. While the grand conspiracy
was hastening to its accomplishment Madame Bonaparte and I had contrived
a little plot of a more innocent kind. We let no one into our secret,
and our 16th Brumaire was crowned with complete success. We had agreed
to be on the alert to prevent any fresh exchange of angry words. All
succeeded to the utmost of our wishes. The conversation languished
during dinner; but it was not dulness that we were afraid of. It turned
on the subject of war, and in that vast field Bonaparte's superiority
over his interlocutors was undeniable.
When we retired to the drawing-rooms a great number of evening visitors
poured in, and the conversation then became animated, and even gay.
Bonaparte was in high spirits. He said to some one, smiling, and
pointing to Bernadotte, "You are not aware that the General yonder is a
Chouan."--"A Chouan?" repeated Bernadotte, also in a tone of pleasantry.
"Ah! General you contradict yourself. Only the other day you taxed me
with favouring the violence of the friends of the Republic, and now you
accuse me of protecting the Chouans.
--[The "Chouans," so called from their use of the cry of the
screech-owl (chathouan) as a signal, were the revolted peasants of
Brittany and of Maine.]--
"You should at least be consistent." A few moments after, availing
himself of the confusion occasioned by the throng of visitors,
Bernadotte slipped off.
As a mark of respect to Bonaparte the Council of the Five Hundred
appointed Lucien its president. The event proved how important this
nomination was to Napoleon. Up to the 19th Brumaire, and especially on
that day, Lucien evinced a degree of activity, intelligence, courage,
and presence of mind which are rarely found united in one individual. I
have no hesitation in stating that to Lucien's nomination and exertions
must be attributed the success of the 19th Brumaire.
The General had laid down a plan of conduct from which he never deviated
during the twenty-three days which intervened between his arrival in
Paris and the 18th Brumaire. He refused almost all private invitations,
in order to avoid indiscreet questions, unacceptable offers, and answers
which might compromise him.
It was not without some degree of hesitation that he yielded to a
project started by Lucien, who, by all sorts of manoeuvring, had
succeeded in prevailing on a great number of his colleagues to be
present at a grand subscription dinner to be given to Bonaparte by the
Council of the Ancients.
The disorder which unavoidably prevailed in a party amounting to upwards
of 250 persons, animated by a diversity of opinions and sentiments; the
anxiety and distrust arising in the minds of those who were not in the
grand plot, rendered this meeting one of the most disagreeable I ever
witnessed. It was all restraint and dulness. Bonaparte's countenance
sufficiently betrayed his dissatisfaction; besides, the success of
his schemes demanded his presence elsewhere. Almost as soon as he had
finished his dinner he rose, saying to Berthier and me, "I am tired: let
us be gone." He went round to the different tables, addressing to the
company compliments and trifling remarks, and departed, leaving at table
the persons by whom he had been invited.
This short political crisis was marked by nothing more grand, dignified,
or noble than the previous revolutionary commotions. All these plots
were so contemptible, and were accompanied by so much trickery,
falsehood, and treachery, that, for the honour of human nature, it is
desirable to cover them with a veil.
General Bonaparte's thoughts were first occupied with the idea he had
conceived even when in Italy, namely, to be chosen a Director. Nobody
dared yet to accuse him of being a deserter from the army of the East.
The only difficulty was to obtain a dispensation on the score of age.
And was this not to be obtained? No sooner was he installed in his
humble abode in the Rue de la Victoire than he was assured that, on the
retirement of Rewbell, the majority of suffrages would have devolved on
him had he been in France, and had not the fundamental law required the
age of forty; but that not even his warmest partisans were disposed to
violate the yet infant Constitution of the year III.
Bonaparte soon perceived that no efforts would succeed in overcoming
this difficulty, and he easily resolved to possess himself wholly of
an office of which he would nominally have had only a fifth part had he
been a member of the Directory.
As soon as his intentions became manifest he found himself surrounded by
all those who recognised in him the man they had long looked for. These
persons, who were able and influential in their own circles, endeavoured
to convert into friendship the animosity which existed between Sieyès
and Bonaparte. This angry feeling had been increased by a remark made
by Sieyès, and reported to Bonaparte. He had said, after the dinner at
which Bonaparte treated him so disrespectfully, "Do you see how that
little insolent fellow behaves to a member of a Government which would
do well to order him to be SHOT?"
But all was changed when able mediators pointed out to Bonaparte the
advantage of uniting with Sieyès for the purpose of overthrowing a
Constitution which he did not like. He was assured how vain it would be
to think of superseding him, and that it would be better to flatter him
with the hope of helping to subvert the constitution and raising up a
new one. One day some one said to Bonaparte in my hearing, "Seek for
support among the party who call the friends of the Republic Jacobins,
and be assured that Sieyès is at the head of that party."
On the 25th Vendémiaire (17th of October) the Directory summoned General
Bonaparte to a private sitting. "They offered me the choice of any army
I would command," said he to me the next morning. "I would not refuse,
but I asked to be allowed a little time for the recovery of my health;
and, to avoid any other embarrassing offers, I withdrew. I shall go to
no more of their sittings." (He attended only one after this.) "I am
determined to join Sieyès' party. It includes a greater diversity of
opinions than that of the profligate Barras. He proclaims everywhere
that he is the author of my fortune. He will never be content to play an
inferior part, and I will never bend to such a man. He cherishes the mad
ambition of being the support of the Republic. What would he do with me?
Sieyès, on the contrary, has no political ambition."
No sooner did Sieyès begin to grow friendly with Bonaparte than the
latter learned from him that Barras had said, "The 'little corporal' has
made his fortune in Italy and does not want to go back again." Bonaparte
repaired to the Directory for the sole purpose of contradicting this
allegation. He complained to the Directors of its falsehood, boldly
affirmed that the fortune he was supposed to possess had no existence,
and that even if he had made his fortune it was not, at all events, at
the expense of the Republic "You know," said he to me, "that the mines
of Hydria have furnished the greater part of what I possess."--"Is it
possible," said I, "that Barras could have said so, when you know so
well of all the peculations of which he has been guilty since your
return?"
Bonaparte had confided the secret of his plans to very few persons--to
those only whose assistance he wanted. The rest mechanically followed
their leaders and the impulse which was given to them; they passively
awaited the realisation of the promises they had received, and on the
faith of which they had pledged themselves.
CHAPTER XXIV.
1799.
Cambacérès and Lebrun--Gohier deceived--My nocturnal visit to Barras
--The command of the army given to Bonaparte--The morning of the
18th Brumaire--Meeting of the generals at Bonaparte's house--
Bernadotte's firmness--Josephine's interest, for Madame Gohier--
Disappointment of the Directors--Review in the gardens of the
Tuileries--Bonaparte's harangue--Proclamation of the Ancients--
Moreau, jailer of the Luxembourg--My conversation with La Vallette--
Bonaparte at St. Cloud.
The parts of the great drama which was shortly to be enacted were well
distributed. During the three days preceding the 18th Brumaire every one
was at his post. Lucien, with equal activity and intelligence, forwarded
the conspiracy in the two Councils; Sieyès had the management of the
Directory; Réal,
--[Pierre Francois Réal (1757-1834); public accuser before the
revolutionary criminal tribunal; became, under Napoleon, Conseiller
d'Etat and Comte, and was charged with the affairs of the "haute
police."]--
under the instructions of Fouché,
--[Joseph Fouché (1754-1820); Conventionalist; member of extreme
Jacobin party; Minister of Police under the Directory, August 1799;
retained by Napoleon in that Ministry till 1802, and again from 1804
to 1810; became Duc d'Otrante in 1809; disgraced in 1810, and sent in
1813 as governor of the Illyrian Provinces; Minister of Police
during the 'Cent Jours'; President of the Provisional Government,
1815; and for a short time Minister of Police under second
restoration.]--
negotiated with the departments, and dexterously managed, without
compromising Fouché, to ruin those from whom that Minister had received
his power. There was no time to lose; and Fouché said to me on the 14th
Brumaire, "Tell your General to be speedy; if he delays, he is lost."
On the 17th, Regnault de St. Jean d'Angély told Bonaparte that the
overtures made to Cambacérès and Lebrun had not been received in a very
decided way. "I will have no tergiversation," replied Bonaparte with
warmth. "Let them not flatter themselves that I stand in need of them.
They must decide to-day; to-morrow will be too late. I feel myself
strong enough now to stand alone."
Cambacérès
--[Cambacérès (J. J. Régis de) (1763-1824) Conventionalist; Minister
of Justice under Directory, 1799; second Consul, 25th December 1799;
Arch-Chancellor of the Empire, 1804; Duc de Parma, 1806; Minister of
Justice during the 'Cent Jours': took great part in all the legal
and administrative projects of the Consulate and Empire.]--
and Lebrun
--[Charles Francois Lebrun (1757-1824). Deputy to the National
Assembly, and member of the Council of the Five Hundred; Third
Consul, 25th December 1799; Arch-Treasurer of the Empire, 1804; Duc
de Plaisance, 1806; Governor-General of Holland, 1806; Lieutenant-
Governor of Holland, 1810 to 1813; chiefly engaged in financial
measures]--
were almost utter strangers to the intrigues which preceded the 18th
Brumaire. Bonaparte had cast his eyes on the Minister of Justice to be
one of his colleagues when he should be at liberty to name them, because
his previous conduct had pledged him as a partisan of the Revolution. To
him Bonaparte added Lebrun, to counterbalance the first choice. Lebrun
was distinguished for honourable conduct and moderate principles. By
selecting these two men Bonaparte hoped to please every one; besides,
neither of them were able to contend against his fixed determination and
ambitious views.
What petty intrigues marked the 17th Brumaire! On that day I dined with
Bonaparte; and after dinner he said, "I have promised to dine to-morrow
with Gohier; but, as you may readily suppose, I do not intend going.
However, I am very sorry for his obstinacy. By way of restoring his
confidence Josephine is going to invite him to breakfast with us
to-morrow. It will be impossible for him to suspect anything. I saw
Barras this morning, and left him much disturbed. He asked me to
return and visit him to-night. I promised to do so, but I shall not go.
To-morrow all will be over. There is but little time; he expects me at
eleven o'clock to-night. You shall therefore take my carriage, go
there, send in my name, and then enter yourself. Tell him that a severe
headache confines me to my bed, but that I will be with him without
fail tomorrow. Bid him not be alarmed, for all will soon be right again.
Elude his questions as much as possible; do not stay long, and come to
me on your return."
At precisely eleven o'clock I reached the residence of Barras, in
General Bonaparte's carriage. Solitude and silence prevailed in all
the apartments through which I passed to Barras' cabinet. Bonaparte was
announced, and when Barras saw me enter instead of him, he manifested
the greatest astonishment and appeared much cast down. It was easy
to perceive that he looked on himself as a lost man. I executed my
commission, and stayed only a short time. I rose to take my leave, and
he said, while showing me out, "I see that Bonaparte is deceiving me: he
will not come again. He has settled everything; yet to me he owes all."
I repeated that he would certainly come tomorrow, but he shook his head
in a way which plainly denoted that he did not believe me. When I gave
Bonaparte an account of my visit he appeared much pleased. He told me
that Joseph was going to call that evening on Bernadotte, and to ask him
to come tomorrow. I replied that, from all I knew, he would be of no use
to him. "I believe so too," said he; "but he can no longer injure me,
and that is enough. Well, good-night; be here at seven in the morning."
It was then one o'clock.
I was with him a little before seven o'clock on the morning of the
18th Brumaire, and on my arrival I found a great number of generals and
officers assembled. I entered Bonaparte's chamber, and found him already
up--a thing rather unusual with him. At this moment he was as calm as
on the approach of a battle. In a few moments Joseph and Bernadotte
arrived. Joseph had not found him at home on the preceding evening, and
had called for him that morning. I was surprised to see Bernadotte
in plain clothes, and I stepped up to him and said in a low voice,
"General, every one here, except you and I, is in uniform."--"Why should
I be in uniform?" said he. As he uttered these words Bonaparte, struck
with the same surprise as myself, stopped short while speaking to
several persons around him, and turning quickly towards Bernadotte said,
"How is this? you are not in uniform!"--"I never am on a morning when
I am not on duty," replied Bernadotte.--"You will be on duty
presently."--"I have not heard a word of it: I should have received my
orders sooner."
Bonaparte then led Bernadotte into an adjoining room. Their conversation
was not long, for there was no time to spare.
On the other hand, by the influence of the principal conspirators the
removal of the legislative body to St. Cloud was determined on the
morning of the 18th Brumaire, and the command of the army was given to
Bonaparte.
All this time Barras was no doubt waiting for Bonaparte, and Madame
Bonaparte was expecting Gohier to breakfast. At Bonaparte's were
assembled all the generals who were devoted to him. I never saw so
great a number before in the Rue de la Victoire. They were all, except
Bernadotte, in full uniform; and there were, besides, half a dozen
persons there initiated in the secrets of the day. The little hotel of
the conqueror of Italy was much too small for such an assemblage,
and several persons were standing in the court-yard. Bonaparte was
acquainted with the decree of the Council of the Ancients, and only
waited for its being brought to him before he should mount his horse.
That decree was adopted in the Council of the Ancients by what may be
called a false majority, for the members of the Council were summoned at
different hours, and it was so contrived that sixty or eighty of them,
whom Lucien and his friends had not been able to gain over, should not
receive their notices in time.
As soon as the message from the Council of the Ancients arrived
Bonaparte requested all the officers at his house to follow him. At that
announcement a few who were in ignorance of what was going on did not
follow--at least I saw two groups separately leave the hotel. Bernadotte
said to me, "I shall stay with you." I perceived there was a good deal
of suspicion in his manner. Bonaparte, before going down the stairs
which led from the small round dining-room into the courtyard, returned
quickly to bid Bernadotte follow him. He would not, and Bonaparte then
said to me, while hurrying off, "Gohier is not come--so much the worse
for him," and leaped on his horse. Scarcely was he off when Bernadotte
left me. Josephine and I being now left alone, she acquainted me with
her anxiety. I assured her that everything had been so well prepared
that success was certain. She felt much interest about Gohier on
account of her friendship for his wife. She asked me whether I was well
acquainted with Gohier. "You know, Madame," replied I, "that we have
been only twenty days in Paris, and that during that time I have only
gone out to sleep in the Rue Martel. I have seen M. Gohier several
times, when he came to visit the General, and have talked to him about
the situation of our affairs in Switzerland, Holland, France, and other
political matters, but I never exchanged a word with him as to what is
now going on. This is the whole extent of my acquaintance with him."
"I am sorry for it," resumed Josephine, "because I should have asked
you to write to him, and beg him to make no stir, but imitate Sieyès
and Roger, who will voluntarily retire, and not to join Barras, who is
probably at this very moment forced to do so. Bonaparte has told me that
if Gohier voluntarily resigns, he will do everything for him." I believe
Josephine communicated directly with the President of the Directory
through a friend of Madame Gohier's.
Gohier and Moulins, no longer depending on Sieyès and Roger Ducos,
waited for their colleague, Barras, in the hall of the Directory, to
adopt some measure on the decree for removing the Councils to St. Cloud.
But they were disappointed; for Barras, whose eyes had been opened by my
visit on the preceding night, did not join them. He had been invisible
to his colleagues from the moment that Bruix and M. de Talleyrand had
informed him of the reality of what he already suspected, and insisted
on his retirement.
On the 18th Brumaire a great number of military, amounting to about
10,000 men, were assembled in the gardens of the Tuileries, and were
reviewed by Bonaparte, accompanied by Generals Beurnonville, Moreau,
and Macdonald. Bonaparte read to them the decree just issued by the
commission of inspectors of the Council of the Ancients, by which the
legislative body was removed to St. Cloud; and by which he himself
was entrusted with the execution of that decree, and appointed to the
command of all the military force in Paris, and afterwards delivered an
address to the troops.
Whilst Bonaparte was haranguing the soldiers, the Council of the
Ancients published an address to the French people, in which it was
declared that the seat of the legislative body was changed, in order
to put down the factions, whose object was to control the national
representation.
While all this was passing abroad I was at the General's house in the
Rue de la Victoire; which I never left during the whole day. Madame
Bonaparte and I were not without anxiety in Bonaparte's absence. I
learned from Josephine that Joseph's wife had received a visit from
Adjutant-General Rapatel, who had been sent by Bonaparte and Moreau to
bring her husband to the Tuileries. Joseph was from home at the time,
and so the message was useless. This circumstance, however, awakened
hopes which we had scarcely dared to entertain. Moreau was then in
accordance with Bonaparte, for Rapatel was sent in the name of both
Generals. This alliance, so long despaired of, appeared to augur
favourably. It was one of Bonaparte's happy strokes. Moreau, who was a
slave to military discipline, regarded his successful rival only as a
chief nominated by the Council of the Ancients. He received his orders
and obeyed them. Bonaparte appointed him commander of the guard of the
Luxembourg, where the Directors were under confinement. He accepted the
command, and no circumstance could have contributed more effectually
to the accomplishment of Bonaparte's views and to the triumph of his
ambition.
At length Bonaparte, whom we had impatiently expected, returned. Almost
everything had gone well with him, for he had had only to do with
soldiers. In the evening he said to me, "I am sure that the committee of
inspectors of the hall are at this very moment engaged in settling what
is to be done at St. Cloud to-morrow. It is better to let them decide
the matter, for by that means their vanity is flattered. I will obey
orders which I have myself concerted." What Bonaparte was speaking of
had been arranged nearly two or three days previously. The committee of
inspectors was under the influence of the principal conspirators.
In the evening of this anxious day, which was destined to be succeeded
by a stormy morrow, Bonaparte, pleased with having gained over Moreau,
spoke to me of Bernadotte's visit in the morning.--"I saw," said he,
"that you were as much astonished as I at Bernadotte's behaviour. A
general out of uniform! He might as well have come in slippers. Do you
know what passed when I took him aside? I told him all; I thought
that the best way. I assured him that his Directory was hated, and his
Constitution worn out; that it was necessary to turn them all off, and
give another impulse to the government. 'Go and put on your uniform said
I: I cannot wait for you long. You will find me at the Tuileries, with
the rest of our comrades. Do not depend on Moreau, Beurnonville, or the
generals of your party. When you know them better you will find that
they promise much but perform little. Do not trust them.' Bernadotte
then said that he would not take part in what he called a rebellion. A
rebellion! Bourrienne, only think of that! A set of imbeciles, who from
morning to night do nothing but debate in their kennels! But all was in
vain. I could not move Bernadotte. He is a bar of iron. I asked him to
give me his word that he would do nothing against me; what do you think
was his answer?"--"Something unpleasant, no doubt."--"Unpleasant! that
is too mild a word. He said, 'I will remain quiet as a citizen; but if
the Directory order me to act, I will march against all disturbers.' But
I can laugh at all that now. My measures are taken, and he will have
no command. However, I set him at ease as to what would take place.
I flattered him with a picture of private life, the pleasures of the
country, and the charms of Malmaison; and I left him with his head full
of pastoral dreams. In a word, I am very well satisfied with my day's
work. Good-night, Bourrienne; we shall see what will turn up to-morrow."
On the 19th I went to St. Cloud with my friend La Vallette. As we passed
the Place Louis XV., now Louis XVI., he asked me what Napoleon was
doing, and what my opinion was as to the coming events? Without entering
into any detail I replied, "My friend, either we shall sleep tomorrow at
the Luxembourg, or there will be an end of us." Who could tell which of
the two things would happen! Success legalised a bold enterprise, which
the slightest accident might have changed into a crime.
The sitting of the Ancients, under the presidency of Lemercier,
commenced at one o'clock. A warm discussion took place upon the
situation of affairs, the resignation of the members of the Directory,
and the immediate election of others. Great heat and agitation prevailed
during the debate. Intelligence was every minute carried to Bonaparte
of what was going forward, and he determined to enter the hall and take
part in the discussion. He entered in a hasty and angry way, which did
not give me a favourable foreboding of what he was about to say. We
passed through a narrow passage to the centre of the hall; our backs
were turned to the door. Bonaparte had the President to his right. He
could not see him full in the face. I was close to the General on his
right. Berthier was at his left.
All the speeches which have been subsequently passed off as having been
delivered by Bonaparte on this occasion differ from each other; as well
they may, for he delivered none to the Ancients, unless his confused
conversation with the President, which was alike devoid of dignity and
sense, is to be called a speech. He talked of his "brothers in arms" and
the "frankness of a soldier." The questions of the President followed
each other rapidly: they were clear; but it is impossible to conceive
anything more confused or worse delivered than the ambiguous and
perplexed replies of Bonaparte. He talked without end of "volcanoes;
secret agitations, victories, a violated constitution!" He blamed the
proceedings of the 18th Fructidor, of which he was the first promoter
and the most powerful supporter. He pretended to be ignorant of
everything until the Council of Ancients had called him to the aid of
his country. Then came "Caesar--Cromwell--tyrant!" and he several times
repeated, "I have nothing more to say to you!" though, in fact, he had
said nothing. He alleged that he had been called to assume the supreme
authority, on his return from Italy, by the desire of the nation,
and afterwards by his comrades in arms. Next followed the words
"liberty--equality!" though it was evident he had not come to St. Cloud
for the sake of either. No sooner did he utter these words, than a
member of the Ancients, named, I think, Linglet, interrupting him,
exclaimed, "You forget the Constitution!" His countenance immediately
lighted up; yet nothing could be distinguished but, "The 18th
Fructidor--the 30th Prairial--hypocrites--intriguers--I will disclose
all!--I will resign my power, when the danger which threatens the
Republic shall have passed away!"
Bonaparte, believing all his assertions to be admitted as proved,
assumed a little confidence, and accused the two directors Barras and
Moulins of having proposed to put him at the head of a party whose
object was to oppose all men professing liberal ideas.
At these words, the falsehood of which was odious, a great tumult arose
in the hall. A general committee was loudly called for to hear the
disclosures. "No, no!" exclaimed others, "no general committee!
conspirators have been denounced: it is right that France should know
all!"
Bonaparte was then required to enter into the particulars of his
accusation against Barras and Moulins, and of the proposals which had
been made to him: "You must no longer conceal anything."
Embarrassed by these interruptions and interrogatories Bonaparte
believed that he was completely lost. Instead of giving an explanation
of what he had said, he began to make fresh accusations; and against
whom? The Council of the Five Hundred, who, he said, wished for
"scaffolds, revolutionary committees, and a complete overthrow of
everything."
Violent murmurs arose, and his language became more and more
incoherent and inconsequent. He addressed himself at one moment to the
representatives of the people, who were quite overcome by astonishment;
at another to the military in the courtyard, who could not hear him.
Then, by an unaccountable transition, he spoke of "the thunderbolts of
war!" and added, that he was "attended by the God of war and the God of
fortune."
The President, with great calmness, told him that he saw nothing,
absolutely nothing, upon which the Council could deliberate; that there
was vagueness in all he had said. "Explain yourself; reveal the plot
which you say you were urged to join."
Bonaparte repeated again the same things. But only those who were
present can form any idea of his manner. There was not the slightest
connection in what he stammered out. Bonaparte was then no orator. It
may well be supposed that he was more accustomed to the din of war than
to the discussions of the tribunes. He was more at home before a battery
than before a President's chair.
Perceiving the bad effect which this unconnected babbling produced on
the assembly, as well as the embarrassment of Bonaparte, I said, in
a low voice, pulling him gently by the skirt of his coat, "withdraw,
General; you know not what you are saying." I made signs to Berthier,
who was on his left, to second me in persuading him to leave the hall;
and all at once, after having stammered out a few more words, he turned
round exclaiming, "Let those who love me follow me!" The sentinels
at the door offered no opposition to his passing. The person who went
before him quietly drew aside the tapestry which concealed the door, and
General Bonaparte leaped upon his horse, which stood in the court-yard.
It is hard to say what would have happened if, on seeing the General
retire, the President had said, "Grenadiers, let no one pass!" Instead
of sleeping next day at the Luxembourg he would, I am convinced, have
ended his career on the Place de la Revolution.
CHAPTER XXV.
1799.
The two Councils--Barras' letter--Bonaparte at the Council of the
Five Hundred--False reports--Tumultuous sitting--Lucien's speech--
He resigns the Presidency of the Council of the Five Hundred--He is
carried out by grenadiers--He harangues the troops--A dramatic scene
--Murat and his soldiers drive out the Five Hundred--Council of
Thirty--Consular commission--Decree--Return to Paris--Conversation
with Bonaparte and Josephine respecting Gohier and Bernadotte--The
directors Gohier and Moulins imprisoned.
The scene which occurred at the sitting of the Council of the Ancients
was very different from that which passed outside. Bonaparte had
scarcely reached the courtyard and mounted his horse when cries of "Vive
Bonaparte!" resounded on all sides. But this was only a sunbeam between
two storms. He had yet to brave the Council of the Five Hundred, which
was far more excited than the Council of the Ancients. Everything tended
to create a dreadful uncertainty; but it was too late to draw back. We
had already staked too heavily. The game was desperate, and everything
was to be ventured. In a few hours all would be determined.
Our apprehensions were not without foundation. In the Council of the
Five Hundred agitation was at its height. The most serious alarm marked
its deliberations. It had been determined to announce to the Directory
the installation of the Councils, and to inquire of the Council of the
Ancients their reasons for resolving upon an extraordinary convocation.
But the Directory no longer existed. Sieyès and Roger Ducos had joined
Bonaparte's party. Gohier and Moulins were prisoners in the Luxembourg,
and in the custody of General Moreau; and at the very moment when the
Council of the Five Hundred had drawn up a message to the Directory,
the Council of the Ancients transmitted to them the following letter,
received from Barras. This letter; which was addressed to the Council
of the Ancients, was immediately read by Lucien Bonaparte, who was
President of the Council of the Five Hundred.
CITIZEN PRESIDENT--Having entered into public affairs solely from my
love of liberty, I consented to share the first magistracy of the
State only that I might be able to defend it in danger; to protect
against their enemies the patriots compromised in its cause; and to
ensure to the defenders of their country that attention to their
interests which no one was more calculated to feel than a citizen,
long the witness of their heroic virtues, and always sensible to
their wants.
The glory which accompanies the return of the illustrious warrior to
whom I had the honour of opening the path of glory, the striking
marks of confidence given him by the legislative body, and the
decree of the National Convention, convince me that, to whatever
post he may henceforth be called, the dangers to liberty will be
averted, and the interests of the army ensured.
I cheerfully return to the rank of a private citizen: happy, after
so many storms, to resign, unimpaired, and even more glorious than
ever, the destiny of the Republic, which has been, in part,
committed to my care.
(Signed) BARRAS.
This letter occasioned a great sensation in the Council of the Five
Hundred. A second reading was called for, and a question was started,
whether the retirement was legal, or was the result of collusion, and
of the influence of Bonaparte's agents; whether to believe Barras, who
declared the dangers of liberty averted, or the decree for the removal
of the legislative corps, which was passed and executed under the
pretext of the existence of imminent peril? At that moment Bonaparte
appeared, followed by a party of grenadiers, who remained at the
entrance of the hall.
I did not accompany him to the Council of the Five Hundred. He had
directed me to send off an express to ease the apprehensions of
Josephine, and to assure her that everything would go well. It was some
time before I joined him again.
However, without speaking as positively as if I had myself been an
eye-witness of the scene, I do not hesitate to declare that all that has
been said about assaults and poniards is pure invention. I rely on what
was told me, on the very night, by persons well worthy of credit, and
who were witnessess of all that passed.
As to what passed at the sitting, the accounts, given both at the time
and since, have varied according to opinions. Some have alleged that
unanimous cries of indignation were excited by the appearance of the
military. From all parts of the hall resounded, "The sanctuary of the
laws is violated. Down with the tyrant!--down with Cromwell!--down
with the Dictator!" Bonaparte stammered out a few words, as he had
done before the Council of the Ancients, but his voice was immediately
drowned by cries of "Vive la Republique!" "Vive la Constitution!"
"Outlaw the Dictator!" The grenadiers are then said to have rushed
forward, exclaiming, "Let us save our General!" at which indignation
reached its height, and cries, even more violent than ever, were raised;
that Bonaparte, falling insensible into the arms of the grenadiers,
said, "They mean to assassinate me!" All that regards the exclamations
and threats I believe to be correct; but I rank with the story of the
poniards the assertion of the members of the Five Hundred being provided
with firearms, and the grenadiers rushing into the hall; because
Bonaparte never mentioned a word of anything of the sort to me, either
on the way home, or when I was with him in his chamber. Neither did he
say anything on the subject to his wife, who had been extremely agitated
by the different reports which reached her.
After Bonaparte left the Council of the Five Hundred the deliberations
were continued with great violence. The excitement caused by the
appearance of Bonaparte was nothing like subsided when propositions of
the most furious nature were made. The President, Lucien, did all in his
power to restore tranquillity. As soon as he could make himself heard he
said, "The scene which has just taken place in the Council proves what
are the sentiments of all; sentiments which I declare are also mine. It
was, however, natural to believe that the General had no other object
than to render an account of the situation of affairs, and of something
interesting to the public. But I think none of you can suppose him
capable of projects hostile to liberty."
Each sentence of Lucien's address was interrupted by cries of "Bonaparte
has tarnished his glory! He is a disgrace to the Republic!"
Lucien --[The next younger brother of Napoleon, President of the Council of
the Five Hundred in 1799; Minister of the Interior, 1st December
1799 to 1841; Ambassador in Spain, 1801 to December 1801; left
France in disgrace in 1804; retired to Papal States; Prisoner in
Malta and England, 1810 to 1814; created by Pope in 1814 Prince de
Canino and Duc de Musignano; married firstly, 1794, Christine Boyer,
who died 1800; married secondly, 1802 or 1803, a Madame Jonberthon.
Of his part in the 18th Brumaire Napoleon said to him in 1807,
"I well know that you were useful to me on the 18th Brumaire, but it
is not so clear to me that you saved me then" (Iung's Lucien, tome
iii. p.89).]--
made fresh efforts to be heard, and wished to be allowed to address the
assembly as a member of the Council, and for that purpose resigned the
Presidentship to Chasal. He begged that the General might be introduced
again and heard with calmness. But this proposition was furiously
opposed. Exclamations of "Outlaw Bonaparte! outlaw him!" rang through
the assembly, and were the only reply given to the President. Lucien,
who had reassumed the President's chair, left it a second time, that
he might not be constrained to put the question of outlawry demanded
against his brother. Braving the displeasure of the assembly, he mounted
the tribune, resigned the Presidentship, renounced his seat as a deputy,
and threw aside his robes.
Just as Lucien left the Council I entered. Bonaparte, who was well
informed of all that was passing,
--[Lucien distinctly states that he himself, acting within his right
as President, had demanded an escort of the grenadiers of the
Councils as soon as he saw his withdrawal might be opposed.
Then the first entry of the soldiers with Napoleon would be illegal.
The second, to withdraw Lucien, was nominally legal (see Iung's
Lucien, tome i, pp, 318-322)]--
had sent in soldiers to the assistance of his brother; they carried him
off from the midst of the Council, and Bonaparte thought it a matter of
no little importance to have with him the President of an assembly which
he treated as rebellious. Lucien was reinstalled in office; but he
was now to discharge his duties, not in the President's chair, but
on horseback, and at the head of a party of troops ready to undertake
anything. Roused by the danger to which both his brother and himself
were exposed he delivered on horseback the following words, which can
never be too often remembered, as showing what a man then dared to
say, who never was anything except from the reflection of his brother's
glory:--
CITIZENS! SOLDIERS!--The President of the Council of the Five
Hundred declares to you that the majority of that Council is at this
moment held in terror by a few representatives of the people, who
are armed with stilettoes, and who surround the tribune, threatening
their colleagues with death, and maintaining most atrocious
discussions.
I declare to you that these brigands, who are doubtless in the pay
of England, have risen in rebellion against the Council of the
Ancients, and have dared to talk of outlawing the General, who is
charged with the execution of its decree, as if the word "outlaw"
was still to be regarded as the death-warrant of persons most
beloved by their country.
I declare to you that these madmen have outlawed themselves by their
attempts upon the liberty of the Council. In the name of that
people, which for so many years have been the sport of terrorism,
I consign to you the charge of rescuing the majority of their
representatives; so that, delivered from stilettoes by bayonets,
they may deliberate on the fate of the Republic.
General, and you, soldiers, and you, citizens, you will not
acknowledge, as legislators of France, any but those who rally round
me. As for those who remain in the orangery, let force expel
them. They are not the representatives of the people, but the
representatives of the poniard. Let that be their title, and let it
follow them everywhere; and whenever they dare show themselves to
the people, let every finger point at them, and every tongue
designate them by the well-merited title of representatives of the
poniard!
Vive la Republique!
Notwithstanding the cries of "Vive Bonaparte!" which followed this
harangue, the troops still hesitated. It was evident that they were
not fully prepared to turn their swords against the national
representatives. Lucien then drew his sword, exclaiming, "I swear that
I will stab my own brother to the heart if he ever attempt anything
against the liberty of Frenchmen." This dramatic action was perfectly
successful; hesitation vanished; and at a signal given by Bonaparte,
Murat, at the head of his grenadiers, rushed into the hall, and drove
out the representatives. Everyone yielded to the reasoning of bayonets,
and thus terminated the employment of the armed force on that memorable
day.
At ten o'clock at night the palace of St. Cloud, where so many
tumultuous scenes had occurred, was perfectly tranquil. All the deputies
were still there, pacing the hall, the corridors, and the courts. Most
of them had an air of consternation; others affected to have foreseen
the event, and to appear satisfied with it; but all wished to return to
Paris, which they could not do until a new order revoked the order for
the removal of the Councils to St. Cloud.
At eleven o'clock Bonaparte, who had eaten nothing all day, but who was
almost insensible to physical wants in moments of great agitation, said
to me, "We must go and write, Bourrienne; I intend this very night to
address a proclamation to the inhabitants of Paris. To-morrow morning
I shall be all the conversation of the capital." He then dictated to
me the following proclamation, which proves, no less than some of his
reports from Egypt, how much Bonaparte excelled in the art of twisting
the truth to own advantage:
TO THE PEOPLE.
19th Brumaire, 11 o'clock, p.m.
Frenchmen!--On my return to France I found division reigning amongst
all the authorities. They agreed only on this single point, that
the Constitution was half destroyed, and was unable to protect
liberty!
Each party in turn came to me, confided to me their designs,
imparted their secrets, and requested my support. I refused to be
the man of a party.
The Council of the Ancients appealed to me. I answered their
appeal. A plan of general restoration had been concerted by men
whom the nation has been accustomed to regard as the defenders of
liberty, equality, and property. This plan required calm and free
deliberation, exempt from all influence and all fear. The Ancients,
therefore, resolved upon the removal of the legislative bodies to
St. Cloud. They placed at my disposal the force necessary to secure
their independence. I was bound, in duty to my fellow-citizens, to
the soldiers perishing in our armies, and to the national glory,
acquired at the cost of so much blood, to accept the command.
The Councils assembled at St. Cloud. Republican troops guaranteed
their safety from without, but assassins created terror within.
Many members of the Council of the Five Hundred, armed with
stilettoes and pistols, spread menaces of death around them.
The plans which ought to have been developed were withheld. The
majority of the Council was rendered inefficient; the boldest
orators were disconcerted, and the inutility of submitting any
salutary proposition was quite evident.
I proceeded, filled with indignation and grief, to the Council of
the Ancients. I besought them to carry their noble designs into
execution. I directed their attention to the evils of the nation,
which were their motives for conceiving those designs. They
concurred in giving me new proofs of their uniform goodwill, I
presented myself before the Council of the Five Hundred, alone,
unarmed, my head uncovered, just as the Ancients had received and
applauded me. My object was to restore to the majority the
expression of its will, and to secure to it its power.
The stilettoes which had menaced the deputies were instantly raised
against their deliverer. Twenty assassins rushed upon me and aimed
at my breast. The grenadiers of the legislative body, whom I had
left at the door of the hall, ran forward, and placed themselves
between me and the assassins. One of these brave grenadiers (Thome)
had his clothes pierced by a stiletto. They bore me off.
--[Thome merely had a small part of his coat torn by a deputy,
who took him by the collar. This constituted the whole of the
attempted assassinations of the 19th Brumaire.--Bourrienne]--
At the same moment cries of "Outlaw him!" were raised against the
defender of the law. It was the horrid cry of assassins against the
power destined to repress them.
They crowded round the President, uttering threats. With arms in
their hands they commanded him to declare "the outlawry." I was
informed of this. I ordered him to be rescued from their fury, and
six grenadiers of the legislative body brought him out. Immediately
afterwards some grenadiers of the legislative body charged into the
hall and cleared it.
The factions, intimidated, dispersed and fled. The majority, freed
from their assaults, returned freely and peaceably into the hall;
listened to the propositions made for the public safety,
deliberated, and drew up the salutary resolution which will become
the new and provisional law of the Republic.
Frenchmen, you doubtless recognise in this conduct the zeal of a
soldier of liberty, of a citizen devoted to the Republic.
Conservative, tutelary, and liberal ideas resumed their authority
upon the dispersion of the factions, who domineered in the Councils,
and who, in rendering themselves the most odious of men, did not
cease to be the most contemptible.
(Signed) BONAPARTE, General, etc.
The day had been passed in destroying a Government; it was necessary to
devote the night to framing a new one. Talleyrand, Raederer, and Sieyès
were at St. Cloud. The Council of the Ancients assembled, and Lucien set
himself about finding some members of the Five Hundred on whom he could
reckon. He succeeded in getting together only thirty, who, with their
President, represented the numerous assembly of which they formed
part. This ghost of representation was essential, for Bonaparte,
notwithstanding his violation of all law on the preceding day, wished to
make it appear that he was acting legally. The Council of the Ancients
had, however, already decided that a provisional executive commission
should be appointed, composed of three members, and was about to name
the members of the commission--a measure which should have originated
with the Five Hundred--when Lucien came to acquaint Bonaparte that his
chamber 'introuvable' was assembled.
This chamber, which called itself the Council of the Five Hundred,
though that Council was now nothing but a Council of Thirty, hastily
passed a decree, the first article of which was as follows:
The Directory exists no longer; and the individuals hereafter named
are no longer members of the national representation, on account of
the excesses and illegal acts which they have constantly committed,
and more particularly the greatest part of them, in the sitting of
this morning.
Then follow the names of sixty-one members expelled.
By other articles of the same decree the Council instituted a
provisional commission, similar to that which the Ancients had proposed
to appoint, resolved that the said commission should consist of three
members, who should assume the title of Consuls; and nominated as
Consuls Sieyès, Roger Ducos, and Bonaparte. The other provisions of the
nocturnal decree of St. Cloud had for their object merely the carrying
into effect those already described. This nocturnal sitting was very
calm, and indeed it would have been strange had it been otherwise, for
no opposition could be feared from the members of the Five Hundred, who
were prepared to concur with Lucien. All knew beforehand what they would
have to do. Everything was concluded by three o'clock in the morning;
and the palace of St. Cloud, which had been so agitated since the
previous evening, resumed in the morning its wonted stillness, and
presented the appearance of a vast solitude.
All the hurrying about, the brief notes which I had to write to many
friends, and the conversations in which I was compelled to take part,
prevented me from dining before one o'clock in the morning. It was not
till then that Bonaparte, having gone to take the oath as Consul before
the Five Hundred, afforded me an opportunity of taking some refreshment
with Admiral Bruix and some other officers.
At three o'clock in the morning I accompanied Bonaparte, in his carriage
to Paris. He was extremely fatigued after so many trials and fatigues. A
new future was opened before him. He was completely absorbed in thought,
and did not utter a single word during the journey. But when he arrived
at his house in the Rue de la Victoire, he had no sooner entered his
chamber and wished good morning to Josephine, who was in bed, and in a
state of the greatest anxiety on account of his absence, than he said
before her, "Bourrienne, I said many ridiculous things?"--"Not so very
bad, General"--"I like better to speak to soldiers than to lawyers.
Those fellows disconcerted me. I have not been used to public
assemblies; but that will come in time."
We then began, all three, to converse. Madame Bonaparte became calm, and
Bonaparte resumed his wonted confidence. The events of the day naturally
formed the subject of our conversation. Josephine, who was much attached
to the Gohier family, mentioned the name of that Director in a tone of
kindness. "What would you have, my dear?" said Bonaparte to her. "It
is not my fault. He is a respectable man, but a simpleton. He does not
understand me!--I ought, perhaps, to have him transported. He wrote
against me to the Council of the Ancients; but I have his letter,
and they know nothing about it. Poor man! he expected me to dinner
yesterday. And this man thinks himself a statesman!--Speak no more of
him."
During our discourse the name of Bernadotte was also mentioned.
"Have you seen him, Bourrienne?" said Bonaparte to me.--"No,
General"--"Neither have I. I have not heard him spoken of. Would you
imagine it? I had intelligence to-day of many intrigues in which he
is concerned. Would you believe it? he wished nothing less than to be
appointed my colleague in authority. He talked of mounting his horse
and marching with the troops that might be placed under his command. He
wished, he said, to maintain the Constitution: nay, more; I am assured
that he had the audacity to add that, if it were necessary to outlaw me,
the Government might come to him and he would find soldiers capable of
carrying the decree into execution."--"All this, General, should give
you an idea how inflexible his principles are."--"Yes, I am well aware
of it; there is something in that: he is honest. But for his obstinacy,
my brothers would have brought him over. They are related to him. His
wife, who is Joseph's sister-in-law, has ascendency over him. As for
me, have I not, I ask you, made sufficient advances to him? You have
witnessed them. Moreau, who has a higher military reputation than he,
came over to me at once. However, I repent of having cajoled Bernadotte.
I am thinking of separating him from all his coteries without any one
being able to find fault with the proceeding. I cannot revenge myself in
any other manner. Joseph likes him. I should have everybody against me.
These family considerations are follies! Goodnight, Bourrienne.--By the
way, we will sleep in the Luxembourg to-morrow."
I then left the General, whom, henceforth, I will call the First Consul,
after having remained with him constantly during nearly twenty-four
hours, with the exception of the time when he was at the Council of
the Five Hundred. I retired to my lodging, in the Rue Martel, at five
o'clock in the morning.
It is certain that if Gohier had come to breakfast on the morning of the
18th Brumaire, according to Madame Bonaparte's invitation, he would have
been one of the members of the Government. But Gohier acted the part of
the stern republican. He placed himself, according to the common phrase
of the time, astride of the Constitution of the year III.; and as his
steed made a sad stumble, he fell with it.
It was a singular circumstance which prevented the two Directors Gohier
and Moulins from defending their beloved Constitution. It was from their
respect for the Constitution that they allowed it to perish, because
they would have been obliged to violate the article which did not allow
less than three Directors to deliberate together. Thus a king of Castile
was burned to death, because there did not happen to be in his apartment
men of such rank as etiquette would permit to touch the person of the
monarch.
CHAPTER XXVI.
1799.
General approbation of the 18th Brumaire--Distress of the treasury--
M. Collot's generosity--Bonaparte's ingratitude--Gohier set at
Liberty--Constitution of the year VIII.--The Senate, Tribunate, and
Council of State--Notes required on the character of candidates--
Bonaparte's love of integrity and talent--Influence of habit over
him--His hatred of the Tribunate--Provisional concessions--The first
Consular Ministry--Mediocrity of La Place--Proscription lists--
Cambacérès report--M. Moreau de Worms--Character of Sieyès--
Bonaparte at the Luxembourg--Distribution of the day and visits--
Lebrun's opposition--Bonaparte's singing--His boyish tricks--
Assumption of the titles "Madame" and "Monseigneur"--The men of the
Revolution and the partisans of the Bourbons--Bonaparte's fears--
Confidential notes on candidates for office and the assemblies.
It cannot be denied that France hailed, almost with unanimous voice,
Bonaparte's accession to the Consulship as a blessing of Providence.
I do not speak now of the ulterior consequences of that event; I speak
only of the fact itself, and its first results, such as the repeal of
the law of hostages, and the compulsory loan of a hundred millions.
Doubtless the legality of the acts of the 18th Brumaire may be disputed;
but who will venture to say that the immediate result of that day ought
not to be regarded as a great blessing to France? Whoever denies
this can have no idea of the wretched state of every branch of the
administration at that deplorable epoch. A few persons blamed the
18th Brumaire; but no one regretted the Directory, with the exception,
perhaps, of the five Directors themselves. But we will say no more of
the Directorial Government. What an administration! In what a state were
the finances of France! Would it be believed? on the second day of
the Consulate, when Bonaparte wished to send a courier to General
Championet, commander-in-chief of the army of Italy, the treasury had
not 1200 francs disposable to give to the courier!
It may be supposed that in the first moments of a new Government money
would be wanted. M. Collot, who had served under Bonaparte in Italy, and
whose conduct and administration deserved nothing but praise, was one
of the first who came to the Consul's assistance. In this instance
M. Collot was as zealous as disinterested. He gave the Consul 500,000
francs in gold, for which service he was badly rewarded. Bonaparte
afterwards behaved to M. Collot as though he was anxious to punish him
for being rich. This sum, which at the time made so fine an appearance
in the Consular treasury, was not repaid for a long time after, and then
without interest. This was not, indeed, the only instance in which M.
Collot had cause to complain of Bonaparte, who was never inclined to
acknowledge his important services, nor even to render justice to his
conduct.
On the morning of the 20th Brumaire Bonaparte sent his brother Louis
to inform the Director Gohier that he was free. This haste in relieving
Gohier was not without a reason, for Bonaparte was anxious to install
himself in the Luxembourg, and we went there that same evening.
Everything was to be created. Bonaparte had with him almost the whole of
the army, and on the soldiers he could rely. But the military force was
no longer sufficient for him. Wishing to possess a great civil power
established by legal forms, he immediately set about the composition of
a Senate and Tribunate; a Council of State and a new legislative body,
and, finally, a new Constitution.
--[The Constitution of the year VIII. was presented on the 18th of
December 1799 (22d Frimaire, year VIII.), and accepted by the people
on the 7th of February 1800 (18th Pluviôse, year VIII.). It
established a Consular Government, composed of Bonaparte, First
Consul, appointed for ten years; Cambacérès, Second Consul, also for
ten years; and Lebrun, Third Consul appointed for five years. It
established a conservative Senate, a legislative body of 800
members, and a Tribunate composed of 100 members. The establishment
of the Council of State took place on the 29th of December 1799.
The installation of the new legislative body and the Tribunate was
fixed for the 1st of January 1800.--Bourrienne. Lanfrey (tome i.
p. 329) sees this Constitution foreshadowed in that proposed by
Napoleon in 1797 for the Cisalpine Republic.]--
As Bonaparte had not time to make himself acquainted with the persons
by whom he was about to be surrounded, he requested from the most
distinguished men of the period, well acquainted with France and the
Revolution, notes respecting the individuals worthy and capable of
entering the Senate, the Tribunate, and the Council of State. From the
manner in which all these notes were drawn up it was evident that the
writers of them studied to make their recommendation correspond with
what they conceived to be Bonaparte's views, and that they imagined
he participated in the opinions which were at that time popular.
Accordingly they stated, as grounds for preferring particular
candidates, their patriotism, their republicanism, and their having had
seats in preceding assemblies.
Of all qualities, that which most influenced the choice of the First
Consul was inflexible integrity; and it is but just to say that in this
particular he was rarely deceived. He sought earnestly for talent; and
although he did not like the men of the Revolution, he was convinced
that he could not do without them. He had conceived an extreme aversion
for mediocrity, and generally rejected a man of that character when
recommended to him; but if he had known such a man long, he yielded to
the influence of habit, dreading nothing so much as change, or, as he
was accustomed to say himself, new faces.
--[Napoleon loved only men with strong passions and great weakness;
he judged the most opposite qualities in men by these defects
(Metternich, tome iii. p.589)]--
Bonaparte then proceeded to organise a complaisant Senate, a mute
legislative body, and a Tribunate which was to have the semblance of
being independent, by the aid of some fine speeches and high-sounding
phrases. He easily appointed the Senators, but it was different with
the Tribunate. He hesitated long before he fixed upon the candidates
for that body, which inspired him with an anticipatory fear. However, on
arriving at power he dared not oppose himself to the exigencies of the
moment, and he consented for a time to delude the ambitious dupes who
kept up a buzz of fine sentiments of liberty around him. He saw that
circumstances were not yet favourable for refusing a share in the
Constitution to this third portion of power, destined apparently to
advocate the interests of the people before the legislative body. But
in yielding to necessity, the mere idea of the Tribunate filled him with
the utmost uneasiness; and, in a word, Bonaparte could not endure the
public discussions on his projects.
--[The Tribunate under this Constitution of the year VIII. was the
only body allowed to debate in public on proposed laws, the
legislative body simply hearing in silence the orators sent by the
Council of State and by the Tribunals to state reasons for or
against propositions, and then voting in silence. Its orators were
constantly giving umbrage to Napoleon. It was at first purified,
early in 1802, by the Senate naming the members to go out in
rotation then reduced to from 100 to 50 members later in 1802, and
suppressed in 1807; its disappearance being regarded by Napoleon as
his last break with the Revolution.]--
Bonaparte composed the first Consular Ministry as follows: Berthier was
Minister of War; Gaudin, formerly employed in the administration of
the Post Office, was appointed Minister of Finance; Cambacérès remained
Minister of Justice; Forfait was Minister of Marine; La Place of the
Interior; Fouché of Police; and Reinhard of Foreign Affairs.
Reinhard and La Place were soon replaced, the former by the able M.
Talleyrand, the latter by Lucien Bonaparte.
--[When I quitted the service of the First Consul Talleyrand was
still at the head of the Foreign Department. I have frequently been
present at this great statesman's conferences with Napoleon, and I
can declare that I never saw him flatter his dreams of ambition;
but, on the contrary, he always endeavoured to make him sensible of
his true interests.--Bourrienne.]--
It may be said that Lucien merely passed through the Ministry on his
way to a lucrative embassy in Spain. As to La Place, Bonaparte always
entertained a high opinion of his talents. His appointment to the
Ministry of the Interior was a compliment paid to science; but it was
not long before the First Consul repented of his choice. La Place,
so happily calculated for science, displayed the most inconceivable
mediocrity in administration. He was incompetent to the most trifling
matters; as if his mind, formed to embrace the system of the world, and
to interpret the laws of Newton and Kepler, could not descend to the
level of subjects of detail, or apply itself to the duties of the
department with which he was entrusted for a short, but yet, with regard
to him, too long a time.
On the 26th Brumaire (17th November 1799) the Consuls issued a decree,
in which they stated that, conformably with Article III. of the law
of the 19th of the same month, which especially charged them with the
reestablishment of public tranquillity, they decreed that thirty-eight
individuals, who were named, should quit the continental territory of
the Republic, and for that purpose should proceed to Rochefort, to
be afterwards conducted to, and detained in, the department of French
Guiana. They likewise decreed that twenty-three other individuals, who
were named, should proceed to the commune of Rochelle, in the department
of the lower Charente, in order to be afterwards filed and detained in
such part of that department as should be pointed out by the Minister
of General Police. I was fortunate enough to keep my friend M. Moreau de
Worms, deputy from the Youne, out of the fiat of exiles. This produced
a mischievous effect. It bore a character of wanton severity quite
inconsistent with the assurances of mildness and moderation given at
St. Cloud on the 19th Brumaire. Cambacérès afterwards made a report,
in which he represented that it was unnecessary for the maintenance of
tranquillity to subject the proscribed to banishment, considering it
sufficient to place them under the supervision of the superior police.
Upon receiving the report the Consuls issued a decree, in which they
directed all the individuals included in the proscription to retire
respectively into the different communes which should be fixed upon by
the Minister of Justice, and to remain there until further orders.
At the period of the issuing of these decrees Sieyès was still one of
the Consuls, conjointly with Bonaparte and Roger Ducos; and although
Bonaparte had, from the first moment, possessed the whole power of the
government, a sort of apparent equality was, nevertheless, observed
amongst them. It was not until the 25th of December that Bonaparte
assumed the title of First Consul, Cambacérès and Lebrun being then
joined in the office with him. He had fixed his eyes on them previously
to the 18th Brumaire, and he had no cause to reproach them with giving
him much embarrassment in his rapid progress towards the imperial
throne.
I have stated that I was so fortunate as to rescue M. Moreau de
Worms from the list of proscription. Some days after Sieyès entered
Bonaparte's cabinet and said to him, "Well, this M. Moreau de Worms,
whom M. Bourrienne induced you to save from banishment, is acting very
finely! I told you how it would be! I have received from Sens, his
native place, a letter which informs me that Moreau is in that town,
where he has assembled the people in the market-place, and indulged in
the most violent declamations against the 18th Brumaire,"--"Can you
rely upon your agent" asked Bonaparte.--"Perfectly. I can answer for the
truth of his communication." Bonaparte showed me the bulletin of Sieyès'
agent, and reproached me bitterly. "What would you say, General," I
observed, "if I should present this same M. Moreau de Worms, who
is declaiming at Sens against the 18th Brumaire, to you within an
hour?"--"I defy you to do it."--"I have made myself responsible for him,
and I know what I am about. He is violent in his politics; but he is a
man of honour, incapable of failing in his word."--"Well, we shall see.
Go and find him." I was very sure of doing what I had promised, for
within an hour before I had seen M. Moreau de Worms. He had been
concealed since the 19th Brumaire, and had not quitted Paris. Nothing
was easier than to find him, and in three-quarters of an hour he was at
the Luxembourg. I presented him to Bonaparte, who conversed with him
a long time concerning the 18th Brumaire. When M. Moreau departed
Bonaparte said to me, "You are right. That fool Sieyès is as inventive
as a Cassandra. This proves that one should not be too ready to believe
the reports of the wretches whom we are obliged to employ in the
police." Afterwards he added, "Bourrienne, Moreau is a nice fellow: I am
satisfied with him; I will do something for him." It was not long before
M. Moreau experienced the effect of the Consul's good opinion. Some days
after, whilst framing the council of prizes, he, at my mere suggestion,
appointed M. Moreau one of the members, with a salary of 10,000 francs.
On what extraordinary circumstances the fortunes of men frequently
depend! As to Sieyès, in the intercourse, not very frequent certainly,
which I had with him, he appeared to be far beneath the reputation which
he then enjoyed.'
--[M. de Talleyrand, who is so capable of estimating men, and whose
admirable sayings well deserve to occupy a place in history, had
long entertained a similar opinion of Sieyès. One day, when he was
conversing with the Second Consul concerning Sieyès, Cambacérès said
to him. "Sieyès, however, is a very profound man."--"Profound?"
said Talleyrand. "Yes, he is, a cavity, a perfect cavity, as you
would say."--Bourrienne.]--
He reposed a blind confidence in a multitude of agents, whom he sent
into all parts of France. When it happened, on other occasions, that
I proved to him, by evidence as sufficient as that in the case of M.
Moreau, the falseness of the reports he had received, he replied, with a
confidence truly ridiculous, "I can rely on my men." Sieyès had written
in his countenance, "Give me money!" I recollect that I one day alluded
to this expression in the anxious face of Sieyès to the First Consul.
"You are right," observed he to me, smiling; "when money is in question,
Sieyès is quite a matter-of-fact man. He sends his ideology to the
right about and thus becomes easily manageable. He readily abandons
his constitutional dreams for a good round sum, and that is very
convenient."
--[Everybody knows, in fact, that Sieyès refused to resign his
consular dignities unless he received in exchange a beautiful farm
situated in the park of Versailles, and worth about 15,000 livres a
year. The good abbé consoled himself for no longer forming a third
of the republican sovereignty by making himself at home in the
ancient domain of the kings of France.--Bourrienne.]--
Bonaparte occupied, at the Little Luxembourg, the apartments on
the ground floor which lie to the right on entering from the Rue de
Vaugirard. His cabinet was close to a private staircase, which conducted
me to the first floor, where Josephine dwelt. My apartment was above.
After breakfast, which was served at ten o'clock, Bonaparte would
converse for a few moments with his usual guests, that is to say, his
'aides de camp', the persons he invited, and myself, who never left him.
He was also visited very often by Deferment, Regnault (of the town of
St. Jean d'Angély), Boulay (de la Meurthe), Monge, and Berber, who were,
with his brothers, Joseph and Lucien, those whom he most delighted to
see; he conversed familiarly with them. Cambacérès generally came at
mid-day, and stayed some time with him, often a whole hour. Lebrun
visited but seldom. Notwithstanding his elevation, his character
remained unaltered; and Bonaparte considered him too moderate, because
he always opposed his ambitious views and his plans to usurp power. When
Bonaparte left the breakfast-table it was seldom that he did not add,
after bidding Josephine and her daughter Hortense good-day, "Come,
Bourrienne, come, let us to work."
After the morning audiences I stayed with Bonaparte all the day, either
reading to him, or writing to his dictation. Three or four times in the
week he would go to the Council. On his way to the hall of deliberation
he was obliged to cross the courtyard of the Little Luxembourg and
ascend the grand staircase. This always vexed him, and the more so as
the weather was very bad at the time. This annoyance continued until the
25th of December, and it was with much satisfaction that he saw himself
quit of it. After leaving the Council he used to enter his cabinet
singing, and God knows how wretchedly he sung! He examined whatever work
he had ordered to be done, signed documents, stretched himself in
his arm-chair, and read the letters of the preceding day and the
publications of the morning. When there was no Council he remained
in his cabinet, conversed with me, always sang, and cut, according to
custom, the arm of his chair, giving himself sometimes quite the air of
a great boy. Then, all at once starting up, he would describe a plan
for the erection of a monument, or dictate some of those extraordinary
productions which astonished and dismayed the world. He often became
again the same man, who, under the walls of St. Jean d'Acre, had dreamed
of an empire worthy his ambition.
At five o'clock dinner was served up. When that was over the First
Consul went upstairs to Josephine's apartments, where he commonly
received the visits of the Ministers. He was always pleased to see
among the number the Minister of Foreign Affairs, especially since the
portfolio of that department had been entrusted to the hands of M.
de Talleyrand. At midnight, and often sooner, he gave the signal for
retiring by saying in a hasty manner, "Allons nous coucher."
It was at the Luxembourg, in the salons of which the adorable Josephine
so well performed the honours, that the word 'Madame' came again into
use. This first return towards the old French politeness was startling
to some susceptible Republicans; but things were soon carried farther
at the Tuileries by the introduction of 'Votre Altesse' on occasions of
state ceremony, and Monseigneur in the family circle.
If, on the one hand, Bonaparte did not like the men of the Revolution,
on the other he dreaded still more the partisans of the Bourbons. On
the mere mention of the name of those princes he experienced a kind of
inward alarm; and he often spoke of the necessity of raising a wall
of brass between France and them. To this feeling, no doubt, must be
attributed certain nominations, and the spirit of some recommendations
contained in the notes with which he was supplied on the characters of
candidates, and which for ready reference were arranged alphabetically.
Some of the notes just mentioned were in the handwriting of Regnault de
St. Jean d'Angély, and some in Lucien Bonaparte's.
--[Among them was the following, under the title of "General
Observations": "In choosing among the men who were members of the
Constituent Assembly it is necessary to be on guard against the
Orleans' party, which is not altogether a chimera, and may one day
or other prove dangerous.
"There is no doubt that the partisans of that family are intriguing
secretly; and among many other proofs of this fact the following is
a striking one: the journal called the 'Aristargue', which
undisguisedly supports royalism, is conducted by a man of the name
of Voidel, one of the hottest patriots of the Revolution. He was
for several months president of the committee of inquiry which
caused the Marquis de Favras to be arrested and hanged, and gave so
much uneasiness to the Court. There was no one in the Constituent
Assembly more hateful to the Court than Voidel, so much on account
of his violence as for his connection with the Duke of Orleans,
whose advocate and counsel he was. When the Duke of Orleans was
arrested, Voidel, braving the fury of the revolutionary tribunals,
had the courage to defend him, and placarded all the walls of Paris
with an apology for the Duke and his two sons. This man, writing
now in favour of royalism, can have no other object than to advance
a member of the Orleans family to the throne."--Bourrienne.]--
At the commencement of the First Consul's administration, though he
always consulted the notes he had collected, he yet received with
attention the recommendations of persons with whom he was well
acquainted; but it was not safe for them to recommend a rogue or a fool.
The men whom he most disliked were those whom he called babblers,
who are continually prating of everything and on everything. He often
said,--"I want more head and less tongue." What he thought of the
regicides will be seen farther on, but at first the more a man had
given a gage to the Revolution, the more he considered him as offering
a guarantee against the return of the former order of things. Besides,
Bonaparte was not the man to attend to any consideration when once his
policy was concerned.
As I have said a few pages back, on taking the government into his own
hands Bonaparte knew so little of the Revolution and of the men engaged
in civil employments that it was indispensably necessary for him to
collect information from every quarter respecting men and things. But
when the conflicting passions of the moment became more calm and the
spirit of party more prudent, and when order had been, by his severe
investigations, introduced where hitherto unbridled confusion had
reigned, he became gradually more scrupulous in granting places, whether
arising from newly-created offices, or from those changes which
the different departments often experienced. He then said to me,
"Bourrienne, I give up your department to you. Name whom you please for
the appointments; but remember you must be responsible to me."
What a list would have been which should contain the names of all the
prefects, sub-prefects, receivers-general, and other civil officers to
whom I gave places! I have kept no memoranda of their names; and indeed,
what advantage would there have been in doing so? It was impossible for
me to have a personal knowledge of all the fortunate candidates; but I
relied on recommendations in which I had confidence.
I have little to complain of in those I obliged; though it is true that,
since my separation from Bonaparte, I have seen many of them take the
opposite side of the street in which I was walking, and by that delicate
attention save me the trouble of raising my hat.
CHAPTER XXVII.
1799-1800.
Difficulties of a new Government--State of Europe--Bonaparte's wish
for peace--M. de Talleyrand Minister for Foreign Affairs--
Negotiations with England and Austria--Their failure--Bonaparte's
views on the East--His sacrifices to policy--General Bonaparte
denounced to the First Consul--Kléber's letter to the Directory--
Accounts of the Egyptian expedition published in the Moniteur--
Proclamation to the army of the East--Favour and disgrace of certain
individuals accounted for.
When a new Government rises on the ruins of one that has been
overthrown, its best chance of conciliating the favour of the nation, if
that nation be at war, is to hold out the prospect of peace; for peace
is always dear to a people. Bonaparte was well aware of this; and if in
his heart he wished otherwise, he knew how important it was to seem to
desire peace. Accordingly, immediately after his installation at the
Luxembourg he notified to all the foreign powers his accession to the
Consulate, and, for the same purpose, addressed letters to all the
diplomatic agents of the French Government abroad.
The day after he got rid of his first two colleagues, Sieyès and Roger
Ducos, he prepared to open negotiations with the Cabinet of London. At
that time we were at war with almost the whole of Europe. We had also
lost Italy. The Emperor of Germany was ruled by his Ministers, who in
their turn were governed by England. It was no easy matter to manage
equally the organization of the Consular Government and the no less
important affairs abroad; and it was very important to the interests of
the First Consul to intimate to foreign powers, while at the same time
he assured himself against the return of the Bourbons, that the system
which he proposed to adopt was a system of order and regeneration,
unlike either the demagogic violence of the Convention or the imbecile
artifice of the Directory. In fulfilment of this object Bonaparte
directed M. de Talleyrand, the new Minister for Foreign Affairs, to make
the first friendly overtures to the English Cabinet: A correspondence
ensued, which was published at the time, and which showed at once the
conciliatory policy of Bonaparte and the arrogant policy of England.
The exchange of notes which took place was attended by no immediate
result. However, the First Consul had partly attained his object: if the
British Government would not enter into negotiations for peace, there
was at least reason to presume that subsequent overtures of the Consular
Government might be listened to. The correspondence had at all events
afforded Bonaparte the opportunity of declaring his principles, and
above all, it had enabled him to ascertain that the return of the
Bourbons to France (mentioned in the official reply of Lord Grenville)
would not be a sine qua non condition for the restoration of peace
between the two powers.
Since M. de Talleyrand had been Minister for Foreign Affairs the
business of that department had proceeded with great activity. It was
an important advantage to Bonaparte to find a nobleman of the old regime
among the republicans. The choice of M. de Talleyrand was in some sort
an act of courtesy to the foreign Courts. It was a delicate attention to
the diplomacy of Europe to introduce to its members, for the purpose of
treating with them, a man whose rank was at least equal to their own,
and who was universally distinguished for a polished elegance of manner
combined with solid good qualities and real talents.
It was not only with England that Bonaparte and his Minister endeavoured
to open negotiations; the Consular Cabinet also offered peace to the
House of Austria; but not at the same time. The object of this offer
was to sow discord between the two powers. Speaking to me one day of
his earnest wish to obtain peace Bonaparte said, "You see, Bourrienne, I
have two great enemies to cope with. I will conclude peace with the one
I find most easy to deal with. That will enable me immediately to assail
the other. I frankly confess that I should like best to be at peace with
England. Nothing would then be more easy than to crush Austria. She has
no money except what she gets through England."
For a long time all negotiations proved abortive. None of the European
powers would acknowledge the new Government, of which Bonaparte was the
head; and the battle of Marengo was required before the peace of Amiens
could be obtained.
Though the affairs of the new Government afforded abundant occupation to
Bonaparte, he yet found leisure to direct attention to the East--to that
land of despotism whence, judging from his subsequent conduct, it might
be presumed he derived his first principles of government. On becoming
the head of the State he wished to turn Egypt, which he had conquered
as a general, to the advantage of his policy as Consul. If Bonaparte
triumphed over a feeling of dislike in consigning the command of the
army to Kléber, it was because he knew Kléber to be more capable than
any other of executing the plans he had formed; and Bonaparte was not
the man to sacrifice the interests of policy to personal resentment. It
is certainly true that he then put into practice that charming phrase of
Molière's--"I pardon you, but you shall pay me for this!"
With respect to all whom he had left in Egypt Bonaparte stood in a very
singular situation. On becoming Chief of the Government he was not only
the depositary of all communications made to the Directory; but letters
sent to one address were delivered to another, and the First Consul
received the complaints made against the General who had so abruptly
quitted Egypt. In almost all the letters that were delivered to us
he was the object of serious accusation. According to some he had not
avowed his departure until the very day of his embarkation; and he had
deceived everybody by means of false and dissembling proclamations.
Others canvassed his conduct while in Egypt: the army which had
triumphed under his command he had abandoned when reduced to two-thirds
of its original force and a prey to all the horrors of sickness and
want. It must be confessed that these complaints and accusations were
but too well founded, and one can never cease wondering at the chain
of fortunate circumstances which so rapidly raised Bonaparte to the
Consular seat. In the natural order of things, and in fulfilment of
the design which he himself had formed, he should have disembarked at
Toulon, where the quarantine laws would no doubt have been observed;
instead of which, the fear of the English and the uncertainty of the
pilots caused him to go to Fréjus, where the quarantine laws were
violated by the very persons most interested in respecting them. Let us
suppose that Bonaparte had been forced to perform quarantine at Toulon.
What would have ensued? The charges against him would have fallen into
the hands of the Directory, and he would probably have been suspended,
and put upon his trial.
Among the letters which fell into Bonaparte's hands, by reason of
the abrupt change of government, was an official despatch (of the 4th
Vendemiaire, year VIII.) from General Kléber at Cairo to the Executive
Directory, in which that general spoke in very stringent terms of the
sudden departure of Bonaparte and of the state in which the army in
Egypt had been left. General Kléber further accused him of having
evaded, by his flight, the difficulties which he thus transferred to his
successor's shoulders, and also of leaving the army "without a sou in
the chest," with pay in arrear, and very little supply of munitions or
clothing.
The other letters from Egypt were not less accusatory than Kléber's; and
it cannot be doubted that charges of so precise a nature, brought by the
general who had now become commander-in-chief against his predecessor,
would have had great weight, especially backed as they were by similar
complaints from other quarters. A trial would have been inevitable;
and then, no 18th Brumaire, no Consulate, no Empire, no conquest of
Europe--but also, it may be added, no St. Helena. None of these events
would have ensued had not the English squadron, when it appeared off
Corsica, obliged the Muiron to scud about at hazard, and to touch at the
first land she could reach.
The Egyptian expedition filled too important a place in the life of
Bonaparte for him to neglect frequently reviving in the public mind the
recollection of his conquests in the East. It was not to be forgotten
that the head of the Republic was the first of her generals. While
Moreau received the command of the armies of the Rhine, while Massena,
as a reward for the victory of Zurich, was made Commander-in-Chief
in Italy, and while Brune was at the head of the army of Batavia,
Bonaparte, whose soul was in the camps, consoled himself for his
temporary inactivity by a retrospective glance on his past triumphs. He
was unwilling that Fame should for a moment cease to blazon his
name. Accordingly, as soon as he was established at the head of the
Government, he caused accounts of his Egyptian expedition to be from
time to time published in the Moniteur. He frequently expressed his
satisfaction that the accusatory correspondence, and, above all,
Kléber's letter, had fallen into his own hands. Such was Bonaparte's
perfect self-command that immediately after perusing that letter he
dictated to me the following proclamation, addressed to the army of the
East:
SOLDIERS!--The Consuls of the French Republic frequently direct
their attention to the army of the East.
France acknowledges all the influence of your conquests on the
restoration of her trade and the civilisation of the world.
The eyes of all Europe are upon you, and in thought I am often with
you.
In whatever situation the chances of war may place you, prove
yourselves still the soldiers of Rivoli and Aboukir--you will be
invincible.
Place in Kléber the boundless confidence which you reposed in me.
He deserves it.
Soldiers, think of the day when you will return victorious to the
sacred territory of France. That will be a glorious day for the
whole nation.
Nothing can more forcibly show the character of Bonaparte than the above
allusion to Kléber, after he had seen the way in which Kléber spoke
of him to the Directory. Could it ever have been imagined that the
correspondence of the army, to whom he addressed this proclamation,
teemed with accusations against him? Though the majority of these
accusations were strictly just, yet it is but fair to state that
the letters from Egypt contained some calumnies. In answer to the
well-founded portion of the charges Bonaparte said little; but he seemed
to feel deeply the falsehoods that were stated against him, one of which
was, that he had carried away millions from Egypt. I cannot conceive
what could have given rise to this false and impudent assertion. So far
from having touched the army chest, Bonaparte had not even received all
his own pay. Before he constituted himself the Government the Government
was his debtor.
Though he knew well all that was to be expected from the Egyptian
expedition, yet those who lauded that affair were regarded with a
favourable eye by Bonaparte. The correspondence which had fallen into
his hands was to him of the highest importance in enabling him to
ascertain the opinions which particular individuals entertained of him.
It was the source of favours and disgraces which those who were not in
the secret could not account for. It serves to explain why many men of
mediocrity were elevated to the highest dignities and honours, while
other men of real merit fell into disgrace or were utterly neglected.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
1800.
Great and common men--Portrait of Bonaparte--The varied expression
of his countenance--His convulsive shrug--Presentiment of his
corpulency--Partiality for bathing--His temperance--His alleged
capability of dispensing with sleep--Good and bad news--Shaving, and
reading the journals--Morning business--Breakfast--Coffee and snuff
--Bonaparte's idea of his own situation--His ill opinion of mankind
--His dislike of a 'tête-à-tête'--His hatred of the Revolutionists
--Ladies in white--Anecdotes--Bonaparte's tokens of kindness, and
his droll compliments--His fits of ill humour--Sound of bells--
Gardens of Malmaison--His opinion of medicine--His memory--
His poetic insensibility--His want of gallantry--Cards and
conversation--The dress-coat and black cravat--Bonaparte's payments
--His religious ideas--His obstinacy.
In perusing the history of the distinguished characters of past ages,
how often do we regret that the historian should have portrayed the hero
rather than the man! We wish to know even the most trivial habits of
those whom great talents and vast reputation have elevated above their
fellow-creatures. Is this the effect of mere curiosity, or rather is
it not an involuntary feeling of vanity which prompts us to console
ourselves for the superiority of great men by reflecting on their
faults, their weaknesses, their absurdities; in short, all the points of
resemblance between them and common men? For the satisfaction of those
who are curious in details of this sort, I will here endeavour to paint
Bonaparte, as I saw him, in person and in mind, to describe what were
his tastes and habits, and even his whims and caprices.
Bonaparte was now in the prime of life, and about thirty. The person
of Bonaparte has served as a model for the most skilful painters and
sculptors; many able French artists have successfully delineated his
features, and yet it may be said that no perfectly faithful portrait
of him exists. His finely-shaped head, his superb forehead, his pale
countenance, and his usual meditative look, have been transferred to the
canvas; but the versatility of his expression was beyond the reach of
imitation. All the various workings of his mind were instantaneously
depicted in his countenance; and his glance changed from mild to severe,
and from angry to good-humoured, almost with the rapidity of lightning.
It may truly be said that he had a particular look for every thought
that arose in his mind.
Bonaparte had beautiful hands, and he was very proud of them; while
conversing he would often look at them with an air of self-complacency.
He also fancied he had fine teeth, but his pretension to that advantage
was not so well founded as his vanity on the score of his hands.
When walking, either alone or in company with any one, in his apartments
or in his gardens, he had the habit of stooping a little, and crossing
his hands behind his back. He frequently gave an involuntary shrug of
his right shoulder, which was accompanied by a movement of his mouth
from left to right. This habit was always most remarkable when his mind
was absorbed in the consideration of any profound subject. It was often
while walking that he dictated to me his most important notes. He
could endure great fatigue, not only on horseback but on foot; he would
sometimes walk for five or six hours in succession without being aware
of it.
When walking with any person whom he treated with familiarity he would
link his arm into that of his companion, and lean on it.
He used often to say to me, "You see, Bourrienne, how temperate, and how
thin I am; but, in spite of that, I cannot help thinking that at forty
I shall become a great eater, and get very fat. I foresee that my
constitution will undergo a change. I take a great deal of exercise; but
yet I feel assured that my presentiment will be fulfilled." This idea
gave him great uneasiness, and as I observed nothing which seemed to
warrant his apprehensions, I omitted no opportunity of assuring him that
they were groundless. But he would not listen to me, and all the time I
was about him, he was haunted by this presentiment, which, in the end,
was but too well verified.
His partiality for the bath he mistook for a necessity. He would usually
remain in the bath two hours, during which time I used to read to him
extracts from the journals and pamphlets of the day, for he was anxious
to hear and know all that was going on. While in the bath he was
continually turning on the warm water to raise the temperature, so that
I was sometimes enveloped in such a dense vapour that I could not see to
read, and was obliged to open the door.
Bonaparte was exceedingly temperate, and averse to all excess. He knew
the absurd stories that were circulated about him, and he was sometimes
vexed at them. It has been repeated, over and over again, that he was
subject to attacks of epilepsy; but during the eleven years that I was
almost constantly with him I never observed any symptom which in
the least degree denoted that malady. His health was good and his
constitution sound. If his enemies, by way of reproach, have attributed
to him a serious periodical disease, his flatterers, probably under the
idea that sleep is incompatible with greatness, have evinced an equal
disregard of truth in speaking of his night-watching. Bonaparte made
others watch, but he himself slept, and slept well. His orders were that
I should call him every morning at seven. I was therefore the first to
enter his chamber; but very frequently when I awoke him he would turn
himself, and say, "Ah, Bourrienne! let me lie a little longer." When
there was no very pressing business I did not disturb him again till
eight o'clock. He in general slept seven hours out of the twenty-four,
besides taking a short nap in the afternoon.
Among the private instructions which Bonaparte gave me, one was very
curious. "During the night," said he, "enter my chamber as seldom as
possible. Do not awake me when you have any good news to communicate:
with that there is no hurry. But when you bring bad news, rouse me
instantly; for then there is not a moment to be lost."
This was a wise regulation, and Bonaparte found his advantage in it.
As soon as he rose his 'valet de chambre' shaved him and dressed his
hair. While he was being shaved I read to him the newspapers, beginning
always with the 'Moniteur.' He paid little attention to any but the
German and English papers. "Pass over all that," he would say, while I
was perusing the French papers; "I know it already. They say only what
they think will please me." I was often surprised that his valet did not
cut him while I was reading; for whenever he heard anything interesting
he turned quickly round towards me.
When Bonaparte had finished his toilet, which he did with great
attention, for he was scrupulously neat in his person, we went down to
his cabinet. There he signed the orders on important petitions which had
been analysed by me on the preceding evening. On reception and parade
days he was particularly exact in signing these orders, because I used
to remind him that he would be likely to see most of the petitioners,
and that they would ask him for answers. To spare him this annoyance
I used often to acquaint them beforehand of what had been granted or
refused, and what had been the decision of the First Consul. He next
perused the letters which I had opened and laid on his table, ranging
them according to their importance. He directed me to answer them in his
name; he occasionally wrote the answers himself, but not often.
At ten o'clock the 'maître d'hôtel' entered, and announced breakfast,
saying, "The General is served." We went to breakfast, and the repast
was exceedingly simple. He ate almost every morning some chicken,
dressed with oil and onions. This dish was then, I believe, called
'poulet à la Provençale'; but our restaurateurs have since conferred
upon it the more ambitious name of 'poulet à la Marengo.'
Bonaparte drank little wine, always either claret or Burgundy, and the
latter by preference. After breakfast, as well as after dinner, he took
a cup of strong coffee.
--[M. Brillat de Savarin, whose memory is dear to all gourmands, had
established, as a gastronomic principle, that "he who does not take
coffee after each meal is assuredly not a man of taste."--
Bourrienne.]--
I never saw him take any between his meals, and I cannot imagine what
could have given rise to the assertion of his being particularly fond
of coffee. When he worked late at night he never ordered coffee, but
chocolate, of which he made me take a cup with him. But this only
happened when our business was prolonged till two or three in the
morning.
All that has been said about Bonaparte's immoderate use of snuff has no
more foundation in truth than his pretended partiality for coffee. It is
true that at an early period of his life he began to take snuff, but
it was very sparingly, and always out of a box; and if he bore
any resemblance to Frederick the Great, it was not by filling his
waistcoat-pockets with snuff, for I must again observe he carried his
notions of personal neatness to a fastidious degree.
Bonaparte had two ruling passions, glory and war. He was never more gay
than in the camp, and never more morose than in the inactivity of
peace. Plans for the construction of public monuments also pleased
his imagination, and filled up the void caused by the want of active
occupation. He was aware that monuments form part of the history of
nations, of whose civilisation they bear evidence for ages after those
who created them have disappeared from the earth, and that they likewise
often bear false-witness to remote posterity of the reality of merely
fabulous conquests. Bonaparte was, however, mistaken as to the mode of
accomplishing the object he had in view. His ciphers, his trophies, and
subsequently his eagles, splendidly adorned the monuments of his reign.
But why did he wish to stamp false initials on things with which neither
he nor his reign had any connection; as, for example the old Louvre? Did
he imagine that the letter, "N" which everywhere obtruded itself on the
eye, had in it a charm to controvert the records of history, or alter
the course of time?
--[When Louis XVIII. returned to the Tuileries in 1814 he found that
Bonaparte had been an excellent tenant, and that he had left
everything in very good condition.]--
Be this as it may, Bonaparte well knew that the fine arts entail lasting
glory on great actions, and consecrate the memory of princes who protect
and encourage them. He oftener than once said to me, "A great reputation
is a great noise; the more there is made, the farther off it is
heard. Laws, institutions, monuments, nations, all fall; but the noise
continues and resounds in after ages." This was one of his favourite
ideas. "My power," he would say at other times, "depends on my glory,
and my glory on my victories. My power would fall were I not to support
it by new glory and new victories. Conquest has made me what I am, and
conquest alone can maintain me." This was then, and probably always
continued to be, his predominant idea, and that which prompted him
continually to scatter the seeds of war through Europe. He thought that
if he remained stationary he would fall, and he was tormented with the
desire of continually advancing. Not to do something great and decided
was, in his opinion, to do nothing. "A newly-born Government," said he
to me, "must dazzle and astonish. When it ceases to do that it falls."
It was vain to look for rest from a man who was restlessness itself.
His sentiments towards France now differed widely from what I had known
them to be in his youth. He long indignantly cherished the recollection
of the conquest of Corsica, which he was once content to regard as his
country. But that recollection was effaced, and it might be said that he
now ardently loved France. His imagination was fired by the very thought
of seeing her great, happy, and powerful, and, as the first nation in
the world, dictating laws to the rest. He fancied his name inseparably
connected with France, and resounding in the ears of posterity. In all
his actions he lost sight of the present moment, and thought only of
futurity; so, in all places where he led the way to glory, the opinion
of France was ever present in his thoughts. As Alexander at Arbela
pleased himself less in having conquered Darius than in having gained
the suffrage of the Athenians, so Bonaparte at Marengo was haunted by
the idea of what would be said in France. Before he fought a battle
Bonaparte thought little about what he should do in case of success, but
a great deal about what he should do in case of a reverse of fortune. I
mention this as a fact of which I have often been a witness, and leave
to his brothers in arms to decide whether his calculations were always
correct. He had it in his power to do much, for he risked everything and
spared nothing. His inordinate ambition goaded him on to the attainment
of power; and power when possessed served only to augment his ambition.
Bonaparte was thoroughly convinced of the truth that trifles often
decide the greatest events; therefore he watched rather than provoked
opportunity, and when the right moment approached, he suddenly took
advantage of it. It is curious that, amidst all the anxieties of war and
government, the fear of the Bourbons incessantly pursued him, and the
Faubourg St. Germain was to him always a threatening phantom.
He did not esteem mankind, whom, indeed, he despised more and more in
proportion as he became acquainted with them. In him this unfavourable
opinion of human nature was justified by many glaring examples of
baseness, and he used frequently to repeat, "There are two levers for
moving men,--interest and fear." What respect, indeed, could Bonaparte
entertain for the applicants to the treasury of the opera? Into this
treasury the gaming-houses paid a considerable sum, part of which
went to cover the expenses of that magnificent theatre. The rest was
distributed in secret gratuities, which were paid on orders signed by
Duroc. Individuals of very different characters were often seen catching
the little door in the Rue Rameau. The lady who was for a while the
favourite of the General-in-Chief in Egypt, and whose husband was
maliciously sent back by the English, was a frequent visitor to the
treasury. On an occasion would be seen assembled there a distinguished
scholar and an actor, a celebrated orator and a musician; on another,
the treasurer would have payments to make to a priest, a courtesan, and
a cardinal.
One of Bonaparte's greatest misfortunes was, that he neither believed in
friendship not felt the necessity of loving. How often have I heard him
say, "Friendship is but a name; I love nobody. I do not even love my
brothers. Perhaps Joseph, a little, from habit and because he is my
elder; and Duroc, I love him too. But why? Because his character pleases
me. He is stern and resolute; and I really believe the fellow never shed
a tear. For my part, I know very well that I have no true friends. As
long as I continue what I am, I may have as many pretended friends as I
please. Leave sensibility to women; it is their business. But men should
be firm in heart and in purpose, or they should have nothing to do with
war or government."
In his social relations Bonaparte's temper was bad; but his fits of
ill-humour passed away like a cloud, and spent themselves in words. His
violent language and bitter imprecations were frequently premeditated.
When he was going to reprimand any one he liked to have a witness
present. He would then say the harshest things, and level blows
against which few could bear up. But he never gave way to those violent
ebullitions of rage until he acquired undoubted proofs of the misconduct
of those against whom they were directed. In scenes of this sort I have
frequently observed that the presence of a third person seemed to give
him confidence. Consequently, in a 'tête-à-tête' interview, any one
who knew his character, and who could maintain sufficient coolness and
firmness, was sure to get the better of him. He told his friends at St.
Helena that he admitted a third person on such occasions only that the
blow might resound the farther. That was not his real motive, or the
better way would have been to perform the scene in public. He had other
reasons. I observed that he did not like a 'tête-à-tête'; and when he
expected any one, he would say to me beforehand, "Bourrienne, you may
remain;" and when any one was announced whom he did not expect, as
a minister or a general, if I rose to retire he would say in a
half-whisper, "Stay where you are." Certainly this was not done with the
design of getting what he said reported abroad; for it belonged neither
to my character nor my duty to gossip about what I had heard. Besides,
it may be presumed, that the few who were admitted as witnesses to
the conferences of Napoleon were aware of the consequences attending
indiscreet disclosures under a Government which was made acquainted with
all that was said and done.
Bonaparte entertained a profound dislike of the sanguinary men of the
Revolution, and especially of the regicides. He felt, as a painful
burden, the obligation of dissembling towards them. He spoke to me in
terms of horror of those whole he called the assassins of Louis XVI, and
he was annoyed at the necessity of employing them and treating them with
apparent respect. How many times has he not said to Cambacérès, pinching
him by the ear, to soften, by that habitual familiarity, the bitterness
of the remark, "My dear fellow, your case is clear; if ever the Bourbons
come back you will be hanged!" A forced smile would then relax the livid
countenance of Cambacérès, and was usually the only reply of the Second
Consul, who, however, on one occasion said in my hearing, "Come, come,
have done with this joking."
One thing which gave Bonaparte great pleasure when in the country was to
see a tall, slender woman, dressed in white, walking beneath an alley of
shaded trees. He detested coloured dresses, and especially dark ones.
To fat women he had an invincible antipathy, and he could not endure the
sight of a pregnant woman; it therefore rarely happened that a female in
that situation was invited to his parties. He possessed every requisite
for being what is called in society an agreeable man, except the will to
be so. His manner was imposing rather than pleasing, and those who did
not know him well experienced in his presence an involuntary feeling of
awe. In the drawing-room, where Josephine did the honours with so much
grace and affability, all was gaiety and ease, and no one felt the
presence of a superior; but on Bonaparte's entrance all was changed,
and every eye was directed towards him, to read his humour in his
countenance, whether he intended to be silent or talkative, dull or
cheerful.
He often talked a great deal, and sometimes a little too much; but no
one could tell a story in a more agreeable and interesting way. His
conversation rarely turned on gay or humorous subjects, and never
on trivial matters. He was so fond of argument that in the warmth
of discussion it was easy to draw from him secrets which he was most
anxious to conceal. Sometimes, in a small circle, he would amuse himself
by relating stories of presentiments and apparitions. For this he always
chose the twilight of evening, and he would prepare his hearers for what
was coming by some solemn remark. On one occasion of this kind he said,
in a very grave tone of voice, "When death strikes a person whom we
love, and who is distant from us, a foreboding almost always denotes
the event, and the dying person appears to us at the moment of his
dissolution." He then immediately related the following anecdote: "A
gentleman of the Court of Louis XIV. was in the gallery of Versailles at
the time that the King was reading to his courtiers the bulletin of the
battle of Friedlingen gained by Villars. Suddenly the gentleman saw, at
the farther end of the gallery, the ghost of his son, who served under
Villars. He exclaimed, 'My son is no more!' and next moment the King
named him among the dead."
When travelling Bonaparte was particularly talkative. In the warmth
of his conversation, which was always characterised by original and
interesting ideas, he sometimes dropped hints of his future views,
or, at least, he said things which were calculated to disclose what
he wished to conceal. I took the liberty of mentioning to him this
indiscretion, and far from being offended, he acknowledged his mistake,
adding that he was not aware he had gone so far. He frankly avowed this
want of caution when at St. Helena.
When in good humour his usual tokens of kindness consisted in a little
rap on the head or a slight pinch of the ear. In his most friendly
conversations with those whom he admitted into his intimacy he would
say, "You are a fool"--"a simpleton"--"a ninny"--"a blockhead." These,
and a few other words of like import, enabled him to vary his catalogue
of compliments; but he never employed them angrily, and the tone in
which they were uttered sufficiently indicated that they were meant in
kindness.
Bonaparte had many singular habits and tastes. Whenever he experienced
any vexation, or when any unpleasant thought occupied his mind, he would
hum something which was far from resembling a tune, for his voice was
very unmusical. He would, at the same time, seat himself before the
writing-table, and swing back in his chair so far that I have often been
fearful of his falling.
He would then vent his ill-humour on the right arm of his chair,
mutilating it with his penknife, which he seemed to keep for no other
purpose. I always took care to keep good pens ready for him; for, as
it was my business to decipher his writing, I had a strong interest in
doing what I could to make it legible.
The sound of bells always produced in Bonaparte pleasurable sensations,
which I could never account for. When we were at Malmaison, and walking
in the alley leading to the plain of Ruel, how many times has the bell
of the village church interrupted our most serious conversations!
He would stop, lest the noise of our footsteps should drown any portion
of the delightful sound. He was almost angry with me because I did not
experience the impressions he did. So powerful was the effect produced
upon him by the sound of these bells that his voice would falter as he
said, "Ah! that reminds me of the first years I spent at Brienne! I was
then happy!" When the bells ceased he would resume the course of his
speculations, carry himself into futurity, place a crown on his head,
and dethrone kings.
Nowhere, except on the field of battle, did I ever see Bonaparte more
happy than in the gardens of Malmaison. At the commencement of the
Consulate we used to go there every Saturday evening, and stay the whole
of Sunday, and sometimes Monday. Bonaparte used to spend a considerable
part of his time in walking and superintending the improvements which
he had ordered. At first he used to make excursions about the
neighbourhood, but the reports of the police disturbed his natural
confidence, and gave him reason to fear the attempts of concealed
royalist partisans.
During the first four or five days that Bonaparte spent at Malmaison
he amused himself after breakfast with calculating the revenue of that
domain. According to his estimates it amounted to 8000 francs. "That is
not bad!" said he; "but to live here would require an income of 30,000
livres!" I could not help smiling to see him seriously engaged in such a
calculation.
Bonaparte had no faith in medicine. He spoke of it as an art
entirely conjectural, and his opinion on this subject was fired and
incontrovertible. His vigorous mind rejected all but demonstrative
proofs.
He had little memory for proper names, words, or dates, but he had a
wonderful recollection of facts and places. I recollect that, on going
from Paris to Toulon, he pointed out to me ten places calculated for
great battles, and he never forgot them. They were memoranda of his
first youthful journeys.
Bonaparte was insensible to the charms of poetic harmony. He had not
even sufficient ear to feel the rhythm of poetry, and he never could
recite a verse without violating the metre; yet the grand ideas of
poetry charmed him. He absolutely worshipped Corneille; and, one day,
after having witnessed a performance of 'Cinna', he said to me, "If
a man like Corneille were living in my time I would make him my Prime
Minister. It is not his poetry that I most admire; it is his powerful
understanding, his vast knowledge of the human heart, and his profound
policy!" At St. Helena he said that he would have made Corneille a
prince; but at the time he spoke to me of Corneille he had no thought of
making either princes or kings.
Gallantry to women was by no means a trait in Bonaparte's character. He
seldom said anything agreeable to females, and he frequently addressed
to them the rudest and most extraordinary remarks. To one he would say,
"Heavens, how red your elbows are!" To another, "What an ugly headdress
you have got!" At another time he would say, "Your dress is none of
the cleanest..... Do you ever change your gown? I have seen you in that
twenty times!" He showed no mercy to any who displeased him on these
points. He often gave Josephine directions about her toilet, and the
exquisite taste for which she was distinguished might have helped to
make him fastidious about the costume of other ladies. At first he
looked to elegance above all things: at a later period he admired luxury
and splendour, but he always required modesty. He frequently expressed
his disapproval of the low-necked dresses which were so much in fashion
at the beginning of the Consulate.
Bonaparte did not love cards, and this was very fortunate for those who
were invited to his parties; for when he was seated at a card-table,
as he sometimes thought himself obliged to be, nothing could exceed the
dulness of the drawing-room either at the Luxembourg or the Tuileries.
When, on the contrary, he walked about among the company, all were
pleased, for he usually spoke to everybody, though he preferred the
conversation of men of science, especially those who had been with him
in in Egypt; as for example, Monge and Berthollet. He also liked to
talk with Chaptal and Lacépède, and with Lemercier, the author of
'Agamemnon'.
Bonaparte was seen to less advantage in a drawing-room than at the head
of his troops. His military uniform became him much better than the
handsomest dress of any other kind. His first trials of dress-coats were
unfortunate. I have been informed that the first time he wore one he
kept on his black cravat. This incongruity was remarked to him, and he
replied, "So much the better; it leaves me something of a military air,
and there is no harm in that." For my own part, I neither saw the black
cravat nor heard this reply.
The First Consul paid his own private bills very punctually; but he was
always tardy in settling the accounts of the contractors who bargained
with Ministers for supplies for the public service. He put off these
payments by all sorts of excuses and shufflings. Hence arose immense
arrears in the expenditure, and the necessity of appointing a committee
of liquidation. In his opinion the terms contractor and rogue were
synonymous. All that he avoided paying them he regarded as a just
restitution to himself; and all the sums which were struck off from
their accounts he regarded as so much deducted from a theft. The less a
Minister paid out of his budget the more Bonaparte was pleased with him;
and this ruinous system of economy can alone explain the credit which
Decrès so long enjoyed at the expense of the French navy.
On the subject of religion Bonaparte's ideas were very vague. "My
reason," said he, "makes me incredulous respecting many things; but the
impressions of my childhood and early youth throw me into uncertainty."
He was very fond of talking of religion. In Italy, in Egypt, and on
board the 'Orient' and the 'Muiron', I have known him to take part in
very animated conversations on this subject.
He readily yielded up all that was proved against religion as the work
of men and time: but he would not hear of materialism. I recollect that
one fine night, when he was on deck with some persons who were arguing
in favour of materialism, Bonaparte raised his hand to heaven and,
pointing to the stars, said, "You may talk as long as you please,
gentlemen, but who made all that?" The perpetuity of a name in the
memory of man was to him the immortality of the soul. He was perfectly
tolerant towards every variety of religious faith.
Among Bonaparte's singular habits was that of seating himself on any
table which happened to be of a suitable height for him. He would often
sit on mine, resting his left arm on my right shoulder, and swinging his
left leg, which did not reach the ground; and while he dictated to me he
would jolt the table so that I could scarcely write.
Bonaparte had a great dislike to reconsider any decision, even when it
was acknowledged to be unjust. In little as well as in great things he
evinced his repugnance to retrograde. An instance of this occurred in
the affair of General Latour-Foissac. The First Consul felt how much he
had wronged that general; but he wished some time to elapse before he
repaired his error. His heart and his conduct were at variance; but his
feelings were overcome by what he conceived to be political necessity.
Bonaparte was never known to say, "I have done wrong:" his usual
observation was, "I begin to think there is something wrong."
In spite of this sort of feeling, which was more worthy of an
ill-humoured philosopher than the head of a government, Bonaparte was
neither malignant nor vindictive. I cannot certainly defend him against
all the reproaches which he incurred through the imperious law of war
and cruel necessity; but I may say that he has often been unjustly
accused. None but those who are blinded by fury will call him a Nero or
a Caligula. I think I have avowed his faults with sufficient candour
to entitle me to credit when I speak in his commendation; and I declare
that, out of the field of battle, Bonaparte had a kind and feeling
heart. He was very fond of children, a trait which seldom distinguishes
a bad man. In the relations of private life to call him amiable would
not be using too strong a word, and he was very indulgent to the
weakness of human nature. The contrary opinion is too firmly fixed
in some minds for me to hope to root it out. I shall, I fear, have
contradictors, but I address myself to those who look for truth. To
judge impartially we must take into account the influence which time
and circumstances exercise on men; and distinguish between the different
characters of the Collegian, the General, the Consul, and the Emperor.
CHAPTER XXIX.
1800.
Bonaparte's laws--Suppression of the festival of the 21st of
January--Officials visits--The Temple--Louis XVI. and Sir Sidney
Smith--Peculation during the Directory--Loan raised--Modest budget
--The Consul and the Member of the Institute--The figure of the
Republic--Duroc's missions--The King of Prussia--The Emperor
Alexander--General Latour-Foissac--Arbitrary decree--Company of
players for Egypt--Singular ideas respecting literary property--
The preparatory Consulate--The journals--Sabres and muskets of
honour--The First Consul and his Comrade--The bust of Brutus--
Statues in the gallery of the Tuileries--Sections of the Council
of State--Costumes of public functionaries--Masquerades--The
opera-balls--Recall of the exiles.
It is not my purpose to say much about the laws, decrees, and
'Senatus-Consultes', which the First Consul either passed, or caused to
be passed, after his accession to power, what were they all, with the
exception of the Civil Code? The legislative reveries of the different
men who have from time to time ruled France form an immense labyrinth,
in which chicanery bewilders reason and common sense; and they would
long since have been buried in oblivion had they not occasionally served
to authorise injustice. I cannot, however, pass over unnoticed the happy
effect produced in Paris, and throughout the whole of France, by some of
the first decisions of the Consuls. Perhaps none but those who witnessed
the state of society during the reign of Terror can fully appreciate
the satisfaction which the first steps towards the restoration of social
order produced in the breasts of all honest men. The Directory, more
base and not less perverse than the Convention, had retained the
horrible 21st of January among the festivals of the Republic. One of
Bonaparte's first ideas on attaining the possession of power was to
abolish this; but such was the ascendency of the abettors of the fearful
event that he could not venture on a straightforward course. He and
his two colleagues, who were Sieyès and Roger Ducos, signed, on the 5th
Nivôse, a decree, setting forth that in future the only festivals to
be celebrated by the Republic were the 1st Vendemiaire and the 14th
of July, intending by this means to consecrate provisionally the
recollection of the foundation of the Republic and of liberty.
All was calculation with Bonaparte. To produce effect was his highest
gratification. Thus he let slip no opportunity of saying or doing things
which were calculated to dazzle the multitude. While at the Luxembourg,
he went sometimes accompanied by his 'aides de camp' and sometimes by
a Minister, to pay certain official visits. I did not accompany him on
these occasions; but almost always either on his return, after dinner,
or in the evening, he related to me what he had done and said. He
congratulated himself on having paid a visit to Daubenton, at the Jardin
des Plantes, and talked with great self-complacency of the distinguished
way in which he had treated the contemporary of Buffon.
On the 24th Brumaire he visited the prisons. He liked to make these
visits unexpectedly, and to take the governors of the different public
establishments by surprise; so that, having no time to make their
preparations, he might see things as they really were. I was in his
cabinet when he returned, for I had a great deal of business to go
through in his absence. As he entered he exclaimed, "What brutes
these Directors are! To what a state they have brought our public
establishments! But, stay a little! I will put all in order. The prisons
are in a shockingly unwholesome state, and the prisoners miserably fed.
I questioned them, and I questioned the jailers, for nothing is to be
learned from the superiors. They, of course, always speak well of their
own work! When I was in the Temple I could not help thinking of the
unfortunate Louis XVI. He was an excellent man, but too amiable, too
gentle for the times. He knew not how to deal with mankind! And Sir
Sidney Smith! I made them show me his apartment. If the fools had not
let him escape I should have taken St. Jean d'Acre! There are too many
painful recollections connected with that prison! I will certainly have
it pulled down some day or other! What do you think I did at the Temple?
I ordered the jailers' books to be brought to me, and finding that some
hostages were still in confinement I liberated them. 'An unjust law,'
said I, 'has deprived you of liberty; my first duty is to restore it
to you.' 'Was not this well done, Bourrienne?' As I was, no less than
Bonaparte himself, an enemy to the revolutionary laws, I congratulated
him sincerely; and he was very sensible to my approbation, for I was not
accustomed to greet him with 'Good; very good,' on all occasions. It is
true, knowing his character as I did, I avoided saying anything that was
calculated to offend him; but when I said nothing, he knew very well
how to construe my silence. Had I flattered him I should have continued
longer in favour."
Bonaparte always spoke angrily of the Directors he had turned off.
Their incapacity disgusted and astonished him. "What simpletons! what
a government!" he would frequently exclaim when he looked into the
measures of the Directory. "Bourrienne," said he, "can you imagine
anything more pitiable than their system of finance? Can it for a moment
be doubted that the principal agents of authority daily committed
the most fraudulent peculations? What venality! what disorder! what
wastefulness! everything put up for sale: places, provisions, clothing,
and military, all were disposed of. Have they not actually consumed
75,000,000 in advance? And then, think of all the scandalous fortunes
accumulated, all the malversations! But are there no means of making
them refund? We shall see."
In these first moments of poverty it was found necessary to raise a
loan, for the funds of M. Collot did not last long, and 12,000,000 were
advanced by the different bankers of Paris, who, I believe, were paid by
bills of the receivers-general, the discount of which then amounted
to about 33 per cent. The salaries of the first offices were not
very considerable, and did not amount to anything like the exorbitant
stipends of the Empire.
Bonaparte's salary was fixed at 500,000 francs. What a contrast to the
300,000,000 in gold which were reported to have been concealed in 1811
in the cellars of the Tuileries!
In mentioning Bonaparte's nomination to the Institute, and his
affectation in putting at the head of his proclamation his title of
member of that learned body before that of General-in-Chief, I omitted
to state what value he really attached to that title. The truth is that,
when young and ambitious, he was pleased with the proffered title,
which he thought would raise him in public estimation. How often have
we laughed together when he weighed the value of his scientific titles!
Bonaparte, to be sure, knew something of mathematics, a good deal of
history, and, I need not add, possessed extraordinary military talent;
but he was nevertheless a useless member of the Institute.
On his return from Egypt he began to grow weary of a title which gave
him so many colleagues. "Do you not think," said he one day to me, "that
there is something mean and humiliating in the words, 'I have the honour
to be, my dear Colleague'! I am tired of it!" Generally speaking, all
phrases which indicated equality displeased him. It will be recollected
how gratified he was that I did not address him in the second person
singular on our meeting at Leoben, and also what befell M. de Cominges
at Bâle because he did not observe the same precaution.
The figure of the Republic seated and holding a spear in her hand, which
at the commencement of the Consulate was stamped on official letters,
was speedily abolished. Happy would it have been if Liberty herself had
not suffered the same treatment as her emblem! The title of First
Consul made him despise that of Member of the Institute. He no
longer entertained the least predilection for that learned body, and
subsequently he regarded it with much suspicion. It was a body, an
authorised assembly; these were reasons sufficient for him to take
umbrage at it, and he never concealed his dislike of all bodies
possessing the privilege of meeting and deliberating.
While we were at the Luxembourg Bonaparte despatched Duroc on a special
mission to the King of Prussia. This happened, I think, at the very
beginning of the year 1800. He selected Duroc because he was a man of
good education and agreeable manners, and one who could express himself
with elegance and reserve, qualities not often met with at that period.
Duroc had been with us in Italy, in Egypt, and on board the 'Muiron',
and the Consul easily guessed that the King of Prussia would be
delighted to hear from an eye-witness the events of Bonaparte's
campaigns, especially the siege of St. Jean d'Acre, and the scenes which
took place during the months of March and May at Jaffa. Besides, the
First Consul considered it indispensable that such circumstantial
details should be given in a way to leave no doubt of their correctness.
His intentions were fully realised; for Duroc told me, on his return,
that nearly the whole of the conversation he had with the King turned
upon St. Jean d'Acre and Jaffa. He stayed nearly two whole hours with
his Majesty, who, the day after, gave him an invitation to dinner. When
this intelligence arrived at the Luxembourg I could perceive that the
Chief of the Republic was flattered that one of his aides de camp should
have sat at table with a King, who some years after was doomed to wait
for him in his antechamber at Tilsit.
Duroc never spoke on politics to the King of Prussia, which was very
fortunate, for, considering his age and the exclusively military life
he had led, he could scarcely have been expected to avoid blunders.
Some time later, after the death of Paul I., he was sent to congratulate
Alexander on his accession to the throne. Bonaparte's design in thus
making choice of Duroc was to introduce to the Courts of Europe, by
confidential missions, a young man to whom he was much attached, and
also to bring him forward in France. Duroc went on his third mission to
Berlin after the war broke out with Austria. He often wrote to me, and
his letters convinced me how much he had improved himself within a short
time.
Another circumstance which happened at the commencement of the Consulate
affords an example of Bonaparte's inflexibility when he had once formed
a determination. In the spring of 1799, when we were in Egypt, the
Directory gave to General Latour-Foissac, a highly distinguished
officer, the command of Mantua, the taking of which had so powerfully
contributed to the glory of the conqueror of Italy. Shortly after
Latour's appointment to this important post the Austrians besieged
Mantua. It was well known that the garrison was supplied with provisions
and ammunition for a long resistance; yet, in the month of July it
surrendered to the Austrians. The act of capitulation contained a
curious article, viz. "General Latour-Foissac and his staff shall be
conducted as prisoners to Austria; the garrison shall be allowed to
return to France." This distinction between the general and the troops
entrusted to his command, and at the same time the prompt surrender of
Mantua, were circumstances which, it must be confessed, were calculated
to excite suspicions of Latour-Foissac. The consequence was, when
Bernadotte was made War Minister he ordered an inquiry into the
general's conduct by a court-martial. Latour-Foissac had no sooner
returned to France than he published a justificatory memorial, in which
he showed the impossibility of his having made a longer defence when he
was in want of many objects of the first necessity.
Such was the state of the affair on Bonaparte's elevation to the
Consular power. The loss of Mantua, the possession of which had cost
him so many sacrifices, roused his indignation to so high a pitch that
whenever the subject was mentioned he could find no words to express his
rage. He stopped the investigation of the court-martial, and issued a
violent decree against Latour-Foissac even before his culpability had
been proved. This proceeding occasioned much discussion, and was
very dissatisfactory to many general officers, who, by this arbitrary
decision, found themselves in danger of forfeiting the privilege of
being tried by their natural judges whenever they happened to displease
the First Consul. For my own part, I must say that this decree against
Latour-Foissac was one which I saw issued with considerable regret.
I was alarmed for the consequences. After the lapse of a few days I
ventured to point out to him the undue severity of the step he had
taken; I reminded him of all that had been said in Latour-Foissac's
favour, and tried to convince him how much more just it would be to
allow the trial to come to a conclusion. "In a country," said I, "like
France, where the point of honour stands above every thing, it is
impossible Foissac can escape condemnation if he be culpable."--"Perhaps
you are right, Bourrienne," rejoined he; "but the blow is struck; the
decree is issued. I have given the same explanation to every one; but
I cannot so suddenly retrace my steps. To retro-grade is to be lost. I
cannot acknowledge myself in the wrong. By and by we shall see what
can be done. Time will bring lenity and pardon. At present it would be
premature." Such, word for word, was Bonaparte's reply. If with this be
compared what he said on the subject at St. Helena it will be found
that his ideas continued nearly unchanged; the only difference is
that, instead of the impetuosity of 1800, he expressed himself with the
calmness which time and adversity naturally produce.
--["It was," says the 'Memorial of St. Helena', "an illegal and
tyrannical act, but still it was a necessary evil. It was the fault
of the law. He was a hundred, nay, a thousand fold guilty, and yet
it was doubtful whether he would be condemned. We therefore
assailed him with the shafts of honour and public opinion. Yet I
repeat it was a tyrannical act, and one of those violent measures
which are at times necessary in great nations and in extraordinary
circumstances."]--
Bonaparte, as I have before observed, loved contrasts; and I remember
at the very time he was acting so violently against Latour-Foissac he
condescended to busy himself about a company of players which he wished
to send to Egypt, or rather that he pretended to wish to send there,
because the announcement of such a project conveyed an impression of
the prosperous condition of our Oriental colony. The Consuls gravely
appointed the Minister of the Interior to execute this business, and
the Minister in his turn delegated his powers to Florence, the actor. In
their instructions to the Minister the Consuls observed that it would
be advisable to include some female dancers in the company; a suggestion
which corresponds with Bonaparte's note, in which were specified all
that he considered necessary for the Egyptian expedition.
The First Consul entertained singular notions respecting literary
property. On his hearing that a piece, entitled 'Misanthropie
et Repentir', had been brought out at the Odeon, he said to me,
"Bourrienne, you have been robbed."--"I, General? how?"--"You have been
robbed, I tell you, and they are now acting your piece." I have already
mentioned that during my stay at Warsaw I amused myself with translating
a celebrated play of Kotzebue. While we were in Italy I lent Bonaparte
my translation to read, and he expressed himself much pleased with it.
He greatly admired the piece, and often went to see it acted at the
Odeon. On his return he invariably gave me fresh reasons for my claiming
what he was pleased to call my property. I represented to him that the
translation of a foreign work belonged to any one who chose to execute
it. He would not, however, give up his point, and I was obliged to
assure him that my occupations in his service left me no time to engage
in a literary lawsuit. He then exacted a promise from me to
translate Goethe's 'Werther'. I told him it was already done, though
indifferently, and that I could not possibly devote to the subject the
time it merited. I read over to him one of the letters I had translated
into French, and which he seemed to approve.
That interval of the Consular Government during which Bonaparte remained
at the Luxembourg may be called the preparatory Consulate. Then were
sown the seeds of the great events which he meditated, and of those
institutions with which he wished to mark his possession of power.
He was then, if I may use the expression, two individuals in one: the
Republican general, who was obliged to appear the advocate of liberty
and the principles of the Revolution; and the votary of ambition,
secretly plotting the downfall of that liberty and those principles.
I often wondered at the consummate address with which he contrived
to deceive those who were likely to see through his designs. This
hypocrisy, which some, perhaps, may call profound policy, was
indispensable to the accomplishment of his projects; and sometimes, as
if to keep himself in practice, he would do it in matters of secondary
importance. For example, his opinion of the insatiable avarice of Sieyès
is well known; yet when he proposed, in his message to the Council of
Ancients, to give his colleague, under the title of national recompense,
the price of his obedient secession, it was, in the words of the
message, a recompense worthily bestowed on his disinterested virtues.
While at the Luxembourg Bonaparte showed, by a Consular act, his hatred
of the liberty of the press above all liberties, for he loved none. On
the 27th Nivôse the Consuls, or rather the First Consul, published a
decree, the real object of which was evidently contrary to its implied
object.
This decree stated that:
The Consuls of the Republic, considering that some of the journals
printed at Paris are instruments in the hands of the enemies of the
Republic, over the safety of which the Government is specially entrusted
by the people of France to watch, decree--
That the Minister of Police shall, during the continuation of the war,
allow only the following journals to be printed and published, viz.
(list of 20 publications)
.....and those papers which are exclusively devoted to science, art,
literature, commerce, and advertisements.
Surely this decree may well be considered as preparatory; and the
fragment I have quoted may serve as a standard for measuring the
greater part of those acts by which Bonaparte sought to gain, for the
consolidation of his power, what he seemed to be seeking solely for the
interest of the friends of the Republic. The limitation to the period
of the continuance of the war had also a certain provisional air which
afforded hope for the future. But everything provisional is, in
its nature, very elastic; and Bonaparte knew how to draw it out ad
infinitum. The decree, moreover, enacted that if any of the uncondemned
journals should insert articles against the sovereignty of the people
they would be immediately suppressed. In truth, great indulgence was
shown on this point, even after the Emperor's coronation.
The presentation of swords and muskets of honour also originated at the
Luxembourg; and this practice was, without doubt, a preparatory step to
the foundation of the Legion of Honour.
--["Armes d'honneur," decreed 25th December 1799. Muskets for
infantry, carbines for cavalry, grenades for artillery, swords for
the officers. Gouvion St. Cyr received the first sword (Thiers,
tome i. p. 126).]--
A grenadier sergeant, named Léon Aune, who had been included in the
first distribution, easily obtained permission to write to the First
Consul to thank him. Bonaparte, wishing to answer him in his own name,
dictated to me the following letter for Aune:--
I have received your letter, my brave comrade. You needed not to
have told me of your exploits, for you are the bravest grenadier in
the whole army since the death of Benezete. You received one of the
hundred sabres I distributed to the army, and all agreed you most
deserved it.
I wish very much again to see you. The War Minister sends you an
order to come to Paris.
This wheedling wonderfully favoured Bonaparte's designs. His letter to
Aune could not fail to be circulated through the army. A sergeant called
my brave comrade by the First Consul--the First General of France! Who
but a thorough Republican, the stanch friend of equality, would have
done this? This was enough to wind up the enthusiasm of the army. At
the same time it must be confessed that Bonaparte began to find the
Luxembourg too little for him, and preparations were set on foot at the
Tuileries.
Still this great step towards the re-establishment of the monarchy was
to be cautiously prepared. It was important to do away with the idea
that none but a king could occupy the palace of our ancient kings. What
was to be done? A very fine bust of Brutus had been brought from Italy.
Brutus was the destroyer of tyrants! This was the very thing; and David
was commissioned to place it in a gallery of the Tuileries. Could there
be a greater proof of the Consul's horror of tyranny?
To sleep at the Tuileries, in the bedchamber of the kings of France, was
all that Bonaparte wanted; the rest would follow in due course. He was
willing to be satisfied with establishing a principle the consequences
of which were to be afterwards deduced. Hence the affectation of never
inserting in official acts the name of the Tuileries, but designating
that place as the Palace of the Government. The first preparations were
modest, for it did not become a good Republican to be fond of pomp.
Accordingly Lecomte, who was at that time architect of the Tuileries,
merely received orders to clean the Palace, an expression which might
bear more than one meaning, after the meetings which had been there. For
this purpose the sum of 500,000 francs was sufficient. Bonaparte's drift
was to conceal, as far as possible, the importance he attached to the
change of his Consular domicile. But little expense was requisite for
fitting up apartments for the First Consul. Simple ornaments, such as
marbles and statues, were to decorate the Palace of the Government.
Nothing escaped Bonaparte's consideration. Thus it was not merely at
hazard that he selected the statues of great men to adorn the gallery
of the Tuileries. Among the Greeks he made choice of Demosthenes and
Alexander, thus rendering homage at once to the genius of eloquence and
the genius of victory. The statue of Hannibal was intended to recall the
memory of Rome's most formidable enemy; and Rome herself was represented
in the Consular Palace by the statues of Scipio, Cicero, Cato, Brutus
and Caesar--the victor and the immolator being placed side by side.
Among the great men of modern times he gave the first place to Gustavus
Adolphus, and the next to Turenne and the great Condé, to Turenne in
honour of his military talent, and to Condé to prove that there was
nothing fearful in the recollection of a Bourbon. The remembrance of
the glorious days of the French navy was revived by the statue of Duguai
Trouin. Marlborough and Prince Eugène had also their places in the
gallery, as if to attest the disasters which marked the close of the
great reign; and Marshal Sage, to show that Louis XV.'s reign was
not without its glory. The statues of Frederick and Washington were
emblematic of false philosophy on a throne and true wisdom founding a
free state. Finally, the names of Dugommier, Dampierre, and Joubert were
intended to bear evidence of the high esteem which Bonaparte cherished
for his old comrades,--those illustrious victims to a cause which had
now ceased to be his.
The reader has already been informed of the attempts made by Bonaparte
to induce England and Austria to negotiate with the Consular Government,
which the King of Prussia was the first of the sovereigns of Europe to
recognise. These attempts having proved unavailing, it became necessary
to carry on the war with renewed vigour, and also to explain why the
peace, which had been promised at the beginning of the Consulate,
was still nothing but a promise. In fulfilment of these two objects
Bonaparte addressed an energetic proclamation to the armies, which was
remarkable for not being followed by the usual sacred words, "Vive la
République!"
At the same time Bonaparte completed the formation of the Council
of State, and divided it into five sections:--(1) The Interior; (2)
Finance; (3) Marine; (4) The War Department; (5) Legislation. He fixed
the salaries of the Councillors of the State at 25,000 francs, and that
of the Precedents of Sections at 30,000. He settled the costume of the
Consuls, the Ministers, and the different bodies of the State. This led
to the re-introduction of velvet, which had been banished with the
old regime, and the encouragement of the manufactures of Lyons was the
reason alleged for employing this un-republican article in the different
dresses, such as those of the Consuls and Ministers. It was Bonaparte's
constant aim to efface the Republic, even in the utmost trifles, and to
prepare matters so well that the customs and habits of monarchy being
restored, there should only then remain a word to be changed.
I never remember to have seen Bonaparte in the Consular dress, which he
detested, and which he wore only because duty required him to do so at
public ceremonies. The only dress he was fond of, and in which he felt
at ease, was that in which he subjugated the ancient Eridanus and the
Nile, namely, the uniform of the Guides, to which corps Bonaparte was
always sincerely attached.
The masquerade of official dresses was not the only one which Bonaparte
summoned to the aid of his policy. At that period of the year VIII.
which corresponded with the carnival of 1800, masques began to be
resumed at Paris. Disguises were all the fashion, and Bonaparte favoured
the revival of old amusements; first, because they were old, and next,
because they were the means of diverting the attention of the people:
for, as he had established the principle that on the field of battle it
is necessary to divide the enemy in order to beat him, he conceived
it no less advisable to divert the people in order to enslave them.
Bonaparte did not say 'panem et circenses', for I believe his knowledge
of Latin did not extend even to that well-known phrase of Juvenal, but
he put the maxim in practice. He accordingly authorised the revival
of balls at the opera, which they who lived during that period of the
Consulate know was an important event in Paris. Some gladly viewed it as
a little conquest in favour of the old regime; and others, who for that
very reason disapproved it, were too shallow to understand the influence
of little over great things. The women and the young men did not bestow
a thought on the subject, but yielded willingly to the attractions of
pleasure. Bonaparte, who was delighted at having provided a diversion
for the gossiping of the Parisian salons, said to me one day, "While
they are chatting about all this, they do not babble upon politics, and
that is what I want. Let them dance and amuse themselves as long as they
do not thrust their noses into the Councils of the Government; besides,
Bourrienne," added he, "I have other reasons for encouraging this, I see
other advantages in it. Trade is languishing; Fouché tells me that
there are great complaints. This will set a little money in circulation;
besides, I am on my guard about the Jacobins. Everything is not bad,
because it is not new. I prefer the opera-balls to the saturnalia of the
Goddess of Reason. I was never so enthusiastically applauded as at the
last parade."
A Consular decision of a different and more important nature had,
shortly before, namely, at the commencement of Nivôse, brought happiness
to many families. Bonaparte, as every one knows, had prepared the events
of the 18th Fructidor that he might have some plausible reasons for
overthrowing the Directors. The Directory being overthrown, he was
now anxious, at least in part, to undo what he had done on the 18th
Fructidor. He therefore ordered a report on the persons exiled to be
presented to him by the Minister of Police. In consequence of this
report he authorised forty of them to return to France, placing them
under the observation of the Police Minister, and assigning them their
place of residence. However, they did not long remain under these
restrictions, and many of them were soon called to fill high places in
the Government. It was indeed natural that Bonaparte, still wishing,
at least in appearance, to found his government on those principles of
moderate republicanism which had caused their exile, should invite them
to second his views.
Barrère wrote a justificatory letter to the First Consul, who, however,
took no notice of it, for he could not get so far as to favour Barrère.
Thus did Bonaparte receive into the Councils of the Consulate the men
who had been exiled by the Directory, just as he afterwards appointed
the emigrants and those exiles of the Revolution to high offices under
the Empire. The time and the men alone differed; the intention in both
cases was the same.
CHAPTER XXX
1800.
Bonaparte and Paul I.--Lord Whitworth--Baron Sprengporten's arrival
at Paris--Paul's admiration of Bonaparte--Their close connection and
correspondence--The royal challenge--General Mack--The road to
Malmaison--Attempts at assassination--Death of Washington--National
mourning--Ambitious calculation--M. de Fontanel, the skilful orator
--Fete at the Temple of Mars--Murat's marriage with Caroline
Bonaparte--Madame Bonaparte's pearls.
The first communications between Bonaparte and Paul I. commenced a short
time after his accession to the Consulate. Affairs then began to look
a little less unfavourable for France; already vague reports from
Switzerland and the banks of the Rhine indicated a coldness existing
between the Russians and the Austrians; and at the same time, symptoms
of a misunderstanding between the Courts of London and St. Petersburg
began to be perceptible. The First Consul, having in the meantime
discovered the chivalrous and somewhat eccentric character of Paul I.,
thought the moment a propitious one to attempt breaking the bonds
which united Russia and England. He was not the man to allow so fine
an opportunity to pass, and he took advantage of it with his usual
sagacity. The English had some time before refused to include in a
cartel for the exchange of prisoners 7000 Russians taken in Holland.
Bonaparte ordered them all to be armed, and clothed in new uniforms
appropriate to the corps to which they had belonged, and sent them back
to Russia, without ransom, without exchange, or any condition whatever.
This judicious munificence was not thrown away. Paul I. showed himself
deeply sensible of it, and closely allied as he had lately been with
England, he now, all at once, declared himself her enemy. This triumph
of policy delighted the First Consul.
Thenceforth the Consul and the Czar became the best friends possible.
They strove to outdo each other in professions of friendship; and it
may be believed that Bonaparte did not fail to turn this contest of
politeness to his own advantage. He so well worked upon the mind of Paul
that he succeeded in obtaining a direct influence over the Cabinet of
St. Petersburg.
Lord Whitworth, at that time the English ambassador in Russia, was
ordered to quit the capital without delay, and to retire to Riga, which
then became the focus of the intrigues of the north which ended in the
death of Paul. The English ships were seized in all the ports, and,
at the pressing instance of the Czar, a Prussian army menaced Hanover.
Bonaparte lost no time, and, profiting by the friendship manifested
towards him by the inheritor of Catherine's power, determined to make
that friendship subservient to the execution of the vast plan which he
had long conceived: he meant to undertake an expedition by land against
the English colonies in the East Indies.
The arrival of Baron Sprengporten at Paris caused great satisfaction
among the partisans of the Consular Government, that is to say, almost
every one in Paris. M. Sprengporten was a native of Swedish Finland. He
had been appointed by Catherine chamberlain and lieutenant-general of
her forces, and he was not less in favour with Paul, who treated him
in the most distinguished manner. He came on an extraordinary mission,
being ostensibly clothed with the title of plenipotentiary, and at the
same time appointed confidential Minister to the Consul. Bonaparte was
extremely satisfied with the ambassador whom Paul had selected, and
with the manner in which he described the Emperor's gratitude for the
generous conduct of the First Consul. M. Sprengporten did not conceal
the extent of Paul's dissatisfaction with his allies. The bad issue, he
said, of the war with France had already disposed the Czar to connect
himself with that power, when the return of his troops at once
determined him.
We could easily perceive that Paul placed great confidence in M.
Sprengporten. As he had satisfactorily discharged the mission with which
he had been entrusted, Paul expressed pleasure at his conduct in several
friendly and flattering letters, which Sprengporten always allowed us
to read. No one could be fonder of France than he was, and he ardently
desired that his first negotiations might lead to a long alliance
between the Russian and French Governments. The autograph and very
frequent correspondence between Bonaparte and Paul passed through
his hands. I read all Paul's letters, which were remarkable for the
frankness with which his affection for Bonaparte was expressed. His
admiration of the First Consul was so great that no courtier could have
written in a more flattering manner.
This admiration was not feigned on the part of the Emperor of Russia:
it was no less sincere than ardent, and of this he soon gave proofs. The
violent hatred he had conceived towards the English Government induced
him to defy to single combat every monarch who would not declare war
against England and shut his ports against English ships. He inserted
a challenge to the King of Denmark in the St. Petersburg Court Gazette;
but not choosing to apply officially to the Senate of Hamburg to order
its insertion in the 'Correspondant', conducted by M. Stoves, he sent
the article, through Count Pahlen, to M. Schramm, a Hamburg merchant.
The Count told M. Schramm that the Emperor would be much pleased to
see the article of the St. Petersburg Court Gazette copied into the
Correspondant; and that if it should be inserted, he wished to have
a dozen copies of the paper printed on vellum, and sent to him by an
extraordinary courier. It was Paul's intention to send a copy to every
sovereign in Europe; but this piece of folly, after the manner of
Charles XII., led to no further results.
Bonaparte never felt greater satisfaction in the whole course of his
life than he experienced from Paul's enthusiasm for him. The friendship
of a sovereign seemed to him a step by which he was to become a
sovereign himself. At the same time the affairs of La Vendée began to
assume a better aspect, and he hoped soon to effect that pacification in
the interior which he so ardently desired.
It was during the First Consul's residence at the Luxembourg that the
first report on the civil code was made to the legislative body. It
was then, also, that the regulations for the management of the Bank of
France were adopted, and that establishment so necessary to France was
founded.
There was at this time in Paris a man who has acquired an unfortunate
celebrity, the most unlucky of modern generals--in a word, General
Mack. I should not notice that person here were it not for the prophetic
judgment which Bonaparte then pronounced on him. Mack had been obliged
to surrender himself at Championnet some time before our landing at
Fréjus. He was received as a prisoner of war, and the town of Dijon had
been appointed his place of residence, and there he remained until
after the 18th Brumaire. Bonaparte, now Consul, permitted him to come to
Paris, and to reside there on his parole. He applied for leave to go
to Vienna, pledging himself to return again a prisoner to France if the
Emperor Francis would not consent to exchange him for Generals Pérignon
and Grouchy, then prisoners in Austria. His request was not granted, but
his proposition was forwarded to Vienna. The Court of Vienna refused to
accede to it, not placing perhaps so much importance on the deliverance
of Mack as he had flattered himself it would.
Bonaparte speaking to me of him one day said, "Mack is a man of the
lowest mediocrity I ever saw in my life; he is full of self-sufficiency
and conceit, and believes himself equal to anything. He has no talent. I
should like to see him opposed some day to one of our good generals;
we should then see fine work. He is a boaster, and that is all. He is
really one of the most silly men existing; and, besides all that, he is
unlucky." Was not this opinion of Bonaparte, formed on the past, fully
verified by the future?
It was at Malmaison that Bonaparte thus spoke of General Mack. That
place was then far from resembling what it afterwards became, and the
road to it was neither pleasant nor sure. There was not a house on the
road; and in the evening, during the season when we were there, it was
not frequented all the way from St. Germain. Those numerous vehicles,
which the demands of luxury and an increasing population have created,
did not then, as now, pass along the roads in the environs of Paris.
Everywhere the road was solitary and dangerous; and I learned with
certainty that many schemes were laid for carrying off the First Consul
during one of his evening journeys. They were unsuccessful, and orders
were given to enclose the quarries, which were too near to the road.
On Saturday evening Bonaparte left the Luxembourg, and afterwards the
Tuileries, to go to Malmaison, and I cannot better express the joy he
then appeared to experience than by comparing it to the delight of a
school-boy on getting a holiday.
Before removing from the Luxembourg to the Tuileries Bonaparte
determined to dazzle the eyes of the Parisians by a splendid ceremony.
He had appointed it to take place on the 'decadi', Pluviôse 20 (9th
February 1800), that is to say, ten days before his final departure from
the old Directorial palace. These kinds of fetes did not resemble what
they afterwards became; their attraction consisted in the splendour of
military dress: and Bonaparte was always sure that whenever he mounted
his horse, surrounded by a brilliant staff from which he was to be
distinguished by the simplicity of his costume, his path would be
crowded and himself greeted with acclamations by the people of Paris.
The object of this fete was at first only to present to the 'Hôtel des
Invalides', then called the Temple of Mars, seventy-two flags taken from
the Turks in the battle of Aboukir and brought from Egypt to Paris; but
intelligence of Washington's death, who expired on the 14th of December
1799, having reached Bonaparte, he eagerly took advantage of that event
to produce more effect, and mixed the mourning cypress with the laurels
he had collected in Egypt.
Bonaparte did not feel much concerned at the death of Washington, that
noble founder of rational freedom in the new world; but it afforded him
an opportunity to mask his ambitious projects under the appearance of
a love of liberty. In thus rendering honour to the memory of Washington
everybody would suppose that Bonaparte intended to imitate his example,
and that their two names would pass in conjunction from mouth to mouth.
A clever orator might be employed, who, while pronouncing a eulogium on
the dead, would contrive to bestow some praise on the living; and when
the people were applauding his love of liberty he would find himself one
step nearer the throne, on which his eyes were constantly fixed. When
the proper time arrived, he would not fail to seize the crown; and would
still cry, if necessary, "Vive la Liberté!" while placing it on his
imperial head.
The skilful orator was found. M. de Fontanes
--[L. de Fontanes (1767-1821) became president of the Corps
Legislatif, Senator, and Grand Master of the University. He was the
centre of the literary group of the Empire,]--
was commissioned to pronounce the funeral eulogium on Washington, and
the flowers of eloquence which he scattered about did not all fall on
the hero of America.
Lannes was entrusted by Bonaparte with the presentation of the flags;
and on the 20th Pluviôse he proceeded, accompanied by strong detachments
of the cavalry then in Paris, to the council-hall of the Invalides,
where he was met by the Minister of War, who received the colours. All
the Ministers, the councillors of State, and generals were summoned
to the presentation. Lannes pronounced a discourse, to which Berthier
replied, and M. de Fontanes added his well-managed eloquence to the
plain military oratory of the two generals. In the interior of this
military temple a statue of Mars sleeping had been placed, and from the
pillars and roof were suspended the trophies of Denain, Fontenoy, and
the campaign of Italy, which would still have decorated that edifice had
not the demon of conquest possessed Bonaparte. Two Invalides, each said
to be a hundred years old, stood beside the Minister of War; and the
bust of the emancipator of America was placed under the trophy composed
of the flags of Aboukir. In a word, recourse was had to every sort
of charlatanism usual on such occasions. In the evening there was a
numerous assembly at the Luxembourg, and Bonaparte took much credit to
himself for the effect produced on this remarkable day. He had only to
wait ten days for his removal to the Tuileries, and precisely on that
day the national mourning for Washington was to cease, for which a
general mourning for freedom might well have been substituted.
I have said very little about Murat in the course of these Memoirs
except mentioning the brilliant part he performed in several battles.
Having now arrived at the period of his marriage with one of Napoleon's
sisters I take the opportunity of returning to the interesting events
which preceded that alliance.
His fine and well-proportioned form, his great physical strength and
somewhat refined elegance of manner,--the fire of his eye, and his
fierce courage in battle, gave to Murat rather the character of one of
those 'preux chevaliers' so well described by Ariosto and Taro, than
that a Republican soldier. The nobleness of his look soon made the
lowness of his birth be forgotten. He was affable, polished, gallant;
and in the field of battle twenty men headed by Murat were worth a whole
regiment. Once only he showed himself under the influence of fear, and
the reader shall see in what circumstance it was that he ceased to be
himself.
--[Marshal Lannes, so brave and brilliant in war and so well able to
appreciate courage, one day sharply rebuked a colonel for having
punished a young officer just arrived from school at Fontainebleau
because he gave evidence of fear in his first engagement. "Know,
colonel," said he, "none but a poltroon (the term was even more
strong) will boast that he never was afraid."--Bourrienne.]--
When Bonaparte in his first Italian campaign had forced Wurmser to
retreat into Mantua with 28,000 men, he directed Miollis, with only
4000 men, to oppose any sortie that might be attempted by the Austrian
general. In one of these sorties Murat, who was at the head of a very
weak detachment, was ordered to charge Wurmser. He was afraid, neglected
to execute the order, and in a moment of confusion said that he was
wounded. Murat immediately fell into disgrace with the General-in-Chief,
whose 'aide de camp' he was.
Murat had been previously sent to Paris to present to the Directory the
first colours taken by the French army of Italy in the actions of Dego
and Mondovi, and it was on this occasion that he got acquainted with
Madame Tallien and the wife of his General. But he already knew the
beautiful Caroline Bonaparte, whom he had seen at Rome in the residence
of her brother Joseph, who was then discharging the functions of
ambassador of the Republic. It appears that Caroline was not even
indifferent to him, and that he was the successful rival of the Princess
Santa Croce's son, who eagerly sought the honour of her hand. Madame
Tallien and Madame Bonaparte received with great kindness the first
'aide de camp', and as they possessed much influence with the
Directory, they solicited, and easily obtained for him, the rank of
brigadier-general. It was somewhat remarkable at that time Murat,
notwithstanding his newly-acquired rank, to remain Bonaparte's 'aide de
camp', the regulations not allowing a general-in-chief an 'aide de
camp' of higher rank than chief of brigade, which was equal to that
of colonel. This insignificant act was, therefore, rather a hasty
anticipation of the prerogatives everywhere reserved to princes and
kings.
It was after having discharged this commission that Murat, on his return
to Italy, fell into disfavour with the General-in Chief. He indeed
looked upon him with a sort of hostile feeling, and placed him in
Reille's division, and afterwards Baraguey d'Hilliers'; consequently,
when we went to Paris, after the treaty of Campo-Formio, Murat was not
of the party. But as the ladies, with whom he was a great favourite,
were not devoid of influence with the Minister of War, Murat was, by
their interest, attached to the engineer corps in the expedition to
Egypt. On board the Orient he remained in the most complete disgrace.
Bonaparte did not address a word to him during the passage; and in Egypt
the General-in-Chief always treated him with coldness, and often
sent him from the headquarters on disagreeable services. However, the
General-in-Chief having opposed him to Mourad Bey, Murat performed such
prodigies of valour in every perilous encounter that he effaced the
transitory stain which a momentary hesitation under the walls of Mantua
had left on his character. Finally, Murat so powerfully contributed to
the success of the day at Aboukir that Bonaparte, glad to be able to
carry another laurel plucked in Egypt to France, forgot the fault which
had made so unfavourable an impression, and was inclined to efface from
his memory other things that he had heard to the disadvantage of Murat;
for I have good reasons for believing, though Bonaparte never told me
so, that Murat's name, as well as that of Charles, escaped from the lips
of Junot when he made his indiscreet communication to Bonaparte at the
walls of Messoudiah. The charge of grenadiers, commanded by Murat on
the 19th Brumaire in the hall of the Five Hundred, dissipated all the
remaining traces of dislike; and in those moments when Bonaparte's
political views subdued every other sentiment of his mind, the rival of
the Prince Santa Croce received the command of the Consular Guard.
--[Joachim Murat (1771-1616), the son of an innkeeper, aide de camp
to Napoleon in Italy, etc.; Marshal, 1804; Prince in 1806; Grand
Admiral; Grand Duc de Berg et de Clesves, 1808; King of Naples,
1808. Shot by Bourbons 13th October 1815. Married Caroline
Bonaparte (third sister of Napoleon) 20th January 1800.]--
It may reasonably be supposed that Madame Bonaparte, in endeavouring to
win the friendship of Murat by aiding his promotion, had in view to gain
one partisan more to oppose to the family and brothers of Bonaparte;
and of this kind of support she had much need. Their jealous hatred was
displayed on every occasion; and the amiable Josephine, whose only
fault was being too much of the woman, was continually tormented by sad
presentiments. Carried away by the easiness of her character, she did
not perceive that the coquetry which enlisted for her so many defenders
also supplied her implacable enemies with weapons to use against her.
In this state of things Josephine, who was well convinced that she had
attached Murat to herself by the bonds of friendship and gratitude, and
ardently desired to see him united to Bonaparte by a family connection,
favoured with all her influence his marriage with Caroline. She was not
ignorant that a close intimacy had already sprung up at Milan between
Caroline and Murat, and she was the first to propose a marriage. Murat
hesitated, and went to consult M. Collot, who was a good adviser in all
things, and whose intimacy with Bonaparte had initiated him into all the
secrets of the family. M. Collot advised Murat to lose no time, but to
go to the First Consul and formally demand the hand of his sister. Murat
followed his advice. Did he do well? It was to this step that he owed
the throne of Naples. If he had abstained he would not have been shot at
Pizzo. 'Sed ipsi Dei fata rumpere non possunt!'
However that might be, Bonaparte received, more in the manner of a
sovereign than of a brother in arms, the proposal of Murat. He heard him
with unmoved gravity, said that he would consider the matter, but gave
no positive answer.
This affair was, as may be supposed, the subject of conversation in the
evening in the salon of the Luxembourg. Madame Bonaparte employed all
her powers of persuasion to obtain the First Consul's consent, and her
efforts were seconded by Hortense, Eugène, and myself, "Murat," said he,
among other things, "Murat is an innkeeper's son. In the elevated rank
where glory and fortune have placed me, I never can mix his blood with
mine! Besides, there is no hurry: I shall see by and by." We forcibly
described to him the reciprocal affection of the two young people, and
did not fail to bring to his observation Murat's devoted attachment to
his person, his splendid courage and noble conduct in Egypt. "Yes," said
he, with warmth, "I agree with you; Murat was superb at Aboukir." We
did not allow so favourable a moment to pass by. We redoubled our
entreaties, and at last he consented. When we were together in his
cabinet in the evening, "Well, Bourrienne," said he to me, "you ought to
be satisfied, and so am I, too, everything considered. Murat is suited
to my sister, and then no one can say that I am proud, or seek grand
alliances. If I had given my sister to a noble, all your Jacobins would
have raised a cry of counter-revolution. Besides, I am very glad that
my wife is interested in this marriage, and you may easily suppose the
cause. Since it is determined on, I will hasten it forward; we have no
time to lose. If I go to Italy I will take Murat with me. I must strike
a decisive blow there. Adieu."
When I entered the First Consul's chamber at seven o'clock the next day
he appeared even more satisfied than on the preceding evening with the
resolution he had taken. I easily perceived that in spite of all his
cunning, he had failed to discover the real motive which had induced
Josephine to take so lively an interest respecting Murat's marriage with
Caroline. Still Bonaparte's satisfaction plainly showed that his wife's
eagerness for the marriage had removed all doubt in his mind of the
falsity of the calumnious reports which had prevailed respecting her
intimacy with Murat.
The marriage of Murat and Caroline was celebrated at the Luxembourg, but
with great modesty. The First Consul did not yet think that his family
affairs were affairs of state. But previously to the celebration a
little comedy was enacted in which I was obliged to take a part, and I
will relate how.
At the time of the marriage of Murat Bonaparte had not much money, and
therefore only gave his sister a dowry of 30,000 francs. Still, thinking
it necessary to make her a marriage present, and not possessing the
means to purchase a suitable one, he took a diamond necklace which
belonged to his wife and gave it to the bride. Josephine was not at all
pleased with this robbery, and taxed her wits to discover some means of
replacing her necklace.
Josephine was aware that the celebrated jeweler Foncier possessed a
magnificent collection of fine pearls which had belonged, as he said, to
the late Queen, Marie Antoinette. Having ordered them to be brought to
her to examine them, she thought there were sufficient to make a very
fine necklace. But to make the purchase 250,000 francs were required,
and how to get them was the difficulty. Madame Bonaparte had recourse to
Berthier, who was then Minister of War. Berthier, after biting his nails
according to his usual habit, set about the liquidation of the debts due
for the hospital service in Italy with as much speed as possible; and as
in those days the contractors whose claims were admitted overflowed with
gratitude towards their patrons, through whom they obtained payment,
the pearls soon passed from Foncier's shop to the casket of Madame
Bonaparte.
The pearls being thus obtained, there was still another difficulty,
which Madame Bonaparte did not at first think of. How was she to wear
a necklace purchased without her husband's knowledge? Indeed it was the
more difficult for her to do so as the First Consul knew very well that
his wife had no money, and being, if I may be allowed the expression,
something of the busybody, he knew, or believed he knew, all Josephine's
jewels. The pearls were therefore condemned to remain more than a
fortnight in Madame Bonaparte's casket without her daring to use
them. What a punishment for a woman! At length her vanity overcame her
prudence, and being unable to conceal the jewels any longer, she one day
said to me, "Bourrienne, there is to be a large party here to-morrow,
and I absolutely must wear my pearls. But you know he will grumble if he
notices them. I beg, Bourrienne, that you will keep near me. If he asks
me where I got my pearls I must tell him, without hesitation, that I
have had them a long time."
Everything happened as Josephine feared and hoped.
Bonaparte, on seeing the pearls, did not fail to say to Madame, "What is
it you have got there? How fine you are to-day! Where did you get these
pearls? I think I never saw them before."--"Oh! 'mon Dieu'! you have
seen them a dozen times! It is the necklace which the Cisalpine Republic
gave me, and which I now wear in my hair."--"But I think--"--"Stay: ask
Bourrienne, he will tell you."--"Well, Bourrienne, what do you say to
it? Do you recollect the necklace?"--"Yes, General, I recollect very
well seeing it before." This was not untrue, for Madame Bonaparte
had previously shown me the pearls. Besides, she had received a pearl
necklace from the Cisalpine Republic, but of incomparably less value
than that purchased from Foncier. Josephine performed her part with
charming dexterity, and I did not act amiss the character of accomplice
assigned me in this little comedy. Bonaparte had no suspicions. When
I saw the easy confidence with which Madame Bonaparte got through
this scene, I could not help recollecting Suzanne's reflection on
the readiness with which well-bred ladies can tell falsehoods without
seeming to do so.
CHAPTER XXXI.
1800.
Police on police--False information--Dexterity of Fouché--Police
agents deceived--Money ill applied--Inutility of political police--
Bonaparte's opinion--General considerations--My appointment to the
Prefecture of police.
Before taking up his quarters in the Tuileries the First Consul
organised his secret police, which was intended, at the same time, to be
the rival or check upon Fouché's police. Duroc and Moncey were at
first the Director of this police; afterwards Davoust and Junot. Madame
Bonaparte called this business a vile system of espionage. My remarks
on the inutility of the measure were made in vain. Bonaparte had the
weakness at once to fear Fouché and to think him necessary. Fouché,
whose talents at this trade are too well known to need my approbation,
soon discovered this secret institution, and the names of all the
subaltern agents employed by the chief agents. It is difficult to form
an idea of the nonsense, absurdity, and falsehood contained in the
bulletins drawn up by the noble and ignoble agents of the police. I do
not mean to enter into details on this nauseating subject; and I shall
only trespass on the reader's patience by relating, though it be in
anticipation, one fact which concerns myself, and which will prove that
spies and their wretched reports cannot be too much distrusted.
During the second year of the Consulate we were established at
Malmaison. Junot had a very large sum at his disposal for the secret
police of the capital. He gave 3000 francs of it to a wretched
manufacturer of bulletins; the remainder was expended on the police of
his stable and his table. In reading one of these daily bulletins I saw
the following lines:
"M. de Bourrienne went last night to Paris. He entered an hotel of
the Faubourg St. Germain, Rue de Varenne, and there, in the course
of a very animated discussion, he gave it to be understood that the
First Consul wished to make himself King."
As it happens, I never had opened my mouth, either respecting what
Bonaparte had said to me before we went to Egypt or respecting his other
frequent conversations with me of the same nature, during this period of
his Consulship. I may here observe, too, that I never quitted, nor ever
could quit Malmaison for a moment. At any time, by night or day, I was
subject to be called for by the First Consul, and, as very often was the
case, it so happened that on the night in question he had dictated to me
notes and instructions until three o'clock in the morning.
Junot came every day to Malmaison at eleven o'clock in the morning. I
called him that day into my cabinet, when I happened to be alone. "Have
you not read your bulletin?" said I, "Yes, I have."--"Nay, that is
impossible."--"Why?"--"Because, if you had, you would have suppressed
an absurd story which relates to me."--"Ah!" he replied, "I am sorry on
your account, but I can depend on my agent, and I will not alter a word
of his report." I then told him all that had taken place on that night;
but he was obstinate, and went away unconvinced.
Every morning I placed all the papers which the First Consul had to read
on his table, and among the first was Junot's report. The First Consul
entered and read it; on coming to the passage concerning me he began to
smile.
"Have you read this bulletin?"--"Yes, General."--"What an ass that Junot
is! It is a long time since I have known that."--"How he allows himself
to be entrapped! Is he still here?"--"I believe so. I have just seen
him, and made observations to him, all in good part, but he would
hear nothing."--"Tell him to come here." When Junot appeared Bonaparte
began--"Imbecile that you are! how could you send me such reports as
these? Do you not read them? How shall I be sure that you will not
compromise other persons equally unjustly? I want positive facts, not
inventions. It is some time since your agent displeased me; dismiss
him directly." Junot wanted to justify himself, but Bonaparte cut him
short--"Enough!--It is settled!"
I related what had passed to Fouché, who told me that, wishing to amuse
himself at Junot's expense, whose police agents only picked up what they
heard related in coffeehouses, gaming-houses, and the Bourse, he had
given currency to this absurd story, which Junot had credited and
reported, as he did many other foolish tales. Fouché often caught the
police of the Palace in the snares he laid for them, and thus increased
his own credit.
This circumstance, and others of the same nature, induced the First
Consul to attach less importance than at first he had to his secret
police, which seldom reported anything but false and silly stories. That
wretched police! During the time I was with him it embittered his life,
and often exasperated him against his wife, his relations, and friends.
--[Bourrienne, it must be remembered, was a sufferer from the
vigilance of this police.]--
Rapp, who was as frank as he was brave, tells us in his Memoirs (p.
233) that when Napoleon, during his retreat from Moscow, while before
Smolenski, heard of the attempt of Mallet, he could not get over the
adventure of the Police Minister, Savary, and the Prefect of Police,
Pasquier. "Napoleon," says Rapp, "was not surprised that these wretches
(he means the agents of the police) who crowd the salons and the
taverns, who insinuate themselves everywhere and obstruct everything,
should not have found out the plot, but he could not understand the
weakness of the Duc de Rovigo. The very police which professed to
divine everything had let themselves be taken by surprise." The police
possessed no foresight or faculty of prevention. Every silly thing that
transpired was reported either from malice or stupidity. What was heard
was misunderstood or distorted in the recital, so that the only result
of the plan was mischief and confusion.
The police as a political engine is a dangerous thing. It foments and
encourages more false conspiracies than it discovers or defeats real
ones. Napoleon has related "that M. de la Rochefoucauld formed at Paris
a conspiracy in favour of the King, then at Mittau, the first act of
which was to be the death of the Chief of the Government. The plot being
discovered, a trusty person belonging to the police was ordered to
join it and become one of the most active agents. He brought letters
of recommendation from an old gentleman in Lorraine who had held a
distinguished rank in the army of Condé." After this, what more can be
wanted? A hundred examples could not better show the vileness of such
a system. Napoleon, when fallen, himself thus disclosed the scandalous
means employed by his Government.
Napoleon on one occasion, in the Isle of Elba, said to an officer who
was conversing with him about France, "You believe, then, that the
police agents foresee everything and know everything? They invent more
than they discover. Mine, I believe, was better than that they have got
now, and yet it was often only by mere chance, the imprudence of the
parties implicated, or the treachery of some of them, that something was
discovered after a week or fortnight's exertion." Napoleon, in directing
this officer to transmit letters to him under the cover of a commercial
correspondence, to quiet his apprehensions that the correspondence might
be discovered, said, "Do you think, then, that all letters are opened
at the post office? They would never be able to do so. I have often
endeavoured to discover what the correspondence was that passed under
mercantile forms, but I never succeeded. The post office, like the
police, catches only fools."
Since I am on the subject of political police, that leprosy of modern
society, perhaps I may be allowed to overstep the order of time, and
advert to its state even in the present day.
The Minister of Police, to give his prince a favourable idea of his
activity, contrives great conspiracies, which he is pretty sure to
discover in time, because he is their originator. The inferior agents,
to find favour in the eyes of the Minister, contrive small plots. It
would be difficult to mention a conspiracy which has been discovered,
except when the police agents took part in it, or were its promoters.
It is difficult to conceive how those agents can feed a little intrigue,
the result at first, perhaps, of some petty ill-humour and discontent
which, thanks to their skill, soon becomes a great affair. How many
conspiracies have escaped the boasted activity and vigilance of the
police when none of its agents were parties. I may instance Babeuf's
conspiracy, the attempt at the camp at Grenelle, the 18th Brumaire, the
infernal machine, Mallet, the 20th of March, the affair of Grenoble, and
many others.
The political police, the result of the troubles of the Revolution, has
survived them. The civil police for the security of property, health,
and order, is only made a secondary object, and has been, therefore,
neglected. There are times in which it is thought of more consequence to
discover whether a citizen goes to mass or confession than to defeat the
designs of a band of robbers. Such a state of things is unfortunate for
a country; and the money expended on a system of superintendence over
persons alleged to be suspected, in domestic inquisitions, in the
corruption of the friends, relations, and servants of the man marked out
for destruction might be much better employed. The espionage of opinion,
created, as I have said, by the revolutionary troubles, is suspicious,
restless, officious, inquisitorial, vexatious, and tyrannical.
Indifferent to crimes and real offences, it is totally absorbed in the
inquisition of thoughts. Who has not heard it said in company, to some
one speaking warmly, "Be moderate, M------ is supposed to belong to the
police." This police enthralled Bonaparte himself in its snares, and
held him a long time under the influence of its power.
I have taken the liberty thus to speak of a scourge of society of which
I have been a victim. What I here state may be relied on. I shall not
speak of the week during which I had to discharge the functions of
Prefect of Police, namely, from the 13th to the 20th of March, 1815.
It may well be supposed that though I had not held in abhorrence the
infamous system which I have described, the important nature of the
circumstances and the short period of my administration must have
prevented me from making complete use of the means placed at my
disposal. The dictates of discretion, which I consider myself bound to
obey, forbid me giving proofs of what I advance. What it was necessary
to do I accomplished without employing violent or vexatious means; and
I can take on myself to assert that no one has cause to complain of me.
Were I to publish the list of the persons I had orders to arrest, those
of them who are yet living would be astonished that the only knowledge
they had of my being the Prefect of Police was from the Moniteur. I
obtained by mild measures, by persuasion, and reasoning what I could
never have got by violence. I am not divulging any secrets of office,
but I believe I am rendering a service to the public in pointing out
what I have often observed while an unwilling confidant in the shameful
manoeuvres of that political institution.
The word ideologue was often in Bonaparte's mouth; and in using it he
endeavoured to throw ridicule on those men whom he fancied to have a
tendency towards the doctrine of indefinite perfectibility. He esteemed
them for their morality, yet he looked on them as dreamers seeking for
the type of a universal constitution, and considering the character of
man in the abstract only. The ideologues, according to him, looked for
power in institutions; and that he called metaphysics. He had no idea
of power except in direct force. All benevolent men who speculate on the
amelioration of human society were regarded by Bonaparte as dangerous,
because their maxims and principles were diametrically opposed to the
harsh and arbitrary system he had adopted. He said that their hearts
were better than their heads, and, far from wandering with them in
abstractions, he always said that men were only to be governed by fear
and interest. The free expression of opinion through the press has been
always regarded by those who are not led away by interest or power as
useful to society. But Bonaparte held the liberty of the press in the
greatest horror; and so violent was his passion when anything was urged
in its favour that he seemed to labour under a nervous attack. Great man
as he was, he was sorely afraid of little paragraphs.
--[Joseph Bonaparte fairly enough remarks on this that such writings
had done great harm in those extraordinary times (Erreurs, tome i,
p. 259). Metternich, writing in 1827 with distrust of the
proceedings of Louis XVIII., quotes, with approval, Napoleon's
sentiments on this point. "Napoleon, who could not have been
wanting in the feeling of power, said to me, 'You see me master of
France; well, I would not undertake to govern her for three months
with liberty of the press. Louis XVIII., apparently thinking
himself stronger than Napoleon, is not content with allowing the
press its freedom, but has embodied its liberty in the charter"
(Metternich, tome iv, p. 391.)]--
CHAPTER XXXII.
1800.
Successful management of parties--Precautions--Removal from the
Luxembourg to the Tuileries--Hackney-coaches and the Consul's white
horses--Royal custom and an inscription--The review--Bonaparte's
homage to the standards--Talleyrand in Bonaparte's cabinet--
Bonaparte's aversion to the cap of liberty even in painting--The
state bed--Our cabinet.
Of the three brothers to whom the 18th Brumaire gave birth Bonaparte
speedily declared himself the eldest, and hastened to assume all the
rights of primogeniture. He soon arrogated to himself the whole power.
The project he had formed, when he favoured the revolution of the 18th
Fructidor, was now about to be realized. It was then an indispensable
part of his plan that the Directory should violate the constitution
in order to justify a subsequent subversion of the Directory. The
expressions which escaped him from time to time plainly showed that his
ambition was not yet satisfied, and that the Consulship was only a state
of probation preliminary to the complete establishment of monarchy.
The Luxembourg was then discovered to be too small for the Chief of
the Government, and it was resolved that Bonaparte should inhabit the
Tuileries. Still great prudence was necessary to avoid the quicksands
which surrounded him! He therefore employed great precaution in dealing
with the susceptibilities of the Republicans, taking care to inure
them gradually to the temperature of absolute power. But this mode of
treatment was not sufficient; for such was Bonaparte's situation between
the Jacobins and the Royalists that he could not strike a blow at one
party without strengthening the other. He, however, contrived to
solve this difficult problem, and weakened both parties by alternately
frightening each. "You see, Royalists," he seemed to say, "if you do
not attach yourselves to my government the Jacobins will again rise
and bring back the reign of terror and its scaffold." To the men of the
Revolution he, on the other hand, said, "See, the counter-Revolution
appears, threatening reprisals and vengeance. It is ready to overwhelm
you; my buckler can alone protect you from its attacks." Thus both
parties were induced, from their mutual fear of each other, to attach
themselves to Bonaparte; and while they fancied they were only placing
themselves under the protection of the Chief of the Government, they
were making themselves dependent on an ambitious man, who, gradually
bending them to his will, guided them as he chose in his political
career. He advanced with a firm step; but he never neglected any
artifice to conceal, as long as possible, his designs.
I saw Bonaparte put in motion all his concealed springs; and I could not
help admiring his wonderful address.
But what most astonished me was the control he possessed over himself,
in repressing any premature manifestation of his intentions which
might prejudice his projects. Thus, for instance, he never spoke of the
Tuileries but under the name of "the Palace of the Government," and he
determined not to inhabit, at first, the ancient palace of the kings of
France alone. He contented himself with selecting the royal apartments,
and proposed that the Third Consul should also reside in the Tuileries,
and in consequence he occupied the Pavilion of Flora. This skilful
arrangement was perfectly in accordance with the designation of "Palace
of the Government" given to the Tuileries, and was calculated to
deceive, for a time, the most clear-sighted.
The moment for leaving the Luxembourg having arrived, Bonaparte still
used many deceptive precautions. The day filed for the translation of
the seat of government was the 30th Pluviôse, the previous day having
been selected for publishing the account of the votes taken for
the acceptance of the new Constitution. He had, besides, caused the
insertion in the 'Moniteur' of the eulogy on Washington, pronounced,
by M. de Fontanes, the decadi preceding, to be delayed for ten days. He
thought that the day when he was about to take so large a step towards
monarchy would be well chosen for entertaining the people of Paris with
grand ideas of liberty, and for coupling his own name with that of the
founder of the free government of the United States.
At seven o'clock on the morning of the 30th Pluviôse I entered, as
usual, the chamber of the First Consul. He was in a profound sleep, and
this was one of the days on which I had been desired to allow him to
sleep a little longer than usual. I have often observed that General
Bonaparte appeared much less moved when on the point of executing any
great design than during the time of projecting it, so accustomed was he
to think that what he had resolved on in his mind, was already done.
When I returned to Bonaparte he said to me, with a marked air of
satisfaction, "Well, Bourrienne, to-night, at last, we shall sleep in
the Tuileries. You are better off than I: you are not obliged to make a
spectacle of yourself, but may go your own road there. I must, however,
go in procession: that disgusts me; but it is necessary to speak to
the eyes. That has a good effect on the people. The Directory was too
simple, and therefore never enjoyed any consideration. In the army
simplicity is in its proper place; but in a great city, in a palace, the
Chief of the Government must attract attention in every possible way,
yet still with prudence. Josephine is going to look out from Lebrun's
apartments; go with her, if you like; but go to the cabinet as soon as
you see me alight from my horse."
I did not go to the review, but proceeded to the Tuileries, to arrange
in our new cabinet the papers which it was my duty to take care of, and
to prepare everything for the First Consul's arrival. It was not until
the evening that I learned, from the conversation in the salon, where
there was a numerous party, what had taken place in the course of the
day.
At one o'clock precisely Bonaparte left the Luxembourg. The procession
was, doubtless, far from approaching the magnificent parade of the
Empire: but as much pomp was introduced as the state of things in France
permitted. The only real splendour of that period consisted in fine
troops. Three thousand picked men, among whom was the superb regiment
of the Guides, had been ordered out for the occasion: all marched in the
greatest order; with music at the head of each corps. The generals and
their staffs were on horseback, the Ministers in carriages, which were
somewhat remarkable, as they were almost the only private carriages then
in Paris, for hackney-coaches had been hired to convey the Council of
State, and no trouble had been taken to alter them, except by pasting
over the number a piece of paper of the same colour as the body of the
vehicle. The Consul's carriage was drawn by six white horses. With the
sight of those horses was associated the recollection of days of glory
and of peace, for they had been presented to the General-in-Chief of
the army of Italy by the Emperor of Germany after the treaty of
Campo-Formio. Bonaparte also wore the magnificent sabre given him by the
Emperor Francis. With Cambacérès on his left, and Lebrun in the front of
the carriage, the First Consul traversed a part of Paris, taking the Rue
de Thionville, and the Quai Voltaire to the Pont Royal. Everywhere he
was greeted by acclamations of joy, which at that time were voluntary,
and needed not to be commanded by the police.
From the wicket of the Carrousel to the gate of the Tuileries the
troops of the Consular Guard were formed in two lines, through which the
procession passed--a royal custom, which made a singular contrast
with an inscription in front of which Bonaparte passed on entering the
courtyard. Two guard-houses had been built, one on the right and another
on the left of the centre gate. On the one to the right were written
these words:
"THE TENTH of AUGUST 1792.--ROYALTY IN FRANCE
IS ABOLISHED; AND SHALL NEVER BE RE-ESTABLISHED!"
It was already re-established!
In the meantime the troops had been drawn up in line in the courtyard.
As soon as the Consul's carriage stopped Bonaparte immediately alighted,
and mounted, or, to speak more properly, leaped on his horse, and
reviewed his troops, while the other two Consuls proceeded to the
state apartments of the Tuileries, where the Council of State and the
Ministers awaited them. A great many ladies, elegantly dressed in Greek
costume, which was then the fashion, were seated with Madame Bonaparte
at the windows of the Third Consul's apartments in the Pavilion of
Flora. It is impossible to give an idea of the immense crowds which
flowed in from all quarters. The windows looking to the Carrousel were
let for very large sums; and everywhere arose, as if from one voice,
shouts of "Long live the First Consul!" Who could help being intoxicated
by so much enthusiasm?
Bonaparte prolonged the review for some time, passed down all the
ranks, and addressed the commanders of corps in terms of approbation
and praise. He then took his station at the gate of the Tuileries, with
Murat on his right, and Lannes on his left, and behind him a numerous
staff of young warriors, whose complexions had been browned by the sun
of Egypt and Italy, and who had been engaged in more battles than
they numbered years. When the colours of the 96th, 43d, and 34th
demi-brigades, or rather their flagstaffs surmounted by some shreds,
riddled by balls and blackened by powder, passed before him, he raised
his hat and inclined his head in token of respect. Every homage thus
paid by a great captain to standards which had been mutilated on the
field of battle was saluted by a thousand acclamations. When the troops
had finished defiling before him, the First Consul, with a firm step,
ascended the stairs of the Tuileries.
The General's part being finished for the day, that of the Chief of the
State began; and indeed it might already be said that the First Consul
was the whole Consulate. At the risk of interrupting my narrative of
what occurred on our arrival at the Tuileries, by a digression, which
may be thought out of place, I will relate a fact which had no little
weight in hastening Bonaparte's determination to assume a superiority
over his colleagues. It may be remembered that when Roger Ducos and
Sieyès bore the title of Consuls the three members of the Consular
commission were equal, if not in fact at least in right. But when
Cambacérès and Lebrun took their places, Talleyrand, who had at the
same time been appointed to succeed M. Reinhart as Minister of Foreign
Affairs, obtained a private audience of the First Consul in his cabinet,
to which I was admitted. The observations of Talleyrand on this occasion
were highly agreeable to Bonaparte, and they made too deep an impression
on my mind to allow me to forget them.
"Citizen Consul," said he to him, "you have confided to me the office of
Minister for Foreign Affairs, and I will justify your confidence; but I
must declare to you that from this moment, I will not transact business
with any but yourself. This determination does not proceed from any vain
pride on my part, but is induced by a desire to serve France. In order
that France may be well governed, in order that there may be a unity of
action in the government, you must be First Consul, and the First Consul
must have the control over all that relates directly to politics;
that is to say, over the Ministry of the Interior, and the Ministry
of Police, for Internal Affairs, and over my department, for Foreign
Affairs; and, lastly, over the two great means of execution, the
military and naval forces. It will therefore be most convenient that the
Ministers of those five departments should transact business with you.
The Administration of Justice and the ordering of the Finances are
objects certainly connected with State politics by numerous links,
which, however, are not of so intimate a nature as those of the other
departments. If you will allow me, General, I should advise that the
control over the Administration of Justice be given to the Second
Consul, who is well versed in jurisprudence; and to the Third Consul,
who is equally well acquainted with Finance, the control over that
department. That will occupy and amuse them, and you, General, having
at your disposal all the vital parts of the government, will be able to
reach the end you aim at, the regeneration of France."
Bonaparte did not hear these remarkable words with indifference. They
were too much in accordance with his own secret wishes to be listened
to without pleasure; and he said to me as soon as Talleyrand had taken
leave, "Do you know, Bourrienne, I think Talleyrand gives good advice.
He is a man of great understanding."--"Such is the opinion," I replied,
"of all who know him."--"He is perfectly right." Afterwards he added,
smiling, "Tallyrand is evidently a shrewd man. He has penetrated my
designs. What he advises you know I am anxious to do. But again I say,
he is right; one gets on quicker by oneself. Lebrun is a worthy man,
but he has no policy in his head; he is a book-maker. Cambacérès carries
with him too many traditions of the Revolution. My government must be an
entirely new one."
Talleyrand's advice had been so punctually followed that even on the
occasion of the installation of the Consular Government, while Bonaparte
was receiving all the great civil and military officers of the State
in the hall of presentation, Cambacérès and Lebrun stood by more like
spectators of the scene than two colleagues of the First Consul. The
Minister of the Interior presented the civil authorities of Paris; the
Minister of War, the staff of the 17th military division; the Minister
of Marine, several naval officers; and the staff of the Consular Guard
was presented by Murat. As our Consular republicans were not exactly
Spartans, the ceremony of the presentations was followed by grand
dinner-parties. The First Consul entertained at his table, the two other
Consuls, the Ministers, and the Presidents of the great bodies of the
State. Murat treated the heads of the army; and the members of the
Council of State, being again seated in their hackney-coaches with
covered numbers, drove off to dine with Lucien.
Before taking possession of the Tuileries we had frequently gone there
to see that the repairs, or rather the whitewashing, which Bonaparte had
directed to be done, was executed. On our first visit, seeing a number
of red caps of liberty painted on the walls, he said to M. Lecomte, at
that time the architect in charge, "Get rid of all these things; I do
not like to see such rubbish."
The First Consul gave directions himself for what little alterations he
wanted in his own apartments. A state bed--not that of Louis XVI.--was
placed in the chamber next his cabinet, on the south side, towards the
grand staircase of the Pavilion of Flora. I may as well mention here
that he very seldom occupied that bed, for Bonaparte was very simple in
his manner of living in private, and was not fond of state, except as
a means of imposing on mankind. At the Luxembourg, at Malmaison, and
during the first period that he occupied the Tuileries, Bonaparte, if I
may speak in the language of common life, always slept with his wife. He
went every evening down to Josephine by a small staircase leading from a
wardrobe attached to his cabinet, and which had formerly been the chapel
of Maria de Medici. I never went to Bonaparte's bedchamber but by this
staircase; and when he came to our cabinet it was always by the wardrobe
which I have mentioned. The door opened opposite the only window of our
room, and it commanded a view of the garden.
As for our cabinet, where so many great, and also small events were
prepared, and where I passed so many hours of my life, I can, even now,
give the most minute description of it to those who like such details.
There were two tables. The best, which was the First Consul's, stood in
the middle of the room, and his armchair was turned with its back to the
fireplace, having the window on the right. To the right of this again
was a little closet where Duroc sat, through which we could communicate
with the clerk of the office and the grand apartments of the Court. When
the First Consul was seated at his table in his chair (the arms of which
he so frequently mutilated with his penknife) he had a large bookcase
opposite to him. A little to the right, on one side of the bookcase, was
another door, opening into the cabinet which led directly to the state
bedchamber which I have mentioned. Thence we passed into the grand
Presentation Saloon, on the ceiling of which Lebrun had painted a
likeness of Louis XIV. A tri-coloured cockade placed on the forehead
of the great King still bore witness of the imbecile turpitude of the
Convention. Lastly came the hall of the Guards, in front of the grand
staircase of the Pavilion of Flora.
My writing-table, which was extremely plain, stood near the window, and
in summer I had a view of the thick foliage of the chestnut-trees; but
in order to see the promenaders in the garden I was obliged to raise
myself from my seat. My back was turned to the General's side, so that
it required only a slight movement of the head to speak to each other.
Duroc was seldom in his little cabinet, and that was the place where I
gave some audiences. The Consular cabinet, which afterwards became the
Imperial, has left many impressions on my mind; and I hope the reader,
in going through these volumes, will not think that they have been of
too slight a description.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
1800.
The Tuileries--Royalty in perspective--Remarkable observation--
Presentations--Assumption of the prerogative of mercy--M. Defeu--
M. de Frotte--Georges Cadoudal's audience of Bonaparte--Rapp's
precaution and Bonaparte's confidence--The dignity of France--
Napper Tandy and Blackwell delivered up by the Senate of Hamburg--
Contribution in the Egyptian style--Valueless bill--Fifteen thousand
francs in the drawer of a secretaire--Josephine's debts--Evening
walks with Bonaparte.
The morning after that ardently wished-for day on which we took
possession of the Palace of the Kings of France I observed to Bonaparte
on entering his chamber, "Well, General, you have got here without much
difficulty, and with the applause of the people! Do you remember what
you said to me in the Rue St. Anne nearly two years ago?"--"Ay, true
enough, I recollect. You see what it is to have the mind set on a thing.
Only two years have gone by! Don't you think we have not worked badly
since that time? Upon the whole I am very well content. Yesterday passed
off well. Do you imagine that all those who came to flatter me were
sincere? No, certainly not: but the joy of the people was real. They
know what is right. Besides, consult the grand thermometer of opinion,
the price of the funds: on the 17th Brumaire at 11 francs, on the 20th
at 16 and to-day at 21. In such a state of things I may let the Jacobins
prate as they like. But let them not talk too loudly either!"
As soon as he was dressed we went to look through the Gallery of Diana
and examine the statues which had been placed there by his orders.
We ended our morning's work by taking complete possession of our new
residence. I recollect Bonaparte saying to me, among other things, "To
be at the Tuileries, Bourrienne, is not all. We must stay here. Who,
in Heaven's name, has not already inhabited this palace? Ruffians,
conventionalists! But hold! there is your brother's house! Was it not
from those windows I saw the Tuileries besieged, and the good Louis XVI.
carried off? But be assured they will not come here again!"
The Ambassadors and other foreign Ministers then in Paris were presented
to the First Consul at a solemn audience. On this occasion all the
ancient ceremonials belonging to the French Court were raked up, and in
place of chamberlains and a grand master of ceremonies a Counsellor
of State, M. Benezech, who was once Minister for Foreign Affairs,
officiated.
When the Ambassadors had all arrived M. Benezech conducted them into the
cabinet, in which were the three Consuls, the Ministers, and the Council
of State. The Ambassadors presented their credentials to the First
Consul, who handed them to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. These
presentations were followed by others; for example, the Tribunal of
Cassation, over which the old advocate, Target, who refused to defend
Louis XVI., then presided. All this passed in view of the three Consuls;
but the circumstance which distinguished the First Consul from
his colleagues was, that the official personages, on leaving the
audience-chamber, were conducted to Madame Bonaparte's apartments, in
imitation of the old practice of waiting on the Queen after presentation
to the King.
Thus old customs of royalty crept by degrees into the former abodes
of royalty. Amongst the rights attached to the Crown, and which the
Constitution of the year VIII. did not give to the First Consul, was one
which he much desired to possess, and which, by the most happy of all
usurpations, he arrogated to himself. This was the right of granting
pardon. Bonaparte felt a real pleasure in saving men under the sentence
of the law; and whenever the imperious necessity of his policy, to
which, in truth, he sacrificed everything, permitted it, he rejoiced
in the exercise of mercy. It would seem as if he were thankful to the
persons to whom he rendered such service merely because he had given
them occasion to be thankful to him. Such was the First Consul: I do not
speak of the Emperor. Bonaparte, the First Consul, was accessible to
the solicitations of friendship in favour of persons placed under
proscription. The following circumstance, which interested me much,
affords an incontestable proof of what I state:--
Whilst we were still at the Luxembourg, M. Defeu, a French emigrant, was
taken in the Tyrol with arms in his hand by the troops of the Republic.
He was carried to Grenoble, and thrown into the military prison of
that town. In the course of January General Ferino, then commanding at
Grenoble, received orders to put the young emigrant on his trial. The
laws against emigrants taken in arms were terrible, and the judges dared
not be indulgent. To be tried in the morning, condemned in the course
of the day, and shot in the evening, was the usual course of those
implacable proceedings. One of my cousins, the daughter of M.
Poitrincourt, came from Sens to Paris to inform me of the dreadful
situation of M. Defeu. She told me that he was related to the most
respectable families of the town of Sens, and that everybody felt the
greatest interest in his fate.
I had escaped for a few moments to keep the appointment I made with
Mademoiselle Poitrincourt. On my return I perceived the First Consul
surprised at finding himself alone in the cabinet, which I was not in
the habit of quitting without his knowledge. "Where have you been?" said
he. "I have been to see one of my relations, who solicits a favour of
you."--"What is it?" I then informed him of the unfortunate situation
of M. Defeu. His first answer was dreadful. "No pity! no pity for
emigrants! Whoever fights against his country is a child who tries to
kill his mother!" This first burst of anger being over, I returned to
the charge. I urged the youth of M. Defeu, and the good effect which
clemency would produce. "Well," said he, "write--
"The First Consul orders the judgment on M. Defeu to be suspended."
He signed this laconic order, which I instantly despatched to General
Ferino. I acquainted my cousin with what had passed, and remained at
ease as to the result of the affair.
Scarcely had I entered the chamber of the First Consul the next morning
when he said to me, "Well, Bourrienne, you say nothing about your M.
Defeu. Are you satisfied?"--"General, I cannot find terms to express my
gratitude."--"Ah, bah! But I do not like to do things by halves. Write
to Ferino that I wish M. Defeu to be instantly set at liberty. Perhaps
I am serving one who will prove ungrateful. Well, so much the worse for
him. As to these matters, Bourrienne, always ask them from me. When I
refuse, it is because I cannot help it."
I despatched at my own expense an extraordinary courier, who arrived in
time to save M. Defeu's life. His mother, whose only son he was, and M.
Blanchet, his uncle, came purposely from Sens to Paris to express their
gratitude to me. I saw tears of joy fall from the eyes of a mother who
had appeared to be destined to shed bitter drops, and I said to her as I
felt, "that I was amply recompensed by the success which had attended my
efforts."
Emboldened by this success, and by the benevolent language of the
First Consul, I ventured to request the pardon of M. de Frotte, who was
strongly recommended to me by most honourable persons. Comte Louis de
Frotte had at first opposed all negotiation for the pacification of La
Vendée. At length, by a series of unfortunate combats, he was, towards
the end of January, reduced to the necessity of making himself the
advances which he had rejected when made by others. At this period he
addressed a letter to General Guidal, in which he offered pacificatory
proposals. A protection to enable him to repair to Alençon was
transmitted to him. Unfortunately for M. de Frotte, he did not confine
himself to writing to General Guidal, for whilst the safe-conduct
which he had asked was on the way to him, he wrote to his lieutenants,
advising them not to submit or consent to be disarmed. This letter was
intercepted. It gave all the appearance of a fraudulent stratagem to
his proposal to treat for peace. Besides, this opinion appeared to be
confirmed by a manifesto of M. de Frotte, anterior, it is true, to the
offers of pacification, but in which he announced to all his partisans
the approaching end of Bonaparte's "criminal enterprise."
I had more trouble than in M. Defeu's case to induce the First Consul
to exercise his clemency. However, I pressed him so much, I laboured
so hard to convince him of the happy effect of such indulgence, that at
length I obtained an order to suspend the judgment. What a lesson I
then experienced of the evil which may result from the loss of time!
Not supposing that matters were so far advanced as they were, I did not
immediately send off the courier with the order for the suspension of
the judgment. Besides, the Minister-of-Police had marked his victim, and
he never lost time when evil was to be done. Having, therefore, I know
not for what motive, resolved on the destruction of M. de Frotte, he
sent an order to hasten his trial.
Comte Louis de Frotte was brought to trial on the 28th Pluviôse,
condemned the same day, and executed the next morning, the day before we
entered the Tuileries. The cruel precipitation of the Minister rendered
the result of my solicitations abortive. I had reason to think that
after the day on which the First Consul granted me the order for delay
he had received some new accusation against M. de Frotte, for when he
heard of his death he appeared to me very indifferent about the tardy
arrival of the order for suspending judgment. He merely said to me, with
unusual insensibility, "You should take your measures better. You see it
is not my fault."
Though Bonaparte put no faith in the virtue of men, he had confidence
in their honour. I had proof of this in a matter which deserves to be
recorded in history. When, during the first period of our abode at
the Tuileries, he had summoned the principal chiefs of La Vendée to
endeavour to bring about the pacification of that unhappy country, he
received Georges Cadoudal in a private audience. The disposition
in which I beheld him the evening before the day appointed for this
audience inspired me with the most flattering hopes. Rapp introduced
Georges into the grand salon looking into the garden. Rapp left him
alone with the First Consul, but on returning to the cabinet where I was
he did not close either of the two doors of the state bedchamber which
separated the cabinet from the salon. We saw the First Consul
and Georges walk from the window to the bottom of the salon--then
return--then go back again. This lasted for a long time. The
conversation appeared very animated, and we heard several things, but
without any connection. There was occasionally a good deal of ill-humour
displayed in their tone and gestures. The interview ended in nothing.
The First Consul, perceiving that Georges entertained some apprehensions
for his personal safety, gave him assurances of security in the most
noble manner, saying, "You take a wrong view of things, and are wrong
in not coming to some understanding; but if you persist in wishing to
return to your country you shall depart as freely as you came to Paris."
When Bonaparte returned to his cabinet he said to Rapp, "Tell me,
Rapp, why you left these doors open, and stopped with Bourrienne?" Rapp
replied, "If you had closed the doors I would have opened them again. Do
you think I would have left you alone with a man like that? There would
have been danger in it."--"No, Rapp," said Bonaparte, "you cannot think
so." When we were alone the First Consul appeared pleased with Rapp's
attachment, but very vexed at Georges' refusal. He said, "He does not
take a correct view of things; but the extravagance of his principles
has its source in noble sentiments, which must give him great influence
over his countrymen. It is necessary, however, to bring this business
soon to an end."
Of all the actions of Louis XIV. that which Bonaparte most admired was
his having made the Doge of Genoa send ambassadors to Paris to apologise
to him. The slightest insult offered in a foreign country to the rights
and dignity of France put Napoleon beside himself. This anxiety to have
the French Government respected exhibited itself in an affair which
made much noise at the period, but which was amicably arranged by the
soothing influence of gold.
Two Irishmen, Napper Tandy and Blackwell, who had been educated in
France, and whose names and rank as officers appeared in the French army
list, had retired to Hamburg. The British Government claimed them as
traitors to their country, and they were given up; but, as the French
Government held them to be subjects of France, the transaction gave rise
to bitter complaints against the Senate of Hamburg.
Blackwell had been one of the leaders of the united Irishmen. He had
procured his naturalisation in France, and had attained the rank of chef
d'escadron. Being sent on a secret mission to Norway, the ship in
which he was embarked was wrecked on the coast of that kingdom. He then
repaired to Hamburg, where the Senate placed him under arrest on the
demand of Mr. Crawford, the English Minister. After being detained in
prison a whole year he was conveyed to England to be tried. The French
Government interfered, and preserved, if not his liberty, at least his
life.
Napper Tandy was also an Irishman. To escape the search made after him,
on account of the sentiments of independence which had induced him to
engage in the contest for the liberty of his country, he got on board
a French brig, intending to land at Hamburg and pass into Sweden. Being
exempted from the amnesty by the Irish Parliament, he was claimed by
the British Government, and the Senators of Hamburg forgot honour and
humanity in their alarm at the danger which at that moment menaced their
little republic both from England and France. The Senate delivered up
Napper Tandy; he was carried to Ireland, and condemned to death, but
owed the suspension of his execution to the interference of France. He
remained two years in prison, when M. Otto, who negotiated with Lord
Hawkesbury the preliminaries of peace, obtained the release of Napper
Tandy, who was sent back to France.
The First Consul spoke at first of signal vengeance; but the Senate of
Hamburg sent him a memorial, justificatory of its conduct, and backed
the apology with a sum of four millions and a half, which mollified
him considerably. This was in some sort a recollection of Egypt--one of
those little contributions with which the General had familiarised the
pashas; with this difference, that on the present occasion not a single
sous went into the national treasury. The sum was paid to the First
Consul through the hands of M. Chapeau Rouge.
--[A solemn deputation from the Senate arrived at the Tuileries to
make public apologies to Napoleon. He again testified his
indignation: and when the envoys urged their weakness he said to
them. "Well and had you not the resource of weak states? was it not
in your power to let them escape?" (Napoleon's Memoirs).]--
I kept the four millions and a half in Dutch bonds in a secretaire for
a week. Bonaparte then determined to distribute them; after paying
Josephine's debts, and the whole of the great expenses incurred at
Malmaison, he dictated to me a list of persons to whom he wished to make
presents. My name did not escape his lips, and consequently I had not
the trouble to transcribe it; but some time after he said to me, with
the most engaging kindness, "Bourrienne, I have given you none of the
money which came from Hamburg, but I will make you amends for it." He
took from his drawer a large and broad sheet of printed paper, with
blanks filled up in his own handwriting, and said to me, "Here is a bill
for 300,000 Italian livres on the Cisalpine Republic, for the price of
cannon furnished. It is endorsed Halter and Collot--I give it you." To
make this understood, I ought to state that cannon had been sold to the
Cisalpine Republic, for the value of which the Administrator-general of
the Italian finances drew on the Republic, and the bills were paid over
to M. Collot, a provision contractor, and other persons. M. Collot had
given one of these bills for 300,000 livres to Bonaparte in quittance of
a debt, but the latter had allowed the bill to run out without troubling
himself about it. The Cisalpine Republic kept the cannons and the money,
and the First Consul kept his bill. When I had examined it I said,
"General, it has been due for a long time; why have you not got it paid?
The endorsers are no longer liable."--"France is bound to discharge
debts of this kind;" said he; "send the paper to de Fermont: he will
discount it for three per cent. You will not have in ready money more
than about 9000 francs of rentes, because the Italian livre is not equal
to the franc." I thanked him, and sent the bill to M. de Fermont.
He replied that the claim was bad, and that the bill would not be
liquidated because it did not come within the classifications made by
the laws passed in the months the names of which terminated in 'aire,
ose, al, and or'.
I showed M. de Fermont's answer to the First Consul, who said, "Ah, bah!
He understands nothing about it--he is wrong: write." He then dictated a
letter, which promised very favourably for the discounting of the bill;
but the answer was a fresh refusal. I said, "General, M. de Fermont does
not attend to you any more than to myself." Bonaparte took the letter,
read it, and said, in the tone of a man who knew beforehand what he was
about to be informed of, "Well, what the devil would you have me do,
since the laws are opposed to it? Persevere; follow the usual modes of
liquidation, and something will come of it!" What finally happened was,
that by a regular decree this bill was cancelled, torn, and deposited
in the archives. These 300,000 livres formed part of the money which
Bonaparte brought from Italy. If the bill was useless to me it was also
useless to him. This scrap of paper merely proves that he brought more
than 25,000 francs from Italy.
I never had, from the General-in-Chief of the army of Italy, nor from
the General in-Chief of the army of Egypt, nor from the First Consul,
for ten years, nor from the Consul for life, any fixed salary: I took
from his drawer what was necessary for my expenses as well as his own.
He never asked me for any account. After the transaction of the bill on
the insolvent Cisalpine Republic he said to me, at the beginning of the
winter of 1800, "Bourrienne, the weather is becoming very bad; I will go
but seldom to Malmaison. Whilst I am at council get my papers and little
articles from Malmaison; here is the key of my secretaire, take out
everything that is there." I got into the carriage at two o'clock
and returned at six. When he had dined I placed upon the table of
his cabinet the various articles which I had found in his secretaire
including 15,000 francs (somewhere about L 600 of English money) in
banknotes which were in the corner of a little drawer. When he looked at
them he said, "Here is money--what is the meaning of this?" I replied,
"I know nothing about it, except that it was in your secretaire."-- "Oh
yes; I had forgotten it. It was for my trifling expenses. Here, take
it." I remembered well that one summer morning he had given me his key
to bring him two notes of 1000 francs for some incidental expense, but I
had no idea that he had not drawn further on his little treasure.
I have stated the appropriation of the four millions and a half, the
result of the extortion inflicted on the Senate of Hamburg, in the
affair of Napper Tandy and Blackwell.
The whole, however, was not disposed of in presents. A considerable
portion was reserved for paying Josephine's debts, and this business
appears to me to deserve some remarks.
The estate of Malmaison had cost 160,000 francs. Josephine had purchased
it of M. Lecouteulx while we were in Egypt. Many embellishments, and
some new buildings, had been made there; and a park had been added,
which had now become beautiful. All this could not be done for nothing,
and besides, it was very necessary that what was due for the original
purchase should be entirely discharged; and this considerable item was
not the only debt of Josephine. The creditors murmured, which had a bad
effect in Paris; and I confess I was so well convinced that the First
Consul would be extremely displeased that I constantly delayed the
moment of speaking to him on the subject. It was therefore with extreme
satisfaction I learned that M. de Talleyrand had anticipated me. No
person was more capable than himself of gilding the pill, as one may
say, to Bonaparte. Endowed with as much independence of character as of
mind, he did him the service, at the risk of offending him, to tell him
that a great number of creditors expressed their discontent in bitter
complaints respecting the debts contracted by Madame Bonaparte during
his expedition to the East. Bonaparte felt that his situation required
him promptly to remove the cause of such complaints. It was one night
about half-past eleven o'clock that M. Talleyrand introduced this
delicate subject. As soon he was gone I entered the little cabinet;
Bonaparte said to me, "Bourrienne, Talleyrand has been speaking to me
about the debts of my wife. I have the money from Hamburg--ask her the
exact amount of her debts: let her confess all. I wish to finish, and
not begin again. But do not pay without showing me the bills of those
rascals: they are a gang of robbers."
Hitherto the apprehension of an unpleasant scene, the very idea of which
made Josephine tremble, had always prevented me from broaching this
subject to the First Consul; but, well pleased that Talleyrand had first
touched upon it, I resolved to do all in my power to put an end to the
disagreeable affair.
The next morning I saw Josephine. She was at first delighted with her
husband's intentions; but this feeling did not last long. When I asked
her for an exact account of what she owed she entreated me not to press
it, but content myself with what she should confess. I said to her,
"Madame, I cannot deceive you respecting the disposition of the First
Consul. He believes that you owe a considerable sum, and is willing
to discharge it. You will, I doubt not, have to endure some bitter
reproaches, and a violent scene; but the scene will be just the same for
the whole as for a part. If you conceal a large proportion of your debts
at the end of some time murmurs will recommence, they will reach the
ears of the First Consul, and his anger will display itself still more
strikingly. Trust to me--state all; the result will be the same; you
will hear but once the disagreeable things he will say to you; by
reservations you will renew them incessantly." Josephine said, "I can
never tell all; it is impossible. Do me the service to keep secret what
I say to you. I owe, I believe, about 1,200,000 francs, but I wish to
confess only 600,000; I will contract no more debts, and will pay the
rest little by little out of my savings."--"Here, Madame, my first
observations recur. As I do not believe he estimates your debts at so
high a sum as 600,000 francs, I can warrant that you will not experience
more displeasure for acknowledging to 1,200,000 than to 600,000; and by
going so far you will get rid of them for ever."--"I can never do it,
Bourrienne; I know him; I can never support his violence." After a
quarter of an hour's further discussion on the subject I was obliged
to yield to her earnest solicitation, and promise to mention only the
600,000 francs to the First Consul.
The anger and ill-humour of Bonaparte may be imagined. He strongly
suspected that his wife was dissembling in some respect; but he said,
"Well, take 600,000 francs, but liquidate the debts for that sum, and
let me hear nothing more on the subject. I authorise you to threaten
these tradesmen with paying nothing if they do not reduce their enormous
charges. They ought to be taught not to be so ready in giving credit."
Madame Bonaparte gave me all her bills. The extent to which the articles
had been overcharged, owing to the fear of not being paid for a long
period, and of deductions being made from the amount, was inconceivable.
It appeared to me, also, that there must be some exaggeration in
the number of articles supplied. I observed in the milliner's bill
thirty-eight new hats, of great price, in one month. There was likewise
a charge of 1800 francs for heron plumes, and 800 francs for perfumes.
I asked Josephine whether she wore out two hats in one day? She objected
to this charge for the hats, which she merely called a mistake. The
impositions which the saddler attempted, both in the extravagance of
his prices and in charging for articles which he had not furnished, were
astonishing. I need say nothing of the other tradesmen, it was the same
system of plunder throughout.
I availed myself fully of the First Consul's permission, and spared
neither reproaches nor menaces. I am ashamed to say that the greater
part of the tradesmen were contented with the half of what they
demanded. One of them received 35,000 francs for a bill of 80,000; and
he had the impudence to tell me that he made a good profit nevertheless.
Finally, I was fortunate enough, after the most vehement disputes, to
settle everything for 600,000 francs. Madame Bonaparte, however, soon
fell again into the same excesses, but fortunately money became more
plentiful. This inconceivable mania of spending money was almost the
sole cause of her unhappiness. Her thoughtless profusion occasioned
permanent disorder in her household until the period of Bonaparte's
second marriage, when, I am informed, she became regular in her
expenditure. I could not say so of her when she was Empress in 1804.
--[Notwithstanding her husband's wish, she could never bring her
establishment into any order or rule. He wished that no tradesmen
should ever reach her, but he was forced to yield on this point.
The small inner rooms were filled with them, as with artists of all
sorts. She had a mania for having herself painted, and gave her
portraits to whoever wished for one, relations, 'femmes de chambre',
even to tradesmen. They never ceased bringing her diamonds, jewels,
shawls, materials for dresses, and trinkets of all kinds; she bought
everything without ever asking the price; and generally forgot what
she had purchased. . . All the morning she had on a shawl which
she draped on her shoulders with a grace I have seen in no one else.
Bonaparte, who thought her shawls covered her too much, tore them
off, and sometimes threw them into the fire; then she sent for
another (Rémusat, tome ii. pp. 343-345). After the divorce her
income, large as it was, was insufficient, but the Emperor was more
compassionate then, and when sending the Comte Mollien to settle her
affairs gave him strict orders "not to make her weep" (Meneval,
tome iii. p.237)]--
The amiable Josephine had not less ambition in little things than
her husband had in great. She felt pleasure in acquiring and not in
possessing. Who would suppose it? She grew tired of the beauty of the
park of Malmaison, and was always asking me to take her out on the high
road, either in the direction of Nanterre, or on that of Marly, in the
midst of the dust occasioned by the passing of carriages. The noise
of the high road appeared to her preferable to the calm silence of the
beautiful avenues of the park, and in this respect Hortense had the same
taste as her mother. This whimsical fancy astonished Bonaparte, and he
was sometimes vexed at it. My intercourse with Josephine was delightful;
for I never saw a woman who so constantly entered society with such an
equable disposition, or with so much of the spirit of kindness, which is
the first principle of amiability. She was so obligingly attentive as
to cause a pretty suite of apartments to be prepared at Malmaison for me
and my family.
She pressed me earnestly, and with all her known grace, to accept it;
but almost as much a captive at Paris as a prisoner of state, I wished
to have to myself in the country the moments of liberty I was permitted
to enjoy. Yet what was this liberty? I had bought a little house at
Ruel, which I kept during two years and a half. When I saw my friends
there, it had to be at midnight, or at five o'clock in the morning;
and the First Consul would often send for me in the night when couriers
arrived. It was for this sort of liberty I refused Josephine's kind
offer. Bonaparte came once to see me in my retreat at Ruel, but
Josephine and Hortense came often. It was a favourite walk with these
ladies.
At Paris I was less frequently absent from Bonaparte than at Malmaison.
We sometimes in the evening walked together in the garden of the
Tuileries after the gates were closed. In these evening walks he always
wore a gray greatcoat, and a round hat. I was directed to answer, "The
First Consul," to the sentinel's challenge of, "Who goes there?" These
promenades, which were of much benefit to Bonaparte, and me also, as a
relaxation from our labours, resembled those which we had at Malmaison.
As to our promenades in the city, they were often very amusing.
At the period of our first inhabiting the Tuileries, when I saw
Bonaparte enter the cabinet at eight o'clock in the evening in his
gray coat, I knew he would say, "Bourrienne, come and take a turn."
Sometimes, then, instead of going out by the garden arcade, we would
take the little gate which leads from the court to the apartments of the
Duc d'Angoulême. He would take my arm, and we would go to buy articles
of trifling value in the shops of the Rue St. Honoré; but we did not
extend our excursions farther than Rue de l'Arbre Sec. Whilst I made the
shopkeeper exhibit before us the articles which I appeared anxious to
buy he played his part in asking questions.
Nothing was more amusing than to see him endeavouring to imitate the
careless and jocular tone of the young men of fashion. How awkward was
he in the attempt to put on dandy airs when pulling up the corners of
his cravat he would say, "Well, Madame, is there anything new to-day?
Citizen, what say they of Bonaparte? Your shop appears to be well
supplied. You surely have a great deal of custom. What do people say of
that buffoon, Bonaparte?" He was made quite happy one day when we were
obliged to retire hastily from a shop to avoid the attacks drawn upon us
by the irreverent tone in which Bonaparte spoke of the First Consul.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
1800.
War and monuments--Influence of the recollections of Egypt--
First improvements in Paris--Malmaison too little--St. Cloud taken
--The Pont des Arts--Business prescribed for me by Bonaparte--
Pecuniary remuneration--The First Consul's visit to the Pritanée--
His examination of the pupils--Consular pensions--Tragical death of
Miackzinski--Introduction of vaccination--Recall of the members of
the Constituent Assembly--The "canary" volunteers--Tronchet and
Target--Liberation of the Austrian prisoners--Longchamps and sacred
music.
The destruction of men and the construction of monuments were two things
perfectly in unison in the mind of Bonaparte. It may be said that his
passion for monuments almost equalled his passion for war;
--[Take pleasure, if you can, in reading your returns. The good
condition of my armies is owing to my devoting to them one or two
hours in every day. When the monthly returns of my armies and of my
fleets, which form twenty thick volumes, are sent to me, I give up
every other occupation in order to read them in detail and to
observe the difference between one monthly return and another.
No young girl enjoys her novel so much as I do these returns!
(Napoleon to Joseph, 20th August 1806--Du Casse, tome iii.
p. 145).]--
but as in all things he disliked what was little and mean, so he liked
vast constructions and great battles. The sight of the colossal ruins
of the monuments of Egypt had not a little contributed to augment his
natural taste for great structures. It was not so much the monuments
themselves that he admired, but the historical recollections they
perpetuate, the great names they consecrate, the important events they
attest. What should he have cared for the column which we beheld on our
arrival in Alexandria had it not been Pompey's pillar? It is for artists
to admire or censure its proportions and ornaments, for men of learning
to explain its inscriptions; but the name of Pompey renders it an object
of interest to all.
When endeavouring to sketch the character of Bonaparte, I ought to have
noticed his taste for monuments, for without this characteristic trait
something essential is wanting to the completion of the portrait.
This taste, or, as it may more properly be called, this passion for
monuments, exercised no small influence on his thoughts and projects
of glory; yet it did not deter him from directing attention to public
improvements of a less ostentatious kind. He wished for great monuments
to perpetuate the recollection of his glory; but at the same time he
knew how to appreciate all that was truly useful. He could very rarely
be reproached for rejecting any plan without examination; and this
examination was a speedy affair, for his natural tact enabled him
immediately to see things in their proper light.
Though most of the monuments and embellishments of Paris are executed
from the plans of men of talent, yet some owe their origin to
circumstances merely accidental. Of this I can mention an example.
I was standing at the window of Bonaparte's' cabinet, which looked into
the garden of the Tuileries. He had gone out, and I took advantage of
his absence to arise from my chair, for I was tired of sitting. He had
scarcely been gone a minute when he unexpectedly returned to ask me for
a paper. "What are you doing there, Bourrienne? I'll wager anything you
are admiring the ladies walking on the terrace."--"Why, I must confess
I do sometimes amuse myself in that way," replied I; "but I assure you,
General, I was now thinking of something else. I was looking at that
villainous left bank of the Seine, which always annoys me with the gaps
in its dirty quay, and the floodings which almost every winter prevent
communication with the Faubourg St. Germain; and I was thinking I would
speak to you on the subject." He approached the window, and, looking
out, said, "You are right, it is very ugly; and very offensive to see
dirty linen washed before our windows. Here, write immediately: 'The
quay of the École de Natation is to be finished during next campaign.'
Send that order to the Minister of the Interior." The quay was finished
the year following.
An instance of the enormous difference which frequently appears between
the original estimates of architects and their subsequent accounts I may
mention what occurred in relation to the Palace of St. Cloud. But I must
first say a word about the manner in which Bonaparte originally refused
and afterwards took possession of the Queen's pleasure-house. Malmaison
was a suitable country residence for Bonaparte as long as he remained
content with his town apartments in the little Luxembourg; but that
Consular 'bagatelle' was too confined in comparison with the spacious
apartments in the Tuileries. The inhabitants of St. Cloud, well-advised,
addressed a petition to the Legislative Body, praying that their
deserted chateau might be made the summer residence of the First Consul.
The petition was referred to the Government; but Bonaparte, who was not
yet Consul for life, proudly declared that so long as he was at the
head of affairs, and, indeed, for a year afterwards, he would accept no
national recompense. Sometime after we went to visit the palace of the
18th Brumaire. Bonaparte liked it exceedingly, but all was in a state
of complete dilapidation. It bore evident marks of the Revolution. The
First Consul did not wish, as yet, to burden the budget of the State
with his personal expenses, and he was alarmed at the enormous sum
required to render St. Cloud habitable. Flattery had not yet arrived at
the degree of proficiency which it subsequently attained; but even then
his flatterers boldly assured him he might take possession of St. Cloud
for 25,000 francs. I told the First Consul that considering the ruinous
state of the place, I could to say that the expense would amount to more
than 1,200,000 francs. Bonaparte determined to have a regular estimate
of the expense, and it amounted to nearly 3,000,000. He thought it a
great sum; but as he had resolved to make St. Cloud his residence
he gave orders for commencing the repairs, the expense of which,
independently of the furniture, amounted to 6,000,000. So much for the
3,000,000 of the architect and the 25,000 francs of the flatterers.
When the First Consul contemplated the building of the Pont des Arts we
had a long conversation on the subject. I observed that it would be much
better to build the bridge of stone. "The first object of monuments
of this kind," said I, "is public utility. They require solidity of
appearance, and their principal merit is duration. I cannot conceive,
General, why, in a country where there is abundance of fine stone of
every quality, the use of iron should be preferred."--"Write," said
Bonaparte, "to Fontaine and Percier, the architects, and ask what they
think of it." I wrote and they stated in their answer that "bridges
were intended for public utility and the embellishment of cities.
The projected bridge between the Louvre and the Quatre-Nations would
unquestionably fulfil the first of these objects, as was proved by the
great number of persons who daily crossed the Seine at that point in
boats; that the site fixed upon between the Pont Neuf and the Tuileries
appeared to be the best that could be chosen for the purpose; and that
on the score of ornament Paris would gain little by the construction of
an iron bridge, which would be very narrow, and which, from its light
form, would not correspond with the grandeur of the two bridges between
which it would be placed."
When we had received the answer of MM. Percier and Fontaine, we again
had a conversation on the subject of the bridge. I told the First Consul
that I perfectly concurred in the opinion of MM. Fontaine and Percier;
however, he would have his own way, and thus was authorised the
construction of the toy which formed a communication between the Louvre
and the Institute. But no sooner was the Pont des Arts finished than
Bonaparte pronounced it to be mean and out of keeping with the other
bridges above and below it. One day when visiting the Louvre he stopped
at one of the windows looking towards the Pont des Arts and said, "There
is no solidity, no grandeur about that bridge. In England, where stone
is scarce, it is very natural that iron should be used for arches
of large dimensions. But the case is different in France, where the
requisite material is abundant."
The infernal machine of the 3d Nivôse, of which I shall presently speak
more at length, was the signal for vast changes in the quarter of the
Tuileries. That horrible attempt was at least so far attended by happy
results that it contributed to the embellishment of Paris. It was
thought more advisable for the Government to buy and pull down the
houses which had been injured by the machine than to let them be put
under repair. As an example of Bonaparte's grand schemes in building I
may mention that, being one day at the Louvre, he pointed towards St.
Germain l'Auxerrois and said to me, "That is where I will build an
imperial street. It shall run from here to the Barrière du Trône. It
shall be a hundred feet broad, and have arcades and plantations. This
street shall be the finest in the world."
The palace of the King of Rome, which was to face the Pont de Jena and
the Champ de Mars, would have been in some measure isolated from Paris,
with which, however, it was to be connected by a line of palaces. These
were to extend along the quay, and were destined as splendid residences
for the Ambassadors of foreign sovereigns, at least as long as there
should be any sovereigns in Europe except Napoleon. The Temple of Glory,
too, which was to occupy the site of the Church of la Madeleine, was
never finished. If the plan of this monument proved the necessity, which
Bonaparte felt of constantly holding out stimulants to his soldiers,
its relinquishment was at least a proof of his wisdom. He who had
reestablished religious worship in France, and had restored to
its destination the church of the Invalides, which was for a time
metamorphosed into the Temple of Mars, foresaw that a Temple of Glory
would give birth to a sort of paganism incompatible with the ideas of
the age.
The recollection of the magnificent Necropolis of Cairo frequently
recurred to Bonaparte's mind. He had admired that city of the dead,
which he had partly contributed to people; and his design was to make,
at the four cardinal points of Paris, four vast cemeteries on the plan
of that at Cairo.
Bonaparte determined that all the new streets of Paris should be 40 feet
wide, and be provided with foot-pavements; in short, he thought nothing
too grand for the embellishment of the capital of a country which he
wished to make the first in the world. Next to war, he regarded
the embellishment of Paris as the source of his glory; and he never
considered a victory fully achieved until he had raised a monument to
transmit its memory to posterity. He, wanted glory, uninterrupted glory,
for France as well as for himself. How often, when talking over his
schemes, has he not said, "Bourrienne, it is for France I am doing all
this! All I wish, all I desire, the end of all my labours is, that my
name should be indissolubly connected with that of France!"
Paris is not the only city, nor is France the only kingdom, which bears
traces of Napoleon's passion for great and useful monuments. In Belgium,
in Holland, in Piedmont, in all Italy, he executed great improvements.
At Turin a splendid bridge was built over the Po, in lieu of an old
bridge which was falling in ruins.
How many things were undertaken and executed in Napoleon's short and
eventful reign! To obviate the difficulty of communication between
Metz and Mayence a magnificent road was made, as if by magic, across
impracticable marshes and vast forests. Mountains were cut through and
ravines filled up. He would not allow nature more than man to resist
him. One day when he was proceeding to Belgium by the way of Givet, he
was detained for a short time at Little Givet, on the right bank of the
Meuse, in consequence of an accident which happened to the ferry-boat.
He was within a gunshot of the fortress of Charlemont, on the left bank,
and in the vexation which the delay occasioned he dictated the following
decree: "A bridge shall be built over the Meuse to join Little Givet to
Great Givet. It shall be terminated during the ensuing campaign." It was
completed within the prescribed time. In the great work of bridges
and highways Bonaparte's chief object was to remove the obstacles and
barriers which nature had raised up as the limits of old France so as to
form a junction with the provinces which he successively annexed to the
Empire. Thus in Savoy a road, smooth as a garden-walk, superseded the
dangerous ascents and descents of the wood of Bramant; thus was the
passage of Mont Cenis a pleasant promenade at almost every season of the
year; thus did the Simplon bow his head, and Bonaparte might have said,
"There are now my Alps," with more reason than Louis XIV. said, "There
are now no Pyrenees."
--[Metternich (tome iv. p. 187) says on this subject, 'If you look
closely at the course of human affairs you will make strange
discoveries. For instance, that the Simplon Pass has contributed as
surely to Napoleon's immortality as the numerous works done in the
reign of the Emperor Francis will fail to add to his.]--
Such was the implicit confidence which Bonaparte reposed in me that I
was often alarmed at the responsibility it obliged me to incur.
--[Of this confidence the following instructions for me, which he
dictated to Duroc, afford sufficient proof:--
"1st. Citizen Bourrienne shall open all the letters addressed to
the First Consul, Vol, and present them to him three times a day, or
oftener in case of urgent business. The letters shall be deposited
in the cabinet when they are opened. Bourrienne is to analyse all
those which are of secondary interest, and write the First Consul's
decision on each letter. The hours for presenting the letters shall
be, first, when the Consul rises; second, a quarter of an hour
before dinner; and third, at eleven at night.
"2d. He is to have the superintendence of the Topographical office,
and of an office of Translation, in which there shall be a German
and an English clerk. Every day he shall present to the First
Consul, at the hours above mentioned the German and English
journals, together with a translation. With respect to the Italian
journals, it will only be necessary to mark what the First Consul is
to read.
"3d. He shall keep a register of appointments to offices under
Government; a second, for appointments to judicial posts; a third
for appointments to places abroad; and a fourth, for the situations
of receivers and great financial posts, where he is to inscribe the
names of all the individuals whom the First Consul may refer to him.
These registers must be written by his own hand, and must be kept
entirely private.
"4th. Secret correspondence, and the different reports of
surveillance, are to be addressed directly to Bourrienne, and
transmitted by him to the hand of the First Consul, by whom they
will be returned without the intervention of any third party.
"6th. There shall be a register for all that relates to secret
extraordinary expenditure. Bourrienne shall write the whole with
his own hand, in order that the business may be kept from the
knowledge of any one.
"7th. He shall despatch all the business which may be referred to
him, either from Citizen Duroc, or from the cabinet of the First
Consul, taking care to arrange everything so as to secure secrecy.
"(Signed) "BONAPARTE, First Consul.
"Paris, 13th Germinal, year VIII.
"(3d. April 1800.)"]--
Official business was not the only labour that devolved upon me. I had
to write to the dictation of the First Consul during a great part of
the day, or to decipher his writing, which was always the most laborious
part of my duty. I was so closely employed that I scarcely ever went
out; and when by chance I dined in town, I could not arrive until the
very moment of dinner, and I was obliged to run away immediately after
it. Once a month, at most, I went without Bonaparte to the Comédie
Française, but I was obliged to return at nine o'clock, that being the
hour at which we resumed business. Corvisart, with whom I was intimately
acquainted, constantly expressed his apprehensions about my health; but
my zeal carried me through every difficulty, and during our stay at the
Tuileries I cannot express how happy I was in enjoying the unreserved
confidence of the man on whom the eyes of all Europe were filed. So
perfect was this confidence that Bonaparte, neither as General, Consul,
nor Emperor, ever gave me any fixed salary. In money matters we were
still comrades: I took from his funds what was necessary to defray my
expenses, and of this Bonaparte never once asked me for any account.
He often mentioned his wish to regenerate public education, which he
thought was ill managed. The central schools did not please him; but
he could not withhold his admiration from the Polytechnic School, the
finest establishment of education that was ever founded, but which he
afterwards spoiled by giving it a military organisation. In only one
college of Paris the old system of study was preserved: this was the
Louis-le-Grand, which had received the name of Pritanée. The First
Consul directed the Minister of the Interior to draw up a report on that
establishment; and he himself went to pay an unexpected visit to the
Pritanée, accompanied by M. Lebrun and Duroc. He remained there upwards
of an hour, and in the evening he spoke to me with much interest on the
subject of his visit. "Do you know, Bourrienne," said he, "that I have
been performing the duties of professor?"--"You, General!"--"Yes! and I
did not acquit myself badly. I examined the pupils in the mathematical
class; and I recollected enough of my Bezout to make some demonstrations
before them. I went everywhere, into the bedrooms and the dining-room. I
tasted the soup, which is better than we used to have at Brienne. I must
devote serious attention to public education and the management of
the colleges. The pupils must have a uniform. I observed some well and
others ill dressed. That will not do. At college, above all places,
there should be equality. But I was much pleased with the pupils of
the Pritanée. I wish to know the names of those I examined, and I have
desired Duroc to report them to me. I will give them rewards; that
stimulates young people. I will provide for some of them."
On this subject Bonaparte did not confine himself to an empty scheme.
After consulting with the headmaster of the Pritanée, he granted
pensions of 200 francs to seven or eight of the most distinguished
pupils of the establishment, and he placed three of them in the
department of Foreign Affairs, under the title of diplomatic pupils.
--[This institution of diplomatic pupils was originally suggested by
M. de Talleyrand.]--
What I have just said respecting the First Consul's visit to the
Pritanée reminds me of a very extraordinary circumstance which arose
out of it. Among the pupils at the Pritanée there was a son of General
Miackzinski, who died fighting under the banners of the Republic. Young
Miackzinski was then sixteen or seventeen years of age. He soon quitted
the college, entered the army as a volunteer, and was one of a corps
reviewed by Bonaparte, in the plain of Sablons. He was pointed out
to the First Consul, who said to him, "I knew your father. Follow his
example, and in six months you shall be an officer." Six months elapsed,
and Miackzinski wrote to the First Consul, reminding him of his promise.
No answer was returned, and the young man then wrote a second letter as
follows:
You desired me to prove myself worthy of my father; I have done so.
You promised that I should be an officer in six months; seven have
elapsed since that promise was made. When you receive this letter I
shall be no more. I cannot live under a Government the head of
which breaks his word.
Poor Miackzinski kept his word but too faithfully. After writing the
above letter to the First Consul he retired to his chamber and blew
out his brains with a pistol. A few days after this tragical event
Miackzinski's commission was transmitted to his corps, for Bonaparte
had not forgotten him. A delay in the War Office had caused the death
of this promising young man. Bonaparte was much affected at the
circumstance, and he said to me, "These Poles have such refined notions
of honour.... Poor Sulkowski, I am sure, would have done the same."
At the commencement of the Consulate it was gratifying to see how
actively Bonaparte was seconded in the execution of plans for the social
regeneration of France; all seemed animated with new life, and every one
strove to do good as if it were a matter of competition.
Every circumstance concurred to favour the good intentions of the First
Consul. Vaccination, which, perhaps, has saved as many lives as war has
sacrificed, was introduced into France by M. d'Liancourt; and Bonaparte,
immediately appreciating the value of such a discovery, gave it
his decided approbation. At the same time a council of Prizes was
established, and the old members of the Constituent Assembly were
invited to return to France. It was for their sake and that of the
Royalists that the First Consul recalled them, but it was to please the
Jacobins, whom he was endeavouring to conciliate, that their return was
subject to restrictions. At first the invitation to return to France
extended only to those who could prove that they had voted in favour
of the abolition of nobility. The lists of emigrants were closed, and
committees were appointed to investigate their claims to the privilege
of returning.
From the commencement of the month of Germinal the reorganisation of the
army of Italy had proceeded with renewed activity. The presence in Paris
of the fine corps of the Consular Guard, added to the desire of showing
themselves off in gay uniforms, had stimulated the military ardour of
many respectable young men of the capital. Taking advantage of this
circumstance the First Consul created a corps of volunteers destined for
the army of reserve, which was to remain at Dijon. He saw the advantage
of connecting a great number of families with his cause, and imbuing
them with the spirit of the army. This volunteer corps wore a yellow
uniform which, in some of the salons of Paris where it was still
the custom to ridicule everything, obtained for them the nickname of
"canaries." Bonaparte, who did not always relish a joke, took this in
very ill part, and often expressed to me his vexation at it. However,
he was gratified to observe in the composition of this corps a first
specimen of privileged soldiers; an idea which he acted upon when he
created the orderly gendarmes in the campaign of Jena, and when he
organised the guards of honour after the disasters of Moscow.
In every action of his life Bonaparte had some particular object in
view. I recollect his saying to me one day, "Bourrienne, I cannot yet
venture to do anything against the regicides; but I will let them see
what I think of them. To-morrow I shall have some business with Abrial
respecting the organisation of the court of Cassation. Target, who is
the president of that court, would not defend Louis XVI. Well, whom do
you think I mean to appoint in his place? . . . Tronchet, who did defend
the king. They may say what they please; I care not."
--[On this, as on many other occasions, the cynicism of Bonaparte's
language does not admit of a literal translation.]--
Tronchet was appointed.
Nearly about the same time the First Consul, being informed of the
escape of General Mack, said to me, "Mack may go where he pleases; I am
not afraid of him. But I will tell you what I have been thinking. There
are some other Austrian officers who were prisoners with Mack; among
the number is a Count Dietrichstein, who belongs to a great family in
Vienna. I will liberate them all. At the moment of opening a campaign
this will have a good effect. They will see that I fear nothing; and who
knows but this may procure me some admirers in Austria." The order
for liberating the Austrian prisoners was immediately despatched. Thus
Bonaparte's acts of generosity, as well as his acts of severity and his
choice of individuals, were all the result of deep calculation.
This unvarying attention to the affairs of the Government was manifest
in all he did. I have already mentioned the almost simultaneous
suppression of the horrible commemoration of the month of January, and
the permission for the revival of the opera balls. A measure something
similar to this was the authorisation of the festivals of Longchamps,
which had been forgotten since the Revolution. He at the same time gave
permission for sacred music to be performed at the opera. Thus, while in
public acts he maintained the observance of the Republican calendar,
he was gradually reviving the old calendar by seasons of festivity.
Shrove-Tuesday was marked by a ball, and Passion-week by promenades and
concerts.
CHAPTER XXXV
1800.
The Memorial of St. Helena--Louis XVIII.'s first letter to Bonaparte
--Josephine, Hortense, and the Faubourg St. Germain--
Madame Bonaparte and the fortune-teller--Louis XVIII's second letter
--Bonaparte's answer--Conversation respecting the recall of Louis
XVIII.--Peace and war--A battle fought with pins--Genoa and Melas--
Realisation of Bonaparte's military plans--Ironical letter to
Berthier--Departure from Paris--Instructions to Lucien and
Cambacérès--Joseph Bonaparte appointed Councillor of State--
Travelling conversation--Alexander and Caesar judged by Bonaparte.
It sometimes happens that an event which passes away unnoticed at
the time of its occurrence acquires importance from events which
subsequently ensue. This reflection naturally occurs to my mind now
that I am about to notice the correspondence which passed between Louis
XVIII. and the First Consul. This is certainly not one of the least
interesting passages in the life of Bonaparte.
But I must first beg leave to make an observation on the 'Memorial of
St. Helena.' That publication relates what Bonaparte said respecting the
negotiations between Louis XVIII. and himself; and I find it necessary
to quote a few lines on the subject, in order to show how far the
statements contained in the Memorial differ from the autograph letters
in my possession.
At St. Helena Napoleon said that he never thought of the princes of the
House of Bourbon. This is true to a certain point. He did not think of
the princes of the House of Bourbon with the view of restoring them to
their throne; but it has been shown, in several parts of these Memoirs,
that he thought of them very often, and on more than one occasion their
very names alarmed him.
--[The Memorial states that "A letter was delivered to the First
Consul by Lebrun who received it from the Abbé de Montesquieu, the
secret agent of the Bourbons in Paris." This letter which was very
cautiously written, said:--
"You are long delaying the restoration of my throne. It is to be
feared you are suffering favourable moments to escape. You cannot
secure the happiness of France without me, and I can do nothing for
France without you. Hasten, then, to name the offices which you
would choose for your friends."
The answer, Napoleon said, was as follows:--
"I have received your royal highness' letter. I have always taken a
lively interest in your misfortunes, and those of your family. You
must not think of appearing in France; you could only return here by
trampling over a hundred thousand dead bodies. I shall always be
happy to do anything that can alleviate your fate and help to banish
the recollection of your misfortunes."--Bourrienne.]--
The substance of the two letters given in the 'Memorial of St. Helena'
is correct. The ideas are nearly the same as those of the original
letters. But it is not surprising that, after the lapse of so long an
interval, Napoleon's memory should somewhat have failed him. However,
it will not, I presume, be deemed unimportant if I present to the reader
literal copies of this correspondence; together with the explanation of
some curious circumstances connected with it.
The following is Louis XVIII's letter:--
February 20,1800.
SIR--Whatever may be their apparent conduct, men like you never
inspire alarm. You have accepted an eminent station, and I thank
you for having done so. You know better than any one how much
strength and power are requisite to secure the happiness of a great
nation. Save France from her own violence, and you will fulfil the
first wish of my heart. Restore her King to her, and future
generations will bless your memory. You will always be too
necessary to the State for me ever to be able to discharge, by
important appointments, the debt of my family and myself.
(Signed) Louis.
The First Consul was much agitated on the reception of this letter.
Though he every day declared his determination to have nothing to do
with the Princes, yet he hesitated whether or no he should reply to this
overture. The numerous affairs which then occupied his mind favoured
this hesitation. Josephine and Hortense conjured him to hold out hope
to the King, as by so doing he would in no way pledge himself, and
would gain time to ascertain whether he could not ultimately play a far
greater part than that of Monk. Their entreaties became so urgent that
he said to me, "These devils of women are mad! The Faubourg St. Germain
has turned their heads! They make the Faubourg the guardian angel of the
royalists; but I care not; I will have nothing to do with them."
Madame Bonaparte said she was anxious he should adopt the step she
proposed in order to banish from his mind all thought of making himself
King. This idea always gave rise to a painful foreboding which she could
never overcome.
In the First Consul's numerous conversations with me he discussed with
admirable sagacity Louis XVIII.'s proposition and its consequences. "The
partisans of the Bourbons," said he, "are deceived if they suppose I
am the man to play Monk's part." Here the matter rested, and the King's
letter remained on the table. In the interim Louis XVIII. wrote a second
letter, without any date. It was as follows:
You must have long since been convinced, General, that you possess
my esteem. If you doubt my gratitude, fix your reward and mark out
the fortune of your friends. As to my principles, I am a Frenchman,
merciful by character, and also by the dictates of reason.
No, the victor of Lodi, Castiglione, and Arcola, the conqueror of
Italy and Egypt, cannot prefer vain celebrity to real glory. But
you are losing precious time. We may ensure the glory of France.
I say we, because I require the aid of Bonaparte, and he can do
nothing without me.
General, Europe observes you. Glory awaits you, and I am impatient
to restore peace to my people.
(Signed) LOUIS.
This dignified letter the First Consul suffered to remain unanswered
for several weeks; at length he proposed to dictate an answer to me. I
observed, that as the King's letters were autographs, it would be more
proper that he should write himself. He then wrote with his own hand the
following:
Sir--I have received your letter, and I thank you for the
compliments you address to me.
You must not seek to return to France. To do so you must trample
over a hundred thousand dead bodies.
Sacrifice your interest to the repose and happiness of France, and
history will render you justice.
I am not insensible to the misfortunes of your family. I shall
learn with pleasure, and shall willingly contribute to ensure, the
tranquillity of your retirement.
(Signed) BONAPARTE.
He showed me this letter, saying, "What do you think of it? is it not
good?" He was never offended when I pointed out to him an error of
grammar or style, and I therefore replied, "As to the substance, if such
be your resolution, I have nothing to say against it; but," added I, "I
must make one observation on the style. You cannot say that you shall
learn with pleasure to ensure, etc." On reading the passage over again
he thought he had pledged himself too far in saying that he would
willingly contribute, etc. He therefore scored out the last sentence,
and interlined, "I shall contribute with pleasure to the happiness and
tranquillity of your retirement."
The answer thus scored and interlined could not be sent off, and it lay
on the table with Bonaparte's signature affixed to it.
Some time after he wrote another answer, the three first paragraphs of
which were exactly alike that first quoted; but for the last paragraph
he substituted the following:
"I am not insensible to the misfortunes of your family; and I shall
learn with pleasure that you are surrounded with all that can
contribute to the tranquillity of your retirement."
By this means he did not pledge himself in any way, not even in words,
for he himself made no offer of contributing to the tranquillity of the
retirement. Every day which augmented his power and consolidated his
position diminished, he thought, the chances of the Bourbons; and seven
months were suffered to intervene between the date of the King's first
letter and the answer of the First Consul, which was written on the 2d
Vendemiaire, year IX. (24th September 1800) just when the Congress of
Luneville was on the point of opening.
Some days after the receipt of Louis XVIII.'s letter we were walking
in the gardens of Malmaison; he was in good humour, for everything was
going on to his mind. "Has my wife been saying anything more to you
about the Bourbons?" said he.--"No, General."--"But when you converse
with her you concur a little in her opinions. Tell me why you wish the
Bourbons back? You have no interest in their return, nothing to expect
from them. Your family rank is not high enough to enable you to obtain
any great post. You would be nothing under them. Through the patronage
of M. de Chambonas you got the appointment of Secretary of Legation at
Stuttgart; but had it not been for the change you would have remained
all your life in that or some inferior post. Did you ever know men rise
by their own merit under kings? Everything depends on birth, connection,
fortune, and intrigue. Judge things more accurately; reflect more
maturely on the future."--"General," replied I, "I am quite of your
opinion on one point. I never received gift, place, or favour from the
Bourbons; and I have not the vanity to believe that I should ever have
attained any important Appointment. But you must not forget that my
nomination as Secretary of Legation at Stuttgart preceded the overthrow
of the throne only by a few days; and I cannot infer, from what took
place under circumstances unfortunately too certain, what might have
happened in the reverse case. Besides, I am not actuated by personal
feelings; I consider not my own interests, but those of France. I wish
you to hold the reins of government as long as you live; but you have
no children, and it is tolerably certain that you will have none by
Josephine. What will become of us when you are gone? You talk of the
future; but what will be the future fate of France? I have often
heard you say that your brothers are not--"--"You are right," said he,
abruptly interrupting me. "If I do not live thirty years to complete
my work you will have a long series of civil wars after my death.
My brothers will not suit France; you know what they are. A violent
conflict will therefore arise among the most distinguished generals,
each of whom will think himself entitled to succeed me."--"Well,
General, why not take means to obviate the mischief you foresee?"--"Do
you imagine I do not think of it? But look at the difficulties that
stand in my way. How are so many acquired rights and material results
to be secured against the efforts of a family restored to power, and
returning with 80,000 emigrants and the influence of fanaticism? What
would become of those who voted for the death of the King--the men who
acted a conspicuous part in the Revolution--the national domains, and a
multitude of things that have been done during twelve years? Can you see
how far reaction would extend?"--"General, need I remind you that Louis,
in his letter, guarantees the contrary of all you apprehend? I know what
will be your answer; but are you not able to impose whatever conditions
you may think fit? Grant what is asked of you only at that price. Take
three or four years; in that time you may ensure the happiness of France
by institutions conformable to her wants. Custom and habit would give
them a power which it would not be easy to destroy; and even supposing
such a design were entertained, it could not be accomplished. I have
heard you say it is wished you should act the part of Monk; but you well
know the difference between a general opposing the usurper of a
crown, and one whom victory and peace have raised above the ruins of a
subverted throne, and who restores it voluntarily to those who have long
occupied it. You are well aware what you call ideology will not again be
revived; and--"--"I know what you are going to say; but it all
amounts to nothing. Depend upon it, the Bourbons will think they have
reconquered their inheritance, and will dispose of it as they please.
The most sacred pledges, the most positive promises, will be violated.
None but fools will trust them. My resolution is formed; therefore let
us say no more on the subject. But I know how these women torment you.
Let them mind their knitting, and leave me to do what I think right."
Every one knows the adage, 'Si vis pacem para bellum'. Had Bonaparte
been a Latin scholar he would probably have reversed it and said, 'Si
vis bellum para pacem'. While seeking to establish pacific relations
with the powers of Europe the First Consul was preparing to strike a
great blow in Italy. As long as Genoa held out, and Massena continued
there, Bonaparte did not despair of meeting the Austrians in those
fields which not four years before had been the scenes of his success.
He resolved to assemble an army of reserve at Dijon. Where there was
previously nothing he created everything. At that period of his life
the fertility of his imagination and the vigour of his genius must have
commanded the admiration of even his bitterest enemies. I was astonished
at the details into which he entered. While every moment was engrossed
by the most important occupations he sent 24,000 francs to the hospital
of Mont St. Bernard. When he saw that his army of reserve was forming,
and everything was going on to his liking, he said to me, "I hope to
fall on the rear of Melas before he is aware I am in Italy . . . that is
to say, provided Genoa holds out. But MASSENA is defending it."
On the 17th of March, in a moment of gaiety and good humour, he desired
me to unroll Chauchard's great map of Italy. He lay down upon it, and
desired me to do likewise. He then stuck into it pins, the heads of
which were tipped with wax, some red and some black. I silently observed
him; and awaited with no little curiosity the result of this plan of
campaign. When he had stationed the enemy's corps, and drawn up the pins
with red heads on the points where he hoped to bring his own troops,
he said to me, "Where do you think I shall beat Melas?"--"How the devil
should I know?"--"Why, look here, you fool! Melas is at Alessandria with
his headquarters. There he will remain until Genoa surrenders. He has
in Alessandria his magazines, his hospitals, his artillery, and his
reserves. Crossing the Alps here (pointing to the Great Mont St.
Bernard) I shall fall upon Melas, cut off his communications with
Austria, and meet him here in the plains of Scrivia" (placing a red pin
at San Giuliano). Finding that I looked on this manoeuvre of pins as
mere pastime, he addressed to me some of his usual compliments, such
as fool, ninny, etc., and then proceeded to demonstrate his plans more
clearly on the map. At the expiration of a quarter of an hour we rose; I
folded up the map, and thought no more of the matter.
Four months after this, when I was at San Giuliano with Bonaparte's
portfolio and despatches, which I had saved from the rout which had
taken place during the day, and when that very evening I was writing at
Torre di Galifolo the bulletin of the battle to Napoleon's dictation, I
frankly avowed my admiration of his military plans. He himself smiled at
the accuracy of his own foresight.
The First Consul was not satisfied with General Berthier as War
Minister, and he superseded him by Carnot,
--[There were special reasons for the appointment of Carnot,
Berthier was required with his master in Italy, while Carnot, who
had so long ruled the armies of the Republic, was better fitted to
influence Moreau, at this time advancing into Germany. Carnot
probably fulfilled the main object of his appointment when he was
sent to Moreau, and succeeded in getting that general, with natural
reluctance, to damage his own campaign by detaching a large body of
troops into Italy. Berthier was reappointed to the Ministry on the
8th of October 1800,--a very speedy return if he had really been
disgraced.]--
who had given great proofs of firmness and integrity, but who,
nevertheless, was no favourite of Bonaparte, on account of his decided
republican principles. Berthier was too slow in carrying out the
measures ordered, [duplicated line removed here D.W.] and too lenient in
the payment of past charges and in new contracts. Carnot's appointment
took place on the 2d of April 1800; and to console Berthier, who, he
knew, was more at home in the camp than in the office, he dictated to me
the following letter for him:--
PARIS, 2d April 1800.
CITIZEN-GENERAL,--The military talents of which you have given so
many proofs, and the confidence of the Government, call you to the
command of an army. During the winter you have REORGANISED the War
Department, and you have provided, as far as circumstances would
permit, for the wants of our armies. During the spring and summer
it must be your task to lead our troops to victory, which is the
effectual means of obtaining peace and consolidating the Republic.
Bonaparte laughed heartily while he dictated this epistle, especially
when he uttered the word which I have marked in italics [CAPS]. Berthier
set out for Dijon, where he commenced the formation of the army of
reserve.
The Consular Constitution did not empower the First Consul to command an
army out of the territory of France. Bonaparte therefore wished to keep
secret his long-projected plan of placing himself at the head of the
army of Italy, which he then for the first time called the grand army.
I observed that by his choice of Berthier nobody could be deceived,
because it must be evident that he would have made another selection had
he not intended to command in person. He laughed at my observation.
Our departure from Paris was fixed for the 6th of May, or, according to
the republican calendar, the 16th Floréal. Bonaparte had made all his
arrangements and issued all his orders; but still he did not wish it to
be known that he was going to take the command of the army. On the eve
of our departure, being in conference with the two other Consuls and the
Ministers, he said to Lucien, "Prepare, to-morrow morning, a circular to
the prefects, and you, Fouché, will publish it in the journals. Say I am
gone to Dijon to inspect the army of reserve. You may add that I shall
perhaps go as far as Geneva; but you must affirm positively that I shall
not be absent longer than a fortnight. You, Cambacérès, will preside
to-morrow at the Council of State. In my absence you are the Head of
the Government. State that my absence will be but of short duration, but
specify nothing. Express my approbation of the Council of State; it has
already rendered great services, and I shall be happy to see it continue
in the course it has hitherto pursued. Oh! I had nearly forgotten--you
will at the same time announce that I have appointed Joseph a
Councillor of State. Should anything happen I shall be back again like a
thunderbolt. I recommend to you all the great interests of France, and I
trust that I shall shortly be talked of in Vienna and in London."
We set out at two in the morning, taking the Burgundy road, which we had
already so often travelled under very different circumstances.
On the journey Bonaparte conversed about the warriors of antiquity,
especially Alexander, Caesar, Scipio, and Hannibal. I asked him which he
preferred, Alexander or Caesar. "I place Alexander in the first rank,"
said he, "yet I admire Caesar's fine campaign in Africa. But the ground
of my preference for the King of Macedonia is the plan, and above all
the execution, of his campaign in Asia. Only those who are utterly
ignorant of war can blame Alexander for having spent seven months at the
siege of Tyre. For my part, I would have stayed there seven years had it
been necessary. This is a great subject of dispute; but I look upon the
siege of Tyre, the conquest of Egypt, and the journey to the Oasis of
Ammon as a decided proof of the genius of that great captain. His object
was to give the King of Persia (of whose force he had only beaten a
feeble advance-guard at the Granicus and Issus) time to reassemble his
troops, so that he might overthrow at a blow the colossus which he had
as yet only shaken. By pursuing Darius into his states Alexander would
have separated himself from his reinforcements, and would have met only
scattered parties of troops who would have drawn him into deserts where
his army would have been sacrificed. By persevering in the taking of
Tyre he secured his communications with Greece, the country he loved as
dearly as I love France, and in whose glory he placed his own. By taking
possession of the rich province of Egypt he forced Darius to come to
defend or deliver it, and in so doing to march half-way to meet him.
By representing himself as the son of Jupiter he worked upon the ardent
feelings of the Orientals in a way that powerfully seconded his designs.
Though he died at thirty-three what a name he has left behind him!"
Though an utter stranger to the noble profession of arms, yet I could
admire Bonaparte's clever military plans and his shrewd remarks on the
great captains of ancient and modern times. I could not refrain from
saying, "General, you often reproach me for being no flatterer, but now
I tell you plainly I admire you." And certainly, I really spoke the true
sentiments of my mind.
VOLUME II. -- 1800-1803
CHAPTER I.
1800.
Bonaparte's confidence in the army--'Ma belle' France--The convent
of Bernadins--Passage of Mont St. Bernard--Arrival at the convent--
Refreshments distributed to the soldiers--Mont Albaredo--Artillery
dismounted--The fort of Bard--Fortunate temerity--Bonaparte and
Melas--The spy--Bonaparte's opinion of M. Necker--Capitulation of
Genoa--Intercepted despatch--Lannes at Montebello--Boudet succeeded
by Desaix--Coolness of the First Consul to M. Collot--Conversation
and recollections--The battle of Marengo--General Kellerman--Supper
sent from the Convent del Bosco--Particulars respecting the death of
Desaix--The Prince of Lichtenstein--Return to Milan--Savary and
Rapp.
It cannot be denied that if, from the 18th Brumaire to the epoch when
Bonaparte began the campaign, innumerable improvements had been made in
the internal affairs of France, foreign affairs could not be seen with
the same satisfaction. Italy had been lost, and from the frontiers of
Provence the Austrian camp fires were seen. Bonaparte was not ignorant
of the difficulties of his position, and it was even on account of
these very difficulties that, whatever might be the result of his hardy
enterprise, he wished to escape from it as quickly as possible. He
cherished no illusions, and often said all must be staked to gain all.
The army which the First Consul was preparing to attack was numerous,
well disciplined, and victorious.
His, with the exception of a very small number of troops, was composed
of conscripts; but these conscripts were commanded by officers whose
ardour was unparalleled. Bonaparte's fortune was now to depend on the
winning or losing of a battle. A battle lost would have dispelled all
the dreams of his imagination, and with them would have vanished all his
immense schemes for the future of France. He saw the danger, but was not
intimidated by it; and trusting to his accustomed good fortune, and to
the courage and fidelity of his troops, he said, "I have, it is true,
many conscripts in my army, but they are Frenchmen. Four years ago did
I not with a feeble army drive before me hordes of Sardinians and
Austrians, and scour the face of Italy? We shall do so again. The sun
which now shines on us is the same that shone at Arcola and Lodi. I rely
on Massena. I hope he will hold out in Genoa. But should famine oblige
him to surrender, I will retake Genoa in the plains of the Scrivia. With
what pleasure shall I then return to my dear France! Ma belle France."
At this moment, when a possible, nay, a probable chance, might for ever
have blasted his ambitious hopes, he for the first time spoke of France
as his. Considering the circumstances in which we then stood, this use
of the possessive pronoun "my" describes more forcibly than anything
that can be said the flashes of divination which crossed Bonaparte's
brain when he was wrapped up in his chimerical ideas of glory and
fortune.
In this favourable disposition of mind the First Consul arrived at
Martigny on the 20th of May. Martigny is a convent of Bernardins,
situated in a valley where the rays of the sun scarcely ever penetrate.
The army was in full march to the Great St. Bernard. In this gloomy
solitude did Bonaparte wait three days, expecting the fort of Bard,
situated beyond the mountain and covering the road to Yvree, to
surrender. The town was carried on the 21st of May, and on the third
day he learned that the fort still held out, and that there were no
indications of its surrender. He launched into complaints against
the commander of the siege, and said, "I am weary of staying in this
convent; those fools will never take Bard; I must go myself and see what
can be done. They cannot even settle so contemptible an affair without
me!" He immediately gave orders for our departure.
The grand idea of the invasion of Italy by crossing Mont St. Bernard
emanated exclusively from the First Consul. This miraculous achievement
justly excited the admiration of the world. The incredible difficulties
it presented did not daunt the courage of Bonaparte's troops. His
generals, accustomed as they had been to brave fatigue and danger,
regarded without concern the gigantic enterprise of the modern Hannibal.
A convent or hospice, which had been established on the mountain for
the purpose of affording assistance to solitary travellers, sufficiently
bespeaks the dangers of these stormy regions. But the St. Bernard was
now to be crossed, not by solitary travellers, but by an army. Cavalry,
baggage, limbers, and artillery were now to wend their way along those
narrow paths where the goat-herd cautiously picks his footsteps. On
the one hand masses of snow, suspended above our heads, every moment
threatened to break in avalanches, and sweep us away in their descent.
On the other, a false step was death. We all passed, men and horse,
one by one, along the goat paths. The artillery was dismounted, and the
guns, put into excavated trunks of trees, were drawn by ropes.
I have already mentioned that the First Consul had transmitted funds to
the hospice of the Great St. Bernard. The good fathers had procured from
the two valleys a considerable supply of cheese, bread, and wine. Tables
were laid out in front of the hospice, and each soldier as he defiled
past took a glass of wine and a piece of bread and cheese, and then
resigned his place to the next. The fathers served, and renewed the
portions with admirable order and activity.
The First Consul ascended the St. Bernard with that calm self-possession
and that air of indifference for which he was always remarkable when he
felt the necessity of setting an example and exposing himself to danger.
He asked his guide many questions about the two valleys, inquired what
were the resources of the inhabitants, and whether accidents were
as frequent as they were said to be. The guide informed him that the
experience of ages enabled the inhabitants to foresee good or bad
weather, and that they were seldom deceived.
Bonaparte, who wore his gray greatcoat, and had his whip in his hand,
appeared somewhat disappointed at not seeing any one come from the
valley of Aorta to inform him of the taking of the fort of Bard. I never
left him for a moment during the ascent. We encountered no personal
danger, and escaped with no other inconvenience than excessive fatigue.
On his arrival at the convent the First Consul visited the chapel and
the three little libraries. He had time to read a few pages of an old
book, of which I have forgotten the title.
Our breakfast-dinner was very frugal. The little garden was still
covered with snow, and I said to one of the fathers, "You can have but
few vegetables here."--"We get our vegetables from the valleys," he
replied; "but in the month of August, in warm seasons, we have a few
lettuces of our own growing."
When we reached the summit of the mountain we seated ourselves on the
snow and slid down. Those who went first smoothed the way for those who
came behind them. This rapid descent greatly amused us, and we were only
stopped by the mud which succeeded the snow at the distance of five or
six hundred toises down the declivity.
We crossed, or rather climbed up, Mont Albaredo to avoid passing under
the fort of Bard, which closes the valley of Aorta. As it was impossible
to get the artillery up this mountain it was resolved to convey it
through the town of Bard, which was not fortified. For this operation
we made choice of night, and the wheels of the cannon and caissons, and
even the horses' feet, being wrapped in straw, the whole passed quietly
through the little town. They were, indeed, under the fire of the fort;
however, it did not so completely command the street but that the houses
would have protected them against any very fatal consequences. A great
part of the army had passed before the surrender of the fort, which
so completely commands the narrow valley leading to Aorta that it is
difficult to comprehend the negligence of the Austrians in not throwing
up more efficient works; by very simple precautions they might have
rendered the passage of St. Bernard unavailing.
On the 23d we came within sight of the fort of Bard, which commands the
road bounded by the Doria Baltea on the right and Mont Albaredo on the
left. The Doria Baltea is a small torrent which separates the town of
Bard from the fort. Bonaparte, whose retinue was not very numerous,
crossed the torrent. On arriving within gunshot of the fort he ordered
us to quicken our pace to gain a little bridle-path on the left, leading
to the summit of Mont Albaredo, and turning the town and fort of Bard.
We ascended this path on foot with some difficulty. On reaching the
summit of the mountain, which commands the fort, Bonaparte levelled his
telescope on the grass, and stationing himself behind some bushes, which
served at once to shelter and conceal him, he attentively reconnoitered
the fort. After addressing several questions to the persons who had come
to give him information, he mentioned, in a tone of dissatisfaction,
the faults that had been committed, and ordered the erection of a new
battery to attack a point which he marked out, and from whence,
he guaranteed, the firing of a few shots would oblige the fort to
surrender. Having given these orders he descended the mountain and went
to sleep that night at Yvree. On the 3d of June he learned that the fort
had surrendered the day before.
The passage of Mont St. Bernard must occupy a great place in the annals
of successful temerity. The boldness of the First Consul seemed, as it
were, to have fascinated the enemy, and his enterprise was so unexpected
that not a single Austrian corps defended the approaches of the fort of
Bard. The country was entirely exposed, and we only encountered here
and there a few feeble parties, who were incapable of checking our march
upon Milan. Bonaparte's advance astonished and confounded the enemy, who
thought of nothing but marching back the way he came, and renouncing
the invasion of France. The bold genius which actuated Bonaparte did not
inspire General Melas, the commander-in-chief of the Austrian forces.
If Melas had had the firmness which ought to belong to the leader of an
army--if he had compared the respective positions of the two parties--if
he had considered that there was no longer time to regain his line of
operations and recover his communication with the Hereditary States,
that he was master of all the strong places in Italy, that he had
nothing to fear from Massena, that Suchet could not resist him:--if,
then, following Bonaparte's example, he had marched upon Lyons, what
would have become of the First Consul? Melas would have found few
obstacles, and almost everywhere open towns, while the French army
would have been exhausted without having an enemy to fight. This is,
doubtless, what Bonaparte would have done had he been Melas; but,
fortunately for us, Melas was not Bonaparte.
We arrived at Milan on the 2d of June, the day on which the First Consul
heard that the fort of Bard was taken. But little resistance was opposed
to our entrance to the capital of Lombardy, and the term "engagements"
can scarcely be applied to a few affairs of advance posts, in which
success could not be for a moment doubtful; the fort of Milan was
immediately blockaded. Murat was sent to Piacenza, of which he
took possession without difficulty, and Lannes beat General Ott at
Montebello. He was far from imagining that by that exploit he conquered
for himself a future duchy!
The First Consul passed six days at Milan. On the day after our arrival
there a spy who had served us very well in the first campaign in Italy
was announced. The First Consul recollected him, and ordered him to be
shown into his cabinet.--"What, are you here?" he exclaimed; "so you are
not shot yet!"--"General," replied the spy, "when the war recommenced
I determined to serve the Austrians because you were far from Europe. I
always follow the fortunate; but the truth is, I am tired of the trade.
I wish to have done with it, and to get enough to enable me to retire.
I have been sent to your lines by General Melas, and I can render you
an important service. I will give an exact account of the force and the
position of all the enemy's corps, and the names of their commanders. I
can tell you the situation in which Alessandria now is. You know me, I
will not deceive you; but, I must carry back some report to my general.
You need not care for giving me some true particulars which I can
communicate to him."--"Oh! as to that," resumed the First Consul, "the
enemy is welcome to know my forces and my positions, provided I know
his, and he be ignorant of my plans. You shall be satisfied; but do not
deceive me: you ask for 1000 Louis, you shall have them if you serve me
well." I then wrote down from the dictation of the spy, the names of the
corps, their amount, their positions, names of the generals commanding
them. The Consul stuck pins in the map to mark his plans on places
respecting which he received information from the spy. We also learned
that Alexandria was without provisions, that Melas was far from
expecting a siege, that many of his troops were sick, and that he wanted
medicines. Berthier was ordered to draw up for the spy a nearly accurate
statement of our positions.
The information given by this man proved so accurate and useful that on
his return from Marengo Bonaparte ordered me to pay him the 1000 Louis.
The spy afterwards informed him that Melas was delighted with the way in
which he had served him in this affair, and had rewarded him handsomely.
He assured us that he had bidden farewell to his odious profession.
The First Consul regarded this little event as one of the favours of
fortune.
In passing through Geneva the First Consul had an interview with M.
Necker.
--[Madame de Stael briefly mention this interview in her
'Considerations sur la Revolution Francaise' "M. Necker," she says,
"had an interview with Bonaparte, when he was on his way to Italy by
the passage of Mont. St. Bernard, a few days before the battle of
Marengo. During this conversation, which lasted two hours, the First
Consul made a very favourable impression on my father by the
confident way he spoke of his future projects."--Bourrienne.]--
I know not how it happened, but at the time he did not speak to me of
this interview. However, I was curious to know what he thought of a man
who had acquired much celebrity in France. One evening, when we were
talking of one thing and another, I managed to turn the conversation on
that subject. "M. Necker," said he, "appears to me very far below his
reputation. He did not equal the idea I had formed of him. I tried all
I could to get him to talk; but he said nothing remarkable. He is an
ideologist--
--[This was a constant term of reproach with Bonaparte. He set all
the metaphysicians of the Continent against him by exclaiming, "Je
ne veux point d'ideologues."]--
a banker. It is impossible that such a man can have any but narrow
views; and, besides, most celebrated people lose on a close view."--
"Not always, General," observed I--"Ah!" said he, smiling, "that is not
bad, Bourrienne. You are improving. I see I shall make something of you
in time!"
The day was approaching when all was to be lost or won. The First Consul
made all his arrangements, and sent off the different corps to occupy
the points he had marked out. I have already mentioned that Murat's task
was the occupation of Piacenza. As soon as he was in possession of that
town he intercepted a courier of General Melas. The despatch, which was
addressed to the Aulic Council of Vienna, was delivered to us on the
night of the 8th of June. It announced the capitulation of Genoa,
which took place on the 4th, after the long and memorable defence which
reflected so much honour on Massena. Melas in his despatch spoke of what
he called our pretended army of reserve with inconceivable contempt, and
alluded to the presence of Bonaparte in Italy as a mere fabrication. He
declared he was still in Paris. It was past three in the morning when
Murat's courier arrived. I immediately translated the despatch, which
was in German. About four o'clock I entered the chamber of the First
Consul, whom I was obliged to shake by the arm in order to wake him. He
had desired me; as I have already mentioned, never to respect his repose
an the arrival of bad news; but on the receipt of good news to let him
sleep. I read to him the despatch, and so much was he confounded by
this unexpected event that his first exclamation was, "Bah! you do not
understand German." But hardly had he uttered these words when he arose,
and by eight o'clock in the morning orders were despatched for repairing
the possible consequences of this disaster, and countermanding the
march of the troops on the Scrivia. He himself proceeded the same day to
Stradella.
I have seen it mentioned in some accounts that the First Consul in
person gained the battle of Montebello. This is a mistake. He did not
leave Milan until the 9th of June, and that very day Lannes was engaged
with the enemy. The conflict was so terrible that Lannes, a few days
after, describing it in my presence to M. Collot, used these remarkable
words, which I well remember: "Bones were cracking in my division like a
shower of hail falling on a skylight."
By a singular chance Desaix, who was to contribute to the victory and
stop the rout of Marengo, arrived from Egypt at Toulon, on the very
day on which we departed from Paris. He was enabled to leave Egypt in
consequence of the capitulation of El-Arish, which happened on the 4th
of January 1800. He wrote me a letter, dated 16th Floréal, year VIII.
(6th of May 1800), announcing his arrival. This letter I did not receive
until we reached Martigny. I showed it to the First Consul. "Ah!"
exclaimed he, "Desaix in Paris!" and he immediately despatched an order
for him to repair to the headquarters of the army of Italy wherever
they might be. Desaix arrived at Stradella on the morning of the 11th
of June. The First Consul received him with the warmest cordiality, as
a man for whom he had a high esteem, and whose talents and character
afforded the fairest promise of what might one day be expected of him.
Bonaparte was jealous of some generals, the rivalry of whose ambition
he feared; but on this subject Desaix gave him no uneasiness; equally
remarkable for his unassuming disposition, his talent, and information,
he proved by his conduct that he loved glory for her own sake, and that
every wish for the possession of political power was foreign to his
mind. Bonaparte's friendship for him was enthusiastic. At this interview
at Stradella, Desaix was closeted with the First Consul for upwards
of three hours. On the day after his arrival an order of the day
communicated to the army that Desaix was appointed to the command of
Boudet's division.
--[Boudet was on terms of great intimacy with Bonaparte, who, no
doubt, was much affected at his death. However, the only remark he
made on receiving the intelligence, was "Who the devil shall I get
to supply Boudet's place?"--Bourrienne.
The command given to Desaix was a corps especially formed of the two
divisions of Boudet and Monnier (Savary, tome i. p. 262). Boudet
was not killed at Marengo, still less before (see Erreurs, tome i.
p. 14).]--
I expressed to Bonaparte my surprise at his long interview with Desaix.
"Yes," replied he, "he has been a long time with me; but you know what
a favourite he is. As soon as I return to Paris I will make him War
Minister. I would make him a prince if I could. He is quite an antique
character." Desaix died two days after he had completed his thirty-third
year, and in less than a week after the above observations.
About this time M. Collot came to Italy and saw Bonaparte at Milan. The
latter received him coldly, though he had not yet gained the battle of
Marengo. M. Collot had been on the most intimate footing with Bonaparte,
and had rendered him many valuable services. These circumstances
sufficiently accounted for Bonaparte's coolness, for he would never
acknowledge himself under obligations to any one, and he did not like
those who were initiated into certain family secrets which he had
resolved to conceal.
--[The day after the interview I had a long conversation with M.
Collot while Bonaparte was gone to review some corps stationed at
Milan. M. Collot perfectly understood the cause of the unkind
treatment he had experienced, and of which he gave me the following
explanation:
Some days before the Consulate--that is to say, two or three days
after our return from Egypt,--Bonaparte, during his jealous fit,
spoke to M. Collot about his wife, her levities, and their
publicity. "Henceforth," said Bonaparte, "I will have nothing to do
with her."--"What, would you part from her?"--"Does not her conduct
justify me in so doing?"--"I do not know; but is this the time to
think of such a thing, when the eyes of all France are fixed upon
you? These domestic squabbles will degrade you in the eyes of the
people, who expect you to be wholly devoted to their interests; and
you will be laughed at, like one of Molière's husbands, if you are
displeased with your wife's conduct you can call her to account when
you have nothing better to do. Begin by raising up the state.
After that you may find a thousand reasons for your resentment when
now you would not find one. You know the French people well enough
to see how important it is that you should not commence with this
absurdity."
By these and other similar remarks M. Collot thought he had produced
some impression, when Bonaparte suddenly exclaimed: "No, my
determination is fixed; she shall never again enter my house. I
care not what people say. They will gossip about the affair for two
days, and on the third it will be forgotten. She shall go to
Malmaison, and I will live here. The public know enough, not to be
mistaken as to the reasons of her removal."
M. Collot vainly endeavoured to calm his irritation. Bonaparte
vented a torrent of reproaches upon Josephine. "All this violence,"
observed M. Collot, "proves that you still love her. Do but see
her, she will explain the business to your satisfaction and you will
forgive her."--"I forgive her! Never! Collot, you know me. If I
were not sure of my own resolution, I would tear out this heart, and
cast it into the fire." Here anger almost choked his utterance, and
he made a motion with his hand as if tearing his breast.
When this violent paroxysm had somewhat subsided M. Collot withdrew;
but before he went away Bonaparte invited him to breakfast on the
following morning.
At ten o'clock M. Collot was there, and as he was passing through
the courtyard he was informed that Madame Bonaparte, who, as I have
already mentioned, had gone to Lyons without meeting the General,
had returned during the night. On M. Collot's entrance Bonaparte
appeared considerably embarrassed. He led him into a side room, not
wishing to bring him into the room where I was writing. "Well,"
said Bonaparte to M. Collot, "she is here."--"I rejoice to hear it.
You have done well for yourself as well as for us."--"But do not
imagine I have forgiven her. As long as I live I shall suspect.
The fact is, that on her arrival I desired her to be gone; but that
fool Joseph was there. What could I do, Collot? I saw her descend
the staircase followed by Eugine and Hortense. They were all
weeping; and I have not a heart to resist tears. Eugène was with me
in Egypt. I have been accustomed to look upon him as my adopted
son. He is a fine brave lad. Hortense is just about to be
introduced into society, and she is admired by all who know her.
I confess, Collot, I was deeply moved; I could not endure the
distress of the two poor children. 'Should they,' thought I,
'suffer for their mother's faults?' I called back Eugène and
Hortense, and their mother followed them. What could I say, what
could I do? I should not be a man without some weakness."--
"Be assured they will reward you for this."--"They ought, Collot
they ought; for it has cost me a hard struggle." After this
dialogue Bonaparte and M. Collot entered the breakfast-parlour,
where I was then sitting. Eugène breakfasted with us, but neither
Josephine nor Hortense. I have already related how I acted the part
of mediator in this affair. Next day nothing was wanting to
complete the reconciliation between the Conqueror of Egypt and the
charming woman who conquered Bonaparte.--Bourrienne.]--
On the 13th the First Consul slept at Torre di Galifolo. During the
evening he ordered a staff-officer to ascertain whether the Austrians
had a bridge across the Bormida. A report arrived very late that there
was none. This information set Bonaparte's mind at rest, and he went
to bed very well satisfied; but early next morning, when a firing was
heard, and he learned that the Austrians had debouched on the plain,
where the troops were engaged, he flew into a furious passion, called
the staff-officer a coward, and said he had not advanced far enough. He
even spoke of bringing the matter to an investigation.
From motives of delicacy I refrain from mentioning the name of the
officer here alluded to.
Bonaparte mounted his horse and proceeded immediately to the scene of
action. I did not see him again until six in the evening. In obedience
to his instructions; I repaired to San Giuliano, which is not above two
leagues from the place where the engagement commenced. In the course of
the afternoon I saw a great many wounded passing through the village,
and shortly afterwards a multitude of fugitives. At San Giuliano nothing
was talked of but a retreat, which, it was said, Bonaparte alone firmly
opposed. I was then advised to leave San Giuliano, where I had just
received a courier for the General-in-Chief. On the morning of the 14th
General Desaix was sent towards Novi to observe the road to Genoa, which
city had fallen several days before, in spite of the efforts of its
illustrious defender, Massena. I returned with this division to San
Giuliano. I was struck with the numerical weakness of the corps which
was marching to aid an army already much reduced and dispersed. The
battle was looked upon as lost, and so indeed it was. The First Consul
having asked Desaix what he thought of it, that brave General bluntly
replied, "The battle is completely lost; but it is only two o'clock, we
have time to gain another to-day." I heard this from Bonaparte himself
the same evening. Who could have imagined that Desaix's little corps,
together with the few heavy cavalry commanded by General Kellerman,
would, about five o'clock, have changed the fortune of the day? It
cannot be denied that it was the instantaneous inspiration of Kellerman
that converted a defeat into a victory, and decided the battle of
Marengo.
That memorable battle, of which the results were incalculable, has been
described in various ways. Bonaparte had an account of it commenced no
less than three times; and I must confess that none of the narratives
are more correct than that contained in the 'Memoirs of the Duke of
Rovigo'. The Emperor Napoleon became dissatisfied with what had been
said by the First Consul Bonaparte. For my part, not having had the
honour to bear a sword, I cannot say that I saw any particular movement
executed this or that way; but I may mention here what I heard on the
evening of the battle of Marengo respecting the probable chances of that
event. As to the part which the First Consul took in it, the reader,
perhaps, is sufficiently acquainted with his character to account for
it. He did not choose that a result so decisive should be attributed to
any other cause than the combinations of his genius, and if I had not
known his insatiable thirst for glory I should have been surprised at
the sort of half satisfaction evinced at the cause of the success amidst
the joy manifested for the success itself. It must be confessed that
in this he was very unlike Jourdan, Hoche, Kléber, and Moreau, who were
ever ready to acknowledge the services of those who had fought under
their orders.
Within two hours of the time when the divisions commanded by Desaix left
San Giuliano I was joyfully surprised by the triumphant return of the
army, whose fate, since the morning, had caused me so much anxiety.
Never did fortune within so short a time show herself under two such
various faces. At two o'clock all denoted the desolation of a defeat,
with all its fatal consequences; at five victory was again faithful
to the flag of Arcola. Italy was reconquered by a single blow, and the
crown of France appeared in the perspective.
At seven in the evening, when I returned with the First Consul to
headquarters, he expressed to me his sincere regret for the loss of
Desaix, and then he added, "Little Kellerman made a lucky charge. He did
it at just the right moment. We are much indebted to him. You see what
trifling circumstances decide these affairs."
These few words show that Bonaparte sufficiently appreciated the
services of Kellerman. However, when that officer approached the table
at which were seated the First Consul and a number of his generals,
Bonaparte merely said, "You made a pretty good charge." By way of
counter-balancing this cool compliment he turned towards Bessières, who
commanded the horse grenadiers of the Guard, and said, "Bessières, the
Guard has covered itself with glory." Yet the fact is, that the Guard
took no part in the charge of Kellerman, who could assemble only 500
heavy cavalry; and with this handful of brave men he cut in two the
Austrian column, which had overwhelmed Desaix's division, and had made
6000 prisoners. The Guard did not charge at Marengo until nightfall.
Next day it was reported that Kellerman, in his first feeling of
dissatisfaction at the dry congratulation he had received, said to the
First Consul, "I have just placed the crown on your head!" I did not
hear this, and I cannot vouch for the truth of its having been said. I
could only have ascertained that fact through Bonaparte, and of course
I could not, with propriety, remind him of a thing which must have been
very offensive to him. However, whether true or not, the observation was
circulated about, verbally and in writing, and Bonaparte knew it.
Hence the small degree of favour shown to Kellerman, who was not made a
general of division on the field of battle as a reward for his charge at
Marengo.
--[If Savary's story be correct, and he was then aide de camp to
Desaix, and Bourrienne acknowledges his account to be the best, the
inspiration of the charge did not come from the young Kellerman.
Savary says that Desaix sent him to tell Napoleon that he could not
delay his attack, and that he must be supported by some cavalry.
Savary was then sent by Napoleon to a spot where he was told he
would find Kellerman, to order him to charge in support of Desaix.
Desaix and Kellerman were so placed as to be out of sight of each
other (Savary, tome i. pp. 279-279). Thiers (tome i, p. 445)
follows Savary.
It may here be mentioned that Savary, in his account of the battle,
expressly states that he carried the order from Bonaparte to
Kellerman to make this charge. He also makes the following
observations on the subject:--
After the fall of the Imperial Government some pretended friends of
General Kellerman have presumed to claim for him the merit of
originating the charge of cavalry. That general, whose share of
glory is sufficiently brilliant to gratify his most sanguine wishes,
can have no knowledge of so presumptuous a pretension. I the more
readily acquit him from the circumstance that, as we were conversing
one day respecting that battle, I called to his mind my having
brought, to him the First Consul's orders, and he appeared not to
have forgotten that fact. I am far from suspecting his friends of
the design of lessening the glory of either General Bonaparte or
General Desaix; they know as well as myself that theirs are names so
respected that they can never be affected by such detractions, and
that it would be as vain to dispute the praise due to the Chief who
planned the battle was to attempt to depreciate the brilliant share
which General Kellerman had in its successful result. I will add to
the above a few observations.
"From the position which he occupied General Desaix could not see
General Kellerman; he had even desired me to request the First
Consul to afford him the support of some cavalry. Neither could
General Kellerman, from the point where he was stationed, perceive
General Desaix's division; it is even probable that he was not aware
of the arrival of that General, who had only joined the army two
days before. Both were ignorant of each other's position, which the
First Consul was alone acquainted with; he alone could introduce
harmony into their movements; he alone could make their efforts
respectively conduce to the same object.
"The fate of the battle was decided by Kellerman's bold charge; had
it, however, been made previously to General Desaix's attack, in all
probability it would have had a quite different result. Kellerman
appears to have been convinced of it, since he allowed the Austrian
column to cross our field of battle and extend its front beyond that
of the troops we had still in line without making the least attempt
to impede its progress. The reason of Kellerman's not charging it
sooner was that it was too serious a movement, and the consequences
of failure would have been irretrievable: that charge, therefore,
could only enter into a general combination of plans, to which he
was necessarily a stranger" (Memoirs of the Duke of Rovigo, tome i.
pp. 218-280).]--
M. Delaforet, the Postmaster-general, sometimes transacted business
with the First Consul. The nature of this secret business may easily be
guessed at.
--[When M. Delaforet was replaced soon after this by Lavalette,
Napoleon ordered the discontinuance of the practice followed until
then of allowing letters to be opened by subordinate officials.
This right was restricted, as in England, to the Minister. However
bad this practice, it was limited, not extended, in his reign. See
Mineval, tome iii. pp. 60-62, and Lavalette, tome ii. p. 10.]--
On the occasion of one of their interviews the First Consul saw a letter
from Kellerman to Lasalle, which contained the following passage: "Would
you believe, my friend, that Bonaparte has not made me a general of
division though I have just placed the crown on his head?" The letter
was sealed again and sent to its address; but Bonaparte never forgot its
contents.
Whether Kellerman did or did not give the crown of France to the First
Consul, it is very certain that on the evening of the battle of Marengo
he gave him a supper, of which his famishing staff and the rest of us
partook. This was no inconsiderable service in the destitute condition
in which we were. We thought ourselves exceeding fortunate in profiting
by the precaution of Kellerman, who had procured provisions from one of
those pious retreats which are always well supplied, and which soldiers
are very glad to fall in with when campaigning. It was the convent del
Bosco which on this occasion was laid under contribution; and in return
for the abundance of good provisions and wine with which they supplied
the commander of the heavy cavalry the holy fathers were allowed a guard
to protect them against pillage and the other disastrous concomitants of
war.
After supper was over the First Consul dictated to me the bulletin of
the battle. When we were alone I said to him, "General, here is a fine
victory! You recollect what you said the other day about the pleasure
with which you would return to France after striking a grand blow
in Italy; surely you must be satisfied now?"--"Yes, Bourrienne, I am
satisfied.--But Desaix! . . . Ah, what a triumph would this have been
if I could have embraced him to-night on the field of battle!" As he
uttered these words I saw that Bonaparte was on the point of shedding
tears, so sincere and profound was his grief for the death of Desaix. He
certainly never loved, esteemed, or regretted any man so much.
The death of Desaix has been variously related, and I need not now state
that the words attributed to him in the bulletin were imaginary. Neither
did he die in the arms of his aide de camp, Lebrun, as I wrote from the
dictation of the First Consul. The following facts are more correct, or
at all events more probable:--the death of Desaix was not perceived at
the moment it took place. He fell without saying a word, at a little
distance from Lefebre-Desnouettes. A sergeant of battalion of the 9th
brigade light infantry, commanded by Barrois, seeing him extended on
the ground, asked permission to pick up his cloak. It was found to be
perforated behind; and this circumstance leaves it doubtful whether
Desaix was killed by some unlucky inadvertency, while advancing at the
head of his troops, or by the enemy when turning towards his men to
encourage them. However, the event was so instantaneous, the disorder so
complete, and the change of fortune so sudden, that it is not surprising
there should be no positive account of the circumstances which attended
his death.
Early next morning the Prince of Liechtenstein came from General Melas
with negotiations to the First Consul. The propositions of the General
did not suit Bonaparte, and he declared to the Prince that the army shut
up in Alessandria should evacuate freely, and with the honours of war;
but on those conditions, which are well known, and by which Italy was to
be fully restored to the French domination. That day were repaired
the faults of Scherer, whose inertness and imbecility had paralysed
everything, and who had fled, and been constantly beaten, from the
Adriatic to Mont Cenis. The Prince of Liechtenstein begged to return to
render an account of his mission to General Melas. He came back in
the evening, and made many observations on the hard nature of the
conditions. "Sir," replied the First Consul, in a tone of marked
impatience, "carry my final determination to your General, and return
quickly. It is irrevocable! Know that I am as well acquainted with your
position as you are yourselves. I did not begin to learn the art of war
yesterday. You are blocked up in Alessandria; you have many sick and
wounded; you are in want of provisions and medicines. I occupy the whole
of your rear. Your finest troops are among the killed and wounded. I
might insist on harder conditions; my position would warrant me in so
doing; but I moderate my demands in consideration of the gray hairs of
your General, whom I respect."
This reply was delivered with considerable dignity and energy. I showed
the Prince out, and he said to me, "These conditions are very hard,
especially that of giving up Genoa, which surrendered to us only a
fortnight ago, after so long a siege." It is a curious fact that
the Emperor of Austria received intelligence of the capitulation and
restitution of Genoa at the same time.
When the First Consul returned to Milan he made Savary and Rapp his
aides de camp. They had previously served in the same rank under Desaix.
The First Consul was at first not much disposed to take them, alleging
that he had aides de camp enough. But his respect for the choice of
Desaix, added to a little solicitation on my part, soon removed
every obstacle. These two officers served him to the last hour of his
political career with unfailing zeal and fidelity.
I have seen nothing in the Memoirs of the Duc de Rovigo (Savary) about
my having had anything to do with his admission to the honour. I can
probably tell the reason why one of the two aides de camp has risen
higher than the other. Rapp had an Alsatian frankness which always
injured him.
CHAPTER II.
1800.
Suspension of hostilities--Letter to the Consuls--Second Occupation
of Milan--Bonaparte and Massena--Public acclamations and the voice
of Josephine--Stray recollections--Organization of Piedmont--Sabres
of honour--Rewards to the army of the Rhine--Pretended army of
reserve--General Zach--Anniversary of the 14th of July--Monument to
Desaix--Desaix and Foy--Bonaparte's speech in the Temple of Mars--
Arrival of the Consular Guard--The bones of marshal Turenne--
Lucien's successful speech--Letter from Lucien to Joseph Bonaparte--
The First Consul's return to Paris--Accidents on the road--
Difficulty of gaining lasting fame--Assassination of Kléber--
Situation of the terrace on which Kléber was stabbed--Odious rumours
--Arrival of a courier--A night scene--Bonaparte's distress on
perusing the despatches from Egypt.
What little time, and how few events sometimes suffice to change the
destiny of nations! We left Milan on the 13th of June, Marengo on
the 14th, and on the 15th Italy was ours! A suspension of hostilities
between the French and Austrian armies was the immediate result of a
single battle; and by virtue of a convention, concluded between Berthier
and Melas, we resumed possession of all the fortified places of any
importance, with the exception of Mantua. As soon as this convention
was signed Bonaparte dictated to me at Torre di Galifolo the following
letter to his colleagues:
The day after the battle of Marengo, CITIZENS CONSULS, General Melas
transmitted a message to our advance posts requesting permission to
send General Skal to me. During the day the convention, of which I
send you a copy, was drawn up, and at night it was signed by
Generals Berthier and Melas. I hope the French people will be
satisfied with the conduct, of their army.
(Signed) Bonaparte
The only thing worthy of remark in this letter would be the concluding
sentence, in which the First Consul still affected to acknowledge the
sovereignty of the people, were it not that the words "Citizens Consuls"
were evidently foisted in with a particular design. The battle was
gained; and even in a trifling matter like this it was necessary that
the two, other Consuls should feel that they were not so much the
colleagues as the subordinates of the First Consul.
We returned to Milan, and our second occupation of that city was marked
by continued acclamations wherever the First Consul showed himself.
At Milan the First Consul now saw Massena for the first time since our
departure for Egypt. Bonaparte lavished upon him the highest praises,
but not higher than he deserved, for his admirable defence of Genoa. He
named him his successor in the command of the army of Italy. Moreau
was on the Rhine, and therefore none but the conqueror of Zurich could
properly have succeeded the First Consul in that command. The great
blow was struck; but there might still occur an emergency requiring the
presence of a skillful experienced general, well acquainted with the
country. And besides, we could not be perfectly at ease, until it
was ascertained what conditions would be adhered to by the Cabinet of
Vienna, which was then entirely under the influence of the Cabinet of
London. After our return from the battle the popular joy was general and
heartfelt not only among the higher and middle ranks of society, but in
all classes; and the affection evinced from all quarters to the First
Consul was unfeigned. In what a tone of sincerity did he say to me
one day, when returning from the parade, "Bourrienne, do you hear the
acclamations still resounding? That noise is as sweet to me as the sound
of Josephine's voice. How happy and proud I am to be loved by such a
people!"
During our stay at Milan Bonaparte had arranged a new government for
Piedmont; he had ever since cherished the wish to unite that rich
and fertile country to the French territory because some Piedmontese
provinces had been possessed by Louis XIV. That monarch was the only
king whom the First Consul really admired. "If," said he one day, "Louis
XIV. had not been born a king, he would have been a great man. But
he did not know mankind; he could not know them, for he never knew
misfortune." He admired the resolution of the old King, who would rather
bury himself under the ruins of the monarchy than submit to degrading
conditions, after having commanded the sovereigns of Europe. I recollect
that Bonaparte was extremely pleased to see in the reports which he
ordered to be made that in Casal, and in the valleys of Pignerol,
Latour, and Luzerne, there still existed many traces of the period when
those countries belonged to France; and that the French language was yet
preserved there. He already began to identify himself with the past;
and abusing the old kings of France was not the way to conciliate his
favour.
The First Consul appointed for the government of Piedmont a Council
which, as may naturally be imagined; he composed of those Piedmontese
who were the declared partisans of France. He stated as the grounds
of this arrangement that it was to give to Piedmont a new proof of the
affection and attachment of the French people. He afterwards
appointed General Dupont President of the Council, with the title of
Minister-Extraordinary of the French government. I will here mention a
secret step taken by Bonaparte towards the overthrowing of the Republic.
In making the first draught of General Dupont's appointment I
had mechanically written, "Minister-Extraordinary of the French
Republic."--"No! no!" said Bonaparte, "not of the Republic; say of the
Government."
On his return to Paris the First Consul gave almost incredible proofs of
his activity. The day after his arrival he promulgated a great number
of decrees, and afterwards allotted the rewards to his soldiers. He
appointed Kellerman General of division which, on every principle of
justice, he ought to have done on the field of battle. He distributed
sabres of honour, with the following inscription, highly complimentary
to himself:--
"Battle of Maringo,--[spelt for some time, I do not know why, as,
Maringo--Bourrienne]--commanded in person by the First Consul.
--Given by the Government of the Republic to General Lannes."
Similar sabres where presented to Generals Victor, Watrin, Gardanne, and
Murat; and sabres of less value to other officers: and also muskets and
drumsticks of honour to the soldiers and drummers who had distinguished
themselves at Marengo, or in the army of the Rhine; for Bonaparte took
care that the officers and men who had fought under Moreau should be
included among those to whom the national rewards were presented. He
even had a medal struck to perpetuate the memory of the entry of the
French army into Munich. It is worthy of remark that while official
fabrications and exaggerated details of facts were published respecting
Marengo and the short campaign of Italy, by a feigned modesty the
victorious army of Marengo received the unambitious title of 'Army of
Reserve'. By this artifice the honour of the Constitution was saved. The
First Consul had not violated it. If he had marched to the field,
and staked everything on a chance it was merely accidentally, for he
commanded only an "Army of Reserve," which nevertheless he had greeted
with the title of Grand Army before he entered upon the campaign. It
is scarcely conceivable that Bonaparte, possessing as he did an
extraordinary mind, should have descended to such pitiful artifices.
--[ Thiers (tome. vi., p. 70) says the title Grande Armee was first
given by Napoleon to the force prepared in 1805 for the campaign
against Austria. The Constitution forbad the First Consul to
command the armies in person. Hence the title, "Army of Reserve,"
gives to the force which fought Marengo.]--
Even foreigners and prisoners were objects of Bonaparte's designing
intentions. I recollect one evening his saying to me; "Bourrienne, write
to the Minister of War, and tell him to select a fine brace of pistols,
of the Versailles manufacture, and send them, in my name, to General
Zach. He dined with me to-day, and highly praised our manufacture of
arms. I should like to give him a token of remembrance; besides--the
matter will be talked of at Vienna, and may perhaps do good!"
As soon as the news of the battle of Marengo reached Paris Lucien
Bonaparte, Minister of the Interior, ordered preparations for the
festival, fixed for the 14th of July, in commemoration of the first
Federation. This festival and that of the 1st Vendemiaire were the only
ones preserved by the Consular Government. Indeed, in those memorable
days, when the Revolution appeared in its fairest point of view, France
had never known such joy as that to which the battle of Marengo gave
rise. Still, amidst all this popular transport there was a feeling of
regret. The fame of Desaix, his heroic character, his death, the words
attributed to him and believed to be true, caused mourning to be mingled
with joy. It was agreed to open a subscription for erecting a national
monument to his memory. A reflection naturally arises here upon the
difference between the period referred to and the present time. France
has endowed with nearly a million the children of one of her greatest
orators and most eloquent defenders of public liberty, yet, for the
monument to the memory of Desaix scarcely 20,000 francs were subscribed.
Does not this form a singular contrast with the patriotic munificence
displayed at the death of General Foy? The pitiful monument to Desaix,
on the Place Dauphins, sufficiently attests the want of spirit on the
part of the subscribers. Bonaparte, who was much dissatisfied with it,
gave the name of Desaix to a new quay, the first stone of which was laid
with great solemnity on the 14th of July.
On that day the crowd was immense in the Champ-de-Mars and in the
Temple of Mars, the name which at that the Church of the Invalides still
preserved. Lucien delivered a speech on the encouraging prospects of
France, and Lannes made an appropriate address on presenting to the
Government the flags taken at Marengo. Two more followed; one from an
aide de camp of Massena, and the other from an aide de camp of Lecourbe;
and after the distribution of some medals the First Consul then
delivered the following address:--
CITIZENS! SOLDIERS!--The flags presented to the Government, in the
presence of the people of this immense capital, attest at once the
genius of the Commanders-in-Chief Moreau, Massena, and Berthier; the
military talents of the generals, their lieutenants; and bravery of
the French soldiers.
On your return to the camp tell your comrades that for the 1st
Vendemiaire, when we shall celebrate the anniversary of the
Republic, the French people expect either peace or, if the enemy
obstinately refuse it, other flags, the fruit of fresh victories.
After this harangue of the First Consul, in which he addressed to the
military in the name of the people, and ascribed to Berthier the glory
of Marengo, a hymn was chanted, the words of which were written by M. de
Fontanes and the music composed by Mehul. But what was most remarkable
in this fete was neither the poetry, music, nor even the panegyrical
eloquence of Lucien,--it was the arrival at the Champ-de-Mars, after the
ceremony at the Invalides, of the Consular Guard returning from Marengo.
I was at a window of the Ecole-Militaire, and I can never forget the
commotion, almost electrical, which made the air resound with cries of
enthusiasm at their appearance. These soldiers did not defile before
the First Consul in fine uniforms as at a review. Leaving the field of
battle when the firing ceased, they had crossed Lombardy, Piedmont, Mont
Cenis, Savoy, and France in the space of twenty-nine days. They appeared
worn by the fatigue of a long journey, with faces browned by the summer
sun of Italy, and with their arms and clothing showing the effects of
desperate struggles. Do you wish to have an idea of their appearance?
You will find a perfect type in the first grenadier put by Gerard at one
side of his picture of the battle of Austerlitz.
At the time of this fete, that is to say, in the middle of the month
of July, the First Consul could not have imagined that the moderate
conditions he had proposed after the victory would not be accepted
by Austria. In the hope, therefore, of a peace which could not but be
considered probable, he, for the first time since the establishment of
the Consular Government, convoked the deputies of the departments, and
appointed their time of assembling in Paris for the 1st Vendemiaire,
a day which formed the close of one remarkable century and marked the
commencement of another.
The remains of Marshal Turenne; to which Louis XIV. had awarded the
honours of annihilation by giving them a place among the royal tombs in
the vaults of St. Denis, had been torn from their grave at the time
of the sacrilegious violation of the tombs. His bones, mingled
indiscriminately with others, had long lain in obscurity in a garret of
the College of Medicine when M. Lenoir collected and restored them
to the ancient tomb of Turenne in the Mussee des Petits Augustins.
Bonaparte resolved to enshrine these relics in that sculptured marble
with which the glory of Turenne could so well dispense. This was
however, intended as a connecting link between the past days of
France and the future to which he looked forward. He thought that the
sentiments inspired by the solemn honours rendered to the memory of
Turenne would dispose the deputies of the departments to receive with
greater enthusiasm the pacific communications he hoped to be able to
make.
However, the negotiations did not take the favourable turn which the
First Consul had expected; and, notwithstanding all the address of
Lucien, the communication was not heard without much uneasiness. But
Lucien had prepared a speech quite to the taste of the First Consul.
After dilating for some time on the efforts of the Government to obtain
peace he deplored the tergiversations of Austria, accused the fatal
influence of England, and added in a more elevated and solemn tone,
"At the very moment when, the Consuls were leaving the Palace of the
Government a courier arrived bearing despatches which the First Consul
has directed me to communicate to you." He then read a note declaring
that the Austrian Government consented to surrender to France the three
fortresses of Ulm, Philipsburg, and Ingolstadt. This was considered as a
security for the preliminaries of peace being speedily signed. The
news was received with enthusiasm, and that anxious day closed in a way
highly gratifying to the First Consul.
Whilst victory confirmed in Italy the destinies of the First Consul, his
brothers were more concerned about their own interests than the affairs
of France. They loved money as much as Bonaparte loved glory. A letter
from Lucien to his brother Joseph, which I shall subjoin, shows how
ready they always were to turn to their own advantage the glory and
fortune of him to whom they were indebted for all their importance.
I found this letter among my papers, but I cannot tell why and how I
preserved it. It is interesting, inasmuch as it shows, the opinion that
family of future kings entertained of their own situation, and of what
their fate would have been had Bonaparte, like Desaix, fallen on the
field of Marengo. It is, besides, curious to observe the philosopher
Lucien causing Te Deum, to be chanted with the view of influencing
the public funds. At all events I copy Lucien's letter as he wrote it,
giving the words marked in italics [CAPS] and the numerous notes of
exclamation which distinguish the original.
MY BROTHER--I send you a courier; I particularly wish that the First
Consul would give me notice of his arrival twenty-four hours beforehand,
and that he would inform ME ALONE of the barrier by which he will enter.
The city wishes to prepare triumphal arches for him, and it deserves not
to be disappointed.
AT MY REQUEST a Te Deum was chanted yesterday. There were 60,000 persons
present.
The intrigues of Auteuil continue.
--[This intrigue, so called from Talleyrand one of its heads, living
in the suburb of Auteuil, arose from the wish of many of the most
influential men to be prepared in case of the death of Napoleon in
any action in Italy: It was simply a continuation of the same
combinations which had been attempted or planned in 1799, till the
arrival of Bonaparte from Egypt made the party choose him as the
instrument for the overthrow of the Directors. There was little
secrecy about their plans; see Miot de Melito (tome i p. 276),
where Joseph Bonaparte tells his friends all that was being proposed
in case his brother fell. Carnot seems to have been the most
probable choice as leader and replacer of Bonaparte. In the above
letter "C----," stands for Carrot, "La F----" for La Fayette, the
"High Priest" is Sieyès, and the "friend of Auteuil" is Talleyrand;
see Iung's Lucien, tome i. p. 411. The postscript seems to refer to
a wretched scandal about Caroline, and Lucien; see Iung's Lucien,
tome i. pp. 411, 432-433. The reader should remark the retention
of this and other documents by Bourrienne, which forms one of the
charges brought against him farther on.]--
--It has been found difficult to decide between C---- and La F----. The
latter has proposed his daughter in marriage to me. Intrigue has been
carried to the last extreme. I do not know yet whether the High Priest
has decided for one party or the other. I believe that he would cheat
them both for an Orleans, and your friend of Auteuil was at the bottom
of all. The news of the battle of Marengo petrified them, and yet next
day the High Priest certainly spent three hours with your friend of
Auteuil. As to us, had the victory of Marengo closed the First Consul's
career we should now have been Proscribed.
Your letters say nothing of what I expected to hear. I hope at least
to be informed of the answer from Vienna before any one. I am sorry you
have not paid me back for the battle of Marengo.
The festival of the 14th of July will be very gratifying. We expect
peace as a certainty, and the triumphant return of the First Consul. The
family is all well. Your wife and all her family are at Mortfontaine.
Ney is at Paris. Why do you return with the First Consul? Peace! and
Italy! Think of our last interview. I embrace you. (Signed) LUCIEN.
On the margin is written--
P.S.--Read the letter addressed to the Consul, and give it to him AFTER
YOU HAVE CAREFULLY CLOSED IT.
Forward the enclosed. Madame Murat never lodged in my house. Her husband
is a fool, whom his wife ought to punish by not writing to him for a
month. (Signed) LUCIEN BONAPARTE
Bonaparte, confirmed in his power by the victory of Marengo, remained
some days longer at Milan to settle the affairs of Italy. He directed
one to furnish Madame Grassini with money to pay her expenses to Paris.
We departed amidst the acclamations of the inhabitants, and took the
road to Turin. The First Consul stopped at Turin for some hours, and
inspected the citadel, which had been surrendered to us in pursuance of
the capitulation of Alessandria. In passing over Mont Cenis we observed
the carriage of Madame Kellerman, who was going to meet her husband.
Bonaparte on recognizing the lady stopped his carriage and congratulated
her on the gallant conduct of her husband at the battle of Marengo.
On our arrival at Lyons we alighted at the Hotel des Celestins, and
the loud acclamations of a numerous multitude assembled round the hotel
obliged Bonaparte to show himself on the balcony. Next day he proceeded
to the Square of Bellecour, where, amidst the plaudits of the people, he
laid the first stone of some new buildings destined to efface one of the
disasters of the Revolution.
We left Lyons that evening and continued our journey by way of Dijon.
On our arrival in that town the joy of the inhabitants was very great.
I never saw a more graceful and captivating sight than that which was
presented by a group of beautiful young females, crowned with flowers,
who accompanied Bonaparte's carriage, and which at that period, when the
Revolution had renewed all the republican recollections of Greece and
Rome, looked like the chorus of females dancing around the victor at the
Olympic games.
But all our journey was not so agreeable. Some accidents awaited us. The
First Consul's carriage broke down between Villeneuve-le-Roi and Sens.
He sent a courier to inform my mother that he would stop at her house
till his carriage was repaired. He dined there, and we started again at
seven in the evening.
But we had other disasters to encounter. One of our off-wheels came off,
and as we were driving at a very rapid pace the carriage was overturned
on the bridge at a short distance from Montreau-Faut-Yonne. The First
Consul, who sat on my left, fell upon me, and sustained no injury. My
head was slightly hurt by striking against some things which were in the
pocket of the carriage; but this accident was not worth stopping for,
and we arrived at Paris on the same night, the 2d of July. Duroc, who
was the third in the carriage, was not hurt.
I have already mentioned that Bonaparte was rather talkative when
travelling; and as we were passing through Burgundy, on our return to
Paris from Marengo, he said exultingly, "Well, a few more events like
this campaign, and I may go down to posterity."--"I think," replied
I, "that you have already done enough to secure great and lasting
fame."--"Yes," resumed he, "I have done enough, it is true. In less than
two years I have won Cairo, Paris, and Milan; but for all that, my dear
fellow, were I to die to-morrow I should not at the end of ten centuries
occupy half a page of general history!"
On the very day when Desaix fell on the field of Marengo Kléber was
assassinated by a fanatical Mussulman, named Soleiman Haleby, who
stabbed him with a dagger, and by that blow decided the fate of Egypt.
--["This fellah was, at most, eighteen or twenty years of age: he
was a native of Damascus, and declared that he had quitted his
native city by command of the grand vizier, who had entrusted him
with the commission of repairing to Egypt and killing the grand
sultan of the French [Bonaparte being probably intended]. That for
this purpose alone he had left his family, and performed the whole
journey on foot and had received from the grand vizier no other
money than what was absolutely requisite for the exigencies of the
journey. On arriving at Cairo he had gone forthwith to perform his
devotions in the great mosque, and it was only on the eve of
executing his project that he confided it to one of the scherifs of
the mosque" (Duc de Rovigo's Memoirs, tome 1. p. 367)]--
Thus was France, on the same day, and almost at the same hour, deprived
of two of her most distinguished generals. Menou, as senior in command,
succeeded Kléber, and the First Consul confirmed the appointment. From
that moment the loss of Egypt was inevitable.
I have a few details to give respecting the tragical death of Kléber.
The house of Elfy Bey, which Bonaparte occupied at Cairo, and in which
Kléber lived after his departure; had a terrace leading from a salon
to an old ruined cistern, from which, down a few steps, there was an
entrance into the garden. The terrace commanded a view of the grand
square of El Beguyeh, which was to the right on coming out of the salon,
while the garden was on the left. This terrace was Bonaparte's favourite
promenade, especially in the evenings, when he used to walk up and down
and converse with the persons about him, I often advised him to fill up
the reservoir, and to make it level with the terrace. I even showed him,
by concealing myself in it, and coming suddenly behind him, how easy it
would be for any person to attempt his life and then escape, either by
jumping into the square, or passing through the garden. He told me I was
a coward, and was always in fear of death; and he determined not to
make the alteration I suggested, which, however, he acknowledged to be
advisable. Kléber's assassin availed himself of the facility which I so
often apprehended might be fatal to Bonaparte.
I shall not atop to refute all the infamous rumours which were
circulated respecting Kléber's death. When the First Consul received
the unexpected intelligence he could scarcely believe it. He was
deeply affected; and on reading the particulars of the assassination he
instantly called to mind how often he had been in the same situation
as that in which Kléber was killed, and all I had said respecting the
danger of the reservoir--a danger from which it is inconceivable he
should have escaped, especially after his Syrian expedition had excited
the fury of the natives. Bonaparte's knowledge of Kléber's talents--the
fact of his having confided to him the command of the army, and the aid
which he constantly endeavoured to transmit to him, repelled at once
the horrible suspicion of his having had the least participation in the
crime, and the thought that he was gratified to hear of it.
It is very certain that Bonaparte's dislike of Kléber was as decided as
the friendship he cherished for Desaix. Kléber's fame annoyed him, for
he was weak enough to be annoyed at it. He knew the manner in which
Kléber spoke of him, which was certainly not the most respectful. During
the long and sanguinary siege of St. Jean d'Acre Kléber said to me,
"That little scoundrel Bonaparte, who is no higher than my boot, will
enslave France. See what a villainous expedition he has succeeded in
involving us in." Kléber often made the same remark to others as well
as to me. I am not certain that it was ever reported to Bonaparte; but
there is reason to believe that those who found it their interest to
accuse others did not spare Kléber.
Kléber, who was a sincere republican, saw and dreaded for his country's
sake the secret views and inordinate ambition of Bonaparte. He was a
grumbler by nature; yet he never evinced discontent in the discharge of
his duties as a soldier. He swore and stormed, but marched bravely to
the cannon's mouth: he was indeed courage personified. One day when
he was in the trench at St. Jean d'Acre, standing up, and by his tall
stature exposed to every shot, Bonaparte called to him, "Stoop down,
Kléber, stoop down!"--"Why;" replied he, "your confounded trench does
not reach to my knees." He never regarded the Egyptian expedition with
a favourable eye. He thought it too expensive, and utterly useless
to France. He was convinced that in the situation in which we stood,
without a navy or a powerful Government, it would have been better to
have confined our attention to Europe than to have wasted French blood
and money on the banks of the Nile, and among the ruined cities of
Syria. Kléber, who was a cool, reflecting man, judged Bonaparte without
enthusiasm, a thing somewhat rare at that time, and he was not blind to
any of his faults.
Bonaparte alleged that Kléber said to him, "General, you are as great as
the world!" Such a remark is in direct opposition to Kléber's character.
He was too sincere to say anything against his conviction. Bonaparte,
always anxious to keep Egypt, of which the preservation alone could
justify the conquest, allowed Kléber to speak because he acted at the
same time. He knew that Kléber's sense of military duty would always
triumph over any opposition he might cherish to his views and plans.
Thus the death of his lieutenant, far from causing Bonaparte any feeling
of satisfaction, afflicted him the more, because it almost totally
deprived him if the hope of preserving a conquest which had cost France
so dear, and which was his work.
The news of the death of Kléber arrived shortly after our return to
Paris. Bonaparte was anxiously expecting accounts from Egypt, none
having been received for a considerable time. The arrival of the courier
who brought the fatal intelligence gave rise to a scene which I may
relate here. It was two o'clock in the morning when the courier arrived
at the Tuileries. In his hurry the First Consul could not wait to rouse
any one to call me up. I had informed him some days before that if he
should want me during the night he should send for me to the corridor,
as I had changed my bedchamber on account of my wife's accouchement. He
came up himself and instead of knocking at my door knocked at that of
my secretary. The latter immediately rose, and opening the door to
his surprise saw the First Consul with a candle in his hand, a Madras
handkerchief on his head, and having on his gray greatcoat. Bonaparte,
not knowing of the little step down into the room, slipped and nearly
fell, "Where is Bourrienne?" asked he. The surprise of my secretary at
the apparition of the First Consul can be imagined. "What; General, is
it you?"--"Where is Bourrienne?" Then my secretary, in his shirt, showed
the First Consul my door. After having told him that he was sorry at
having called him up, Napoleon came to me. I dressed in a hurry, and
we went downstairs to my usual room. We rang several times before they
opened the door for us. The guards were not asleep, but having heard so
much running to and fro feared we were thieves. At last they opened
the door, and the First Consul threw on the table the immense packet
of despatches which he had just received. They had been fumigated and
steeped in vinegar. When he read the announcement of the death of Kléber
the expression of his countenance sufficiently denoted the painful
feelings which arose in his mind. I read in his face; EGYPT IS LOST!
CHAPTER III.
Bonaparte's wish to negotiate with England and Austria--
An emigrant's letter--Domestic details--The bell--Conspiracy of
Ceracchi, Arena, Harrel, and others--Bonaparte's visit to the opera
--Arrests--Rariel appointed commandant of Vincennes--The Duc
d'Enghien's foster-sister--The 3d Nivoise--First performance of
Haydn's "Creation"--The infernal machine--Congratulatory addresses--
Arbitrary condemnations--M. Tissot erased from the list of the
banished--M. Truguet--Bonapartes' hatred of the Jacobins explained--
The real criminals discovered--Justification of Fouché--Execution of
St. Regent and Carbon--Caesar, Cromwell, and Bonaparte--Conversation
between Bonaparte and Fouché--Pretended anger--Fouché's
dissimulation--Lucien's resignation--His embassy to Spain--War
between Spain and Portugal--Dinner at Fouché's--Treachery of Joseph
Bonaparte--A trick upon the First Consul--A three days' coolness--
Reconciliation.
The happy events of the campaign of Italy had been crowned by the
armistice, concluded on the 6th of July. This armistice was broken on
the 1st of September, and renewed after the battle of Hohenlinden. On
his return from Marengo Bonaparte was received with more enthusiasm than
ever. The rapidity with which, in a campaign of less than two months,
he had restored the triumph of the French standard, excited universal
astonishment. He then actively endeavoured to open negotiations with
England and Austria; but difficulties opposed him in every direction. He
frequently visited the theatre, where his presence attracted prodigious
throngs of persons, all eager to see and applaud him.
The immense number of letters which were at this time addressed to
the First Consul is scarcely conceivable. They contained requests
for places, protestations of fidelity, and, in short, they were those
petitionary circulars that are addressed to all persons in power. These
letters were often exceedingly curious, and I have preserved many of
them; among the rest was one from Durosel Beaumanoir, an emigrant who
had fled to Jersey. This letter contains some interesting particulars
relative to Bonaparte's family. It is dated Jersey, 12th July 1800, and
the following are the most remarkable passages it contains:
I trust; General, that I may, without indiscretion, intrude upon
your notice, to remind you of what, I flatter myself, you have not
totally forgotten, after having lived eighteen or nineteen years at
Ajaccio. But you will, perhaps, be surprised that so trifling an
item should be the subject of the letter which I have the honour to
address to you. You cannot have forgotten, General, that when your
late father was obliged to take your brothers from the college of
Autun, from whence he went to see you at Brienne, he was unprovided
with money, and he asked me for twenty-five louis, which I lent him
with pleasure. After his return he had no opportunity of paying me,
and when I left Ajaccio your mother offered to dispose of some plate
in order to pay the debt. To this I objected, and told her that I
would wait until she could pay me at her convenience, and previous
to the breaking out of the revolution I believe it was not in her
power to fulfil her wish of discharging the debt.
I am sorry, General, to be obliged to trouble you about such a
trifle. But such is my unfortunate situation that even this trifle
is of some importance to me. Driven from my country, and obliged to
take refuge in this island, where everything is exceedingly
expensive, the little sum I have mentioned, which was formerly a
matter of indifference, would now be of great service to me.
You will understand, General, that at the age of eighty-six, after
serving served my country well for sixty years, without the least
interruption, not counting the time of emigration, chased from every
place, I have been obliged to take refuge here, to subsist on the
scanty succour given by the English Government to the French
emigrant. I say emigrant because I have been forced to be one.
I had no intention of being one, but a horde of brigands, who came
from Caen to my house to assassinate me, considered I had committed
the great crime in being the senior general of the canton and in
having the Grand Cross of St. Louis: this was too much for them; if
it had not been for the cries of my neighbours, my door would have
been broken open, and I should have been assassinated; and I had but
time to fly by a door at the back, only carrying away what I had on
me. At first I retired to Paris, but there they told me that I
could do nothing but go into a foreign country, so great was the
hate entertained for me by my fellow-citizens, although I lived in
retirement, never having any discussion with any one. Thus,
General; I have abandoned all I possessed, money and goods, leaving
them at the mercy of what they call the nation, which has profited a
good deal by this, as I have nothing left in the world, not even a
spot to put my foot on. If even a horse had been reserved for me,
General, I could ask for what depends on you, for I have heard it
said that some emigrants have been allowed to return home. I do not
even ask this favour, not having a place to rest my foot. And,
besides, I have with me here an exiled brother, older than I am,
very ill and in perfect second childhood, whom I could not abandon.
I am resigned to my own unhappy fate, but my sole and great grief is
that not only I myself have been ill-treated, but that my fate has,
contrary to the law, injured relations whom I love and respect. I
have a mother-in-law, eighty years old, who has been refused the
dower I had given her from my property, and this will make me die a
bankrupt if nothing is changed, which makes me miserable.
I acknowledge, General, that I know little of the new style, but,
according to the old form, I am your humble servant,
DUROSEL BEAUMANOIR.
I read this letter to the First Consul, who immediately said,
"Bourrienne, this is sacred! Do not lose a minute. Send the old man ten
times the sum. Write to General Durosel that he shall be immediately
erased from the list of emigrants. What mischief those brigands of the
Convention have done! I can never repair it all." Bonaparte uttered
these words with a degree of emotion which I rarely saw him evince. In
the evening he asked me whether I had executed his orders, which I
had done without losing a moment. The death of M. Froth had given me a
lesson as to the value of time!
Availing myself of the privilege I have already frequently taken of
making abrupt transitions from one subject to another, according as the
recollection of past circumstances occurs to my mind, I shall here note
down a few details, which may not improperly be called domestic, and
afterwards describe a conspiracy which was protected by the very man
against whom it was hatched.
At the Tuileries, where the First Consul always resided during the
winter and sometimes a part of the summer, the grand salon was situated
between his cabinet and the Room in which he received the persons with
whom he had appointed audiences. When in this audience-chamber, if he
wanted anything or had occasion to speak to anybody, he pulled a bell
which was answered by a confidential servant named Landoire, who was the
messenger of the First Consul's cabinet. When Bonaparte's bell rung it
was usually for the purpose of making some inquiry of me respecting a
paper, a name, a date, or some matter of that sort; and then Landoire
had to pass through the cabinet and salon to answer the bell and
afterwards to return and to tell me I was wanted. Impatient at the delay
occasioned by this running about, Bonaparte, without saying anything
to me, ordered the bell to be altered so that it should ring within the
cabinet; and exactly above my table. Next morning when I entered the
cabinet I saw a man mounted-upon a ladder. "What are you doing here?"
said I. "I am hanging a bell, sir." I called Landoire and asked him
who had given the order. "The First Consul," he replied. I immediately
ordered the man to come down and remove the ladder, which he accordingly
did. When I went, according to custom, to awaken the First Consul and
read the newspapers to him I said, "General, I found a man this morning
hanging a bell in your cabinet. I was told it was by your orders; but
being convinced there must be some mistake I sent him away. Surely the
bell was not intended for you, and I cannot imagine it was intended for
me: who then could it be for?--" "What a stupid fellow that Landoire
is!" said Bonaparte. "Yesterday, when Cambacérès was with me, I wanted
you. Landoire did not come when I touched the bell. I thought it was
broken, and ordered him to get it repaired. I suppose the bell-hanger
was doing it when you saw him, for you know the wire passes through
the cabinet." I was satisfied with this explanation, though I was not
deceived, by it. For the sake of appearance he reproved Landoire, who,
however, had done nothing more than execute the order he had received.
How could he imagine I would submit to such treatment, considering that
we had been friends since our boyhood, and that I was now living on full
terms of confidence and familiarity with him?
Before I speak of the conspiracy of Ceracchi, Arena, Topino-Lebrun, and
others, I must notice a remark made by Napoleon at St. Helena. He said,
or is alleged to have said, "The two attempts which placed me in the
greatest danger were those of the sculptor Ceracchi and of the fanatic
of Schoenbrun." I was not at Schoenbrun at the time; but I am convinced
that Bonaparte was in the most imminent danger. I have been informed
on unquestionable authority that Staps set out from Erfurth with the
intention of assassinating the Emperor; but he wanted the necessary
courage for executing the design. He was armed with a large dagger, and
was twice sufficiently near Napoleon to have struck him. I heard this
from Rapp, who seized Stags, and felt the hilt of the dagger under his
coat. On that occasion Bonaparte owed his life only to the irresolution
of the young 'illuminato' who wished to sacrifice him to his fanatical
fury. It is equally certain that on another occasion, respecting which
the author of the St. Helena narrative observes complete silence,
another fanatic--more dangerous than Steps attempted the life of
Napoleon.
--[At the time of this attempt I was not with Napoleon; but he
directed me to see the madmen who had formed the design of
assassinating him. It will be seen in the course of these Memoirs
what were his plans, and what was the result of them--Bourrienne]--
The following is a correct statement of the facts relative to Ceracchi's
conspiracy. The plot itself was a mere shadow; but it was deemed
advisable to give it substance, to exaggerate, at least in appearance,
the danger to which the First Consul had been exposed:--
There was at that time in Paris an idle fellow called Harrel; he had
been a 'chef de battalion', but he had been dismissed the service,
and was consequently dissatisfied. He became connected with Cerracchi,
Arena, Topino-Lebrun, and Demerville. From different motives all these
individuals were violently hostile to the First Consul, who on his part,
was no friend to Cerracchi and Arena, but scarcely knew the two others.
These four individuals formed, in conjunction with Harrel, the design of
assassinating the First Consul, and the time fixed for the perpetration
of the deed was one evening when Bonaparte intended to visit the opera.
On the 20th of September 1804 Harrel came to me at the Tuileries. He
revealed to me the plot in which he was engaged, and promised that his
accomplices should be apprehended in the very act if I would supply him
with money to bring the plot to maturity. I knew not how to act upon
this disclosure, which I, however, could not reject without incurring
too great a responsibility. I immediately communicated the business to
the First Consul, who ordered me to supply Harrel with money; but not
to mention the affair to Fouché, to whom he wished to prove that he knew
better how to manage the police than he did.
Harrel came nearly every evening at eleven o'clock to inform me of the
progress of the conspiracy, which I immediately communicated to the
First Consul, who was not sorry to find Arena and Ceracchi deeply
committed. But the time passed on, and nothing was done. The First
Consul began to grow impatient. At length Harrel came to say that
they had no money to purchase arms. Money was given him. He, however,
returned next day to say that the gunsmith refused to sell them arms
without authority. It was now found necessary to communicate the
business to Fouché in order that he might grant the necessary permission
to the gunsmith, which I was not empowered to do.
On the 10th of October the Consuls, after the breaking up of the
Council, assembled in the cabinet of their colleague. Bonaparte asked
them in my presence whether they thought he ought to go to the opera.
They observed that as every precaution was taken no danger could be
apprehended, and that it was desirable to show the futility of attempts
against the First Consul's life. After dinner Bonaparte put on a
greatcoat over his green uniform and got into his carriage accompanied
by me and Duroc. He seated himself in front of his box, which at that
time was on the left of the theatre between the two columns which
separated the front and side boxes. When we had been in the theatre
about half an hour the First Consul directed me to go and see what was
doing in the corridor. Scarcely had I left the box than I heard a great
uproar, and soon discovered that a number of persons, whose names I
could not learn, had been arrested. I informed the First Consul of what
I had heard, and we immediately returned to the Tuileries.
It is certain that the object of the conspiracy was to take the First
Consul's life, and that the conspirators neglected nothing which could
further the accomplishment of their atrocious design. The plot, however,
was known through the disclosures of Harrel; and it would have been easy
to avert instead of conjuring up the storm. Such was, and such still is,
my opinion. Harrel's name was again restored to the army list, and he
was appointed commandant of Vincennes. This post he held at the time of
the Duc d'Enghien's assassination. I was afterwards told that his wife
was foster-sister to the unfortunate prince, and that she recognised him
when he entered the prison which in a few short hours was to prove his
grave.
Carbonneau, one of the individuals condemned, candidly confessed the
part he had taken in the plot, which he said was brought to maturity
solely by the agents of the police, who were always eager to prove their
zeal to their employers by some new discovery.
Although three months intervened between the machinations of Ceracchi
and Arena and the horrible attempt of the 3d Nivôse, I shall relate
these two events in immediate succession; for if they had no other
points of resemblance they were at least alike in their object. The
conspirators in the first affair were of the revolutionary faction. They
sought Bonaparte's life as if with the view of rendering his resemblance
to Caesar so complete that not even a Brutus should be wanting. The
latter, it must with regret be confessed, were of the Royalist party,
and in their wish to destroy the First Consul they were not deterred by
the fear of sacrificing a great number of citizens.
The police knew nothing of the plot of the 3d Nivôse for two reasons;
first, because they were no parties to it, and secondly, because two
conspirators do not betray and sell each other when they are resolute
in their purpose. In such cases the giving of information can arise only
from two causes, the one excusable, the other infamous, viz. the dread
of punishment, and the hope of reward. But neither of these causes
influenced the conspirators of the 3d Nivôse, the inventors and
constructors of that machine which has so justly been denominated
infernal!
On the 3d Nivôse (24th December 1800) the first performance of Haydn's
magnificent oratorio of the "Creation" took place at the opera, and the
First Consul had expressed his intention of being present. I did not
dine with him that day, but as he left me he said, "Bourrienne, you know
I am going to the opera to-night, and you may go too; but I cannot take
you in the carriage, as Lannes, Berthier, and Lauriston are going with
me." I was very glad of this, for I much wished to hear one of the
masterpieces of the German school of composition. I got to the opera
before Bonaparte, who on his entrance seated himself, according to
custom, in front of the box. The eyes of all present were fixed upon
him, and he appeared to be perfectly calm and self-possessed. Lauriston,
as soon as he saw me, came to my box, and told me that the First Consul,
on his way to the opera, had narrowly escaped being assassinated in
the Rue St. Nicaise by the explosion of a barrel of gunpowder, the
concussion of which had shattered the windows of his carriage. "Within
ten seconds after our escape," added Lauriston, "the coachman having
turned the corner of the Rue St Honore, stopped to take the First
Consul's orders; and he coolly said, 'To the opera.'"
--[The following particulars respecting the affair of the infernal
machine are related by Rapp, who attended Madame Bonaparte to the
opera. He differs from Bourrienne as to the total ignorance of the
police:
"The affair of the infernal machine has never been properly
understood by the public. The police had intimated to Napoleon that
an attempt would be made against his life and cautioned him not to
go out. Madame Bonaparte, Mademoiselle Beauharnais, Madame Murat,
Lannes, Bessières, the aide de camp on duty, Lieutenant Lebrun, now
duke of Placenza were all assembled in the salon, while the First
Consul was writing in his cabinet. Haydn's oratorio was to be
performed that evening; the ladies were anxious to hear the music,
and we also expressed a wish to that effect. The escort piquet was
ordered out; and Lannes requested that Napoleon would join the
party. He consented; his carriage was ready, and he took along with
him Bessières and the aide de camp on duty. I was directed to
attend the ladies. Josephine had received a magnificent shawl from
Constantinople and she that evening wore it for the first time.
'Permit me to observe,' said I, 'that your shawl is not thrown on
with your usual elegance.' She good-humouredly begged that I would
fold it after the fashion of the Egyptian ladies. While I was
engaged in this operation we heard Napoleon depart. 'Come sister,'
said Madame Murat, who was impatient to get to the theatre:
'Bonaparte is going:' We stopped into the carriage: the First
Consul's equipage had already reached the middle of the Place du
Carrousel. We drove after it, but we had scarcely entered the place
when the machine exploded. Napoleon escaped by a singular chance,
St. Regent, or his servant Francois, had stationed himself in the
middle of the Rue Nicaise. A grenadier of the escort, supposing he
was really what he appeared to be, a water-carrier, gave him a few
blows with the flat of his sabre and drove him off. The cart was
turned round, and the machine exploded between the carriages of
Napoleon and Josephine. The ladies shrieked on hearing the report;
the carriage windows were broken, and Mademoiselle Beauharnais
received a slight hurt on her hand. I alighted and crossed the Rue
Nicaise which was strewed with the bodies of those who had been
thrown down, and the fragments of the walls that had been shattered
with the explosion. Neither the consul nor any individual of his
suite sustained any serious injury. When I entered the theatre
Napoleon was seated in his box; calm and composed, and looking at
the audience through his opera-glass. Fouché was beside him.
'Josephine' said he as soon as he observed me. She entered at that
instant and he did not finish his question 'The rascals' said he
very cooly, 'wanted to blow me up: Bring me a book of the oratorio'"
(Memoirs of General Count Rape. P. 19)]--
On hearing this I left the theatre and returned to the Palace, under the
expectation that I should speedily be wanted. Bonaparte soon returned
home; and as intelligence of the affair had spread through Paris
the grand salon on the ground-floor was filled with a crowd of
functionaries, eager to read in the eye of their master what they were
to think and say on the occasion. He did not keep them long in suspense.
"This," exclaimed he vehemently, "is the work of the Jacobins: they have
attempted my life.... There are neither nobles, priests, nor Chouans
in this affair!... I know what I am about, and they need not think to
impose on me. These are the Septembrizers who have been in open revolt
and conspiracy, and arrayed against every succeeding Government. It
is scarce three months since my life was attempted by Uracchi, Arena;
Topino-Lebrun, and Demerville. They all belong to one gang! The
cutthroats of September, the assassins of Versailles, the brigands of
the 81st of May, the conspirators of Prairial are the authors of all
the crimes committed against established Governments! If they cannot be
checked they must be crashed! France must be purged of these ruffians!"
It is impossible to form any idea of the bitterness with which
Bonaparte, pronounced these words. In vain did some of the Councillors
of State, and Fouché in particular, endeavour to point out to him that
there was no evidence against any one, and that before he pronounced
people to be guilty it would be right to ascertain the fact. Bonaparte
repeated with increased violence what he had before said of the
Jacobins; thus adding; not without some ground of suspicion, one crime
more to, the long catalogue for which they had already to answer.
Fouché had many enemies, and I was not, therefore, surprised to find
some of the Ministers endeavouring to take advantage of the difference
between his opinion and that of the First Consul; and it must be owned
that the utter ignorance of the police respecting this event was a
circumstance not very favourable to Fouché. He, however, was like the
reed in the fable--he bent with the wind, but was soon erect again. The
most skilful actor could scarcely imitate the inflexible calmness he
maintained during Bonaparte's paroxysm of rage, and the patience with
which he allowed himself to be accused.
Fouché, when afterwards conversing with me, gave me clearly to
understand that he did not think the Jacobins guilty. I mentioned this
to the First Consul, but nothing could make him retract his opinion.
"Fouché," said he, "has good reason for his silence. He is serving his
own party. It is very natural that he should seek to screen a set of men
who are polluted with blood and crimes! He was one of their leaders. Do
not I know what he did at Lyons and the Loire? That explains Fouché's
conduct now!"
This is the exact truth; and now let me contradict one of the thousand
fictions about this event. It has been said and printed that "the
dignitaries and the Ministers were assembled at the Tuileries. 'Well,'
said the First Consul, advancing angrily towards Fouché, 'will you still
say that this is the Royalist party?' Fouché, better informed than was
believed, answered coolly, 'Yes, certainly, I shall say so; and, what
is more, I shall prove it.' This speech caused general astonishment,
but was afterwards fully borne out." This is pure invention. The First
Consul only said to Fouché; "I do not trust to your police; I guard
myself, and I watch till two in the morning." This however, was very
rarely the case.
On the day after the explosion of the infernal machine a considerable
concourse assembled at the Tuileries. There was absolutely a torrent of
congratulations. The prefect of the Seine convoked the twelve mayors of
Paris and came at their head to wait on the First Consul. In his reply
to their address Bonaparte said, "As long as this gang of assassins
confined their attacks to me personally I left the law to take its
course; but since, by an unparalleled crime, they have endangered the
lives of a portion of the population of Paris, their punishment must
be as prompt as exemplary. A hundred of these wretches who have libeled
liberty by perpetrating crimes in her name must be effectually prevented
from renewing their atrocities." He then conversed with the Ministers,
the Councillors of State, etc., on the event of the preceding day; and
as all knew the First Consul's opinion of the authors of the crime each
was eager to confirm it. The Council was several times assembled when
the Senate was consulted, and the adroit Fouché, whose conscience
yielded to the delicacy of his situation, addressed to the First Consul
a report worthy of a Mazarin. At the same time the journals were filled
with recollections of the Revolution, raked up for the purpose of
connecting with past crimes the individuals on whom it was now wished
to cast odium. It was decreed that a hundred persons should be banished;
and the senate established its character for complaisance by passing a
'Senatus-consulte' conformable to the wishes of the First Consul.
A list was drawn up of the persons styled Jacobins, who were condemned
to transportation. I was fortunate enough to obtain the erasure of the
names of several whose opinions had perhaps been violent, but whose
education and private character presented claims to recommendation. Some
of my readers may probably recollect them without my naming them, and
I shall only mention M. Tissot, for the purpose of recording, not the
service I rendered him, but an instance of grateful acknowledgment.
When in 1815 Napoleon was on the point of entering Paris M. Tissot came
to the prefecture of police, where I then was, and offered me his
house as a safe asylum; assuring me I should there run no risk of being
discovered. Though I did not accept the offer yet I gladly seize on this
opportunity of making it known. It is gratifying to find that difference
of political opinion does not always exclude sentiments of generosity
and honour! I shall never forget the way in which the author of the
essays on Virgil uttered the words 'Domus mea'.
But to return to the fatal list. Even while I write this I shudder
to think of the way in which men utterly innocent were accused of a
revolting crime without even the shadow of a proof. The name of an
individual, his opinions, perhaps only assumed, were sufficient grounds
for his banishment. A decree of the Consuls, dated 4th of January 1801,
confirmed by a 'Senates-consulte' on the next day, banished from the
territory of the Republic, and placed under special inspectors, 130
individuals, nine of whom were merely designated in the report as
Septembrizers.
The exiles, who in the reports and in the public acts were so unjustly
accused of being the authors of the infernal machine, were received at
Nantes, with so much indignation that the military were compelled to
interfere to save them from being massacred.
In the discussions which preceded the decree of the Consuls few persons
had the courage to express a doubt respecting the guilt of the accused.
Truguet was the first to mount the breach. He observed that without
denying the Government the extraordinary means for getting rid of its
enemies he could not but acknowledge that the emigrants threatened the
purchasers of national domains, that the public mind was corrupted by
pamphlets, and that--Here the First Consul, interrupting him, exclaimed,
"To what pamphlets do you allude?"--"To pamphlets which are publicly
circulated."--"Name them!"--"You know them as well as I do."
--[The Parallel between Caesar, Cromwell, and Bonaparte, of which I
shall speak a little farther on, is here alluded to.--Bourrienne.]--
After a long and angry ebullition the First Consul abruptly dismissed
the Council. He observed that he would not be duped; that the villains
were known; that they were Septembrizers, the hatchers of every
mischief. He had said at a sitting three days before, "If proof should
fail, we must take advantage of the public excitement. The event is to
me merely the opportunity. They shall be banished for the 2d September,
for the 31st May, for Baboeuf's conspiracy--or anything else."
On leaving one of the sittings of the Council, at which the question
of a special tribunal had been discussed, he told me that he had been
a little ruffled; that he had said a violent blow must be struck; that
blood must be spilt; and that as many of the guilty should be shot as
there had been victims of the explosion (from fifteen to twenty); that
200 should be banished, and the Republic purged of these scoundrels.
The arbitrariness and illegality of the proceeding were so evident that
the 'Senatus-consulte' contained no mention of the transactions of the
3d Nivôse, which was very remarkable. It was, however, declared that
the measure of the previous day had been adopted with a view to the
preservation of the Constitution. This was promising.
The First Consul manifested the most violent hatred of the Jacobins; for
this he could not have been blamed if under the title of Jacobins he had
not comprised every devoted advocate of public liberty. Their opposition
annoyed him and he could never pardon them for having presumed to
condemn his tyrannical acts, and to resist the destruction of the
freedom which he had himself sworn to defend, but which he was
incessantly labouring to overturn. These were the true motives of his
conduct; and, conscious of his own faults, he regarded with dislike
those who saw and disapproved of them. For this reason he was more
afraid of those whom he called Jacobins than of the Royalists.
I am here recording the faults of Bonaparte, but I excuse him; situated
as he was, any other person would have acted in the same way. Truth now
reached him with difficulty, and when it was not agreeable he had
no disposition to hear it. He was surrounded by flatterers; and, the
greater number of those who approached him, far from telling him what
they really thought; only repeated what he had himself been thinking.
Hence he admired the wisdom of his Counsellors. Thus Fouché, to maintain
himself in favour, was obliged to deliver up to his master 130
names chosen from among his own most intimate friends as objects of
proscription.
Meanwhile Fouché, still believing that he was not deceived as to the
real authors of the attempt of the 3d Nivôse, set in motion with his
usual dexterity all the springs of the police. His efforts, however,
were for sometime unsuccessful; but at length on Saturday, the 31st
January 1801, about two hours after our arrival at Malmaison, Fouché
presented himself and produced authentic proofs of the accuracy of his
conjectures. There was no longer any doubt on the subject; and Bonaparte
saw clearly that the attempt of the 3d Nivôse was the result of a plot
hatched by the partisans of royalty. But as the act of proscription
against those who were jumbled together under the title of the Jacobins
had been executed, it was not to be revoked.
Thus the consequence of the 3d Nivôse was that both the innocent and
guilty were punished; with this difference, however, that the guilty at
least had the benefit of a trial.
When the Jacobins, as they were called, were accused with such
precipitation, Fouché had no positive proofs of their innocence; and
therefore their illegal condemnation ought not to be attributed to him.
Sufficient odium is attached to his memory without his being charged
with a crime he never committed. Still, I must say that had he boldly
opposed the opinion of Bonaparte in the first burst of his fury he might
have averted the blow. Every time he came to the Tuileries, even before
he had acquired any traces of the truth, Fouché always declared to me
his conviction of the innocence of the persons first accused. But he was
afraid to make the same observation to Bonaparte. I often mentioned to
him the opinion of the Minister of Police; but as proof was wanting he
replied to me with a triumphant air, "Bah! bah! This is always the way
with Fouché. Besides, it is of little consequence. At any rate we shall
get rid of them. Should the guilty be discovered among the Royalists
they also shall be punished."
The real criminals being at length discovered through the researches of
Fouché, St. Regent and Carbon expiated their crimes by the forfeit of
their heads. Thus the First Consul gained his point, and justice gained
hers.
--[It was St. Regent, or St. Rejeant, who fired the infernal
machine. The violence of the shock flung him against a post and
part of his breast bone was driven in. He was obliged to resort to
a surgeon, and it would seem that this man denounced him. (Memoirs
of Miot de Melito, tome i. p. 264).
The discussions which took place in the Council of State on this
affair are remarkable, both for the violence of Napoleon and for the
resistance made in the Council, to a great extent successfully, to
his views as to the plot being one of the Jacobin party.]--
I have often had occasion to notice the multifarious means employed by
Bonaparte to arrive at the possession of supreme power, and to prepare
men's minds for so great change. Those who have observed his life must
have so remarked how entirely he was convinced of the truth that public
opinion wastes itself on the rumour of a project and possesses no energy
at the moment of its execution. In order, therefore, to direct public
attention to the question of hereditary power a pamphlet was circulated
about Paris, and the following is the history of it:--
In the month of December 1800, while Fouché was searching after the
real authors of the attempt of the 3d Nivôse, a small pamphlet, entitled
"Parallel between Caesar, Cromwell, and Bonaparte," was sent to the
First Consul. He was absent when it came. I read it, and perceived that
it openly advocated hereditary monarchy. I then knew nothing about the
origin of this pamphlet, but I soon learned that it issued from the
office of the Minister of the Interior [Lucien Bonaparte], and that it
had been largely circulated. After reading it I laid it on the table. In
a few minutes Bonaparte entered, and taking up the pamphlet pretended
to look through it: "Have you read this?" said he.--"Yes, General."--
"Well! what is your opinion of it?"--"I think it is calculated to
produce an unfavourable effect on the public mind: it is ill-timed, for
it prematurely reveals your views." The First Consul took the pamphlet
and threw it on the ground, as he did all the stupid publications of the
day after having slightly glanced over them. I was not singular in my
opinion of the pamphlet, for next day the prefects in the immediate
neighbourhood of Paris sent a copy of it to the First Consul,
complaining of its mischievous effect; and I recollect that in one of
their letters it was stated that such a work was calculated to
direct against him the poniards of new assassins. After reading this
correspondence he said to me, "Bourrienne, send for Fouché; he must come
directly, and give an account of this matter." In half an hour Fouché
was in the First Consul's cabinet. No sooner had he entered than the
following dialogue took place, in which the impetuous warmth of the one
party was strangely contrasted with the phlegmatic and rather sardonic
composure of the other.
"What pamphlet is this? What is said about it in Paris?"--"General,
there is but one opinion of its dangerous tendency."--"Well, then,
why did you allow it to appear?"--"General, I was obliged to show some
consideration for the author!"--"Consideration for the author! What do
you mean? You should have sent him to the temple."--"But, General,
your brother Lucien patronises this pamphlet. It has been printed
and published by his order. In short, it comes from the office of the
Minister of the Interior."--"No matter for that! Your duty as Minister
of Police was to have arrested Lucien, and sent him to the Temple. The
fool does nothing but contrive how he can commit me!"
With these words the First Consul left the cabinet, shutting the door
violently behind him. Being now alone with Fouché, I was eager to get an
explanation of the suppressed smile which had more than once curled his
lips during Bonaparte's angry expostulation. I easily perceived that
there was something in reserve. "Send the author to the Temple!" said
Fouché; "that would be no easy matter! Alarmed at the effect which this
parallel between Caesar, Cromwell, and Bonaparte was likely to produce,
I went to Lucien to point out to him his imprudence. He made me no
answer, but went and got a manuscript, which he showed me, and
which contained corrections and annotations in the First Consul's
handwriting."
When Lucien heard how Bonaparte had expressed his displeasure at the
pamphlet, he also came to the Tuileries to reproach his brother with
having thrust him forward and then abandoned him. "'Tis your own fault,"
said the First Consul. "You have allowed yourself to be caught! So much
the worse for you! Fouché is too cunning for you! You are a mere fool
compared with him!" Lucien tendered his resignation, which was accepted,
and he departed for Spain. This diplomatic mission turned to his
advantage. It was necessary that one should veil the Machiavellian
invention of the 'Parallel.'
--[The 'Parallel' has been attributed to different writers; some
phrases seemed the work of Lucien, but, says Thiers (tome ii p.
210), its rare elegance of language and its classical knowledge of
history should attribute it to its real anchor, Fontanel, Joseph
Bonaparte (Erreurs tome i. p. 270) says that Fontanel wrote it, and
Lucien Bonaparte corrected it. See Meneval, tome iii. p. 105.
Whoever wrote it Napoleon certainly planned its issue. "It was,"
said he to Roederer, "a work of which he himself had given the idea,
but the last pages were by a fool" (Miot, tome i, p. 318). See also
Lanfrey, tome ii. p. 208; and compare the story in Iung's Lucien,
tome ii. p. 490. Miot, then in the confidence of Joseph, says,
that Lucien's removal from, office was the result of an angry
quarrel between him and Fouché in the presence of Napoleon, when
Fouché attacked Lucien, not only for the pamphlet, but also for the
disorder of his public and his private life; but Miot (tome i, p,
319) places the date of this as the 3d November, while Bourrienne
dates the disapproval of the pamphlet in December.]--
Lucien, among other instructions, was directed to use all his endeavours
to induce Spain to declare against Portugal in order to compel that
power to separate herself from England.
The First Consul had always regarded Portugal as an English colony, and
he conceived that to attack it was to assail England. He wished that
Portugal should no longer favour England in her commercial relations,
but that, like Spain, she should become dependent on him. Lucien was
therefore sent as ambassador to Madrid, to second the Ministers of
Charles IV. in prevailing on the King to invade Portugal. The King
declared war, but it was not of long duration, and terminated almost
without a blow being struck, by the taking of Olivenza. On the 6th of
June 1801 Portugal signed the treaty of Badajoz, by which she promised
to cede Olivenza, Almeida, and some other fortresses to Spain, and to
close her ports against England. The First Consul, who was dissatisfied
with the treaty, at first refused to ratify it. He still kept his army
in Spain, and this proceeding determined Portugal to accede to some
slight alterations in the first treaty. This business proved very
advantageous to Lucien and Godoy.
The cabinet of the Tuileries was not the only place in which the
question of hereditary succession was discussed. It was the constant
subject of conversation in the salons of Paris, where a new dynasty was
already spoken of. This was by no means displeasing to the First Consul;
but he saw clearly that he had committed a mistake in agitating the
question prematurely; for this reason he waged war against the Parallel,
as he would not be suspected of having had any share in a design that
had failed. One day he said to me, "I believe I have been a little too
precipitate. The pear is not quite ripe!" The Consulate for life was
accordingly postponed till 1802, and the hereditary empire till 1804.
After the failure of the artful publication of the pamphlet Fouché
invited me to dine with him. As the First Consul wished me to dine out
as seldom as possible, I informed him of the invitation I had received.
He was, however, aware of it before, and he very readily gave me leave
to go. At dinner Joseph was placed on the right of Fouché, and I next
to Joseph, who talked of nothing but his brother, his designs, the
pamphlet, and the bad effect produced by it. In all that fell from him
there was a tone of blame and disapproval. I told him my opinion, but
with greater reserve than I had used towards his brother. He seemed to
approve of what I said; his confidence encouraged me, and I saw with
pleasure that he entertained sentiments entirely similar to my own.
His unreserved manner so imposed upon me that, notwithstanding the
experience I had acquired, I was far from suspecting myself to be in
the company of a spy. Next day the First Consul said to me very
coldly, "Leave my letters in the basket, I will open them myself." This
unexpected direction surprised me exceedingly, and I determined to play
him a trick in revenge for his unfounded distrust. For three mornings I
laid at the bottom of the basket all the letters which I knew came from
the Ministers, and all the reports which were addressed to me for the
First Consul. I then covered them over with those which; judging from
their envelopes and seals, appeared to be of that trifling kind with
which the First Consul was daily overwhelmed: these usually consisted of
requests that he would name the number of a lottery ticket, so, that the
writer might have the benefit of his good luck--solicitations that he
would stand godfather to a child--petitions for places--announcements
of marriages and births--absurd eulogies, etc. Unaccustomed to open the
letters, he became impatient at their number, and he opened very few.
Often on the same day, but always on the morrow, came a fresh letter
from a Minister, who asked for an answer to his former one, and who
complained of not having received one. The First Consul unsealed some
twenty letters and left the rest.
The opening of all these letters, which he was not at other times in the
habit of looking at, annoyed him extremely; but as I neither wished to
carry the joke too far, nor to remain in the disagreeable position in
which Joseph's treachery had placed me, I determined to bring the matter
to a conclusion. After the third day, when the business of the night,
which had been interrupted by little fits of ill-humour, was concluded,
Bonaparte retired to bed. Half an hour after I went to his chamber,
to which I was admitted at all hours. I had a candle in my hand, and,
taking a chair, I sat down on the right side of the bed, and placed the
candle on the table. Both he and Josephine awoke. "What is the matter?"
he asked with surprise. "General, I have come to tell you that I can
no longer remain here, since I have lost your confidence. You know how
sincerely I am devoted to you; if you have, then, anything to reproach
me with, let me at least know it, for my situation during the last
three days has been very painful."--"What has Bourrienne done?" inquired
Josephine earnestly.--"That does not concern you," he replied. Then
turning to me he said, "'Tis true, I have cause to complain of you. I
have been informed that you have spoken of important affairs in a very
indiscreet manner."--"I can assure you that I spoke to none but your
brother. It was he who led me into the conversation, and he was too
well versed in the business for me to tell him any secret. He may have
reported to you what he pleased, but could not I do the same by him? I
could accuse and betray him as he has accused and betrayed me. When
I spoke in confidence to your brother, could I regard him as an
inquisitor?"--"I must confess," replied Bonaparte, "that after what
I heard from Joseph I thought it right to put my confidence in
quarantine."--"The quarantine has lasted three days, General; surely
that is long enough."--"Well, Bourrienne, let us say no more about
it. Open my letters as usual; you will find the answers a good deal in
arrear, which has much vexed me; and besides, I was always stumbling on
some stupid nonsense or other!"
I fancy I still see and hear the amiable Josephine sitting up in bed and
saying, in her gentle way, "What! Bonaparte, is it possible you could
suspect Bourrienne, who is so attached to you, and who is your only
friend? How could you suffer such a snare to be laid for him? What!
a dinner got up on purpose! How I hate these odious police
manoeuvres!"--"Go to sleep," said Bonaparte; "let women mind their
gewgaws, and not interfere with politics." It was near two in the
morning before I retired.
When, after a few hours' sleep, I again saw the First Consul, he was
more kind to me than ever, and I perceived that for the present every
cloud had dispersed.'
--[Joseph Bonaparte (Erreurs, tome i. p. 273) says what he
reported to his brother was Bourrienne's conversation to him in the
First Consul's cabinet during Napoleon's absence. It is curious
that at the only time when Napoleon became dissatisfied with Meneval
(Bourrienne's successor), and ordered him not to open the letters,
he used the same expression when returning to the usual order of
business, which in this case was to a few hours. "My dear Meneval,"
said he, "there are circumstances in which I am forced to put my
confidence in quarantine." (Meneval, tome i. p. 123). For any one
who has had to manage an office it is pleasant to find that even
Napoleon was much dependent on a good secretary. In an illness of
his secretary he said, showing the encumbrance of his desk, "with
Meneval I should soon clear off all that." (Meneval, tome i. p. 151.)]
CHAPTER IV.
1800-1801
Austria bribed by England--M. de St. Julien in Paris--Duroc's
mission--Rupture of the armistice--Surrender of three garrisons--
M. Otto in London--Battle of Hohenlinden--Madame Moreau and Madame
Hulot--Bonaparte's ill-treatment of the latter--Congress of
Luneville--General Clarke--M. Maret--Peace between France and
Austria--Joseph Bonaparte's speculations in the funds--
M. de Talleyrand's advice--Post-office regulation--Cambacérès--
Importance of good dinners in the affairs of Government--Steamboats
and intriguers--Death of Paul I.--New thoughts of the
reestablishment of Poland--Duroc at St. Petersburg--Bribe rejected--
Death of Abercromby.
The armistice concluded after the battle of Marengo, which had been
first broken and then resumed, continued to be observed for some time
between the armies of the Rhine and Italy and the Imperial armies. But
Austria, bribed by a subsidy of 2,000,000 sterling, would not treat
for peace without the participation of England. She did not despair of
recommencing the war successfully.
M. de St. Julien had signed preliminaries at Paris; but the Court of
Vienna disavowed them, and Duroc, whom Bonaparte sent to convey the
preliminaries to Vienna for the Imperial ratification, was not permitted
to pass the Austrian advance posts. This unexpected proceeding, the
result of the all-powerful influence of England, justly incensed the
First Consul, who had given decided proofs of moderation and a wish
for peace. "I want peace," said he to me, "to enable me to organise
the interior; the people also want it. You see the conditions I offer.
Austria, though beaten, obtains all she got at Campo-Formio. What can
she want more? I could make further exactions; but, without fearing
the reverses of 1799, I must think of the future. Besides, I want
tranquillity, to enable me to settle the affairs of the interior, and
to send aid to Malta and Egypt. But I will not be trifled with. I will
force an immediate decision!"
In his irritation the First Consul despatched orders to Moreau,
directing him to break the armistice and resume hostilities unless he
regained possession of the bridges of the Rhine and the Danube by
the surrender of Philipsburg, Ulm, and Ingolstadt. The Austrians then
offered to treat with France on new bases. England wished to take part
in the Congress, but to this the First Consul would not consent until
she should sign a separate armistice and cease to make common cause with
Austria.
The First Consul received intelligence of the occupation of the three
garrisons on the 23d of September, the day he had fixed in his ultimatum
to England for the renewal of hostilities. But for the meanwhile he
was satisfied with the concessions of Austria: that power, in the
expectation of being supported by England, asked her on what terms she
was to treat.
During these communications with Austria M. Otto was in London
negotiating for the exchange of prisoners. England would not hear of an
armistice by sea like that which France had concluded with Austria by
land. She alleged that, in case of a rupture, France would derive from
that armistice greater advantage than Austria would gain by that
already concluded. The difficulty and delay attending the necessary
communications rendered these reasons plausible. The First Consul
consented to accept other propositions from England, and to allow her
to take part in the discussions of Luneville, but on condition that she
should sign a treaty with him without the intervention of Austria. This
England refused to do. Weary of this uncertainty, and the tergiversation
of Austria, which was still under the influence of England, and feeling
that the prolongation of such a state of things could only turn to his
disadvantage, Bonaparte broke the armistice. He had already consented to
sacrifices which his successes in Italy did not justify. The hope of an
immediate peace had alone made him lose sight of the immense advantages
which victory had given him.
Far from appearing sensible to the many proofs of moderation which the
First Consul evinced, the combined insolence of England and Austria
seemed only to increase. Orders were immediately given for resuming the
offensive in Germany and Italy, and hostilities then recommenced.
The chances of fortune were long doubtful. After a reverse Austria made
promises, and after an advantage she evaded them; but finally, fortune
proved favourable to France. The French armies in Italy and Germany
crossed the Mincio and the Danube, and the celebrated battle of
Hohenlinden brought the French advanced posts within ten leagues of
Vienna. This victory secured peace; for, profiting by past experience,
the First Consul would not hear of any suspension of arms until Austria
should consent to a separate treaty. Driven into her last intrenchments,
Austria was obliged to yield. She abandoned England; and the English
Cabinet, in spite of the subsidy of 2,000,000 sterling, consented to
the separation. Great Britain was forced to come to this arrangement
in consequence of the situation to which the successes of the army of
Moreau had reduced Austria, which it was certain would be ruined by
longer resistance.
England wished to enter into negotiations at Luneville. To this the
First Consul acceded; but, as he saw that England was seeking to deceive
him, he required that she should suspend hostilities with France, as
Austria had done. Bonaparte very reasonably alleged that an indefinite
armistice on the Continent would be more to the disadvantage of France
than a long armistice by sea would be unfavourable to England. All this
adjourned the preliminaries to 1801 and the peace to 1802.
The impatience and indignation of the First Consul had been highly
excited by the evasions of Austria and the plots of England, for he
knew all the intrigues that were carrying on for the restoration of
the Bourbons. His joy may be therefore conceived when the battle of
Hohenlinden balanced the scale of fortune in his favour. On the 3d of
December 1800 Moreau gained that memorable victory which at length put
an end to the hesitations of the Cabinet of Vienna.
--[On the eve of the battle of Hohenlinden Moreau was at supper with
his aides de camp and several general officers, when a despatch was
delivered to him. After he had read it be said to his guests,
though he was far from being in the habit of boasting, "I am here
made acquainted with Baron Kray's movements. They are all I could
wish. To-morrow we will take from him 10,000 prisoners." Moreau
took 40,000, besides a great many flags.--Bourrienne.]--
On the 6th of December the First Consul received intelligence of the
battle of Hohenlinden. It was on a Saturday, and he had just returned
from the theatre when I delivered the despatches to him. He literally
danced for joy. I must say that he did not expect so important a result
from the movements of the army of the Rhine. This victory gave a new
face to his negotiations for peace, and determined the opening of the
Congress of Luneville, which took place on the 1st of January following.
On receiving information of the battle of Hohenlinden, Madame Moreau
came to the Tuileries to call on the First Consul and Madame Bonaparte.
She did not see them, and repeated her calls several times with no
better success. The last time she came she was accompanied by her
mother, Madame Hulot. She waited for a considerable time in vain, and
when she was going away her mother, who could no longer restrain her
feelings, said aloud, before me and several persons of the household,
that "it ill became the wife of the conqueror of Hohenlinden to dance
attendance in this way." This remark reached the ears of those to whom
it was directed. Madame Moreau shortly after rejoined her husband
in Germany; and some time after her departure Madame Hulot came to
Malmaison to solicit promotion for her eldest son, who was in the navy.
Josephine received Madame Hulot very kindly, and requested her to stay
to dinner. She accepted the invitation. The First Consul, who did not
see her until the hour of dinner, treated her very coolly: he said
little to her, and retired as soon as dinner was over. His rudeness was
so marked and offensive that Josephine, who was always kind and amiable,
thought it necessary to apologise, by observing that his mind was
disturbed by the non-arrival of a courier whom he expected.
Bonaparte entertained no dislike of Moreau, because he did not fear
him; and after the battle of Hohenlinden he spoke of him in the highest
terms, and frankly acknowledged the services he had rendered on that
important occasion; but he could not endure his wife's family, who, he
said, were a set of intriguers.
--[Napoleon had good reason for his opinion. "Moreau had a mother-
in-law and a wife lively and given to intrigue. Bonaparte could not
bear intriguing women. Besides, on one occasion Madame Moreau's
mother, when at Malmaison, had indulged in sharp remarks on a
suspected scandalous intimacy between Bonaparte and his young sister
Caroline, then just married. The Consul had not forgiven such
conversation" (Rémusat tome i. P. 192). see also Meneval, tome
iii. p. 57, as to the mischief done by Madame Hulot.]--
Luneville having been fixed upon for the Congress, the First Consul sent
his brother Joseph to treat with Count Louis de Cobentzel. On his way
Joseph met M. de Cobentzel, who had passed Luneville, and was coming to
Paris to sound the sentiments of the French Government. Joseph returned
to Paris with him. After some conversation with the First Consul they
set out next day for Luneville, of which place Bonaparte appointed
General Clarke governor. This appeared to satisfy Clarke, who was very
anxious to be something, and had long been importuning Bonaparte for an
appointment.
A day or two after the news of the battle of Hohenlinden M. Maret came
to present for Bonaparte's signature some, decrees made in Council.
While affixing the signatures, and without looking up, the First Consul
said to M. Maret, who was a favourite with him, and who was standing
at his right hand, "Are you rich, Maret?"--"No, General."--"So much
the worse: a man should be independent."--"General, I will never be
dependent on any one but you." The First Consul then raised his eyes to
Maret and said, "Hem! that is not bad!" and when the secretary-general
was gone he said to me, "Maret is not deficient in cleverness: he made
me a very good answer."
On the 9th of February 1801, six weeks after the opening of the
Congress of Luneville, peace was signed between Austria and France. This
peace--the fruit of Marengo and Hohenlinden--restored France to that
honourable position which had been put in jeopardy by the feeble and
incapable government of the pentarchy and the reverses of 1799. This
peace, which in the treaty, according to custom, was called perpetual,
lasted four years.
Joseph Bonaparte, while treating for France at Luneville, was
speculating on the rise of the funds which he thought the peace would
produce. Persons more wise, who were like him in the secret, sold out
their stock at the moment when the certainty of the peace became known.
But Joseph purchased to a great extent, in the hope of selling to
advantage on the signature of peace. However, the news had been
discounted, and a fall took place. Joseph's loss was considerable,
and he could not satisfy the engagements in which his greedy and silly
speculations had involved him. He applied to his brother, who neither
wished nor was able to advance him the necessary sum. Bonaparte
was, however, exceedingly sorry to see his elder brother in this
embarrassment. He asked me what was to be done. I told him I did not
know; but I advised him to consult M. de Talleyrand, from whom he had
often received good advice. He did so, and M. de Talleyrand replied,
with that air of coolness which is so peculiar to him, "What! is that
all? Oh! that is nothing. It is easily settled. You have only to raise
the price of the funds."--"But the money?"-- "Oh, the money may be
easily obtained. Make some deposits in the Mont-de-Piste, or the sinking
fund. That will give you the necessary money to raise the funds; and
then Joseph may sell out, and recover his losses." M. de Talleyrand's
advice was adopted, and all succeeded as he had foretold. None but those
who have heard M. de Talleyrand converse can form an accurate idea of
his easy manner of expressing himself, his imperturbable coolness, the
fixed unvarying expression of his countenance, and his vast fund of wit.
--[Talleyrand had a large experience in all sorts of speculation.
When old he gave this counsel to one of his proteges: "Do not
speculate. I have always speculated on assured information, and
that has cost me so many millions;" and he named his losses. We may
believe that in this reckoning he rather forgot the amount of his
gains (Sainte-Beuve, Talleyrand, 93).]--
During the sitting of the Congress the First Consul learnt that the
Government couriers conveyed to favoured individuals in Paris various
things, but especially the delicacies of the table, and he ordered that
this practice should be discontinued. On the very evening on which this
order was issued Cambacérès entered the salon, where I was alone with
the First Consul, who had already been laughing at the mortification
which he knew this regulation would occasion to his colleague: "Well,
Cambacérès, what brings you here at this time of night?"--"I come to
solicit an exception to the order which you have just given to the
Director of the Posts. How do you think a man can make friends unless he
keeps a good table? You know very well how much good dinners assist
the business of Government." The First Consul laughed, called him a
gourmand, and, patting him on the shoulder, said, "Do not distress
yourself, my dear Cambacérès; the couriers shall continue to bring you
your 'dindes aux truffes', your Strasburg 'pates', your Mayence hams,
and your other titbits."
Those who recollect the magnificent dinners given by Cambacérès and
others, which were a general topic of conversation at the time, and who
knew the ingenious calculation which was observed in the invitation of
the guests, must be convinced of the vast influence of a good dinner
in political affairs. As to Cambacérès, he did not believe that a good
government could exist without good dinners; and his glory (for every
man has his own particular glory) was to know that the luxuries of his
table were the subject of eulogy throughout Paris, and even Europe.
A banquet which commanded general suffrage was to him a Marengo or a
Friedland.
--[Bourrienne does not exaggerate this excellent quality of the
worthy Cambacérès. When Beugnot was sent to administer the Grand
Duchy of Berg, Cambacérès said to him, "My dear Beugnot, the Emperor
arranges crowns as he chooses; here is the Grand Duke of Berg
(Murat) going to Naples; he is welcome, I have no objection, but
every year the Grand Duke sent me a couple of dozen hams from his
Grand Duchy, and I warn you I do not intend to lose them, so you
must make your preparations.". . . . I never once omitted to
acquit myself of the obligation, and if there were any delay, . . .
his Highness never failed to cause one of his secretaries to write a
good scolding to my house steward; but when the hams arrived
exactly, his highness never failed to write to my wife himself to
thank her.
This was not all; the hams were to come carriage free. This petty
jobbery occasioned discontent, . . . and it would not have cost
me more to pay the carriage. The Prince would not allow it. There
was an agreement between him and Lavalette (the head of the Posts),
. . . And my Lord appeared to lay as much stress on the
performance of this treaty as on the procuring of the ham, (Beugnot,
tome i. p. 262).
Cambacérès never suffered the cares of Government to distract his
attention from the great object of life. On one occasion, for
example, being detained in consultation with Napoleon beyond the
appointed hour of dinner--it is said that the fate of the Duc
d'Enghien was the topic under discussion--he was observed, when the
hour became very late, to show great symptoms of impatience and
restlessness. He at last wrote a note which he called a gentleman
usher in waiting to carry. Napoleon, suspecting the contents,
nodded to an aide de camp to intercept the despatch. As he took it
into his hands Cambacérès begged earnestly that he would not read a
trifling note upon domestic matters. Napoleon persisted, and found
it to be a note to the cook containing only the following words,
"Gardez les entremetes--les rotis sont perdue." When Napoleon was
in good humor at the result of a diplomatic conference he was
accustomed to take leave of the plenipotentiaries with, "Go and dine
Cambacérès." His table was in fact an important state engine, as
appears from the anecdote of the trout sent to him by the
municipality of Geneva, and charged 300 francs in their accounts.
The Imperial 'Cour des Comptes' having disallowed the item, was
interdicted from meddling with similar municipal affairs in future
(Hayward's Art of Dining, p. 20).]
At the commencement of 1801 Fulton presented to Bonaparte his memorial
on steamboats. I urged a serious examination of the subject. "Bah!" said
he, "these projectors are all either intriguers or visionaries. Don't
trouble me about the business." I observed that the man whom he called
an intriguer was only reviving an invention already known, and that it
was wrong to reject the scheme without examination. He would not listen
to me; and thus was adjourned, for some time, the practical application
of a discovery which has given such an important impulse to trade and
navigation.
Paul I. fell by the hands of assassins on the night of the 24th of March
1801. The First Consul was much shocked on receiving the intelligence.
In the excitement caused by this unexpected event, which had so
important an influence on his policy, he directed me to send the
following note to the Moniteur:--
Paul I. died on the night of the 24th of March, and the English
squadron passed the Sound on the 30th. History will reveal the
connection which probably exists between these two events.
Thus were announced the crime of the 24th of March and the not
ill-founded suspicions of its authors.
--[We do not attempt to rescue the fair name of our country. This
is one among many instances in which Bourrienne was misled.--Editor
of 1886 edition.]--
The amicable relations of Paul and Bonaparte had been daily
strengthened. "In concert with the Czar," said Bonaparte, "I was sure
of striking a mortal blow at the English power in India. A palace
revolution has overthrown all my projects." This resolution, and
the admiration of the Autocrat of Russia for the head of the French
Republic, may certainly be numbered among the causes of Paul's death.
The individuals generally accused at the time were those who were
violently and perseveringly threatened, and who had the strongest
interest in the succession of a new Emperor. I have seen a letter from a
northern sovereign which in my mind leaves no doubt on this subject, and
which specified the reward of the crime, and the part to be performed by
each actor. But it must also be confessed that the conduct and character
of Paul I., his tyrannical acts, his violent caprices, and his frequent
excesses of despotism, had rendered him the object of accumulated
hatred, for patience has its limit. These circumstances did not probably
create the conspiracy, but they considerably facilitated the execution
of the plot which deprived the Czar of his throne and his life.
As soon as Alexander ascended the throne the ideas of the First Consul
respecting the dismemberment of Poland were revived, and almost wholly
engrossed his mind. During his first campaign in Italy, and several
times when in Egypt, he told Sulkowsky that it was his ardent wish to
reestablish Poland, to avenge the iniquity of her dismemberment, and by
that grand repertory act to restore the former equilibrium of Europe.
He often dictated to me for the 'Moniteur' articles tending to prove,
by various arguments, that Europe would never enjoy repose until those
great spoilations were avenged and repaired; but he frequently destroyed
these articles instead of sending them to press. His system of policy
towards Russia changed shortly after the death of Paul. The thought of a
war against that empire unceasingly occupied his mind, and gave birth
to the idea of that fatal campaign which took place eleven years
afterwards, and which had other causes than the re-establishment of
Poland. That object was merely set forward as a pretext.
Duroc was sent to St. Petersburg to congratulate the Emperor Alexander
on his accession to the throne. He arrived in the Russian capital on
the 24th of May. Duroc, who was at this time very young, was a great
favourite of the First Consul. He never importuned Bonaparte by his
solicitations, and was never troublesome in recommending any one or
busying himself as an agent for favour; yet he warmly advocated
the cause of those whom he thought injured, and honestly repelled
accusations which he knew to be false. These moral qualities; joined to
an agreeable person and elegant manners, rendered him a very superior
man.
The year 1801 was, moreover, marked by the fatal creation of
special tribunals, which were in no way justified by the urgency of
circumstances. This year also saw the re-establishment of the African
Company, the treaty of Luneville (which augmented the advantages France
had obtained by the treaty of Campo-Formio), and the peace concluded
between Spain and Portugal by means of Lucien. On the subject of this
peace I may mention that Portugal, to obtain the cession of Olivenza,
secretly offered Bonaparte, through me, 8,000,000 of francs if he
would contribute his influence towards the acquisition of that town by
Portugal. He, rejected this offer indignantly, declaring that he would
never sell honour for money. He has been accused of having listened to
a similar proposition at Passeriano, though in fact no such proposition
was ever made to him. Those who bring forward such accusations little
know the inflexibility of his principles on this point.
One evening in April 1801 an English paper--the London Gazette--arrived
at Malmaison. It announced the landing in Egypt of the army commanded
by Abercromby, the battle given by the English, and the death of their
General. I immediately translated the article, and presented it to the
First Consul, with the conviction that the news would be very painful
to him. He doubted its truth, or at least pretended to do so. Several
officers and aides de camp who were in the salon coincided in his
opinion, especially Lannes, Bessières, and Duroc. They thought by so
doing to please the First Consul, who then said to me, in a jeering
tone, "Bah! you do not understand English. This is the way with you: you
are always inclined to believe bad news rather than good!" These words,
and the approving smiles of the gentlemen present, ruffled me, and I
said with some warmth, "How, General, can you believe that the English
Government would publish officially so important an event if it were not
true? Do you think that a Government that has any self-respect would, in
the face of Europe, state a falsehood respecting an affair the truth of
which cannot long remain unknown? Did you ever know an instance of so
important an announcement proving untrue after it had been published
in the London Gazette? I believe it to be true, and the smiles of these
gentlemen will not alter my opinion." On these observations the First
Consul rose and said, "Come, Bourrienne, I want you in the library."
After we had left the salon he added, "This is always the way with you.
Why are you vexed at such trifles? I assure you I believe the news but
too confidently, and I feared it before it came. But they think they
please me by thus appearing to doubt it. Never mind them."--"I ask your
pardon," said I, "but I conceive the best way of proving my attachment
to you is to tell you what I believe to be true. You desire me not to
delay a moment in announcing bad news to you. It would be far worse to
disguise than to conceal it."
CHAPTER V.
1801-1802.
An experiment of royalty--Louis de Bourbon and Maria Louisa, of
Spain--Creation of the kingdom of Etruria--The Count of Leghorn in
Paris--Entertainments given him--Bonaparte's opinion of the King of
Etruria--His departure for Florence, and bad reception there--
Negotiations with the Pope--Bonaparte's opinion on religion--Te Deum
at Notre Dame--Behaviour of the people in the church--Irreligion of
the Consular Court--Augereau's remark on the Te Deum--First Mass at
St. Cloud-Mass in Bonaparte's apartments--Talleyrand relieved from
his clerical vows--My appointment to the Council of State.
Before he placed two crowns on his own head Bonaparte thought it would
promote the interests of his policy to place one on the head of a
prince, and even a prince of the House of Bourbon. He wished to accustom
the French to the sight of a king. It will hereafter be seen that he
gave sceptres, like his confidence, conditionally, and that he was
always ready to undo his own work when it became an obstacle to his
ambitious designs.
In May 1801 the Infanta of Spain, Maria Louisa, third daughter of
Charles IV., visited Paris. The Infante Louis de Bourbon, eldest son
of the Duke of Parma, had gone to Madrid in 1798 to contract a marriage
with Maria Amelia, the sister of Maria Louisa; but he fell in love
with the latter. Godoy favoured the attachment, and employed all his
influence to bring about the marriage. The son who, six years later, was
born of this union, was named Charles Louis, after the King of Spain.
France occupied the Duchy of Parma, which, in fulfilment of the
conventions signed by Lucien Bonaparte, was to belong to her after the
death of the reigning Duke. On the other hand, France was to cede the
Grand Duchy of Tuscany to the son of the Duke of Parma; and Spain paid
to France, according to stipulation, a considerable sum of money. Soon
after the treaty was communicated to Don Louis and his wife they left
Madrid and travelled through France. The prince took the title of Count
of Leghorn. All accounts are unanimous as to the attentions which the
Prince and Princess received on their journey. Among the fetes in honour
of the illustrious couple that given by M. de Talleyrand at Neuilly was
remarkable for magnificence.
When the Count of Leghorn was coming to pay his first visit to Malmaison
Bonaparte went into the drawing-room to see that everything was suitably
prepared for his reception. In a few minutes he returned to his cabinet
and said to me, somewhat out of humour, "Bourrienne, only think of their
stupidity; they had not taken down the picture representing me on the
summit of the Alps pointing to Lombardy and commanding the conquest of
it. I have ordered its removal. How mortifying it would have been if the
Prince had seen it!"
Another picture in the drawing-room at Malmaison represented the First
Consul sleeping on the snow on the summit of the Alps before the battle
of Marengo.
The Count of Leghorn's visit to Paris imparted brilliancy to the first
years of the reign of Bonaparte, of whom it was at that time said, "He
made kings, but would not be one!"
At the representation of Oedipus, the following expression of
Philactetes was received with transport:--
"J'ai fait des Souverains, et n'ai pas voulu l'etre."
["Monarchs I've made, but one I would not be."]
The First Consul, on leaving the theatre, did not conceal his
satisfaction. He judged, from the applause with which that verse had
been received, that his pamphlet was forgotten. The manner, moreover, in
which a king, crowned by his hands, had been received by the public, was
no indifferent matter to him, as he expected that the people would thus
again become familiar with what had been so long proscribed.
This King, who, though well received and well entertained, was in all
respects a very ordinary man, departed for Italy. I say very ordinary,
not that I had an opportunity of judging of his character myself, but
the First Consul told me that his capabilities were extremely limited;
that he even felt repugnance to take a pen in his hand; that he never
cast a thought on anything but his pleasures: in a word, that he was a
fool.
One day, after the First Consul had spent several hours in company with
him and his consort, he said to me, "I am quite tired. He is a mere
automaton. I put a number of questions to him, but he can answer none.
He is obliged to consult his wife, who makes him understand as well as
she is able what he ought to say." The First Consul added, "The poor
Prince will set off to-morrow, without knowing what he is going to do."
I observed that it was a pity to see the happiness of the people of
Tuscany entrusted to such a prince. Bonaparte replied, "Policy requires
it. Besides, the young man is not worse than the usual run of kings."
The Prince fully justified in Tuscany the opinion which the First Consul
formed of him.
--[This unfortunate Prince was very ill-calculated to recommend, by
his personal character, the institutions to which the nobility clung
with so much fondness. Nature had endowed him with an excellent
heart, but with very limited talents; and his mind had imbibed the
false impress consequent upon his monastic education. He resided at
Malmaison nearly the whole time of his visit to Paris. Madame
Bonaparte used to lead the Queen to her own apartments; and as the
First Consul never left his closet except to sit down to meals, the
aides de camp were under the necessity of keeping the King company,
and of endeavoring to entertain him, so wholly was he devoid of
intellectual resources. It required, indeed, a great share of
patience to listen to the frivolities which engrossed his attention.
His turn of mind being thus laid open to view, care was taken to
supply him with the playthings usually placed in the hands of
children; he was, therefore, never at a loss for occupation. His
nonentity was a source of regret to us: we lamented to see a tall
handsome youth, destined to rule over his fellow-men, trembling at
the neigh of a horse, and wasting his time in the game of
hide-and-seek, or at leap-frog and whose whole information consisted
in knowing his prayers, and in saying grace before and after meals.
Such, nevertheless, was the man to whom the destinies of a nation
were about to be committed! When he left France to repair to his
kingdom, "Rome need not be uneasy," said the First Consul to us
after the farewell audience, "there is no danger of his crossing the
Rubicon" (Memoirs of the Duke of Rovigo, vol. i. p. 363).]--
In order to show still further attention to the King of Etruria, after
his three weeks' visit to Paris, the First Consul directed him to be
escorted to Italy by a French guard, and selected his brother-in-law
Murat for that purpose.
The new King of a new kingdom entered Florence on the 12th of April
1801; but the reception given him by the Tuscans was not at all similar
to what he had experienced at Paris. The people received the royal
pair as sovereigns imposed on them by France. The ephemeral kingdom of
Etruria lasted scarcely six years. The King died in 1803, in the flower
of his age, and in 1807 the Queen was expelled from her throne by him
who had constructed it for her.
At this period a powerful party urged Bonaparte to break with the Pope,
and to establish a Gallican Church, the head of which should reside in
France. They thought to flatter his ambition by indicating to him a new
source of power which might establish a point of comparison between him
and the first Roman emperors. But his ideas did not coincide with theirs
on this subject. "I am convinced," said he, "that a part of France would
become Protestant, especially if I were to favour that disposition. I
am also certain that the much greater portion would remain Catholic, and
would oppose, with the greatest zeal and fervour, the schism of a part
of their fellow-citizens. I dread the religious quarrels, the family
dissensions, and the public distractions, which such a state of things
would inevitably occasion. In, reviving a religion which has always
prevailed in the country, and which still prevails in the hearts of the
people, and in giving the liberty of exercising their worship to the
minority, I shall satisfy every one."
The First Consul, taking a superior view of the state of France,
considered that the re-establishment of religious worship would prove a
powerful support to his Government: and he had been occupied ever since
the commencement of 1801 in preparing a Concordat with the Pope. It was
signed in the month of July in the same year. It required some time to
enable the parties to come to an understanding on the subject.
Cardinal Consalvi arrived, in the month of June 1801, at Paris, to
arrange matters on the part of the Pope. Cardinal Caprara and M. de
Spina also formed part of the embassy sent by the Holy Father. There
were, besides, several able theologians, among whom Doctor C---- was
distinguished.
--[The "Doctor C----" was Caselti, later Archbishop of Parma. Bonier
was green the Bishopric of Orleans, not Versailles; see Erreurs,
tome i, p. 276. The details of the surprise attempted at the last
moment by putting before Cardinal Consalvi for his signature an
altered copy of the Concordat should be read in his Memoirs (tome i.
p. 355), or in Lanfrey (tome ii. p. 267). As for Napoleon's
belief that part of the nation might become Protestant, Narbonne
probably put the matter truly when he said there was not religion
enough in France to stand a division. It should be noted that the
Concordat did not so much restore the Catholic Church as destroy the
old Gallican Church, with all its liberties, which might annoy
either Pope or Emperor. But on this point see The Gallican Church
and the Revolution, by Jervis: London, Began Paul, Trench and Co.,
1882. The clergy may, it is true, have shown wisdom in acceding to
any terms of restoration.]--
He was a member of the Pope's chancery; his knowledge gave him so much
influence over his colleagues that affairs advanced only as much as he
pleased. However, he was gained over by honours conferred on him, and
promises of money. Business then went on a little quicker. The Concordat
was signed on the 15th of July 1801, and made a law of the State in the
following April. The plenipotentiaries on the part of Bonaparte were
Joseph Bonaparte, Cretet, and the Abby Bernier, afterwards Bishop of
Versailles.--[Orleans not Versailles. D.W.]
A solemn Te Deum was chanted at the cathedral of Notre Dame on Sunday,
the 11th of April. The crowd was immense, and the greater part of those
present stood during the ceremony, which was splendid in the extreme;
but who would presume to say that the general feeling was in harmony
with all this pomp? Was, then, the time for this innovation not yet
arrived? Was it too abrupt a transition from the habits of the twelve
preceding years? It is unquestionably true that a great number of the
persons present at the ceremony expressed, in their countenances
and gestures, rather a feeling of impatience and displeasure than of
satisfaction or of reverence for the place in which they were. Here and
there murmurs arose expressive of discontent. The whispering, which I
might more properly call open conversation, often interrupted the divine
service, and sometimes observations were made which were far from being
moderate. Some would turn their heads aside on purpose to take a bit of
chocolate-cake, and biscuits were openly eaten by many who seemed to pay
no attention to what was passing.
The Consular Court was in general extremely irreligious; nor could it
be expected to be otherwise, being composed chiefly of those who had
assisted in the annihilation of all religious worship in France, and
of men who, having passed their lives in camps, had oftener entered a
church in Italy to carry off a painting than to hear the Mass. Those
who, without being imbued with any religious ideas, possessed that good
sense which induces men to pay respect to the belief of others, though
it be one in which they do not participate, did not blame the First
Consul for his conduct, and conducted themselves with some regard to
decency. But on the road from the Tuileries to Notre Dame, Lannes and
Augereau wanted to alight from the carriage as soon as they saw that
they were being driven to Mass, and it required an order from the First
Consul to prevent their doing so. They went therefore to Notre Dame, and
the next day Bonaparte asked Augereau what he thought of the ceremony.
"Oh! it was all very fine," replied the General; "there was nothing
wanting, except the million of men who have perished in the pulling
down of what you are setting up." Bonaparte was much displeased at this
remark.
--[This remark has been attributed elsewhere to General Delmas.
According to a gentleman who played a part in this empty pageantry,
Lannes at one moment did get out of the carriage, and Augereau kept
swearing in no low whisper during the whole of the chanted Mass.
Most of the military chiefs who sprang out of the Revolution had no
religion at all, but there were some who were Protestants, and who
were irritated by the restoration of Catholicism as the national
faith.--Editor of 1896 edition.]--
During the negotiations with the Holy Father Bonaparte one day said to
me, "In every country religion is useful to the Government, and those
who govern ought to avail themselves of it to influence mankind. I was
a Mahometan in Egypt; I am a Catholic in France. With relation to the
police of the religion of a state, it should be entirely in the hands
of the sovereign. Many persons have urged me to found a Gallican Church,
and make myself its head; but they do not know France. If they did, they
would know that the majority of the people would not like a rupture with
Rome. Before I can resolve on such a measure the Pope must push matters
to an extremity; but I believe he will not do so."--"You are right,
General, and you recall to my memory what Cardinal Consalvi said: 'The
Pope will do all the First Consul desires.'"--"That is the best course
for him. Let him not suppose that he has to do with an idiot. What do
you think is the point his negotiations put most forward? The salvation
of my soul! But with me immortality is the recollection one leaves
in the memory of man. That idea prompts to great actions. It would be
better for a man never to have lived than to leave behind him no traces
of his existence."
Many endeavours were made to persuade the First Consul to perform in
public the duties imposed by the Catholic religion. An influential
example, it was urged, was required. He told me once that he had put an
end to that request by the following declaration: "Enough of this. Ask
me no more. You will not obtain your object. You shall never make a
hypocrite of me. Let us remain where we are."
I have read in a work remarkable on many accounts that it was on the
occasion of the Concordat of the 15th July 1801 that the First Consul
abolished the republican calendar and reestablished the Gregorian.
This is an error. He did not make the calendar a religious affair. The
'Senatus-consulte', which restored the use of the Gregorian calendar,
to commence in the French Empire from the 11th Nivôse, year XIV.
(1st January 1806), was adopted on the 22d Fructidor, year XIII.
(9th September 1805), more than four years after the Concordat. The
re-establishment of the ancient calendar had no other object than to
bring us into harmony with the rest of Europe on a point so closely
connected with daily transactions, which were much embarrassed by the
decadary calendar.
Bonaparte at length, however, consented to hear Mass, and St. Cloud was
the place where this ancient usage was first re-established. He directed
the ceremony to commence sooner than the hour announced in order that
those who would only make a scoff at it might not arrive until the
service was ended.
Whenever the First Consul determined to hear Mass publicly on Sundays in
the chapel of the Palace a small altar was prepared in a room near his
cabinet of business. This room had been Anne of Austria's oratory. A
small portable altar, placed on a platform one step high, restored it
to its original destination. During the rest of the week this chapel was
used as a bathing-room. On Sunday the door of communication was opened,
and we heard Mass sitting in our cabinet of business. The number of
persons there never exceeded three or four, and the First Consul seldom
failed to transact some business during the ceremony, which never lasted
longer than twelve minutes. Next day all the papers had the news that
the First Consul had heard Mass in his apartments. In the same way Louis
XVIII. has often heard it in his!
On the 19th of July 1801 a papal bull absolved Talleyrand from his vows.
He immediately married Madame Grandt, and the affair obtained little
notice at the time. This statement sufficiently proves how report has
perverted the fact. It has been said that Bonaparte on becoming Emperor
wished to restore that decorum which the Revolution had destroyed,
and therefore resolved to put an end to the improper intimacy which
subsisted between Talleyrand and Madame Grandt. It is alleged that the
Minister at first refused to marry the lady, but that he at last found
it necessary to obey the peremptory order of his master. This pretended
resurrection of morality by Bonaparte is excessively ridiculous. The
bull was not registered in the Council of State until the 19th of August
1802.
--[The First Consul had on several occasions urged M. de Talleyrand
to return to holy orders. He pointed out to him that that course
would be most becoming his age and high birth, and promised that he
should be made a cardinal, thus raising him to a par with Richelieu,
and giving additional lustre to his administration (Memoirs of the
Duke of Rovigo, vol. i. p. 426).
But M. de Talleyrand vindicated his choice, saying, "A clever wife
often compromises her husband; a stupid one only compromises
herself" (Historical Characters, p.122, Bulwer, Lord Dulling).]--
I will end this chapter by a story somewhat foreign to the preceding
transactions, but which personally concerns myself. On the 20th of July
1801 the First Consul, 'ex proprio motu', named me a Councillor of State
extraordinary. Madame Bonaparte kindly condescended to have an elegant
but somewhat ideal costume made for me. It pleased the First Consul,
however, and he had a similar one made for himself. He wore it a short
time and then left it off. Never had Bonaparte since his elevation shown
himself so amiable as on this occasion.
CHAPTER VI.
1802.
Last chapter on Egypt--Admiral Gantheaume--Way to please Bonaparte--
General Menou's flattery and his reward--Davoust--Bonaparte regrets
giving the command to Menou, who is defeated by Abercromby--Otto's
negotiation in London--Preliminaries of peace.
For the last time in these Memoirs I shall return to the affairs of
Egypt--to that episode which embraces so short a space of time and holds
so high a place in the life of Bonaparte. Of all his conquests he set
the highest value on Egypt, because it spread the glory of his name
throughout the East. Accordingly he left nothing unattempted for the
preservation of that colony. In a letter to General Kléber he said, "You
are as able as I am to understand how important is the possession of
Egypt to France. The Turkish Empire, in which the symptoms of decay are
everywhere discernible, is at present falling to pieces, and the evil of
the evacuation of Egypt by France would now be the greater, as we should
soon see that fine province pass into the possession of some other
European power." The selection of Gantheaume, however, to carry
assistance to Kléber was not judicious. Gantheaume had brought the First
Consul back from Egypt, and though the success of the passage could only
be attributed to Bonaparte's own plan, his determined character, and
superior judgment, yet he preserved towards Gantheaume that favourable
disposition which is naturally felt for one who has shared a great
danger with us, and upon whom the responsibility may be said to have
been imposed.
This confidence in mediocrity, dictated by an honourable feeling, did
not obtain a suitable return. Gantheaume, by his indecision and creeping
about in the Mediterranean, had already failed to execute a commission
entrusted to him. The First Consul, upon finding he did not leave Brest
after he had been ordered to the Mediterranean, repeatedly said to me,
"What the devil is Gantheaume about?" With one of the daily reports sent
to the First Consul he received the following quatrain, which made him
laugh heartily:
"Vaisseaux lestes, tete sans lest,
Ainsi part l'Amiral Gantheaume;
Il s'en va de Brest a Bertheaume,
Et revient de Bertheaume a Brest!"
"With ballast on board, but none in his brain,
Away went our gallant Gantheaume,
On a voyage from Brest to Bertheaume,
And then from Bertheaume--to Brest back again!"
Gantheaume's hesitation, his frequent tergiversations, his arrival at
Toulon, his tardy departure, and his return to that port on the 19th of
February 1801, only ten days prior to Admiral Keith's appearance with
Sir Ralph Abercromby off Alexandria, completely foiled all the plans
which Bonaparte had conceived of conveying succour and reinforcements to
a colony on the brink of destruction.
Bonaparte was then dreaming that many French families would carry back
civilisation, science, and art to that country which was their cradle.
But it could not be concealed that his departure from Egypt in 1799 had
prepared the way for the loss of that country, which was hastened by
Kléber's death and the choice of Menou as his successor.
A sure way of paying court to the First Consul and gaining his favour
was to eulogise his views about Egypt, and to appear zealous for
maintaining the possession of that country. By these means it was that
Menou gained his confidence. In the first year of the occupation of that
country he laid before him his dreams respecting Africa. He spoke of the
negroes of Senegal, Mozambique, Mehedie, Marabout, and other barbarous
countries which were all at once to assume a new aspect, and become
civilised, in consequence of the French possession of Egypt. To Menou's
adulation is to be attributed the favourable reception given him by the
First Consul, even after his return from Egypt, of which his foolish
conduct had allowed the English to get possession. The First Consul
appointed him Governor of Piedmont, and at my request gave my elder
brother the situation of Commissary-General of Police in that country;
but I am in candour obliged to confess that the First Consul was obliged
to retract this mark of his favour in consequence of my brother's making
an abuse of it.
It was also by flattering the First Consul on the question of the East
that Davoust, on his return from Egypt in 1800 in consequence of the
Convention of El-Ariah, insinuated himself into Bonaparte's good graces
and, if he did not deserve, obtained his favour. At that time Davoust
certainly had no title whatever to the good fortune which he suddenly
experienced. He obtained, without first serving in a subordinate rank,
the command-in-chief of the grenadiers of the Consular Guard; and from
that time commenced the deadly hatred which Davoust bore towards me.
Astonished at the great length of time that Bonaparte had been one day
conversing with him I said, as soon as he was gone, "How could you talk
so long with a man whom you have always called a stupid fellow?"--"Ah!
but I did not know him well enough before. He is a better man, I assure
you, than he is thought; and you will come over to my opinion."--"I hope
so." The First Consul, who was often extremely indiscreet, told Davoust
my opinion of him, and his hostility against me ceased but with his
life.
The First Consul could not forget his cherished conquest in the East.
It was constantly the object of his thoughts. He endeavoured to send
reinforcements to his army from Brest and Toulon, but without success.
He soon had cause to repent having entrusted to the hands of Menou the
command-in-chief, to which he became entitled only by seniority,
after the assassination of Kléber by Soleiman Heleby. But Bonaparte's
indignation was excited when he became acquainted with Menou's neglect
and mismanagement, when he saw him giving reins to his passion for
reform, altering and destroying everything, creating nothing good in
its stead, and dreaming about forming a land communication with the
Hottentots and Congo instead of studying how to preserve the country.
His pitiful plans of defence, which were useless from their want of
combination, appeared to the First Consul the height of ignorance.
Forgetful of all the principles of strategy, of which Bonaparte's
conduct afforded so many examples, he opposed to the landing of
Abercromby a few isolated corps, which were unable to withstand
the enemy's attack, while the English army might have been entirely
annihilated had all the disposable troops been sent against it.
The great admiration which Menou expressed at the expedition to Egypt;
his excessive fondness for that country, the religion of which he had
ridiculously enough embraced under the name of Abdallah; the efforts he
made, in his sphere, to preserve the colony; his enthusiasm and blind
attachment to Bonaparte; the flattering and encouraging accounts he
gave of the situation of the army, at first had the effect of entirely
covering Menou's incapacity.
--[For a ludicrous description of Menou see the Memoirs of Marmont:--
"Clever and gay, he was an agreeable talker, but a great liar. He
was not destitute of some education. His character, one of the
oddest in the world, came very near to lunacy: Constantly writing,
always in motion in his room, riding for exercise every day, he was
never able to start on any necessary of useful journey. . . .
When, later, Bonaparte, then First Consul, gave him by special
favour the administration of Piedmont, he put off his departure from
day to day for six months; and then he only did start because his
friend Maret himself put him into his carriage, with post-horses
already harnessed to it. . . . When he left this post they
found in his cabinet 900 letters which he had not opened. He was an
eccentric lunatic, amusing enough sometimes, but a curse to
everything which depended on him." (Memoirs of the Duc de Raguse,
tome i. p. 410).]--
This alone can account for the First Consul's preference of him. But I
am far from concurring in what has been asserted by many persons,
that France lost Egypt at the very moment when it seemed most easy of
preservation. Egypt was conquered by a genius of vast intelligence,
great capacity, and profound military science. Fatuity, stupidity, and
incapacity lost it. What was the result of that memorable expedition?
The destruction of one of our finest armies; the loss of some of our
best generals; the annihilation of our navy; the surrender of Malta; and
the sovereignty of England in the Mediterranean. What is the result at
present? A scientific work. The gossiping stories and mystifications of
Herodotus, and the reveries of the good Rollin, are worth as much, and
have not cost so dear.
The First Consul had long been apprehensive that the evacuation of Egypt
was unavoidable. The last news he had received from that country was
not very encouraging, and created a presentiment of the approach of the
dreaded catastrophe. He, however, published the contrary; but it was
then of great importance that, an account of the evacuation should not
reach England until the preliminaries of peace were signed, for which
purpose M. Otto was exerting all his industry and talent. We made a
great merit of abandoning our conquests in Egypt; but the sacrifice
would not have been considered great if the events which took place at
the end of August had been known in London before the signing of the
preliminaries on the 1st of October. The First Consul himself answered
M. Otto's last despatch, containing a copy of the preliminaries ready to
be adopted by the English Ministry. Neither this despatch nor the answer
was communicated to M. de Talleyrand, then Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The First Consul, who highly appreciated the great talents and knowledge
of that Minister, never closed any diplomatic arrangement without first
consulting him; and he was right in so doing. On this occasion, however,
I told him that as M. de Talleyrand was, for his health, taking the
waters of Bourbon-l'Archambault, four days must elapse before his reply
could be received, and that the delay might cause the face of affairs to
change. I reminded him that Egypt was on the point of yielding. He took
my advice, and it was well for him that he did, for the news of the
compulsory evacuation of Egypt arrived in London the day after the
signing of the preliminaries. M. Otto informed the First Consul by
letter that Lord Hawkesbury, ill communicating to him the news of the
evacuation, told him he was very glad everything was settled, for it
would have been impossible for him to have treated on the same basis
after the arrival of such news. In reality we consented at Paris to the
voluntary evacuation of Egypt, and that was something for England, while
Egypt was at that very time evacuated by a convention made on the spot.
The definitive evacuation of Egypt took place on the 30th of August
1801; and thus the conquest of that country, which had cost so dear, was
rendered useless, or rather injurious.
CHAPTER VII.
1802.
The most glorious epoch for France--The First Consul's desire of
peace--Malta ceded and kept--Bonaparte and the English journals--
Mr. Addington's letter to the First Consul--Bonaparte prosecutes
Peltier--Leclerc's expedition to St. Domingo--Toussaint Louverture--
Death of Leclerc--Rochambeau, his successor, abandons St. Domingo--
First symptoms of Bonaparte's malady--Josephine's intrigues for the
marriage of Hortense--Falsehood contradicted.
The epoch of the peace of Amiens must be considered as the most glorious
in the history of France, not excepting the splendid period of Louis
XIV.'s victories and the more brilliant era of the Empire. The Consular
glory was then pure, and the opening prospect was full of flattering
hope; whereas those who were but little accustomed to look closely into
things could discern mighty disasters lurking under the laurels of the
Empire.
The proposals which the First Consul made in order to obtain peace
sufficiently prove his sincere desire for it. He felt that if in the
commencement of his administration he could couple his name with so
hoped for an act he should ever experience the affection and gratitude
of the French. I want no other proof of his sentiments than the offer
he made to give up Egypt to the Grand Seignior, and to restore all the
ports of the Gulf of Venice and of the Mediterranean to the States to
which they had previously belonged; to surrender Malta to the order of
the Knights of St. John, and even to raze its fortifications if England
should think such a measure necessary for her interests. In the Indies,
Ceylon was to be left to him,
--[Ceylon belonged to Holland, but was retained by England under the
treaty of Amiens.]--
and he required the surrender of the Cape of Good Hope and all the
places taken by the English in the West Indies.
England had firmly resolved to keep Malta, the Gibraltar of the
Mediterranean, and the Cape of Good Hope, the caravanserai of the
Indies. She was therefore unwilling to close with the proposition
respecting Malta; and she said that an arrangement might be made by
which it would be rendered independent both of Great Britain and
France. We clearly saw that this was only a lure, and that, whatever
arrangements might be entered into, England would keep Malta, because it
was not to be expected that the maritime power would willingly surrender
an island which commands the Mediterranean. I do not notice the
discussions respecting the American islands, for they were, in my
opinion, of little consequence to us.
--[It is strange that Bourrienne does not allude to one of the first
arbitrary acts of Napoleon, the discussions on which formed part of
those conversations between Napoleon and his brother Lucien of which
Bourrienne complained to Josephine he knew nothing. In 1763 France
had ceded to England the part of Louisiana on the east of the
Mississippi, and the part on the west of that river, with New
Orleans, to Spain. By the treaty negotiated with Spain by Lucien
Bonaparte in 1800 her share was given back to France. On the 80th
April 1803 Napoleon sold the whole to the United States for
80,000,000 francs (L 3,260,000), to the intense anger of his
brothers Joseph and Lucien. Lucien was especially proud of having
obtained the cession for which Napoleon was, at that time, very
anxious; but both brothers were horrified when Napoleon disclosed
how little he cared for constitutional forms by telling them that if
the Legislature, as his brothers threatened, would not ratify the
treaty, he would do without the ratification; see Iung's Letter,
tome ii. p. 128.
Napoleon's most obvious motives were want of money and the certainty
of the seizure of the province by England, as the rupture with her
was now certain. But there was perhaps another cause. The States
had already been on the point of seizing the province from Spain,
which had interfered with their trade (Hinton's United States, p.
435, and Thiers tome iv, p. 320).
Of the sum to be paid, 20,000,000 were to go to the States, to cover
the illegal seizures of American ships by the French navy, a matter
which was not settled for many years later. The remaining
80,000,000 were employed in the preparations for the invasion of
England; see Thiers, tome iv. pp. 320 and 326, and Lanfrey, tome
iii. p. 48. The transaction is a remarkable one, as forming the
final withdrawal of France from North America (with the exception of
some islands on the Newfoundland coast), where she had once held
such a proud position. It also eventually made an addition to the
number of slave States.]--
They cost more than they produce; and they will escape from us, some
time or other, as all colonies ultimately do from the parent country.
Our whole colonial system is absurd; it forces us to pay for colonial
produce at a rate nearly double that for which it may be purchased from
our neighbours.
When Lord Hawkesbury consented to evacuate Malta, on condition that it
should be independent of France and Great Britain, he must have been
aware that such a condition would never be fulfilled. He cared little
for the order of St. John, and he should have put, by way of postscript,
at the bottom of his note, "We will keep Malta in spite of you." I
always told the First Consul that if he were in the situation of the
English he would act the same part; and it did not require much sagacity
to foretell that Malta would be the principal cause of the rupture of
peace. He was of my opinion; but at that moment he thought everything
depended on concluding the negotiations, and I entirely agreed with him.
It happened, as was foreseen, that Malta caused the renewal of war.
The English, on being called upon to surrender the island, eluded the
demand, shifted about, and at last ended by demanding that Malta should
be placed under the protection of the King of Naples,--that is to say,
under the protection of a power entirely at their command, and to which
they might dictate what they pleased. This was really too cool a piece
of irony!
I will here notice the quarrel between the First Consul and the English
newspapers, and give a new proof of his views concerning the freedom of
the press. However, liberty of the press did once contribute to give him
infinite gratification, namely, when all the London journals mentioned
the transports of joy manifested in London on the arrival of General
Lauriston, the bearer of the ratification of the preliminaries of peace.
The First Consul was at all times the declared enemy of the liberty of
the press, and therefore he ruled the journals with a hand of iron.
--[An incident, illustrative of the great irritation which Bonaparte
felt at the plain speaking of the English press, also shows the
important character of Coleridge's writings in the 'Morning Post'.
In the course of a debate in the House of Commons Fox asserted that
the rupture of the Peace of Amiens had its origin in certain essays
which had appeared in the Morning POST, and which were known to have
proceeded from the pen of Coleridge. But Fox added an ungenerous
and malicious hint that the writer was at Rome, within the reach of
Bonaparte. The information reached the ears for which it was
uttered, and an order was sent from Paris to compass the arrest of
Coleridge. It was in the year 1806, when the poet was making a tour
in Italy. The news reached him at Naples, through a brother of the
illustrious Humboldt, as Mr. Gillman says--or in a friendly warning
from Prince Jerome Bonaparte, as we have it on the authority of Mr.
Cottle--and the Pope appears to have been reluctant to have a hand
in the business, and, in fact, to have furnished him with a
passport, if not with a carriage for flight, Coleridge eventually
got to Leghorn, where he got a passage by an American ship bound for
England; but his escape coming to the ears of Bonaparte, a look-out
was kept for the ship, and she was chased by a French cruiser, which
threw the captain into such a state of terror that he made Coleridge
throw all his journals and papers overboard (Andrews' History of
Journalism, vol. ii. p. 28).]--
I have often heard him say, "Were I to slacken the reins, I should not
continue three months in power." He unfortunately held the same opinion
respecting every other prerogative of public freedom. The silence he had
imposed in France he wished, if he could, to impose in England. He was
irritated by the calumnies and libels so liberally cast upon him by
the English journals, and especially by one written in French, called
'L'Ambigu', conducted by Peltier, who had been the editor of the 'Actes
des Apotres' in Paris. The 'Ambigu' was constantly teeming with the most
violent attacks on the First Consul and the French nation. Bonaparte
could never, like the English, bring himself to despise newspaper
libels, and he revenged himself by violent articles which he caused to
be inserted in the 'Moniteur'. He directed M. Otto to remonstrate, in
an official note, against a system of calumny which he believed to be
authorised by the English Government. Besides this official proceeding
he applied personally to Mr. Addington, the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
requesting him to procure the adoption of legislative measures against
the licentious writings complained of; and, to take the earliest
opportunity of satisfying his hatred against the liberty of the press,
the First Consul seized the moment of signing the preliminaries to make
this request.
Mr. Addington wrote a long answer to the First Consul, which I
translated for him. The English Minister refuted, with great force, all
the arguments which Bonaparte had employed against the press. He also
informed the First Consul that, though a foreigner, it was competent in
him to institute a complaint in the courts of law; but that in such
case he must be content to see all the scandalous statements of which
he complained republished in the report of the trial. He advised him to
treat the libels with profound contempt, and do as he and others did,
who attached not the slightest importance to them. I congratulate myself
on having in some degree prevented a trial taking place at that time.
Things remained in this state for the moment; but after the peace of
Amiens the First Consul prosecuted Pettier, whose journal was always
full of violence and bitterness against him. Pettier was defended by
the celebrated Mackintosh, who, according to the accounts of the time,
displayed great eloquence on this occasion, yet, in spite of the ability
of his counsel, he was convicted. The verdict, which public opinion
considered in the light of a triumph for the defendant, was not followed
up by any judgment, in consequence of the rupture of the peace occurring
soon after. It is melancholy to reflect that this nervous susceptibility
to the libels of the English papers contributed certainly as much as,
and perhaps more than, the consideration of great political interests
to the renewal of hostilities. The public would be astonished at a great
many things if they could only look under the cards.
I have anticipated the rupture of the treaty of Amiens that I might not
interrupt what I had to mention respecting Bonaparte's hatred of the
liberty of the press. I now return to the end of the year 1801, the
period of the expedition against St. Domingo.
The First Consul, after dictating to me during nearly: the whole of one
night instructions for that expedition, sent for General Leclerc, and
said to him in my presence, "Here, take your instructions; you have a
fine opportunity for filling your purse. Go, and no longer tease me with
your eternal requests for money." The friendship which Bonaparte felt
for his sister Pauline had a good deal of influence in inducing him to
take this liberal way of enriching her husband.
The expedition left the ports of France on the 14th of December 1801,
and arrived off Cape St. Domingo on the 1st of February 1802. The fatal
result of the enterprise is well known, but we are never to be cured
of the folly of such absurd expeditions. In the instructions given to
Leclerc everything was foreseen; but it was painful to know that the
choice of one of the youngest and least capable of all the generals
of the army left no hope of a successful result. The expedition to St.
Domingo was one of Bonaparte's great errors. Almost every person whom
he consulted endeavoured to dissuade him from it. He attempted a
justification through the medium of his historians of St. Helena; but
does he succeed when he says, "that he was obliged to yield to the
advice of his Council of State?" He, truly, was a likely man to submit
a question of war to the discussion of the Council of State, or to be
guided in such an affair by any Council! We must believe that no other
motive influenced the First Consul but the wish, by giving him the means
of enriching himself, to get rid of a brother-in-law who had the gift of
specially annoying him. The First Consul, who did not really much
like this expedition, should have perhaps reflected longer on the
difficulties of attempting to subdue the colony by force. He was shaken
by this argument, which I often repeated to him, and he agreed with
it, but the inconceivable influence which the members of his family
exercised on him always overcame him.
Bonaparte dictated to me a letter for Toussaint, full of sounding words
and fine promises, informing him that his two children, who had been
educated in Paris, were sent back to him, offering him the title
of vice-governor, and stating that he ought readily to assist in an
arrangement which would contribute to reconnect the colony with the
mother-country. Toussaint, who had at first shown a disposition to close
with the bargain, yet feeling afraid of being deceived by the French,
and probably induced by ambitious motives, resolved on war. He displayed
a great deal of talent; but, being attacked before the climate had
thinned the French ranks, he was unable to oppose a fresh army, numerous
and inured to war. He capitulated, and retired to a plantation, which he
was not to leave without Leclerc's permission. A feigned conspiracy on
the part of the blacks formed a pretence for accusing Toussaint, and he
was seized and sent to France.
Toussaint was brought to Paris in the beginning of August. He was sent,
in the first instance, to the Temple, whence he was removed to the
Chateau de Joux. His imprisonment was rigorous; few comforts were
allowed him. This treatment, his recollection of the past, his
separation from the world, and the effects of a strange climate,
accelerated his death, which took place a few months after his arrival
in France. The reports which spread concerning his death, the assertion
that it was not a natural one, and that it had been caused by poison,
obtained no credit. I should add that Toussaint wrote a letter to
Bonaparte; but I never saw in it the expression attributed to him,
"The first man of the blacks to the first man of the whites" Bonaparte
acknowledged that the black leader possessed energy, courage, and
great skill. I am sure that he would have rejoiced if the result of his
relations with St. Domingo had been something else than the kidnaping
and transportation of Toussaint.
Leclerc, after fruitless efforts to conquer the colony, was himself
carried off by the yellow fever. Rochambeau succeeded him by right
of seniority, and was as unsuccessful as Menou had been in Egypt.
The submission of the blacks, which could only have been obtained by
conciliation, he endeavoured to compel by violence. At last, in December
1803, he surrendered to an English squadron, and abandoned the island to
Dessalines.
Bonaparte often experienced severe bodily pain, and I have now little
doubt, from the nature of his sufferings, that they were occasioned by
the commencement of that malady which terminated his life at St. Helena.
These pains, of which he frequently complained, affected him most
acutely on the night when he dictated to me the instructions for General
Leclerc. It was very late when I conducted him to his apartment. We
had just been taking a cup of chocolate, a beverage of which we always
partook when our business lasted longer than one o'clock in the morning.
He never took a light with him when he went up to his bedroom. I gave
him my arm, and we had scarcely got beyond the little staircase which
leads to the corridor, when he was rudely run against by a man who was
endeavouring to escape as quickly as possible by the staircase. The
First Consul did not fall because I supported him. We soon gained his
chamber, where we, found Josephine, who, having heard the noise, awoke
greatly alarmed. From the investigations which were immediately made it
appeared that the uproar was occasioned by a fellow who had been keeping
an assignation and had exceeded the usual hour for his departure.
On the 7th of January 1802 Mademoiselle Hortense was married to Louis
Bonaparte. As the custom was not yet resumed of adding the religious
ceremony to the civil contract, the nuptial benediction was on this
occasion privately given by a priest at the house Rue de la Victoire.
Bonaparte also caused the marriage of his sister Caroline,--[The wife of
Murat, and the cleverest of Bonaparte's sisters.]--which had taken place
two years earlier before a mayor, to be consecrated in the same manner;
but he and his wife did not follow the example. Had he already, then,
an idea of separating from Josephine, and therefore an unwillingness
to render a divorce more difficult by giving his marriage a religious
sanction? I am rather inclined to think, from what he said to me, that
his neglecting to take a part in the religious ceremony arose from
indifference.
Bonaparte said at St. Helena, speaking of Louis and Hortense, that
"they loved each other when they married: they desired to be united.
The marriage was also the result of Josephine's intrigues, who found her
account in it." I will state the real facts. Louis and Hortense did not
love one another at all. That is certain. The First Consul knew it, just
as he well knew that Hortense had a great inclination for Duroc, who
did not fully return it. The First Consul agreed to their union, but
Josephine was troubled by such a marriage, and did all she could to
prevent it. She often spoke to me about it, but rather late in the day.
She told me that her brothers-in law were her declared enemies, that I
well knew their intrigues, and that I well knew there was no end to
the annoyances they made her undergo. In fact, I did know all this
perfectly. She kept on repeating to me that with this projected marriage
she would not have any support; that Duroc was nothing except by the
favour of Bonaparte; that he had neither fortune, fame, nor reputation,
and that he could be no help to her against the well-known ill-will of
the brothers of Bonaparte. She wanted some assurance for the future. She
added that her husband was very fond of Louis, and that if she had the
good fortune to unite him to her daughter this would be a counterpoise
to the calumnies and persecutions of her other brothers-in-law. I
answered her that she had concealed her intentions too long from me,
and that I had promised my services to the young people, and the more
willingly as I knew the favourable opinion of the First Consul, who had
often said to me, "My wife has done well; they suit one another, they
shall marry one another. I like Duroc; he is of good family. I have
rightly given Caroline to Murat, and Pauline to Leclerc, and I can well
give Hortense to Duroc, who is a fine fellow. He is worth more than the
others. He is now general of a division there is nothing against this
marriage. Besides, I have other plans for Louis." In speaking to Madame
Bonaparte I added that her daughter burst into tears when spoken to
about her marriage with Louis.
The First Consul had sent a brevet of general of division to Duroc by
a special courier, who went to Holland, through which the newly-made
general had to pass on his return from St. Petersburg, where, as I have
already said, he had been sent to compliment the Emperor Alexander
on his accession to the throne. The First Consul probably paid this
compliment to Duroc in the belief that the marriage would take place.
During Duroc's absence the correspondence of the lovers passed, by their
consent, through my hands. Every night I used to make one in a party
at billiards, at which Hortense played very well. When I told her, in
a whisper, that I had got a letter for her, she would immediately
leave off playing and run to her chamber, where I followed and gave her
Duroc's epistle. When she opened it her eyes would fill with tears, and
it was some time before she could return to the salon. All was useless
for her. Josephine required a support in the family against the family.
Seeing her firm resolution, I promised to no longer oppose her wishes,
which I could not disapprove, but I told her I could only maintain
silence and neutrality in these little debates, and she seemed
satisfied.
When we were at Malmaison those intrigues continued. At the Tuileries
the same conduct was pursued, but then the probability of success was on
Duroc's side; I even congratulated him on his prospects, but he received
my compliments in a very cold manner. In a few days after Josephine
succeeded in changing the whole face of affairs. Her heart was entirely
set on the marriage of Louis with her daughter; and prayers, entreaties,
caresses, and all those little arts which she so well knew how to use,
were employed to win the First Consul to her purpose.
On the 4th of January the First Consul, after dinner, entered our
cabinet, where I was employed. "Where is Duroc?" he inquired.--"He has
gone to the opera, I believe."--"Tell him, as soon as he returns, that
I have promised Hortense to him, and he shall have her. But I wish
the marriage to take place in two days at the latest. I will give him
500,000 francs, and name him commandant of the eighth military division;
but he must set out the day after his marriage with his wife for Toulon.
We must live apart; I want no son-in-law at home. As I wish to come to
some conclusion, let me know to-night whether this plan will satisfy
him."--"I think it will not."--"Very well! then she shall marry
Louis."--"Will she like that?"--"She must like it." Bonaparte gave me
these directions in a very abrupt manner, which made me think that some
little domestic warfare had been raging, and that to put an end to it he
had come to propose his ultimatum. At half-past ten in the evening Duroc
returned; I reported to him, word for word, the proposition of the First
Consul. "Since it has come to that, my good friend," said he, "tell him
he may keep his daughter for me. I am going to see the -----," and, with
an indifference for which I cannot account, he took his hat and went
off.
--[Duroc eventually married a Mademoiselle Hervae d'Almenara, the
daughter of a Spanish banker, who was later Minister of Joseph, and
was created Marquis of Abruenara. The lady was neither handsome nor
amiable, but she possessed a vast fortune, and Bonaparte himself
solicited her hand for his aide de camp. After the death of Duroc
his widow married a M. Fabvier, and Napoleon gave his Duchy of
Frioul to his daughter.]--
The First Consul, before going to bed, was informed of Duroc's reply,
and Josephine received from him the promise that Louis and Hortense
should be married. The marriage took place a few days after, to the
great regret of Hortense, and probably to the satisfaction of Duroc.
Louis submitted to have forced on him as a wife a woman who had
hitherto avoided him as much as possible. She always manifested as
much indifference for him as he displayed repugnance for her, and those
sentiments have not been effaced.
--[The marriage of Louis Bonaparte took place on the 7th January.
The bride and bridegroom were exceedingly dull, and Mademoiselle
Hortense wept during the whole of the ceremony. Josephine, knowing
that this union, which commenced so inauspiciously, was her own
work, anxiously endeavoured to establish a more cordial feeling
between her daughter and son-in-law. But all her efforts were vain,
and the marriage proved a very unhappy one (Memoirs de Constant).
Napoleon III. was the son of the Queen of Holland (Hortense
Beauharnais).]--
Napoleon said at St. Helena that he wished to unite Louis with a niece
of Talleyrand. I can only say that I never heard a word of this niece,
either from himself, his wife, or his daughter; and I rather think that
at that time the First Consul was looking after a royal alliance for
Louis. He often expressed regret at the precipitate marriages of his
sisters. It should be recollected that we were now in the year which
saw the Consulship for life established, and which, consequently, gave
presage of the Empire. Napoleon said truly to the companions of his
exile that "Louis' marriage was the result of Josephine's intrigues,"
but I cannot understand how he never mentioned the intention he once had
of uniting Hortense to Duroc. It has been erroneously stated that the
First Consul believed that he reconciled the happiness of his daughter
with his policy. Hortense did not love Louis, and dreaded this marriage.
There was no hope of happiness for her, and the event has proved this.
As for the policy of the First Consul, it is not easy to see how it was
concerned with the marriage of Louis to Hortense, and in any case the
grand policy which professed so loudly to be free from all feminine
influences would have been powerless against the intrigues of Josephine,
for at this time at the Tuileries the boudoir was often stronger than
the cabinet. Here I am happy to have it in my power to contradict most
formally and most positively certain infamous insinuations which have
prevailed respecting Bonaparte and Hortense. Those who have asserted
that Bonaparte ever entertained towards Hortense any other sentiments
than those of a father-in-law for a daughter-in-law have, as the ancient
knights used to say, "lied in their throats." We shall see farther on
what he said to me on this subject, but it is never too soon to destroy
such a base calumny. Authors unworthy of belief have stated, without any
proof, that not only was there this criminal liaison, but they have
gone so far as to say that Bonaparte was the father of the eldest son of
Hortense. It is a lie, a vile lie. And yet the rumour has spread through
all France and all Europe. Alas! has calumny such powerful charms that,
once they are submitted to, their yoke cannot be broken?
--[Bourrienne's account of this marriage, and his denial of the vile
calumny about Napoleon, is corroborated by Madame Rémusat. After
saying that Hortense had refused to marry the son of Rewbell and
also the Comte de Nun, she goes on: "A short time afterwards Duroc,
then aide de camp to the Consul, and already noted by him, fell in
love with Hortense. She returned the feeling, and believed she had
found that other half of herself which she sought. Bonaparte looked
favourably on their union, but Madame Bonaparte in her turn was
inflexible. 'My daughter,' said she, 'must marry a gentleman or a
Bonaparte.' Louis was then thought of. He had no fancy for
Hortense; defeated the Beauharnais family, and had a supreme
contempt for his sister-in-law. But as he was silent, he was
believed to be gentle; and as he was severe by character, he was
believed to be upright. Madame Louis told me afterwards that at the
news of this arrangement she experienced violent grief. Not only
was she forbidden to think of the man she loved, but she was about
to be given to another of whom she had a secret distrust" (Rémusat,
tome i. p. 156). For the cruel treatment of Hortense by Louis see
the succeeding pages of Rémusat. As for the vile scandal about
Hortense and Napoleon, there is little doubt that it was spread by
the Bonapartist family for interested motives. Madame Louis became
enceinte soon after her marriage. The Bonapartists, and especially
Madame Murat (Caroline); had disliked this marriage because Joseph
having only daughters, it was forseen that the first son of Louis
and the grandson of Madame Bonaparte would be the object of great
interest. They therefore spread the revolting story that this was
the result of a connection of the First Consul with his
daughter-in-law, encouraged by the mother herself. "The public
willingly believed this suspicion.' Madame Murat told Louis," etc.
(Rémusat, tome i, p. 169). This last sentence is corroborated by
Miot de Melito (tome ii. p. 170), who, speaking of the later
proposal of Napoleon to adopt this child, says that Louis
"remembered the damaging stories which ill-will had tried to spread
among the public concerning Hortense Beauharnais before he married
her, and although a comparison of the date of his marriage with
that of the birth of his son must have shown him that these tales
were unfounded, he felt that they would be revived by the adoption
of this child by the First Consul." Thus this wretched story did
harm in every way. The conduct of Josephine must be judged with
leniency, engaged as she was in a desperate struggle to maintain
her own marriage,--a struggle she kept up with great skill; see
Metternich, tome ii. p. 296. "she baffled all the calculations,
all the manoeuvres of her adversaries." But she was foolish enough
to talk in her anger as if she believed some of the disgraceful
rumours of Napoleon. "Had he not seduced his sisters, one after
the other?" (Rémusat, tome i. p. 204). As to how far this scandal
was really believed by the brothers of Napoleon, see Iung's Lucien
(tome ii. pp. 268-269), where Lucien describes Louis as coming
three times to him for advice as to his marriage with Hortense,
both brothers referring to this rumour. The third time Louis
announces he is in love with Hortense. "You are in love? Why the
devil, then, do you come to me for advice? If so, forget what has
been rumoured, and what I have advised you. Marry, and may God
bless you."
Thiers (tome iii. p. 308) follows Bourrienne's account. Josephine,
alluding to Louis Bonaparte, said, "His family have maliciously
informed him of the disgraceful stories which have been spread on
the conduct of my daughter and on the birth of her son. Hate
assigns this child to Napoleon." (Rémusat, tome i, p. 206). The
child in question was Napoleon Charles (1802-1807).]--
CHAPTER VIII.
1802-1803.
Bonaparte President of the Cisalpine Republic--Meeting of the
deputation at Lyons--Malta and the English--My immortality--Fete
given by Madame Murat--Erasures from the emigrant list--Restitution
of property--General Sebastiani--Lord Whitworth--Napoleon's first
symptoms of disease--Corvisart--Influence of physical suffering on
Napoleon's temper--Articles for the Moniteur--General Andreossi--
M. Talleyrand's pun--Jerome Bonaparte--Extravagance of Bonaparte's
brothers--M. Collot and the navy contract.
Bonaparte was anxious to place the Cisalpine Republic on a footing of
harmony with the Government of France. It was necessary to select a
President who should perfectly agree with Bonaparte's views; and in
this respect no one could be so suitable as Bonaparte himself. The
two Presidencies united would serve as a transition to the throne. Not
wishing to be long absent from Paris, and anxious to avoid the trouble
of the journey to Milan, he arranged to meet the deputation half-way at
Lyons. Before our departure I said to him, "Is it possible that you
do not wish to revisit Italy, the first scene of your glory, and the
beautiful capital of Lombardy, where you were the object of so much
homage?"--"I certainly should," replied the First Consul, "but the
journey to Milan would occupy too much precious time. I prefer that the
meeting should take place in France. My influence over the deputies will
be more prompt and certain at Lyons than at Milan; and then I should be
glad to see the noble wreck of the army of Egypt, which is collected at
Lyons."
On the 8th of January 1802 we set out. Bonaparte who was now ready to
ascend the throne of France, wished to prepare the Italians for one
day crowning him King of Italy, in imitation of Charlemagne, of whom in
anticipation he considered himself the successor. He saw that the title
of President of the Cisalpine Republic was a great advance towards the
sovereignty of Lombardy, as he afterwards found that the Consulate for
life was a decisive step towards the throne of France. He obtained the
title of President without much difficulty on the 36th of January 1802.
The journey to Lyons and the conferences were only matters of form; but
high sounding words and solemn proceedings were required for the public
mind.
The attempts which had been made on the life of the First Consul gave
rise to a report that he took extraordinary precautions for his safety
during this journey to Lyons. I never saw those precautions, and
Bonaparte was at all times averse to adopt any. He often repeated "That
whoever would risk his own life might take his." It is not true that
guards preceded his carriage and watched the roads. The Consul travelled
like a private person, and very rarely had arms in his carriage.
--[Bonaparte may have been careless of his own safety, but that he
took great pains in regard to his brother's may be inferred from the
following letter, written a few years later:
"Take care that your valets de chambre, your cooks, the guards that
sleep in your apartments, and those who come during the night to
awaken you with despatches, are all Frenchmen. No one should enter
your room during the night except your aides de camp, who should
sleep in the chamber that precedes your bedroom. Your door should
be fastened inside, and you ought not to open it, even to your aide
de camp, until you have recognised his voice; he himself should not
knock at your door until he has locked that of the room which he is
in, to make sure of being alone, and of being followed by no one.
These precautions are important; they give no trouble, and they
inspire confidence--besides, they may really save your life. You
should establish these habits immediately and permanently; You ought
not to be obliged to have resource to them on some emergency, which
would hurt the feelings of those around you. Do not trust only to
your own experience. The Neapolitan character has been violent in
every age, and you have to do with a woman [Queen of Naples] who is
the impersonation of crime" (Napoleon to Joseph, May 31, 1806.--Du
Casse, tome ii. p. 260).]--
At this time, when the ambition of Bonaparte every day took a farther
flight, General Clarke took it into his head to go into the box of the
First Consul at the "Francais," and to place himself in the front seat.
By chance the First Consul came to the theatre, but Clarke, hardly
rising, did not give up his place. The First Consul only stayed a
short time, and when he came back he showed great discontent at this
affectation of pride and of vanity. Wishing to get rid of a man whom
he looked on as a blundering flatterer and a clumsy critic, he sent him
away as charge d'affaires to the young extemporized King of Etruria,
where Clarke expiated his folly in a sort of exile. This is all the
"great disfavour" which has been so much spoken about, In the end
General Clarke returned to favour. Berlin knows and regrets it.
On the 25th of March of the same year England signed, at Amiens, a
suspension of arms for fourteen months, which was called a treaty of
peace. The clauses of this treaty were not calculated to inspire the
hope of a very long peace. It was evident, as I have already said, that
England would not evacuate Malta; and that island ultimately proved
the chief cause of the rupture of the treaty of Amiens. But England,
heretofore so haughty in her bearing to the First Consul, had at
length treated with him as the Head of the French Government. This, as
Bonaparte was aware, boded well for the consolidation of his power.
At that time, when he saw his glory and power augmenting, he said to me
in one of our walks at Malmaison, in a moment of hilarity, and clapping
me on the shoulder, "Well, Bourrienne, you also will be immortal!"--
"Why, General?"--"Are you not my secretary?"--"Tell me the name of
Alexander's," said I.
--[Bonaparte did not know the name of Alexander's secretary, and I
forgot at the moment to tell him it was Clallisthenes. He wrote
Alexander's Memoirs, as I am writing Bonaparte's; but,
notwithstanding this coincidence, I neither expect nor desire the
immortality of my name.--Bourrienne.]--
Bonaparte then turned to me and laughing, said, "Hem! that is not bad."
There was, to be sure, a little flattery conveyed in my question, but
that never displeased him, and I certainly did not in that instance
deserve the censure he often bestowed on me for not being enough of a
courtier and flatterer.
Madame Murat gave a grand fete in honour of Bonaparte at her residence
at Neuilly. At dinner Bonaparte sat opposite Madame Murat at the
principal table, which was appropriated to the ladies. He ate fast,
and talked but little. However, when the dessert was served, he put a
question to each lady. This question was to inquire their respective
ages. When Madame Bourrienne's turn came he said to her, "Oh! I know
yours." This was a great deal for his gallantry, and the other ladies
were far from being pleased at it.
Next day, while walking with me in his favourite alley at Malmaison,
he received one of those stupid reports of the police which were so
frequently addressed to him. It mentioned the observations which had
been made in Paris about a green livery he had lately adopted. Some said
that green had been chosen because it was the colour of the House
of Artois. On reading that a slight sneer was observable in his
countenance, and he said, "What are these idiots dreaming of? They must
be joking, surely. Am I no better than M. d'Artois? They shall soon see
the difference."
Until the middle of the year 1801 the erasures from the emigrant list
had always been proposed by the Minister of Police. The First Consul
having been informed that intrigue and even bribery had been employed
to obtain them, determined that in future erasures should be part of the
business of his cabinet. But other affairs took up his attention, and a
dozen or fifteen erasures a week were the most that were made. After Te
Deum had been chanted at Malmaison for the Concordat and the peace, I
took advantage of that moment of general joy to propose to Bonaparte
the return of the whole body of emigrants. "You have," said I in a
half-joking way, "reconciled Frenchmen to God--now reconcile them to
each other. There have never been any real emigrants, only absentees;
and the proof of this is, that erasures from the list have always been,
and will always be, made daily." He immediately seized the idea. "We
shall see," said he; "but I must except a thousand persons belonging
to high families, especially those who are or have been connected with
royalty or the Court."
I said in the Chamber of Deputies, and I feel pleasure in repeating
here, that the plan of the 'Senatus-consults', which Bonaparte dictated
to me, excepted from restitution only such mansions as were used for
public establishments. These he would neither surrender nor pay rent
for. With those exceptions he was willing to restore almost all that was
possessed by the State and had not been sold.
The First Consul, as soon as he had finished this plan of a decree,
convoked a Grand Council to submit it to their consideration. I was in
an adjoining room to that in which they met, and as the deliberations
were carried on with great warmth, the members talking very loudly,
sometimes even vociferating, I heard all that passed. The revolutionary
party rejected all propositions of restitution. They were willing to
call back their victims, but they would not part with the spoil.
When the First Consul returned to his cabinet, dissatisfied with the ill
success of his project, I took the liberty of saying to him, "you cannot
but perceive, General, that your object has been defeated, and your
project unsuccessful. The refusal to restore to the emigrants all that
the State possesses takes from the recall all its generosity and dignity
of character. I wonder how you could yield to such an unreasonable and
selfish opposition."--"The revolutionary party," replied he, "had the
majority in the Council. What could I do? Am I strong enough to overcome
all those obstacles?"--"General, you can revive the question again, and
oppose the party you speak of."--"That would be difficult," he said;
"they still have a high hand in these matters. Time is required.
However, nothing is definitively arranged. We shall see what can be
done." The 'Senatus-consulte', published on the 6th Floréal, year X.
(26th of April 1802), a fortnight after the above conversation took
place, is well known. Bonaparte was then obliged to yield to the
revolutionary party, or he would have adhered to his first proposition.
--[The Senatus-consulte retained the woods and forests of the
emigrants, and made their recall an "amnesty." In the end this
retention of the forests was used by Napoleon with great dexterity
as a means of placing them under personal obligation to him for
restoring this species of property. See Thiers tome iii, p. 458,
livre xiv.]--
Napoleon referred to this matter at St. Helena. He himself says that
he "would have been able" (he should have said that he wished) to grant
everything, that for a moment he thought of doing so, and that it was a
mistake not to do so. "This limitation on my part," he adds, "destroyed
all the good effect of the return of the emigrants. The mistake was
the greater since I thought of doing it, but I was alone, surrounded by
oppositions and by spies: all were against your party, you cannot easily
picture the matter to yourself, but important affairs hurried me, time
pressed, and I was obliged to act differently." Afterwards he speaks of
a syndicate he wished to form, but I have never heard a word of that.
I have said how things really happened, and what has been just read
confirms this.
--[This was by no means the only time that Napoleon's wishes were
opposed successfully in his Council of State. On such occasions he
used to describe himself as "repulsed with losses." See the
interesting work of St. Hilaire, Napoleon au Conseil d'Etat.]--
The Royalists, dissatisfied with the state of political affairs, were
not better pleased with the illiberal conditions of the recall of the
emigrants. The friends of public liberty, on the other hand, were far
from being satisfied with the other acts of the First Consul, or with
the conduct of the different public authorities, who were always ready
to make concessions to him. Thus all parties were dissatisfied.
Bonaparte was much pleased with General Sebastiani's conduct when he was
sent to Constantinople, after the peace of Amiens, to induce the Grand
Seignior to renew amicable relations with France.
At the period here alluded to, namely, before the news of the evacuation
of Egypt, that country greatly occupied Bonaparte's attention. He
thought that to send a man like Sebastiani travelling through Northern
Africa, Egypt, and Syria might inspire the sovereigns of those countries
with a more favourable idea of France than they now entertained, and
might remove the ill impressions which England was endeavouring to
produce. On this mission Sebastiani was accordingly despatched. He
visited all the Barbary States, Egypt, Palestine, and the Ionian Isles.
Everywhere he drew a highly-coloured picture of the power of Bonaparte,
and depreciated the glory of England.
--[This General, or Count Sebastian, was afterwards ambassador for
Louis Philippe at our Court.]--
He strengthened old connections, and contracted new ones with the chiefs
of each country. He declared to the authorities of the Ionian Isles that
they might rely on the powerful protection of France. Bonaparte, in
my opinion, expected too much from the labours of a single individual
furnished with but vague instructions. Still Sebastiani did all that
could be done. The interesting details of his proceedings were published
in the 'Moniteur'. The secret information respecting the means of
successfully attacking the English establishments in India was very
curious, though not affording the hope of speedy success.
The published abstract of General Sebastiani's report was full of
expressions hostile to England. Among other things it was stated that
Egypt might be conquered with 6000 men, and that the Ionian Isles where
disposed to throw off the yoke. There can be little doubt that this
publication hastened the rupture of the treaty of Amiens.
England suspended all discussions respecting Malta, and declared that
she would not resume them till the King of Great Britain should receive
satisfaction for what was called an act of hostility. This was always
put forward as a justification, good or bad, for breaking the treaty of
Amiens, which England had never shown herself very ready to execute.
Bonaparte, waiving the usual forma of etiquette, expressed his wish
to have a private conference with Lord Whitworth, the ambassador
from London to Paris, and who had been the English ambassador at St.
Petersburg previous to the rupture which preceded the death of Paul
I. Bonaparte counted much on the effect he might produce by that
captivating manner which he so well knew how to assume in conversation;
but all was in vain. In signing the treaty of Amiens the British
Minister was well aware that he would be the first to break it.
About the commencement of the year 1802 Napoleon began to feel acute
pains in his right side. I have often seen him at Malmaison, when
sitting up at night, lean against the right arm of his chair, and
unbuttoning his coat and waistcoat exclaim,--"What pain I feel!" I would
then accompany him to his bedchamber, and have often been obliged to
support him on the little staircase which led from his cabinet to the
corridor. He frequently used to say at this time, "I fear that when I
am forty I shall become a great eater: I have a foreboding that I shall
grow very corpulent." This fear of obesity, though it annoyed him very
much, did not appear to have the least foundation, judging from his
habitual temperance and spare habit of body. He asked me who was
my physician. I told him M. Corvisart, whom his brother Louis had
recommended to me. A few days after he called in Corvisart, who three
years later was appointed first physician to the Emperor. He appeared to
derive much benefit from the prescriptions of Corvisart, whose open and
good-humoured countenance at once made a favourable impression on him.
The pain which the First Consul felt at this time increased his
irritability. Perhaps many of the sets of this epoch of his life should
be attributed to this illness. At the time in question his ideas were
not the same in the evening as they had been in the morning; and often
in the morning he would tear up, even without the least remark, notes
he had dictated to me at night and which he had considered excellent. At
other times I took on myself not to send to the Moniteur, as he wished
me to do, notes which, dictated by annoyance and irascibility, might
have produced a bad effect in Europe. When the next day he did not see
the article, I attributed this to the note being too late, or to the
late arrival of the courier. But I told him it was no loss, for it would
be inserted the next day. He did not answer at once, but a quarter of
an hour afterwards he said to me, "Do not send my note to the 'Moniteur'
without showing it to me." He took it and reread it. Sometimes he was
astonished at what he had dictated to me, and amused himself by saying
that I had not understood him properly. "That is not much good, is it?
"--"'Pon my word, I don't quite know."--"Oh no, it is worthless; what
say you?" Then he bowed his head a little, and tore up the paper. Once
when we were at the Tuileries he sent me at two o'clock in the morning
a small note in his own writing, in which was, "To Bourrienne. Write
to Maret to make him erase from the note which Fleurieu has read to the
Tribunate the phrase (spelt frase) concerning Costaz, and to soften as
much as possible what concerns the reporter of the Tribunate."
This change, after time for reflection, arose, as often happened with
him, from observations I had made to him, and which he had at first
angrily repulsed.
After the peace of Amiens the First Consul, wishing to send an
ambassador to England, cast his eyes--for what reason I know not--on
General Andreossi. I took the liberty of making some observation on a
choice which did not appear to me to correspond with the importance of
the mission. Bonaparte replied, "I have not determined on it; I will
talk to Talleyrand on the subject." When we were at Malmaison in the
evening M. de Talleyrand came to transact business with the First
Consul. The proposed appointment of an ambassador to England was
mentioned. After several persons had been named the First Consul said,
"I believe I must send Andreossi." M. de Talleyrand, who was not much
pleased with the choice, observed in a dry sarcastic tone, "You must
send Andre 'aussi', I Pray, who is this Andre?"--"I did not mention
any Andre; I said Andreossi. You know Andreossi, the general of
artillery?"--"Ah! true; Andreossi: I did not think of him: I was
thinking only of the diplomatic men, and did not recollect any of
that name. Yes, yes; Andreossi is in the artillery!" The general was
appointed ambassador, and went to London after the treaty of Amiens; but
he returned again in a few months. He had nothing of consequence to do,
which was very lucky for him.
In 1802 Jerome was at Brest in the rank of 'enseigne de vaisseau'--[A
rank in the navy equivalent to that of our lieutenant.]--He launched
into expenses far beyond what his fortune or his pay could maintain. He
often drew upon me for sums of money which the First Consul paid with
much unwillingness. One of his letters in particular excited Napoleon's
anger. The epistle was filled with accounts of the entertainments Jerome
was giving and receiving, and ended by stating that he should draw on me
for 17,000 francs. To this Bonaparte wrote the following reply:--
I have read your letter, Monsieur l'Enseigne de Vaisseau; and I am
waiting to hear that you are studying on board your corvette a
profession which you ought to consider as your road to glory. Die
young, and I shall have some consolatory reflection; but if you live
to sixty without having served your country, and without leaving
behind you any honourable recollections, you had better not have
lived at all.
Jerome never fulfilled the wishes of his brother, who always called him
a little profligate. From his earliest years his conduct was often a
source of vexation to his brother and his family. Westphalia will not
soon forget that he was her King; and his subjects did not without
reason surname him "Heliogabalus in miniature."
The First Consul was harassed by the continual demands for money made
on him by his brothers. To get rid of Joseph, who expended large sums at
Mortfontaine, as Lucien did at Neuilly, he gave M. Collot the contract
for victualling the navy, on the condition of his paying Joseph
1,600,000 francs a year out of his profits. I believe this arrangement
answered Joseph's purpose very well; but it was anything but
advantageous to M. Collot. I think a whole year elapsed without his
pocketing a single farthing. He obtained an audience of the First
Consul, to whom he stated his grievances. His outlays he showed were
enormous, and he could get no payment from the navy office. Upon which
the Consul angrily interrupted him, saying, "Do you think I am a mere
capuchin? Decres must have 100,000 crowns, Duroc 100,000, Bourrienne
100,000; you must make the payments, and don't come here troubling me
with your long stories. It is the business of my Ministers to give me
accounts of such matters; I will hear Decres, and that's enough. Let
me be teased no longer with these complaints; I cannot attend to them."
Bonaparte then very unceremoniously dismissed M. Collot. I learned
afterwards that he did not get a settlement of the business until after
a great deal of trouble. M. Collot once said to me, "If he had asked me
for as much money as would have built a frigate he should have had it.
All I want now is to be paid, and to get rid of the business." M. Collot
had reason and honour on his side; but there was nothing but shuffling
on the other.
CHAPTER IX.
1802.
Proverbial falsehood of bulletins--M. Doublet--Creation of the
Legion of Honour--Opposition to it in the Council and other
authorities of the State--The partisans of an hereditary system--
The question of the Consulship for life.
The historian of these times ought to put no faith in the bulletins,
despatches, notes, and proclamations which have emanated from Bonaparte,
or passed through his hands. For my part, I believe that the proverb,
"As great a liar as a bulletin," has as much truth in it as the axiom,
two and two make four.
The bulletins always announced what Bonaparte wished to be believed
true; but to form a proper judgment on any fact, counter-bulletins
must be sought for and consulted. It is well known, too, that Bonaparte
attached great importance to the place whence he dated his bulletins;
thus, he dated his decrees respecting the theatres and Hamburg beef at
Moscow.
The official documents were almost always incorrect. There was falsity
in the exaggerated descriptions of his victories, and falsity again in
the suppression or palliation of his reverses and losses. A writer, if
he took his materials from the bulletins and the official correspondence
of the time, would compose a romance rather than a true history. Of this
many proofs have been given in the present work.
Another thing which always appeared to me very remarkable was, that
Bonaparte, notwithstanding his incontestable superiority, studied to
depreciate the reputations of his military commanders, and to throw on
their shoulders faults which he had committed himself. It is notorious
that complaints and remonstrances, as energetic as they were well
founded, were frequently addressed to General Bonaparte on the subject
of his unjust and partial bulletins, which often attributed the success
of a day to some one who had very little to do with it, and made no
mention of the officer who actually had the command. The complaints made
by the officers and soldiers stationed at Damietta compelled General
Lanusse, the commander, to remonstrate against the alteration of a
bulletin, by which an engagement with a body of Arabs was represented as
an insignificant affair, and the loss trifling, though the General had
stated the action to be one of importance, and the loss considerable.
The misstatement, in consequence of his spirited and energetic
remonstrances, was corrected.
Bonaparte took Malta, as is well known, in forty-eight hours. The empire
of the Mediterranean, secured to the English by the battle of Aboukir,
and their numerous cruising vessels, gave them the means of starving the
garrison, and of thus forcing General Vaubois, the commandant of Malta,
who was cut off from all communication with France, to capitulate.
Accordingly on the 4th of September 1800 he yielded up the Gibraltar
of the Mediterranean, after a noble defence of two years. These facts
require to be stated in order the better to understand what follows.
On 22d February 1802 a person of the name of Doublet, who was the
commissary of the French Government at Malta when we possessed that
island, called upon me at the Tuileries. He complained bitterly that
the letter which he had written from Malta to the First Consul on the
2d Ventose, year VIII. (9th February 1800), had been altered in the
'Moniteur'. "I congratulated him," said M. Doublet, "on the 18th
Brumaire, and informed him of the state of Malta, which was very
alarming. Quite the contrary was printed in the 'Moniteur', and that
is what I complain of. It placed me in a very disagreeable situation at
Malta, where I was accused of having concealed the real situation of the
island, in which I was discharging a public function that gave weight
to my words." I observed to him that as I was not the editor of the
'Moniteur' it was of no use to apply to me; but I told him to give me a
copy of the letter, and I would mention the subject to the First Consul,
and communicate the answer to him. Doublet searched his pocket for the
letter, but could not find it. He said he would send a copy, and begged
me to discover how the error originated. On the same day he sent me
the copy of the letter, in which, after congratulating Bonaparte on his
return, the following passage occurs:--"Hasten to save Malta with men
and provisions: no time is to be lost." For this passage these words
were substituted in the 'Moniteur': "His name inspires the brave
defenders of Malta with fresh courage; we have men and provisions."
Ignorant of the motives of so strange a perversion, I showed this letter
to the First Consul. He shrugged up his shoulders and said, laughing,
"Take no notice of him, he is a fool; give yourself no further trouble
about it."
It was clear there was nothing more to be done. It was, however, in
despite of me that M. Doublet was played this ill turn. I represented
to the First Consul the inconveniences which M. Doublet might experience
from this affair. But I very rarely saw letters or reports published as
they were received. I can easily understand how particular motives might
be alleged in order to justify such falsifications; for, when the path
of candour and good faith is departed from, any pretext is put forward
to excuse bad conduct. What sort of a history would he write who should
consult only the pages of the 'Moniteur'?
After the vote for adding a second ten years to the duration of
Bonaparte's Consulship he created, on the 19th of May, the order of the
Legion of Honour. This institution was soon followed by that of the new
nobility. Thus, in a short space of time, the Concordat to tranquillize
consciences and re-establish harmony in the Church; the decree to recall
the emigrants; the continuance of the Consular power for ten years, by
way of preparation for the Consulship for life, and the possession
of the Empire; and the creation, in a country which had abolished all
distinctions, of an order which was to engender prodigies, followed
closely on the heels of each other. The Bourbons, in reviving the
abolished orders, were wise enough to preserve along with them the
Legion of Honour.
It has already been seen how, in certain circumstances, the First Consul
always escaped from the consequences of his own precipitation, and got
rid of his blunders by throwing the blame on others--as, for example, in
the affair of the parallel between Caesar, Cromwell, and Bonaparte. He
was indeed so precipitate that one might say, had he been a gardener, he
would have wished to see the fruits ripen before the blossoms had fallen
off. This inconsiderate haste nearly proved fatal to the creation of
the Legion of Honour, a project which ripened in his mind as soon as
he beheld the orders glittering at the button-holes of the Foreign
Ministers. He would frequently exclaim, "This is well! These are the
things for the people!"
I was, I must confess, a decided partisan of the foundation in France of
a new chivalric order, because I think, in every well-conducted State,
the chief of the Government ought to do all in his power to stimulate
the honour of the citizens, and to render them more sensible to honorary
distinctions than to pecuniary advantages. I tried, however, at the same
time to warn the First Consul of his precipitancy. He heard me not; but
I must with equal frankness confess that on this occasion I was soon
freed from all apprehension with respect to the consequences of the
difficulties he had to encounter in the Council and in the other
constituted orders of the State.
On the 4th of May 1801 he brought forward, for the first time
officially, in the Council of State the question of the establishment of
the Legion of Honour, which on the 19th May 1802 was proclaimed a law
of the State. The opposition to this measure was very great, and all the
power of the First Consul, the force of his arguments, and the immense
influence of his position, could procure him no more than 14 votes
out of 24. The same feeling was displayed at the Tribunate; where the
measure only passed by a vote of 56 to 38. The balance was about the
same in the Legislative Body, where the votes were 166 to 110. It
follows, then, that out of the 394 voters in those three separate bodies
a majority only of 78 was obtained. Surprised at so feeble a majority,
the First Consul said in the evening, "Ah! I see very clearly the
prejudices are still too strong. You were right; I should have waited.
It was not a thing of such urgency. But then, it must be owned, the
speakers for the measure defended it badly. The strong minority has not
judged me fairly."-- "Be calm," rejoined I: "without doubt it would have
been better to wait; but the thing is done, and you will soon find that
the taste for these distinctions is not near gone by. It is a taste
which belongs to the nature of man. You may expect some extraordinary
circumstances from this creation--you will soon see them."
In April 1802 the First Consul left no stone unturned to get himself
declared Consul for life. It is perhaps at this epoch of his career
that he most brought into play those principles of duplicity and
dissimulation which are commonly called Machiavellian. Never were
trickery, falsehood, cunning, and affected moderation put into play with
more talent or success.
In the month of March hereditary succession and a dynasty were in
everybody's mouths. Lucien was the most violent propagator of these
ideas, and he pursued his vocation of apostle with constancy and
address. It has already been mentioned that, by his brother's
confession; he published in 1800 a pamphlet enforcing the same ideas;
which work Bonaparte afterwards condemned as a premature development of
his projects. M. de Talleyrand, whose ideas could not be otherwise than
favourable to the monarchical form of government, was ready to enter
into explanations with the Cabinets of Europe on the subject. The words
which now constantly resounded in every ear were "stability and order,"
under cloak of which the downfall of the people's right was to be
concealed. At the same time Bonaparte, with the view of disparaging the
real friends of constitutional liberty, always called them ideologues,
--[I have classed all these people under the denomination of
Ideologues, which, besides, is what specially and literally fits
them,--searchers after ideas (ideas generally empty). They have
been made more ridiculous than even I expected by this application,
a correct one, of the term ideologue to them. The phrase has been
successful, I believe, because it was mine (Napoleon in Iung's
Lucien, tome ii. p, 293). Napoleon welcomed every attack on this
description of sage. Much pleased with a discourse by Royer
Collard, he said to Talleyrand, "Do you know, Monsieur is Grand
Electeur, that a new and serious philosophy is rising in my
university, which may do us great honour and disembarrass us
completely of the ideologues, slaying them on the spot by
reasoning?" It is with something of the same satisfaction that
Renan, writing of 1898, says that the finer dreams had been
disastrous when brought into the domain of facts, and that human
concerns only began to improve when the ideologues ceased to meddle
with them (Souvenirs, p. 122).]--
or terrorists. Madame Bonaparte opposed with fortitude the influence
of counsels which she believed fatal to her husband. He indeed spoke
rarely, and seldom confidentially, with her on politics or public
affairs. "Mind your distaff or your needle," was with him a common
phrase. The individuals who applied themselves with most perseverance
in support of the hereditary question were Lucien, Roederer, Regnault
de St. Jean d'Angély, and Fontanel. Their efforts were aided by the
conclusion of peace with England, which, by re-establishing general
tranquillity for a time, afforded the First Consul an opportunity of
forwarding any plan.
While the First Consul aspired to the throne of France, his brothers,
especially Lucien, affected a ridiculous pride and pretension. Take an
almost incredible example of which I was witness. On Sunday, the 9th of
May, Lucien came to see Madame Bonaparte, who said to him, "Why did you
not come to dinner last Monday?"--"Because there was no place marked for
me: the brothers of Napoleon ought to have the first place after him."--
"What am I to understand by that?" answered Madame Bonaparte. "If you
are the brother of Bonaparte, recollect what you were. At my house all
places are the same. Eugène world never have committed such a folly."
--[On such points there was constant trouble with the Bonapartist
family, as will be seen in Madame de Rémusat's Memoirs. For an
instance, in 1812, where Joseph insisted on his mother taking
precedence of Josephine at a dinner in his house, when Napoleon
settled the matter by seizing Josephine's arm and leading her in
first, to the consternation of the party. But Napoleon, right in
this case, had his own ideas on such points, The place of the
Princess Elisa, the eldest of his sisters, had been put below that
of Caroline, Queen of Naples. Elisa was then only princess of
Lucca. The Emperor suddenly rose, and by a shift to the right
placed the Princess Elisa above the Queen. 'Now,' said he, 'do not
forget that in the imperial family I am the only King.' (Iung's
Lucien, tome ii. p. 251), This rule he seems to have adhered to,
for when he and his brothers went in the same carriage to the Champ
de Mai in 1815, Jerome, titular King of Westphalia, had to take the
front seat, while his elder brother, Lucien, only bearing the Roman
title of Prince de Canino, sat on one of the seats of honour
alongside Napoleon. Jerome was disgusted, and grumbled at a King
having to give way to a mere Roman Prince, See Iung's Lucien, tome
ii. p, 190.]--
At this period, when the Consulate for life was only in embryo,
flattering counsels poured in from all quarters, and tended to encourage
the First Consul in his design of grasping at absolute power.
Liberty rejected an unlimited power, and set bounds to the means he
wished and had to employ in order to gratify his excessive love of
war and conquest. "The present state of things, this Consulate of ten
years," said he to me, does not satisfy me; "I consider it calculated to
excite unceasing troubles." On the 7th of July 1801, he observed, "The
question whether France will be a Republic is still doubtful: it will
be decided in five or six years." It was clear that he thought this too
long a term. Whether he regarded France as his property, or considered
himself as the people's delegate and the defender of their rights, I am
convinced the First Consul wished the welfare of France; but then that
welfare was in his mind inseparable from absolute power. It was with
pain I saw him following this course. The friends of liberty, those who
sincerely wished to maintain a Government constitutionally free, allowed
themselves to be prevailed upon to consent to an extension of ten years
of power beyond the ten years originally granted by the constitution.
They made this sacrifice to glory and to that power which was its
consequence; and they were far from thinking they were lending their
support to shameless intrigues. They were firm, but for the moment only,
and the nomination for life was rejected by the Senate, who voted only
ten years more power to Bonaparte, who saw the vision of his ambition
again adjourned.
The First Consul dissembled his displeasure with that profound art
which, when he could not do otherwise, he exercised to an extreme
degree. To a message of the Senate on the subject of that nomination
he returned a calm but evasive and equivocating answer, in which,
nourishing his favourite hope of obtaining more from the people than
from the Senate, he declared with hypocritical humility, "That he would
submit to this new sacrifice if the wish of the people demanded what the
Senate authorised." Such was the homage he paid to the sovereignty of
the people, which was soon to be trampled under his feet!
An extraordinary convocation of the Council of State took place on
Monday, the 10th of May. A communication was made to them, not merely
of the Senate's consultation, but also of the First Consul's adroit
and insidious reply. The Council regarded the first merely as a
notification, and proceeded to consider on what question the people
should be consulted. Not satisfied with granting to the First Consul
ten years of prerogative, the Council thought it best to strike the iron
while it was hot, and not to stop short in the middle of so pleasing a
work. In fine, they decided that the following question should be put to
the people: "Shall the First Consul be appointed for life, and shall he
have the power of nominating his successor?" The reports of the police
had besides much influence on the result of this discussion, for they
one and all declared that the whole of Paris demanded a Consul for
life, with the right of naming a successor. The decisions on these two
questions were carried as it were by storm. The appointment for life
passed unanimously, and the right of naming the successor by a majority.
The First Consul, however, formally declared that he condemned this
second measure, which had not originated with himself. On receiving the
decision of the Council of State the First Consul, to mask his plan for
attaining absolute power, thought it advisable to appear to reject a
part of what was offered him. He therefore cancelled that clause which
proposed to give him the power of appointing a successor, and which had
been carried by a small majority.
CHAPTER X.
1802.
General Bernadotte pacifies La vendee and suppresses a mutiny at
Tours--Bonaparte's injustice towards him--A premeditated scene--
Advice given to Bernadotte, and Bonaparte disappointed--The First
Consul's residence at St. Cloud--His rehearsals for the Empire--
His contempt of mankind--Mr. Fox and Bonaparte--Information of plans
of assassination--A military dinner given by Bonaparte--Moreau not
of the party--Effect of the 'Senates-consultes' on the Consulate for
life--Journey to Plombieres--Previous scene between Lucien and
Josephine--Theatrical representations at Neuilly and Malmaison--
Loss of a watch, and honesty rewarded--Canova at St. Cloud--
Bonaparte's reluctance to stand for a model.
Having arrived at nearly the middle of the career which I have
undertaken to trace, before I advance farther I must go back for a few
moments, as I have already frequently done, in order to introduce
some circumstances which escaped my recollection, or which I purposely
reserved, that I might place them amongst facts analogous to them: Thus,
for instance, I have only referred in passing to a man who, since become
a monarch, has not ceased to honour me with his friendship, as will be
seen in the course of my Memoirs, since the part we have seen him play
in the events of the 18th Brumaire. This man, whom the inexplicable
combination of events has raised to a throne for the happiness of the
people he is called to govern, is Bernadotte.
It was evident that Bernadotte must necessarily fall into a kind of
disgrace for not having supported Bonaparte's projects at the period of
the overthrow of the Directory. The First Consul, however, did not dare
to avenge himself openly; but he watched for every opportunity to remove
Bernadotte from his presence, to place him in difficult situations,
and to entrust him with missions for which no precise instructions were
given, in the hope that Bernadotte would commit faults for which the
First Consul might make him wholly responsible.
At the commencement of the Consulate the deplorable war in La Vendée
raged in all its intensity. The organization of the Chouans was
complete, and this civil war caused Bonaparte much more uneasiness than
that which he was obliged to conduct on the Rhine and in Italy, because,
from the success of the Vendeans might arise a question respecting
internal government, the solution of which was likely to be contrary to
Bonaparte's views. The slightest success of the Vendeans spread alarm
amongst the holders of national property; and, besides, there was no
hope of reconciliation between France and England, her eternal and
implacable enemy, as long as the flame of insurrection remained
unextinguished.
The task of terminating this unhappy struggle was obviously a difficult
one. Bonaparte therefore resolved to impose it on Bernadotte; but this
general's conciliatory disposition, his chivalrous manners, his tendency
to indulgence, and a happy mixture of prudence and firmness, made him
succeed where others would have failed. He finally established good
order and submission to the laws.
Some time after the pacification of La Vendée a rebellious disposition
manifested itself at Tours amongst the soldiers of a regiment stationed
there. The men refused to march until they received their arrears of
pay. Bernadotte, as commander-in-chief of the army of the west,
without being alarmed at the disturbance, ordered the fifty-second
demi-brigade-- the one in question--to be drawn up in the square of
Tours, where, at the very head of the corps, the leaders of the mutiny
were by his orders arrested without any resistance being offered. Carnot
who was then Minister of War, made a report to the First Consul on
this affair, which, but for the firmness of Bernadotte, might have been
attended with disagreeable results. Carnet's report contained a plain
statement of the facts, and of General Bernadotte's conduct. Bonaparte
was, however, desirous to find in it some pretext for blaming him,
and made me write these words on the margin of the report: "General
Bernadotte did not act discreetly in adopting such severe measures
against the fifty-second demi-brigade, he not having the means, if he
had been unsuccessful, of re-establishing order in a town the garrison
of which was not strong enough to subdue the mutineers."
A few days after, the First Consul having learned that the result of
this affair was quite different from that which he affected to dread,
and being convinced that by Bernadotte's firmness alone order had been
restored, he found himself in some measure constrained to write to the
General, and he dictated the following letter to me:
PARIS, 11th Vendemiaire. Year XI.
CITIZEN-GENERAL--I have read with interest the account of what you
did to re-establish order in the fifty-second demi-brigade, and
also the report of General Liebert, dated the 5th Vendemiaire.
Tell that officer that the Government is satisfied with his conduct.
His promotion from the rank of Colonel to that of General of brigade
is confirmed. I wish that brave officer to come to Paris. He has
afforded an example of firmness and energy which does honour to a
soldier.
(Signed) BONAPARTE.
Thus in the same affair Bonaparte, in a few days, from the spontaneous
expression of blame dictated by hate, was reduced to the necessity of
declaring his approbation, which he did, as may be seen, with studied
coldness, and even taking pains to make his praises apply to Colonel
Liebert, and not to the general-in-chief.
Time only served to augment Bonaparte's dislike of Bernadotte. It might
be said that the farther he advanced in his rapid march towards absolute
power the more animosity he cherished against the individual who had
refused to aid his first steps in his adventurous career. At the same
time the persons about Bonaparte who practised the art of flattering
failed not to multiply reports and insinuations against Bernadotte. I
recollect one day, when there was to be a grand public levee, seeing
Bonaparte so much out of temper that I asked him the cause of it. "I can
bear it no longer," he replied impetuously. "I have resolved to have a
scene with Bernadotte to-day. He will probably be here. I will open the
fire, let what will come of it. He may do what he pleases. We shall see!
It is time there should be an end of this."
I had never before observed the First Consul so violently irritated. He
was in a terrible passion, and I dreaded the moment when the levee was
to open. When he left me to go down to the salon I availed myself of
the opportunity to get there before him, which I could easily do, as the
salon was not twenty steps from the cabinet. By good luck Bernadotte was
the first person I saw. He was standing in the recess of a window which
looked on the square of the Carrousel. To cross the salon and reach
the General was the work of a moment. "General!" said I, "trust me and
retire!--I have good reasons for advising it!" Bernadotte, seeing my
extreme anxiety, and aware of the sincere sentiments of esteem end
friendship which I entertained for him, consented to retire, and I
regarded this as a triumph; for, knowing Bernadotte's frankness of
character and his nice sense of honour, I was quite certain that he
would not submit to the harsh observations which Bonaparte intended to
address to him. My stratagem had all the success I could desire. The
First Consul suspected nothing, and remarked only one thing, which was
that his victim was absent. When the levee was over he said to me, "What
do you think of it, Bourrienne?---Bernadotte did not come."--"So much
the better for him, General," was my reply. Nothing further happened.
The First Consul on returning from Josephine found me in the cabinet,
and consequently could suspect nothing, and my communication with
Bernadotte did not occupy five minutes. Bernadotte always expressed
himself much gratified with the proof of friendship I gave him at this
delicate conjuncture. The fact is, that from a disposition of my mind,
which I could not myself account for, the more Bonaparte'a unjust hatred
of Bernadotte increased the more sympathy and admiration I felt for the
noble character of the latter.
The event in question occurred in the spring of 1802. It was at this
period that Bonaparte first occupied St. Cloud, which he was much
pleased with, because he found himself more at liberty there than at the
Tuileries; which palace is really only a prison for royalty, as there a
sovereign cannot even take the air at a window without immediately being
the object of the curiosity of the public, who collect in large crowds.
At St. Cloud, on the contrary, Bonaparte could walk out from his cabinet
and prolong his promenade without being annoyed by petitioners. One of
his first steps was to repair the cross road leading from St. Cloud to
Malmaison, between which places Bonaparte rode in a quarter of an hour.
This proximity to the country, which he liked, made staying at St. Cloud
yet pleasanter to him. It was at St. Cloud that the First Consul made,
if I may so express it, his first rehearsals of the grand drama of
the Empire. It was there he began to introduce, in external forms,
the habits and etiquette which brought to mind the ceremonies of
sovereignty. He soon perceived the influence which pomp of ceremony,
brilliancy of appearance, and richness of costume, exercise over the
mass of mankind. "Men," he remarked to me a this period, "well deserve
the contempt I feel for them. I have only to put some gold lace on the
coats of my virtuous republicans and they immediately become just what I
wish them."
I remember one day, after one of his frequent sallies of contempt for
human kind, I observed to him that although baubles might excite
vulgar admiration, there were some distinguished men who did not permit
themselves to be fascinated by their allurements; and I mentioned the
celebrated Fox by way of example, who, previous to the conclusion of the
peace of Amiens, visited Paris, where he was remarked for his extreme
simplicity. The First Consul said, "Ah! you are right with respect to
him. Mr. Fox is a truly great man, and pleases me much."
In fact, Bonaparte always received Mr. Fox's visits with the greatest
satisfaction; and after every conversation they had together he never
failed to express to me the pleasure which he experienced in discoursing
with a man every way worthy of the great celebrity he had attained. He
considered him a very superior man, and wished he might have to treat
with him in his future negotiations with England. It may be supposed
that Mr. Fox, on his part, never forgot the terms of intimacy, I may say
of confidence, on which he had been with the First Consul. In fact, he
on several occasions informed him in time of war of the plots formed
against his life. Less could not be expected from a man of so noble
a character. I can likewise affirm, having more than once been in
possession of proofs of the fact, that the English Government constantly
rejected with indignation all such projects. I do not mean those
which had for their object the overthrow of the Consular or Imperial
Government, but all plans of assassination and secret attacks on the
person of Bonaparte, whether First Consul or Emperor. I will here
request the indulgence of the reader whilst I relate a circumstance
which occurred a year before Mr. Fox's journey to Paris; but as it
refers to Moreau, I believe that the transposition will be pardoned more
easily than the omission.
During the summer 1801 the First Consul took a fancy to give a grand
military dinner at a restaurateur's. The restaurateur he favoured with
his company was Veri, whose establishment was situated on the terrace
of the Feuillans with an entrance into the garden of the Tuileries.
Bonaparte did not send an invitation to Moreau, whom I met by chance
that day in the following manner:--The ceremony of the dinner at Veri's
leaving me at liberty to dispose of my time, I availed myself of it
to go and dine at a restaurateur's named Rose, who then enjoyed great
celebrity amongst the distinguished gastronomes. I dined in company
with M. Carbonnet, a friend of Moreau's family, and two or three other
persons. Whilst we were at table in the rotunda we were informed by the
waiter who attended on us that General Moreau and his wife, with Lacuee
and two other military men, were in an adjoining apartment. Suchet, who
had dined at Veri's, where he said everything was prodigiously dull, on
rising from the table joined Moreau's party. These details we learned
from M. Carbonnet, who left us for a few moments to see the General and
Madame Moreau.
Bonaparte's affectation in not inviting Moreau at the moment when the
latter had returned a conqueror from the army of the Rhine, and at the
same time the affectation of Moreau in going publicly the same day to
dine at another restaurateur's, afforded ground for the supposition that
the coolness which existed between them would soon be converted into
enmity. The people of Paris naturally thought that the conqueror of
Marengo might, without any degradation, have given the conqueror of
Hohenlinden a seat at his table.
By the commencement of the year 1802 the Republic had ceased to be
anything else than a fiction, or an historical recollection. All that
remained of it was a deceptive inscription on the gates of the Palace.
Even at the time of his installation at the Tuileries, Bonaparte had
caused the two trees of liberty which were planted in the court to be
cut down; thus removing the outward emblems before he destroyed the
reality. But the moment the Senatorial decisions of the 2d and 4th of
August were published it was evident to the dullest perceptions that the
power of the First Consul wanted nothing but a name.
After these 'Consultes' Bonaparte readily accustomed himself to regard
the principal authorities of the State merely as necessary instruments
for the exercise of his power. Interested advisers then crowded round
him. It was seriously proposed that he should restore the ancient
titles, as being more in harmony with the new power which the people
had confided to him than the republican forms. He was still of opinion,
however, according to his phrase, that "the pear was not yet ripe," and
would not hear this project spoken of for a moment. "All this," he said
to me one day, "will come in good time; but you must see, Bourrienne,
that it is necessary I should, in the first place, assume a title, from
which the others that I will give to everybody will naturally take their
origin. The greatest difficulty is surmounted. There is no longer any
person to deceive. Everybody sees as clear as day that it is only one
step which separates the throne from the Consulate for life. However, we
must be cautious. There are some troublesome fellows in the Tribunate,
but I will take care of them."
Whilst these serious questions agitated men's minds the greater part
of the residents at Malmaison took a trip to Plombieres. Josephine,
Bonaparte's mother, Madame Beauharnais-Lavallette, Hortense, and General
Rapp, were of this party. It pleased the fancy of the jocund company to
address to me a bulletin of the pleasant and unpleasant occurrences
of the journey. I insert this letter merely as a proof of the intimacy
which existed between the writers and myself. It follows, precisely as I
have preserved it, with the exception of the blots, for which it will be
seen they apologised.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE JOURNEY TO PLOMBIERES.
To the Inhabitants of Malmaison.
The whole party left Malmaison in tears, which brought on such dreadful
headaches that all the amiable persons were quite overcome by the idea
of the journey. Madame Bonaparte, mere, supported the fatigues of
this memorable day with the greatest courage; but Madame Bonaparte,
Consulesse, did not show any. The two young ladies who sat in the
dormouse, Mademoiselle Hortense and Madame Lavallette, were rival
candidates for a bottle of Eau de Cologne; and every now and then the
amiable M. Rapp made the carriage stop for the comfort of his poor
little sick heart, which overflowed with bile: in fine, he was obliged
to take to bed on arriving at Epernay, while the rest of the amiable
party tried to drown their sorrows in champagne. The second day was
more fortunate on the score of health and spirits, but provisions were
wanting, and great were the sufferings of the stomach. The travellers
lived on the hope of a good supper at Toul; but despair was at its
height when, on arriving there, they found only a wretched inn, and
nothing in it. We saw some odd-looking folks there, which indemnified us
a little for spinach dressed in lamp-oil, and red asparagus fried
with curdled milk. Who would not have been amused to see the Malmaison
gourmands seated at a table so shockingly served!
In no record of history is there to be found a day passed in distress
so dreadful as that on which we arrived at Plombieres. On departing from
Toul we intended to breakfast at Nancy, for every stomach had been empty
for two days; but the civil and military authorities came out to meet
us, and prevented us from executing our plan. We continued our route,
wasting away, so that you might, see us growing thinner every moment.
To complete our misfortune, the dormouse, which seemed to have taken a
fancy to embark on the Moselle for Metz, barely escaped an overturn. But
at Plombieres we have been well compensated for this unlucky journey,
for on our arrival we were received with all kinds of rejoicings. The
town was illuminated, the cannon fired, and the faces of handsome women
at all the windows give us reason to hope that we shall bear our absence
from Malmaison with the less regret.
With the exception of some anecdotes, which we reserve for chit-chat on
our return, you have here a correct account of our journey, which we,
the undersigned, hereby certify.
JOSEPHINE BONAPARTE. BEAUHARNAIS-LAPALLETTE. HORTENSE BEAUHARNAIS. RAPP.
BONAPARTE, mere.
The company ask pardon for the blots. 21st Messidor.
It is requested that the person who receives this journal will show it
to all who take an interest in the fair travellers.
This journey to Plombieres was preceded by a scene which I should
abstain from describing if I had not undertaken to relate the truth
respecting the family of the First Consul. Two or three days before her
departure Madame Bonaparte sent for me. I obeyed the summons, and found
her in tears. "What a man-what a man is that Lucien!" she exclaimed in
accents of grief. "If you knew, my friend, the shameful proposals he has
dared to make to me! 'You are going to the waters,' said he; 'you must
get a child by some other person since you cannot have one by him.'
Imagine the indignation with which I received such advice. 'Well,' he
continued, 'if you do not wish it, or cannot help it, Bonaparte must get
a child by another woman, and you must adopt it, for it is necessary to
secure an hereditary successor. It is for your interest; you must know
that.'-- 'What, sir!' I replied, 'do you imagine the nation will suffer
a bastard to govern it? Lucien! Lucien! you would ruin your brother!
This is dreadful! Wretched should I be, were any one to suppose me
capable of listening, without horror, to your infamous proposal! Your
ideas are poisonous; your language horrible!'--'Well, Madame,' retorted
he, 'all I can say to that is, that I am really sorry for you!'"
The amiable Josephine was sobbing whilst she described this scene to me,
and I was not insensible to the indignation which she felt. The truth
is, that at that period Lucien, though constantly affecting to despise
power for himself, was incessantly labouring to concentrate it in the
hands of his brother; and he considered three things necessary to the
success of his views, namely, hereditary succession, divorce, and the
Imperial Government.
Lucien had a delightful house near Neuilly. Some days before the
deplorable scene which I have related he invited Bonaparte and all the
inmates at Malmaison to witness a theatrical representation. 'Alzire'
was the piece performed. Elise played Alzire, and Lucien, Zamore.
The warmth of their declarations, the energetic expression of their
gestures, the too faithful nudity of costume, disgusted most of the
spectators, and Bonaparte more than any other. When the play was over he
was quite indignant. "It is a scandal," he said to me in an angry
tone; "I ought not to suffer such indecencies--I will give Lucien to
understand that I will have no more of it." When his brother had resumed
his own dress, and came into the salon, he addressed him publicly, and
gave him to understand that he must for the future desist from such
representations. When we returned to Malmaison; he again spoke of
what had passed with dissatisfaction. "What!" said he, "when I am
endeavouring to restore purity of manners, my brother and sister must
needs exhibit themselves upon the boards almost in a state of nudity! It
is an insult!"
Lucien had a strong predilection for theatrical exhibitions, to which
he attached great importance. The fact is, he declaimed in a superior
style, and might have competed with the best professional actors. It
was said that the turban of Orosmane, the costume of America, the
Roman toga, or the robe of the high priest of Jerusalem, all became him
equally well; and I believe that this was the exact truth. Theatrical
representations were not confined to Neuilly. We had our theatre and our
company of actors at Malmaison; but there everything was conducted with
the greatest decorum; and now that I have got behind the scenes, I will
not quit them until I have let the reader into the secrets of our drama.
By the direction of the First Consul a very pretty little theatre was
built at Malmaison. Our usual actors were Eugène BEAUHARNAIS, Hortense,
Madame Murat, Lauriston, M. Didelot, one of the prefects of the Palace,
some other individuals belonging to the First Consul's household, and
myself. Freed from the cares of government, which we confined as much
as possible to the Tuileries, we were a very happy colony at Malmaison;
and, besides, we were young, and what is there to which youth does
not add charms? The pieces which the First Consul most liked to see us
perform were, 'Le Barbier de Seville' and 'Defiance et Malice'. In Le
Barbier Lauriston played the part of Count Almaviva; Hortense, Rosins;
Eugène, Basil; Didelot, Figaro; I, Bartholo; and Isabey, l'Aveille.
Our other stock pieces were, Projets de Mariage, La Gageltre, the Dapit
Anloureux, in which I played the part of the valet; and L'Impromptu de
Campagne, in which I enacted the Baron, having for my Baroness the young
and handsome Caroline Murat.
Hortense's acting was perfection, Caroline was middling, Eugène played
very well, Lauriston was rather heavy, Didelot passable, and I may
venture to assert, without vanity, that I was not quite the worst of
the company. If we were not good actors it was not for want of good
instruction and good advice. Talma and Michot came to direct us,
and made us rehearse before them, sometimes altogether and sometimes
separately. How many lessons have I received from Michot whilst walking
in the beautiful park of Malmaison! And may I be excused for saying,
that I now experience pleasure in looking back upon these trifles, which
are matters of importance when one is young, and which contrasted
so singularly with the great theatre on which we did not represent
fictitious characters? We had, to adopt theatrical language, a good
supply of property. Bonaparte presented each of us with a collection of
dramas very well bound; and, as the patron of the company, he provided
us with rich and elegant dresses.
--[While Bourrienne, belonging to the Malmaison company, considered
that the acting at Neuilly was indecent, Lucien, who refused to act at
Malmaison, naturally thought the Malmaison troupe was dull. "Hortense
and Caroline filled the principal parts. They were very commonplace. In
this they followed the unfortunate Marie Antoinette and her companions.
Louis XVI., not naturally polite, when seeing them act, had said that it
was royally badly acted" (see Madame Campan's Life of Marie Antoinette,
tome i. p. 299). "The First Consul said of his troupe that it was
sovereignly badly acted . . . Murat, Lannes, and even Caroline ranted.
Elisa, who, having been educated at Saint Cyr, spoke purely and without
accent, refused to act. Janot acted well the drunken parts, and even
the others he undertook. The rest were decidedly bad. Worse than
bad--ridiculous" (Iung's Lucien's, tome ii. p. 256). Rival actors are
not fair critics. Let us hear Madame Junot (tome ii. p. 103). "The
cleverest of our company was M. de Bourrienne. He played the more
dignified characters in real perfection, and his talent was the
more pleasing as it was not the result of study, but of a perfect
comprehension of his part." And she goes on to say that even the best
professional actors might have learnt from him in some parts. The
audience was not a pleasant one to face. It was the First Consul's
habit to invite forty persons to dinner, and a hundred and fifty for
the evening, and consequently to hear, criticise, and banter us without
mercy" (Memoirs of Duchesse d'Abrantes, tome ii. p. 108).]--
Bonaparte took great pleasure in our performances. He liked to see plays
acted by persons with whom he was familiar. Sometimes he complimented
us on our exertions. Although I was as much amused with the thing as
others, I was more than once obliged to remind him that my occupations
left me but little time to learn my parts. Then he would assume his
coaxing manner and say, "Come, do not vex me! You have such a memory!
You know that it amuses me. You see that these performances render
Malmaison gay and animated; Josephine takes much pleasure in them. Rise
earlier in the morning.--In fact, I sleep too much; is not that the
cafe--Come, Bourrienne, do oblige me. You make me laugh so heartily! Do
not deprive me of this pleasure. I have not over much amusement, as you
well know."--"All, truly! I would not deprive you of any pleasure. I
am delighted to be able to contribute to your amusement." After a
conversation of this sort I could not do less than set about studying my
part.
At this period, during summer, I had half the Sunday to myself. I
was, however, obliged to devote a portion of this precious leisure
to pleasing Bonaparte by studying a new part as a surprise for him.
Occasionally, however, I passed the time at Ruel. I recollect that one
day, when I had hurried there from Malmaison, I lost a beautiful watch
made by Breguet. It was four o'clock in the afternoon, and the road was
that day thronged with people. I made my loss publicly known by means
of the crier of Ruel. An hour after, as I was sitting down to table, a
young lad belonging to the village brought me my watch. He had found it
on the high road in a wheel rut. I was pleased with the probity of this
young man, and rewarded both him and his father, who accompanied him.
I reiterated the circumstance the same evening to the First Consul,
who was so struck with this instance of honesty that he directed me to
procure information respecting the young man and his family. I learned
that they were honest peasants. Bonaparte gave employment to three
brothers of this family; and, what was most difficult to persuade
him to, he exempted the young man who brought me the watch from the
conscription.
When a fact of this nature reached Bonaparte's ear it was seldom that he
did not give the principal actor in it some proof of his satisfaction.
Two qualities predominated in his character--kindness and impatience.
Impatience, when he was under its influence, got the better of him; it
was then impossible for him to control himself. I had a remarkable proof
of it about this very period.
Canova having arrived in Paris came to St. Cloud to model the figure of
the First Consul, of whom he was about to make a colossal statue. This
great artist came often, in the hope of getting his model to stand in
the proper attitude; but Bonaparte was so tired, disgusted, and
fretted by the process, that he very seldom put himself in the required
attitude, and then only for a short time. Bonaparte notwithstanding
had the highest regard for Canova. Whenever he was announced the First
Consul sent me to keep him company until he was at leisure to give him
a sitting; but he would shrug up his shoulders and say, "More modeling!
Good Heavens, how vexatious!" Canova expressed great displeasure at not
being able to study his model as he wished to do, and the little anxiety
of Bonaparte on the subject damped the ardour of his imagination.
Everybody agrees in saying that he has not succeeded in the work, and I
have explained the reason. The Duke of Wellington afterwards possessed
this colossal statue, which was about twice his own height.
CHAPTER XI.
1802.
Bonaparte's principle as to the change of Ministers--Fouché--His
influence with the First Consul--Fouché's dismissal--The departments
of Police and Justice united under Regnier--Madame Bonaparte's
regret for the dismissal of Fouché--Family scenes--Madame Louis
Bonaparte's pregnancy--False and infamous reports to Josephine--
Legitimacy and a bastard--Raederer reproached by Josephine--Her
visit to Ruel--Long conversation with her--Assertion at St. Helena
respecting a great political fraud.
It is a principle particularly applicable to absolute governments that
a prince should change his ministers as seldom as possible, and never
except upon serious grounds. Bonaparte acted on this principle when
First Consul, and also when he became Emperor. He often allowed unjust
causes to influence him, but he never dismissed a Minister without
cause; indeed, he more than once, without any reason, retained Ministers
longer than he ought to have done in the situations in which he had
placed them. Bonaparte's tenacity in this respect, in some instances,
produced very opposite results. For instance, it afforded M. Gaudin'
time to establish a degree of order in the administration of Finance
which before his time had never existed; and on the other hand, it
enabled M. Decres to reduce the Ministry of Marine to an unparalleled
state of confusion.
Bonaparte saw nothing in men but helps and obstacles. On the 18th
Brumaire Fouché was a help. The First Consul feared that he would become
an obstacle; it was necessary, therefore, to think of dismissing him.
Bonaparte's most sincere friends had from the beginning been opposed
to Fouché's having any share in the Government. But their disinterested
advice produced no other result than their own disgrace, so influential
a person had Fouché become. How could it be otherwise? Fouché was
identified with the Republic by the death of the King, for which he had
voted; with the Reign of Terror by his sanguinary missions to Lyons
and Nevers; with the Consulate by his real though perhaps exaggerated
services; with Bonaparte by the charm with which he might be said to
have fascinated him; with Josephine by the enmity of the First Consul's
brothers. Who would believe it? Fouché ranked the enemies of the
Revolution amongst his warmest partisans. They overwhelmed him with
eulogy, to the disparagement even of the Head of the State, because the
cunning Minister, practising an interested indulgence, set himself up
as the protector of individuals belonging to classes which, when he was
proconsul, he had attacked in the mass. Director of public opinion, and
having in his hands the means at his pleasure of inspiring fear or of
entangling by inducements, it was all in his favour that he had already
directed this opinion. The machinery he set in motion was so calculated
that the police was rather the police of Fouché than that of the
Minister of the General Police. Throughout Paris, and indeed throughout
all France, Fouché obtained credit for extraordinary ability; and the
popular opinion was correct in this respect, namely, that no man ever
displayed such ability in making it be supposed that he really possessed
talent. Fouché's secret in this particular is the whole secret of the
greater part of those persons who are called statesmen.
Be this as it may, the First Consul did not behold with pleasure the
factitious influence of which Fouché had possessed himself. For some
time past, to the repugnance which at bottom he had felt towards Fouché,
were added other causes of discontent. In consequence of having been
deceived by secret reports and correspondence Bonaparte began to shrug
up his shoulders with an expression of regret when he received them,
and said, "Would you believe, Bourrienne, that I have been imposed on
by these things? All such denunciations are useless--scandalous. All the
reports from prefects and the police, all the intercepted letters, are
a tissue of absurdities and lies. I desire to have no more of them."
He said so, but he still received them. However, Fouché's dismissal was
resolved upon. But though Bonaparte wished to get rid of him, still,
under the influence of the charm, he dared not proceed against him
without the greatest caution. He first resolved upon the suppression of
the office of Minister of Police in order to disguise the motive for
the removal of the Minister. The First Consul told Fouché that this
suppression, which he spoke of as being yet remote, was calculated more
than anything else to give strength to the Government, since it would
afford a proof of the security and internal tranquillity of France.
Overpowered by the arguments with which Bonaparte supported his
proposition, Fouché could urge no good reasons in opposition to it, but
contented himself with recommending that the execution of the design,
which was good in intention, should, however, be postponed for
two years. Bonaparte appeared to listen favourably to Fouché's
recommendation, who, as avaricious for money as Bonaparte of glory,
consoled himself by thinking that for these two years the administration
of the gaming tables would still be for him a Pactolus flowing with
gold. For Fouché, already the possessor of an immense fortune, always
dreamed of increasing it, though he himself did not know how to enjoy
it. With him the ambition of enlarging the bounds of his estate of
Pont-Carre was not less felt than with the First Consul the ambition of
extending the frontier of France.
Not only did the First Consul not like Fouché, but it is perfectly true
that at this time the police wearied and annoyed him. Several times he
told me he looked on it as dangerous, especially for the possessor of
power. In a Government without the liberty of the press he was quite
right. The very services which the police had rendered to the First
Consul were of a nature to alarm him, for whoever had conspired against
the Directory in favour of the Consulate might also conspire against the
Consulate in favour of any other Government. It is needless to say that
I only allude to the political police, and not to the municipal police,
which is indispensable for large towns, and which has the honourable
mission of watching over the health and safety of the citizens.
Fouché, as has been stated, had been Minister of Police since the
18th Brumaire. Everybody who was acquainted with, the First Consul's
character was unable to explain the ascendency which he had suffered
Fouché to acquire over him, and of which Bonaparte himself was really
impatient. He saw in Fouché a centre around which all the interests of
the Revolution concentrated themselves, and at this he felt indignant;
but, subject to a species of magnetism, he could not break the charm
which enthralled him. When he spoke of Fouché in his absence his
language was warm, bitter, and hostile. When Fouché was present,
Bonaparte's tone was softened, unless some public scene was to be acted
like that which occurred after the attempt of the 3d Nivôse.
The suppression of the Ministry of Police being determined on, Bonaparte
did not choose to delay the execution of his design, as he had pretended
to think necessary. On the evening of the 12th of September we went to
Mortfontaine. We passed the next day, which was Monday, at that place,
and it was there, far removed from Fouché, and urged by the combined
persuasions of Joseph and Lucien, that the First Consul signed the
decree of suppression. The next morning we returned to Paris. Fouché
came to Malmaison, where we were, in the regular execution of his
duties. The First Consul transacted business with him as usual without
daring to tell him of his dismissal, and afterwards sent Cambacérès to
inform him of it. After this act, respecting which he had hesitated so
long, Bonaparte still endeavoured to modify his rigour. Having appointed
Fouché a Senator, he said in the letter which he wrote to the Senate to
notify the appointment:
"Fouché, as Minister of Police, in times of difficulty, has by his
talent, his activity, and his attachment to the Government done all
that circumstances required of him. Placed in the bosom of the
Senate, if events should again call for a Minister of Police the
Government cannot find one more worthy of its confidence."
From this moment the departments of Justice and Police united were
confided to the hands of Regnier.' Bonaparte's aversion for Fouché
strangely blinded him with respect to the capabilities of his successor.
Besides, how could the administration of justice, which rests on
fixed, rigid, and unchangeable bases, proceed hand in hand with another
administration placed on the quicksand of instantaneous decisions,
and surrounded by stratagems and deceptions? Justice should never have
anything to do with secret police, unless it be to condemn it.
--[M. Abrial, Minister of Justice, was called to the Senate at the
same time as Fouché. Understanding that the assimilation of the two
men was more a disgrace to Abrial than the mere loss of the
Ministry, the First Consul said to M. Abrial: "In uniting the
Ministry of Police to that of Justice I could not retain you in the
Ministry, you are too upright a man to manage the police." Not a
flattering speech for Regnier.--Bourrienne.]--
What could be expected from Regnier, charged as he was with incompatible
functions? What, under such circumstances, could have been expected
even from a man gifted with great talents? Such was the exact history
of Fouché's disgrace. No person was more afflicted at it than Madame
Bonaparte, who only learned the news when it was announced to the
public. Josephine, on all occasions, defended Fouché against her
husband's sallies. She believed that he was the only one of his
Ministers who told him the truth. She had such a high opinion of the way
in which Fouché managed the police that the first time I was alone
with her after our return from Mortfontaine she said to me, "My dear
Bourrienne; speak openly to me; will Napoleon know all about the plots
from the police of Moncey, Duroc, Junot, and of Davoust? You know
better than I do that these are only wretched spies. Has not Savary also
eventually got his police? How all this alarms me. They take away all my
supports, and surround me only with enemies."--"To justify your regrets
we should be sure that Fouché has never been in agreement with Lucien in
favour of the divorce."--"Oh, I do not believe that. Bonaparte does not
like him, and he would have been certain to tell me of it when I spoke
favourably to him of Fouché. You will see that his brothers will end by
bringing him into their plan."
I have already spoken of Josephine's troubles, and of the bad conduct of
Joseph, but more particularly of Lucien, towards her; I will therefore
describe here, as connected with the disgrace of Fouché, whom Madame
Bonaparte regretted as a support, some scenes which occurred about this
period at Malmaison. Having been the confidant of both parties, and
an involuntary actor in those scenes, now that twenty-seven years have
passed since they occurred what motive can induce me to disguise the
truth in any respect?
Madame Louis Bonaparte was enceinte. Josephine, although she tenderly
loved her children, did not seem to behold the approaching event which
the situation of her daughter indicated with the interest natural to
the heart of a mother. She had long been aware of the calumnious reports
circulated respecting the supposed connection between Hortense and
the First Consul, and that base accusation cost her many tears. Poor
Josephine paid dearly for the splendour of her station! As I knew how
devoid of foundation these atrocious reports were, I endeavoured to
console her by telling her what was true, that I was exerting all my
efforts to demonstrate their infamy and falsehood. Bonaparte, however,
dazzled by the affection which was manifested towards him from all
quarters, aggravated the sorrow of his wife by a silly vanity. He
endeavoured to persuade her that these reports had their origin only
in the wish of the public that he should have a child, so that these
seeming consolations offered by self-love to Josephine's grief gave
force to existing conjugal alarms, and the fear of divorce returned
with all its horrors. Under the foolish illusion of his vanity Bonaparte
imagined that France was desirous of being governed even by a bastard if
supposed to be a child of his,--a singular mode truly of founding a new
legitimacy!
Josephine, whose susceptibility appears to me even now excusable, well
knew my sentiments on the subject of Bonaparte's founding a dynasty, and
she had not forgotten my conduct when two years before the question had
been agitated on the occasion of Louis XVIII.'s letters to the First
Consul. I remember that one day, after the publication of the parallel
of Caesar, Cromwell, and Bonaparte, Josephine having entered our cabinet
without being announced, which she sometimes did when from the good
humour exhibited at breakfast she reckoned upon its continuance,
approached Bonaparte softly, seated herself on his knee, passed her
hand gently through his hair and over his face, and thinking the moment
favourable, said to him in a burst of tenderness, "I entreat of you,
Bonaparte, do not make yourself a King! It is that wretch Lucien who
urges you to it. Do not listen to him!" Bonaparte replied, without
anger, and even smiling as he pronounced the last words, "You are mad,
my poor Josephine. It is your old dowagers of the Faubourg St. Germain,
your Rochefoucaulds, who tell you all these fables!... Come now, you
interrupt me--leave me alone."
What Bonaparte said that day good-naturedly to his wife I have often
heard him declare seriously. I have been present at five or six
altercations on the subject. That there existed, too, an enmity
connected with this question between the family of BEAUHARNAIS and the
family of Bonaparte cannot be denied.
Fouché, as I have stated, was in the interest of Josephine, and Lucien
was the most bitter of her enemies. One day Raederer inveighed with so
much violence against Fouché in the presence of Madame Bonaparte that
she replied with extreme warmth, "The real enemies of Bonaparte are
those who feed him with notions of hereditary descent, of a dynasty, of
divorce, and of marriage!" Josephine could not check this exclamation,
as she knew that Roederer encouraged those ideas, which he spread abroad
by Lucien's direction. I recollect one day when she had been to see us
at our little house at Ruel: as I walked with her along the high road
to her carriage, which she had sent forward, I acknowledged too
unreservedly my fears on account of the ambition of Bonaparte, and of
the perfidious advice of his brothers. "Madame," said I, "if we cannot
succeed in dissuading the General from making himself a King, I dread
the future for his sake. If ever he re-establishes royalty he will in
all probability labour for the Bourbons, and enable them one day to
re-ascend the throne which he shall erect. No one, doubtless, without
passing for a fool, can pretend to say with certainty what series of
chances and events such a proceeding will produce; but common sense
alone is sufficient to convince any one that unfavourable chances must
long be dreaded. The ancient system being re-established, the occupation
of the throne will then be only a family question, and not a question of
government between liberty and despotic power. Why should not France, if
it ceases to be free, prefer the race of her ancient kings? You surely
know it. You had not been married two years when, on returning from
Italy, your husband told me that he aspired to royalty. Now he is Consul
for life. Would he but resolve to stop there! He already possesses
everything but an empty title. No sovereign in Europe has so much power
as he has. I am sorry for it, Madame, but I really believe that, in
spite of yourself, you will be made Queen or Empress."
Madame Bonaparte had allowed me to speak without interruption, but
when I pronounced the words Queen and Empress she exclaimed, "My God!
Bourrienne, such ambition is far from my thoughts. That I may always
continue the wife of the First Consul is all I desire. Say to him
all that you have said to me. Try and prevent him from making himself
King."--"Madame," I replied, "times are greatly altered. The wisest
men, the strongest minds, have resolutely and courageously opposed his
tendency to the hereditary system. But advice is now useless. He
would not listen to me. In all discussions on the subject he adheres
inflexibly to the view he has taken. If he be seriously opposed his
anger knows no bounds; his language is harsh and abrupt, his tone
imperious, and his authority bears down all before him."--"Yet,
Bourrienne, he has so much confidence in you that of you should try once
more!"--"Madame, I assure you he will not listen to me. Besides, what
could I add to the remarks I made upon his receiving the letters of
Louis XVIII., when I fearlessly represented to him that being without
children he would have no one to whom to bequeath the throne--that,
doubtless, from the opinion which he entertained of his brothers, he
could not desire to erect it for them?" Here Josephine again interrupted
me by exclaiming, "My kind friend, when you spoke of children did he
say anything to you? Did he talk of a divorce?"--"Not a word, Madame, I
assure you."--"If they do not urge him to it, I do not believe he will
resolve to do such a thing. You know how he likes Eugène, and Eugène
behaves so well to him. How different is Lucien. It is that wretch
Lucien, to whom Bonaparte listens too much, and of whom, however, he
always speaks ill to me."--"I do not know, Madame, what Lucien says to
his brother except when he chooses to tell me, because Lucien always
avoids having a witness of his interviews with your husband, but I can
assure you that for two years I have not heard the word 'divorce' from
the General's mouth."--"I always reckon on you, my dear Bourrienne; to
turn him away from it; as you did at that time."--"I do not believe he
is thinking of it, but if it recurs to him, consider, Madame, that it
will be now from very different motives: He is now entirely given up to
the interests of his policy and his ambition, which dominate every other
feeling in him. There will not now be any question of scandal, or of a
trial before a court, but of an act of authority which complaisant laws
will justify and which the Church perhaps will sanction."--"That's true.
You are right. Good God! how unhappy I am."
--[When Bourrienne complains of not knowing what passed between
Lucien and Napoleon, we can turn to Lucien's account of Bourrienne,
apparently about this very time. "After a stormy interview with
Napoleon," says Lucien, "I at once went into the cabinet where
Bourrienne was working, and found that unbearable busybody of a
secretary, whose star had already paled more than once, which made
him more prying than ever, quite upset by the time the First Consul
had taken to come out of his bath. He must, or at least might, have
heard some noise, for enough had been made. Seeing that he wanted
to know the cause from me, I took up a newspaper to avoid being
bored by his conversation" (Iung's Lucien, tome ii. p.156)]--
Such was the nature of one of the conversations I had with Madame
Bonaparte on a subject to which she often recurred. It may not perhaps
be uninteresting to endeavour to compare with this what Napoleon said
at St. Helena, speaking of his first wife. According to the Memorial
Napoleon there stated that when Josephine was at last constrained to
renounce all hope of having a child, she often let fall allusions to a
great political fraud, and at length openly proposed it to him. I
make no doubt Bonaparte made use of words to this effect, but I do not
believe the assertion. I recollect one day that Bonaparte, on entering
our cabinet, where I was already seated, exclaimed in a transport of
joy impossible for me to describe, "Well, Bourrienne, my wife is at last
enceinte!" I sincerely congratulated him, more, I own, out of courtesy
than from any hope of seeing him made a father by Josephine, for I well
remembered that Corvisart, who had given medicines to Madame Bonaparte,
had nevertheless assured me that he expected no result from them.
Medicine was really the only political fraud to which Josephine had
recourse; and in her situation what other woman would not have done as
much? Here, then, the husband and the wife are in contradiction, which
is nothing uncommon. But on which side is truth? I have no hesitation in
referring it to Josephine. There is indeed an immense difference between
the statements of a women--trusting her fears and her hopes to the sole
confidant of her family secrets, and the tardy declaration of a man who,
after seeing the vast edifice of his ambition leveled with the dust, is
only anxious, in his compulsory retreat, to preserve intact and spotless
the other great edifice of his glory. Bonaparte should have recollected
that Caesar did not like the idea of his wife being even suspected.
CHAPTER XII.
1802.
Citizen Fesch created Cardinal Fesch--Arts and industry--Exhibition
in the Louvre--Aspect of Paris in 1802--The Medicean Venus and the
Velletrian Pallas--Signs of general prosperity--Rise of the funds--
Irresponsible Ministers--The Bourbons--The military Government--
Annoying familiarity of Lannes--Plan laid for his disgrace--
Indignation of Lannes--His embassy to Portugal--The delayed
despatch--Bonaparte's rage--I resign my situation--Duroc--
I breakfast with Bonaparte--Duroc's intercession--Temporary
reconciliation.
Citizen Fesch, who, when we were forced to stop at Ajaccio on our return
from Egypt, discounted at rather a high rate the General-in-Chief's
Egyptian sequins, became again the Abbe Fesch, as soon as Bonaparte by
his Consular authority re-erected the altars which the Revolution had
overthrown. On the 15th of August 1802 he was consecrated Bishop, and
the following year received the Cardinal's hat. Thus Bonaparte took
advantage of one of the members of his family being in orders to elevate
him to the highest dignities of the Church. He afterwards gave Cardinal
Fesch the Archbishopric of Lyons, of which place he was long the
titular.
--[Like Cambacérès the Cardinal was a bit of a gourmet, and on one
occasion had invited a large party of clerical magnates to dinner.
By a coincidence two turbots of singular beauty arrived as presents
to his Eminence on the very morning of the feast. To serve both
would have appeared ridiculous, but the Cardinal was most anxious to
have the credit of both. He imparted his embarrassment to his chef:
"'Be of good faith, your Eminence,' was the reply, 'both shall appear
and enjoy the reception so justly their due.' The dinner was
served: one of the turbots relieved the soup. Delight was on every
face--it was the moment of the 'eprouvette positive'. The 'maitre
a'hotel' advances; two attendants raise the turbot and carry him off
to cut him up; but one of them loses his equilibrium: the attendants
and the turbot roll together on the floor. At this sad sight the
assembled Cardinals became as pale as death, and a solemn silence
reigned in the 'conclave'--it was the moment of the 'eprouvette
negative'; but the 'maitre a'hotel' suddenly turns to one of the
attendants, Bring another turbot,' said he, with the most perfect
coolness. The second appeared, and the eprouvette positive was
gloriously renewed." (Hayward's Art of Dining, P. 65.)]--
The First Consul prided himself a good deal on his triumph, at least in
appearance, over the scruples which the persons who surrounded him had
manifested against the re-establishment of worship. He read with much
self-satisfaction the reports made to him, in which it was stated that
the churches were well frequented: Indeed, throughout the year 1802,
all his attention was directed to the reformation of manners, which had
become more dissolute under the Directory than even during the Reign of
Terror.
In his march of usurpation the First Consul let slip no opportunity of
endeavouring to obtain at the same time the admiration of the multitude
and the approbation of judicious men. He was very fond of the arts, and
was sensible that the promotion of industry ought to be the peculiar
care of the head of the Government. It must, however, at the same time
be owned that he rendered the influence of his protection null and void
by the continual violations he committed on that liberty which is the
animating principle of all improvement.
During the supplementary days of the year X., that is to say, about
the beginning of the autumn of 1802, there was held at the Louvre an
exhibition of the products of industry. The First Consul visited the
exhibition, and as even at that period he had begun to attribute every
good result to himself, he seemed proud of the high degree of perfection
the manufacturing arts had attained in France. He was, above all,
delighted with the admiration this exhibition excited among the numerous
foreigners who resorted to Paris during the peace.
In fact, throughout the year 1802 the capital presented an interesting
and animating-spectacle. The appetite for luxury and pleasure had
insinuated itself into manners--which were no longer republican, and
the vast number of Russians and English who drove about everywhere with
brilliant equipages contributed not a little to this metamorphosis. All
Paris flocked to the Carrousel on review days, and regarded with eyes
of delight the unusual sight of rich foreign liveries and emblazoned
carriages. The parties at the Tuileries were brilliant and numerous, and
nothing was wanting but the name of levees. Count Markoff, who succeeded
M. de Kalitscheff as Russian ambassador; the Marquis de Lucchesini, the
Prussian ambassador; and Lord Whitworth, the Minister from England, made
numerous presentations of their countrymen to the First Consul, who was
well pleased that the Court he was forming should have examples set by
foreign courtiers. Never since the meeting of the States-General had the
theatres been so frequented, or fetes so magnificent; and never since
that period had Paris presented so cheering an aspect. The First Consul,
on his part, spared no exertion to render the capital more and more
worthy the admiration of foreigners. The statue of the Venus de Medicis,
which had been robbed from the gallery of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, now
decorated the gallery of the Louvre, and near it was placed that of
the Velletrian Pallas, a more legitimate acquisition, since it was
the result of the researches of some French engineers at Velletri.
Everywhere an air of prosperity was perceptible, and Bonaparte proudly
put in his claim to be regarded as the author of it all. With what
heartfelt satisfaction did he likewise cast his eye upon what he called
the grand thermometer of opinion, the price of the funds! For if he
saw them doubled in value in consequence of the revolution of the
18th Brumaire, rising as they did at that period from seven to sixteen
francs, this value was even more than tripled after the vote
of Consulship for life and the 'Senates-consulte' of the 4th of
August,--when they rose to fifty-two francs.
While Paris presented so satisfactory an aspect the departments were
in a state of perfect tranquillity; and foreign affairs had every
appearance of security. The Court of the Vatican, which since the
Concordat may be said to have become devoted to the First Consul, gave,
under all circumstances, examples of submission to the wishes of France.
The Vatican was the first Court which recognised the erection of
Tuscany into the Kingdom of Etruria, and the formation of the Helvetic,
Cisalpine, and Batavian Republics. Prussia soon followed the example of
the Pope, which was successively imitated by the other powers of Europe.
The whole of these new states, realms, or republics were under the
immediate influence of France. The Isle of Elba, which Napoleon's first
abdication afterwards rendered so famous, and Piedmont, divided into
six departments, were also united to France, still called it Republic.
Everything now seemed to concur in securing his accession to absolute
power. We were now at peace with all the world, and every circumstance
tended to place in the hands of the First Consul that absolute power
which indeed was the only kind of government he was capable of forming
any conception of. Indeed, one of the characteristic signs of Napoleon's
government, even under the Consular system, left no doubt as to his real
intentions. Had he wished to found a free Government it is evident that
he world have made the Ministers responsible to the country, whereas
he took care that there should be no responsibility but to himself. He
viewed them, in fact, in the light of instruments which he might break
as he pleased. I found this single index sufficient to disclose all his
future designs. In order to make the irresponsibility of his Ministers
to the public perfectly clear, he had all the acts of his Government
signed merely by M. Maret, Secretary of State. Thus the Consulship for
life was nothing but an Empire in disguise, the usufruct of which could
not long satisfy the First Consul's ambition. His brothers influenced
him, and it was resolved to found a new dynasty.
It was not in the interior of France that difficulties were likely first
to arise on Bonaparte's carrying his designs into effect, but there
was some reason to apprehend that foreign powers, after recognising
and treating with the Consular Government, might display a different
feeling, and entertain scruples with regard to a Government which had
resumed its monarchical form. The question regarding the Bourbons was
in some measure kept in the background as long as France remained a
Republic, but the re-establishment of the throne naturally called
to recollection the family which had occupied it for so many ages.
Bonaparte fully felt the delicacy of his position, but he knew how to
face obstacles, and had been accustomed to overcome them: he, however,
always proceeded cautiously, as when obstacles induced him to defer the
period of the Consulship for life.
Bonaparte laboured to establish in France not only an absolute
government, but, what is still worse, a military one. He considered
a decree signed by his hand possessed of a magic virtue capable of
transforming his generals into able diplomatists, and so he sent them
on embassies, as if to show the Sovereigns to whom they were accredited
that he soon meant to take their thrones by assault. The appointment of
Lannes to the Court of Lisbon originated from causes which probably
will be read with some interest, since they serve to place Bonaparte's
character in, its true light, and to point out, at the same time, the
means he disdained not to resort to, if he wished to banish his most
faithful friends when their presence was no longer agreeable to him.
Bonaparte had ceased to address Lannes in the second person singular;
but that general continued the familiarity of thee and thou in speaking
to Napoleon. It is hardly possible to conceive how much this annoyed
the First Consul. Aware of the unceremonious candour of his old comrade,
whose daring spirit he knew would prompt him to go as great lengths
in civil affairs as on the field of battle, Bonaparte, on the great
occasion of the 18th Brumaire, fearing his reproaches, had given him the
command of Paris in order to ensure his absence from St. Cloud.
After that time, notwithstanding the continually growing greatness of
the First Consul, which, as it increased, daily exacted more and more
deference, Lannes still preserved his freedom of speech, and was the
only one who dared to treat Bonaparte as a comrade, and tell him the
truth without ceremony. This was enough to determine Napoleon to rid
himself of the presence of Lannes. But under what pretext was the
absence of the conqueror of Montebello to be procured? It was necessary
to conjure up an excuse; and in the truly diabolical machination
resorted to for that purpose, Bonaparte brought into play that crafty
disposition for which he was so remarkable.
Lannes, who never looked forward to the morrow, was as careless of his
money as of his blood. Poor officers and soldiers partook largely of his
liberality. Thus he had no fortune, but plenty of debts when he wanted
money, and this was not seldom, he used to come, as if it were a mere
matter of course, to ask it of the First Consul, who, I must confess,
never refused him. Bonaparte, though he well knew the general's
circumstances, said to him one day, "My friend, you should attend a
little more to appearances. You must have your establishment suitable
to your rank. There is the Hotel de Noailles--why don't you take it,
and furnish it in proper style?" Lannes, whose own candour prevented him
from suspecting the artful designs of others, followed the advice of the
First Consul. The Hotel de Noailles was taken and superbly fitted up.
Odiot supplied a service of plate valued at 200,000 francs.
General Lannes having thus conformed to the wishes of Bonaparte came to
him and requested 400,000 francs, the amount of the expense incurred,
as it were, by his order. "But," said the First Consul, "I have no
money."--"You have no money! What the devil am I to do, then?"
"But is there none in the Guard's chest? Take what you require, and we
will settle it, hereafter."
Mistrusting nothing, Lannes went to the treasurer of the Guards, who
made some objections at first to the advance required, but who soon
yielded on learning that the demand was made with the consent of the
First Consul.
Within twenty-four hours after Lannes had obtained the 400,000 francs
the treasurer received from the head commissary an order to balance his
accounts. The receipt for the 400,000 francs advanced to Lannes, was not
acknowledged as a voucher. In vain the treasurer alleged the authority
of the First Consul for the transaction. Napoleon's memory had suddenly
failed him; he had entirely forgotten all about it. In a word, it was
incumbent on Lannes to refund the 400,000 francs to the Guards' chest;
and, as I have already said, he had no property on earth, but debts in
abundance. He repaired to General Lefebre, who loved him as his son, and
to him he related all that had passed. "Simpleton," said Lefebvre,
"why did you not come to me? Why did you go and get into debt with that
-----? Well, here are the 400,000 francs; take them to him, and let him
go to the devil!"
Lannes hastened to the First Consul. "What!"--he exclaimed, "is it
possible you can be guilty of such baseness as this? To treat me in such
a manner! To lay such a foul snare for me after all that I have done for
you; after all the blood I have shed to promote your ambition! Is this
the recompense you had in store for me? You forget the 13th Vendemiaire,
to the success of which I contributed more than you! You forget
Millesimo: I was colonel before you! For whom did I fight at Bassano?
You were witness of what I did at Lodi and at Governolo, where I was
wounded; and yet you play me such a trick as this! But for me, Paris
would have revolted on the 18th Brumaire. But for me, you would have
lost the battle of Marengo. I alone, yes, I alone, passed the Po, at
Montebello, with my whole division. You gave the credit of that to
Berthier, who was not there; and this is my reward--humiliation. This
cannot, this shall not be. I will----" Bonaparte, pale with anger,
listened without stirring, and Lannes was on the point of challenging
him when Junot, who heard the uproar, hastily entered. The unexpected
presence of this general somewhat reassured the First Consul, and at
the same time calmed, in some degree, the fury of Lannes. "Well," said
Bonaparte, "go to Lisbon. You will get money there; and when you
return you will not want any one to pay your debts for you." Thus
was Bonaparte's object gained. Lannes set out for Lisbon, and never
afterwards annoyed the First Consul by his familiarities, for on his
return he ceased to address him with thee and thou.
Having described Bonaparte's ill-treatment of Lannes I may here subjoin
a statement of the circumstances which led to a rupture between the
First Consul and me. So many false stories have been circulated on the
subject that I am anxious to relate the facts as they really were.
Nine months had now passed since I had tendered my resignation to the
First Consul. The business of my office had become too great for me, and
my health was so much endangered by over-application that my physician,
M. Corvisart, who had for a long time impressed upon me the necessity of
relaxation, now formally warned me that I should not long hold out
under the fatigue I underwent. Corvisart had no doubt spoken to the same
effect to the First Consul, for the latter said to me one day, in a tone
which betrayed but little feeling, "Why, Corvisart says you have not
a year to live." This was certainly no very welcome compliment in the
mouth of an old college friend, yet I must confess that the doctor
risked little by the prediction.
I had resolved, in fact, to follow the advice of Corvisart; my family
were urgent in their entreaties that I would do so, but I always put
off the decisive step. I was loath to give up a friendship which had
subsisted so long, and which had been only once disturbed: on that
occasion when Joseph thought proper to play the spy upon me at the
table of Fouché. I remembered also the reception I had met with from the
conqueror of Italy; and I experienced, moreover, no slight pain at
the thought of quitting one from whom I had received so many proofs of
confidence, and to whom I had been attached from early boyhood. These
considerations constantly triumphed over the disgust to which I was
subjected by a number of circumstances, and by the increasing vexations
occasioned by the conflict between my private sentiments and the nature
of the duties I had to perform.
I was thus kept in a state of perplexity, from which some unforeseen
circumstance alone could extricate me. Such a circumstance at length
occurred, and the following is the history of my first rupture with
Napoleon:
On the 27th of February 1802, at ten at night, Bonaparte dictated to me
a despatch of considerable importance and urgency, for M. de Talleyrand,
requesting the Minister for Foreign Affairs to come to the Tuileries
next morning at an appointed hour. According to custom, I put the letter
into the hands of the office messenger that it might be forwarded to its
destination.
This was Saturday. The following day, Sunday, M. de Talleyrand came as
if for an audience about mid-day. The First Consul immediately began to
confer with him on the subject of the letter sent the previous evening,
and was astonished to learn that the Minister had not received it until
the morning. He immediately rang for the messenger, and ordered me to
be sent for. Being in a very bad humour, he pulled the bell with so
much fury that he struck his hand violently against the angle of the
chimney-piece. I hurried to his presence. "Why," he said, addressing me
hastily, "why was not my letter delivered yesterday evening?"--"I do not
know: I put it at once into the hands of the person whose duty it was
to see that it was sent."--"Go and find the cause of the delay, and
come back quickly." Having rapidly made my inquiries, I returned to the
cabinet. "Well?" said the First Consul, whose irritation seemed to
have increased. "Well, General, it is not the fault of anybody, M.
de Talleyrand was not to be found, either at the office or at his own
residence, or at the houses of any of his friends where he was thought
likely to be." Not knowing with whom to be angry, restrained by the
coolness of M. de Talleyrand, yet at the same time ready to burst with
rage, Bonaparte rose from his seat, and proceeding to the hall, called
the messenger and questioned him sharply. The man, disconcerted by the
anger of the First Consul, hesitated in his replies, and gave confused
answers. Bonaparte returned to his cabinet still more irritated than he
had left it.
I had followed him to the hall, and on my way back to the cabinet I
attempted to soothe him, and I begged him not to be thus discomposed by
a circumstance which, after all, was of no great moment. I do not know
whether his anger was increased by the sight of the blood which flowed
from his hand, and which he was every moment looking at; but however
that might be, a transport of furious passion, such as I had never
before witnessed, seized him; and as I was about to enter the cabinet
after him he threw back the door with so much violence that, had I been
two or three inches nearer him, it must infallibly have struck me in the
face. He accompanied this action, which was almost convulsive, with
an appellation, not to be borne; he exclaimed before M. de Talleyrand,
"Leave me alone; you are a fool." At an insult so atrocious I confess
that the anger which had already mastered the First Consul suddenly
seized on me. I thrust the door forward with as much impetuosity as
he had used in throwing it back, and, scarcely knowing what I said,
exclaimed, "You are a hundredfold a greater fool than I am!" I then
banged the door and went upstairs to my apartment, which was situated
over the cabinet.
I was as far from expecting as from wishing such an occasion of
separating from the First Consul. But what was done could not be undone;
and therefore, without taking time for reflection, and still under
the influence of the anger that had got the better of me, I penned the
following positive resignation:
GENERAL--The state of my health no longer permits me to continue in your
service. I therefore beg you to accept my resignation. BOURRIENNE.
Some moments after this note was written I saw Bonaparte's saddle-horses
brought up to the entrance of the Palace. It was Sunday morning, and,
contrary to his usual custom on that day, he was going to ride out.
Duroc accompanied him. He was no sooner done than I, went down into his
cabinet, and placed my letter on his table. On returning at four o'clock
with Duroc Bonaparte read my letter. "Ah! ah!" said he, before opening
it, "a letter from Bourrienne." And he almost immediately added, for the
note was speedily perused, "He is in the sulks.--Accepted." I had left
the Tuileries at the moment he returned, but Duroc sent to me where I
was dining the following billet:
The First Consul desires me, my dear Bourrienne, to inform you that
he accepts your resignation, and to request that you will give me the
necessary information respecting your papers.--Yours, DUROC.
P.S.:--I will call on you presently.
Duroc came to me at eight o'clock the same evening. The First Consul
was in his cabinet when we entered it. I immediately commenced giving
my intended successor the necessary explanations to enable him to enter
upon his new duties. Piqued at finding that I did not speak to him, and
at the coolness with which I instructed Duroc, Bonaparte said to me in a
harsh tone, "Come, I have had enough of this! Leave me." I stepped down
from the ladder on which I had mounted for the purpose of pointing
out to Duroc the places in which the various papers were deposited and
hastily withdrew. I too had quite enough of it!
I remained two more days at the Tuileries until I had suited myself with
lodgings. On Monday I went down into the cabinet of the First Consul to
take my leave of him. We conversed together for a long time, and very
amicably. He told me he was very sorry I was going to leave him, and
that he would do all he could for me. I pointed out several places to
him; at last I mentioned the Tribunate. "That will not do for you," he
said; "the members are a set of babblers and phrasemongers, whom I mean
to get rid of. All the troubles of States proceed from such debatings. I
am tired of them." He continued to talk in a strain which left me in no
doubt as to his uneasiness about the Tribunate, which, in fact, reckoned
among its members many men of great talent and excellent character.
--[In 1802 the First Consul made a reduction of fifty members of the
Tribunate, and subsequently the whole body was suppressed.
--Bourrienne.]--
The following day, Tuesday, the First Consul asked me to breakfast with
him. After breakfast, while he was conversing with some other person,
Madame Bonaparte and Hortense pressed me to make advances towards
obtaining a re-instalment in my office, appealing to me on the score of
the friendship and kindness they had always shown me. They told me that
I had been in the wrong, and that I had forgotten myself. I answered
that I considered the evil beyond remedy; and that, besides, I had
really need of repose. The First Consul then called me to him, and
conversed a considerable time with me, renewing his protestations of
goodwill towards me.
At five o'clock I was going downstairs to quit the Tuileries for good
when I was met by the office messenger, who told me that the First
Consul wished to see me. Duroc; who was in the room leading to the
cabinet, stopped me as I passed, and said, "He wishes you to remain. I
beg of you not to refuse; do me this favour. I have assured him that
I am incapable of filling your office. It does not suit my habits; and
besides, to tell you the truth, the business is too irksome for me."
I proceeded to the cabinet without replying to Duroc. The First Consul
came up to me smiling, and pulling me by the ear, as he did when he was
in the best of humours, said to me, "Are you still in the sulks?" and
leading me to my usual seat he added, "Come, sit down."
Only those who knew Bonaparte can judge of my situation at that moment.
He had at times, and when he chose, a charm in his manners which it was
quite impossible to resist. I could offer no opposition, and I resumed
my usual office and my accustomed labours. Five minutes afterwards it
was announced that dinner was on table. "You will dine with me?" he
said. "I cannot; I am expected at the place where I was going when Duroc
called me back. It is an engagement that I cannot break."--"Well, I have
nothing to say, then. But give me your word that you will be here
at eight o'clock."--"I promise you." Thus I became again the private
secretary of the First Consul, and I believed in the sincerity of our
reconciliation.
CHAPTER XIII.
1802-1803.
The Concordat and the Legion of Honour--The Council of State and the
Tribunate--Discussion on the word 'subjects'--Chenier--Chabot de
l'Allier's proposition to the Tribunate--The marked proof of
national gratitude--Bonaparte's duplicity and self-command--Reply to
the 'Senatus-consulte'--The people consulted--Consular decree--
The most, or the least--M. de Vanblanc's speech--Bonaparte's reply--
The address of the Tribunate--Hopes and predictions thwarted.
It may truly be said that history affords no example of an empire
founded like that of France, created in all its parts under the cloak
of a republic. Without any shock, and in the short space of four years,
there arose above the ruins of the short-lived Republic a Government
more absolute than ever was Louis XIV.'s. This extraordinary change is
to be assigned to many causes; and I had the opportunity of observing
the influence which the determined will of one man exercised over his
fellow-men.
The great object which Bonaparte had at heart was to legitimate his
usurpations by institutions. The Concordat had reconciled him with the
Court of Rome; the numerous erasures from the emigrant list gathered
round him a large body of the old nobility; and the Legion of Honour,
though at first but badly received, soon became a general object of
ambition. Peace, too, had lent her aid in consolidating the First
Consul's power by affording him leisure to engage in measures of
internal prosperity.
The Council of State, of which Bonaparte had made me a member, but which
my other occupations did not allow me to attend, was the soul of the
Consular Government. Bonaparte felt much interest in the discussions
of that body, because it was composed of the most eminent men in the
different branches of administration; and though the majority evinced
a ready compliance with his wishes, yet that disposition was often
far from being unanimous. In the Council of State the projects of the
Government were discussed from the first with freedom and sincerity,
and when once adopted they were transmitted to the Tribunate, and to
the Legislative Body. This latter body might be considered as a supreme
Legislative Tribunal, before which the Tribunes pleaded as the advocates
of the people, and the Councillors of State, whose business it was to
support the law projects, as the advocates of the Government. This will
at once explain the cause of the First Consul's animosity towards the
Tribunate, and will show to what the Constitution was reduced when that
body was dissolved by a sudden and arbitrary decision.
During the Consulate the Council of State was not only a body politic
collectively, but each individual member might be invested with special
power; as, for example, when the First Consul sent Councillors of State
on missions to each of the military divisions where there was a Court of
Appeal, the instructions given them by the First Consul were extensive,
and might be said to be unlimited. They were directed to examine all
the branches of the administration, so that their reports collected
and compared together presented a perfect description of the state of
France. But this measure, though excellent in itself, proved fatal to
the State. The reports never conveyed the truth to the First Consul, or
at least if they did, it was in such a disguised form as to be scarcely
recognisable; for the Councillors well knew that the best way to pay
their court to Bonaparte was not to describe public feeling as it really
was, but as he wished it to be. Thus the reports of the councillors of
State only furnished fresh arguments in favour of his ambition.
I must, however, observe that in the discussions of the Council of State
Bonaparte was not at all averse to the free expression of opinion. He,
indeed, often encouraged it; for although fully resolved to do only
what he pleased, he wished to gain information; indeed, it is scarcely
conceivable how, in the short space of two years, Bonaparte adapted his
mind so completely to civil and legislative affairs. But he could not
endure in the Tribunate the liberty of opinion which he tolerated in the
Council; and for this reason--that the sittings of the Tribunate were
public, while those of the Council of State were secret, and publicity
was what he dreaded above all things. He was very well pleased when he
had to transmit to the Legislative Body or to the Tribunate any proposed
law of trifling importance, and he used then to say that he had thrown
them a bone to gnaw.
Among the subjects submitted to the consideration of the Council and the
Tribunate was one which gave rise to a singular discussion, the ground
of which was a particular word, inserted in the third article of the
treaty of Russia with France. This word seemed to convey a prophetic
allusion to the future condition of the French people, or rather an
anticipated designation of what they afterwards became. The treaty spoke
of "the subjects of the two Governments." This term applied to those who
still considered themselves citizens, and was highly offensive to the
Tribunate. Chenier most loudly remonstrated against the introduction of
this word into the dictionary of the new Government. He said that the
armies of France had shed their blood that the French people might be
citizens and not subjects. Chenier's arguments, however, had no effect
on the decision of the Tribunate, and only served to irritate the First
Consul. The treaty was adopted almost unanimously, there being only
fourteen dissentient voices, and the proportion of black balls in the
Legislative Body was even less.
Though this discussion passed off almost unnoticed, yet it greatly
displeased the First Consul, who expressed his dissatisfaction in the
evening. "What is it," said he, "these babblers want? They wish to be
citizens--why did they not know how to continue so? My government must
treat on an equal footing with Russia. I should appear a mere puppet in
the eyes of foreign Courts were I to yield to the stupid demands of the
Tribunate.. Those fellows tease me so that I have a great mind to end
matters at once with them." I endeavoured to soothe his anger, and
observed, that one precipitate act might injure him. "You are right," he
continued; "but stay a little, they shall lose nothing by waiting."
The Tribunate pleased Bonaparte better in the great question of the
Consulate for life, because he had taken the precaution of removing such
members as were most opposed to the encroachments of his ambition. The
Tribunate resolved that a marked proof of the national gratitude should
be offered to the First Consul, and the resolution was transmitted to
the Senate. Not a single voice was raised against this proposition,
which emanated from Chabot de l'Allier, the President of the Tribunate.
When the First Consul came back to his cabinet after receiving the
deputation of the Tribunate he was very cheerful, and said to me,
"Bourrienne, it is a blank cheque that the Tribunate has just offered
me; I shall know how to fill it up. That is my business."
The Tribunate having adopted the indefinite proposition of offering to
the First Consul a marked proof of the national gratitude, it now only
remained to determine what that proof should be. Bonaparte knew well
what he wanted, but he did not like to name it in any positive way.
Though in his fits of impatience, caused by the lingering proceedings of
the Legislative Body and the indecision of some of its members, he often
talked of mounting on horseback and drawing his sword, yet he so far
controlled himself as to confine violence to his conversations with
his intimate friends. He wished it to be thought that he himself was
yielding to compulsion; that he was far from wishing to usurp permanent
power contrary to the Constitution; and that if he deprived France of
liberty it was all for her good, and out of mere love for her. Such
deep-laid duplicity could never have been conceived and maintained in
any common mind; but Bonaparte's was not a mind of the ordinary cast. It
must have required extraordinary self-command to have restrained so long
as he did that daring spirit which was so natural to him, and which was
rather the result of his temperament than his character. For my part, I
confess that I always admired him more for what he had the fortitude not
to do than for the boldest exploits he ever performed.
In conformity with the usual form, the proposition of the Tribunate was
transmitted to the Senate. From that time the Senators on whom Bonaparte
most relied were frequent in their visits to the Tuileries. In the
preparatory conferences which preceded the regular discussions in the
Senate it has been ascertained that the majority was not willing that
the marked proof of gratitude should be the Consulate for life; it
was therefore agreed that the reporter should limit his demand to a
temporary prolongation of the dignity of First Consul in favour of
Bonaparte. The reporter, M. de Lacepede, acted accordingly, and limited
the prolongation to ten years, commencing from the expiration of the ten
years granted by the Constitution. I forget which of the Senators first
proposed the Consulate for life; but I well recollect that Cambacérès
used all his endeavours to induce those members of the Senate whom he
thought he could influence to agree to that proposition. Whether from
flattery or conviction I know not, but the Second Consul held out to his
colleague, or rather his master, the hope of complete success. Bonaparte
on hearing him shook his head with an air of doubt, but afterwards said
to me, "They will perhaps make some wry faces, but they must come to it
at last!"
It was proposed in the Senate that the proposition of the Consulate for
life should take the priority of that of the decennial prolongation; but
this was not agreed to; and the latter proposition being adopted, the
other, of course, could not be discussed.
There was something very curious in the 'Senatus-consulte' published
on the occasion. It spoke in the name of the French people, and stated
that, "in testimony of their gratitude to the Consuls of the
Republic," the Consular reign was prolonged for ten years; but that the
prolongation was limited to the First Consul only.
Bonaparte, though much dissatisfied with the decision of the Senate,
disguised his displeasure in ambiguous language. When Tronchet, then
President of the Senate, read to him, in a solemn audience, at the head
of the deputation, the 'Senatus-consulte' determining the prorogation,
he said in reply that he could not be certain of the confidence of the
people unless his continuance in the Consulship were sanctioned by their
suffrages. "The interests of my glory and happiness," added he, "would
seem to have marked the close of my public life at the moment when the
peace of the world is proclaimed. But the glory and the happiness of
the citizen must yield to the interests of the State and wishes of
the public. You, Senators, conceive that I owe to the people another
sacrifice. I will make it if the voice of the people commands what your
suffrage authorises."
The true meaning of these words was not understood by everybody, and was
only manifest to those who were initiated in the secret of Bonaparte's
designs. He did not accept the offer of the Senate, because he wished
for something more. The question was to be renewed and to be decided by
the people only; and since the people had the right to refuse what the
Senate offered, they possessed, for the same reason, the right to give
what the Senate did not offer.
The moment now arrived for consulting the Council of State as to the
mode to be adopted for invoking and collecting the suffrages of the
people. For this purpose an extraordinary meeting of the Council of
State was summoned on the 10th of May. Bonaparte wished to keep himself
aloof from all ostensible influence; but his two colleagues laboured for
him more zealously than he could have worked for himself, and they were
warmly supported by several members of the Council. A strong majority
were of opinion that Bonaparte should not only be invested with the
Consulship for life, but that he should be empowered to nominate his
successor. But he, still faithful to his plan, affected to venerate the
sovereignty of the people, which he held in horror, and he promulgated
the following decree, which was the first explanation of his reply to
the Senate.
The Consuls of the Republic, considering that the resolution of the
First Consul is an homage rendered to the sovereignty of the People,
and that the People, when consulted on their dearest interests, will
not go beyond the limits of those interests, decree as follows:--
First, that the French people shall be consulted on the question
whether Napoleon Bonaparte is to be made Consul for life, etc.
The other articles merely regulated the mode of collecting the votes.
This decree shows the policy of the First Consul in a new point of view,
and displays his art in its fullest extent. He had just refused the less
for the sake of getting the greater; and now he had contrived to get the
offer of the greater to show off his moderation by accepting only the
less. The Council of State sanctioned the proposition for conferring on
the First Consul the right of nominating his successor, and, of his own
accord, the First Consul declined this. Accordingly the Second Consul,
when he, the next day, presented the decree to the Council of State, did
not fail to eulogise this extreme moderation, which banished even the
shadow of suspicion of any ambitious after-thought. Thus the Senate
found itself out-manoeuvred, and the decree of the Consuls was
transmitted at once to the Legislative Body and to the Tribunate.
In the Legislative Body, M. de Vaublanc was distinguished among all the
deputies who applauded the conduct of the Government; and it was he who
delivered the apologetic harangue of the deputation of the Legislative
Body to the First Consul. After having addressed the Government
collectively he ended by addressing the First Consul individually--a
sort of compliment which had not hitherto been put in practice,
and which was far from displeasing him who was its object. As M. de
Vaublanc's speech had been communicated beforehand to the First Consul,
the latter prepared a reply to it which sufficiently showed how much it
had gratified him. Besides the flattering distinction which separated
him from the Government, the plenitude of praise was not tempered by
anything like advice or comment. It was not so with the address of the
Tribunate. After the compliments which the occasion demanded, a series
of hopes were expressed for the future, which formed a curious contrast
with the events which actually ensued. The Tribunate, said the address,
required no guarantee, because Bonaparte's elevated and generous
sentiments would never permit him to depart from those principles which
brought about the Revolution and founded the Republic;--he loved real
glory too well ever to stain that which he had acquired by the abuse of
power;--the nation which he was called to govern was free and generous
he would respect and consolidate her liberty; he would distinguish his
real friends, who spoke truth to him, from flatterers who might seek
to deceive him. In short, Bonaparte would surround himself with the men
who, having made the Revolution, were interested in supporting it.
To these and many other fine things the Consul replied, "This testimony
of the affection of the Tribunate is gratifying to the Government. The
union of all bodies of the State is a guarantee of the stability
and happiness of the nation. The efforts of the Government will be
constantly directed to the interests of the people, from whom all power
is derived, and whose welfare all good men have at heart."
So much for the artifice of governments and the credulity of subjects!
It is certain that, from the moment Bonaparte gained his point in
submitting the question of the Consulate for life to the decision of the
people, there was no longer a doubt of the result being in his favour.
This was evident, not only on account of the influential means which a
government always has at its command, and of which its agents extend
the ramifications from the centre to the extremities, but because the
proposition was in accordance with the wishes of the majority. The
Republicans were rather shy in avowing principles with which people were
now disenchanted;--the partisans of a monarchy without distinction of
family saw their hopes almost realised in the Consulate for life; the
recollection of the Bourbons still lived in some hearts faithful
to misfortune but the great mass were for the First Consul, and his
external acts in the new step he had taken towards the throne had been
so cautiously disguised as to induce a belief in his sincerity. If I
and a few others were witness to his accomplished artifice and secret
ambition, France beheld only his glory, and gratefully enjoyed the
blessings of peace which he had obtained for her. The suffrages of the
people speedily realised the hopes of the First Consul, and thus was
founded the CONSULATE FOR LIFE.
CHAPTER XIV
1802-1803.
Departure for Malmaison--Unexpected question relative to the
Bourbons--Distinction between two opposition parties--New intrigues
of Lucien--Camille Jordan's pamphlet seized--Vituperation against
the liberty of the press--Revisal of the Constitution--New
'Senatus-consulte--Deputation from the Senate--Audience of the
Diplomatic Body--Josephine's melancholy--The discontented--Secret
meetings--Fouché and the police agents--The Code Napoleon--
Bonaparte's regular attendance at the Council of State--His
knowledge of mankind, and the science of government--Napoleon's
first sovereign act--His visit to the Senate--The Consular
procession--Polite etiquette--The Senate and the Council of State--
Complaints against Lucien--The deaf and dumb assembly--Creation of
senatorships.
When nothing was wanting to secure the Consulate for life but the votes
of the people, which there was no doubt of obtaining, the First Consul
set off to spend a few days at Malmaison.
On the day of our arrival, as soon as dinner was ended, Bonaparte said
to me, "Bourrienne, let us go and take a walk." It was the middle of
May, so that the evenings were long. We went into the park: he was
very grave, and we walked for several minutes without his uttering a
syllable. Wishing to break silence in a way that would be agreeable
to him, I alluded to the facility with which he had nullified the last
'Senatus-consulte'. He scarcely seemed to hear me, so completely was
his mind absorbed in the subject on which he was meditating. At length,
suddenly recovering from his abstraction, he said, "Bourrienne, do
you think that the pretender to the crown of France would renounce his
claims if I were to offer him a good indemnity, or even a province in
Italy?" Surprised at this abrupt question on a subject which I was far
from thinking of, I replied that I did not think the pretender would
relinquish his claims; that it was very unlikely the Bourbons would
return to France as long as he, Bonaparte, should continue at the head
of the Government, though they would look forward to their ultimate
return as probable. "How so?" inquired he. "For a very simple reason,
General. Do you not see every day that your agents conceal the
truth from you, and flatter you in your wishes, for the purpose of
ingratiating themselves in your favour? are you not angry when at length
the truth reaches your ear?"--"And what then?"--"why, General, it must
be just the same with the agents of Louis XVIII. in France. It is in
the course of things, in the nature of man, that they should feed the
Bourbons with hopes of a possible return, were it only to induce a
belief in their own talent and utility."--"That is very true! You are
quite right; but I am not afraid. However, something might perhaps be
done--we shall see." Here the subject dropped, and our conversation
turned on the Consulate for life, and Bonaparte spoke in unusually mild
terms of the persons who had opposed the proposition. I was a little
surprised at this, and could not help reminding him of the different
way in which he had spoken of those who opposed his accession to the
Consulate. "There is nothing extraordinary in that," said he. "Worthy
men may be attached to the Republic as I have made it. It is a mere
question of form. I have nothing to say against that; but at the time
of my accession to the Consulate it was very different. Then, none but
Jacobins, terrorists, and rogues resisted my endeavours to rescue France
from the infamy into which the Directory had plunged her. But now I
cherish no ill-will against those who have opposed me."
During the intervals between the acts of the different bodies of the
State, and the collection of the votes, Lucien renewed his intrigues, or
rather prosecuted them with renewed activity, for the purpose of getting
the question of hereditary succession included in the votes. Many
prefects transmitted to M. Chaptal anonymous circulars which had been
sent to them: all stated the ill effect produced by these circulars,
which had been addressed to the principal individuals of their
departments. Lucien was the originator of all this, though I cannot
positively say whether his brother connived with him, as in the case of
the pamphlet to which I have already alluded. I believe, however, that
Bonaparte was not entirely a stranger to the business; for the circulars
were written by Raederer at the instigation of Lucien, and Raederer was
at that time in favour at the Tuileries. I recollect Bonaparte speaking
to me one day very angrily about a pamphlet which had just, been
published by Camille Jordan on the subject of the national vote on the
Consulate for life. Camille Jordan did not withhold his vote, but gave
it in favour of the First Consul; and instead of requiring preliminary
conditions, he contented himself, like the Tribunate, with enumerating
all the guarantees which he expected the honour of the First Consul
would grant. Among these guarantees were the cessation of arbitrary
imprisonments, the responsibility of the agents of Government, and the
independence of the judges. But all these demands were mere peccadilloes
in comparison with Camille Jordan's great crime of demanding the liberty
of the press.
The First Consul had looked through the fatal pamphlet, and lavished
invectives upon its author. "How!" exclaimed he, "am I never to have
done with these fire brands?--These babblers, who think that politics
may be shown on a printed page like the world on a map? Truly, I know
not what things will come to if I let this go on. Camille Jordan, whom I
received so well at Lyons, to think that he should--ask for the liberty
of the press! Were I to accede to this I might as well pack up at once
and go and live on a farm a hundred leagues from Paris." Bonaparte's
first act in favour of the liberty of the press was to order the seizure
of the pamphlet in which Camille Jordan had extolled the advantages of
that measure. Publicity, either by words or writing, was Bonaparte's
horror. Hence his aversion to public speakers and writers.
Camille Jordan was not the only person who made unavailing efforts to
arrest Bonaparte in the first steps of his ambition. There were yet in
France many men who, though they had hailed with enthusiasm the dawn of
the French Revolution, had subsequently been disgusted by its
crimes, and who still dreamed of the possibility of founding a truly
Constitutional Government in France. Even in the Senate there were some
men indignant at the usual compliance of that body, and who spoke of
the necessity of subjecting the Constitution to a revisal, in order to
render it conformable to the Consulate for life.
The project of revising the Constitution was by no means unsatisfactory
to Bonaparte. It afforded him an opportunity of holding out fresh
glimmerings of liberty to those who were too shortsighted to see into
the future. He was pretty certain that there could be no change but to
his advantage. Had any one talked to him of the wishes of the nation he
would have replied, "3,577,259 citizens have voted. Of these how many
were for me? 3,368,185. Compare the difference! There is but one vote in
forty-five against me. I must obey the will of the people!" To this he
would not have failed to add, "Whose are the votes opposed to me? Those
of ideologists, Jacobins, and peculators under the Directory." To such
arguments what could have been answered? It must not be supposed that
I am putting these words into Bonaparte's mouth. They fell from him
oftener than once.
As soon as the state of the votes was ascertained the Senate conceived
itself under the necessity of repairing the only fault it had committed
in the eyes of the First Consul, and solemnly presented him with a new
'Senatus-consulte', and a decree couched in the following terms:
ARTICLE I. The French people nominate and the Senate proclaim Napoleon
Bonaparte Consul for life.
ARTICLE II. A statue representing Peace, holding in one hand the laurel
of victory, and in the other the decree of the senate, shall commemorate
to posterity the gratitude of the Nation.
ARTICLE III. The Senate will convey to the First Consul the expression
of the confidence, the love, and the admiration of the French people.
Bonaparte replied to the deputation from the Senate, in the presence of
the Diplomatic Body, whose audience had been appointed for that day
in order that the ambassadors might be enabled to make known to their
respective Courts that Europe reckoned one King more. In his reply
he did not fail to introduce the high-sounding words "liberty and
equality." He commenced thus: "A citizen's life belongs to his country.
The French people wish that mine should be entirely devoted to their
service. I obey."
On the day this ceremony took place, besides the audience of the
Diplomatic Body there was an extraordinary assemblage of general
officers and public functionaries. The principal apartments of the
Tuileries's presented the appearance of a fete. This gaiety formed a
striking contrast with the melancholy of Josephine, who felt that every
step of the First Consul towards the throne removed him farther from
her.
She had to receive a party that evening, and though greatly depressed in
spirits she did the honours with her usual grace.
Let a Government be what it may, it can never satisfy everyone. At the
establishment of the Consulate for life, those who were averse to
that change formed but a feeble minority. But still they met, debated,
corresponded, and dreamed of the possibility of overthrowing the
Consular Government.
During the first six months of the year 1802 there were meetings of the
discontented, which Fouché, who was then Minister of the Police, knew
and would not condescend to notice; but, on the contrary, all the
inferior agents of the police contended for a prey which was easily
seized, and, with the view of magnifying their services, represented
these secret meetings as the effect of a vast plot against the
Government. Bonaparte, whenever he spoke to me on the subject, expressed
himself weary of the efforts which were made to give importance to
trifles; and yet he received the reports of the police agents as if he
thought them of consequence. This was because he thought Fouché badly
informed, and he was glad to find him at fault; but when he sent for
the Minister of Police the latter told him that all the reports he had
received were not worth a moment's attention. He told the First
Consul all, and even a great deal more than had been revealed to him,
mentioning at the same time how and from whom Bonaparte had received his
information.
But these petty police details did not divert the First Consul's
attention from the great object he had in view. Since March 1802 he
had attended the sittings of the Council of State with remarkable
regularity. Even while we were at the Luxembourg he busied himself in
drawing up a new code of laws to supersede the incomplete collection
of revolutionary laws, and to substitute order for the sort of anarchy
which prevailed in the legislation. The man who were most distinguished
for legal knowledge had cooperated in this laborious task, the result
of which was the code first distinguished by the name of the Civil Code,
and afterwards called the Code Napoleon. The labours of this important
undertaking being completed, a committee was appointed for the
presentation of the code. This committee, of which Cambacérès was the
president, was composed of MM. Portalis, Merlin de Douai, and Tronchet.
During all the time the discussions were pending, instead of assembling
as usual three times a week, the Council of State assembled every day,
and the sittings, which on ordinary occasions only lasted two or three
hours, were often prolonged to five or six. The First Consul took such
interest in these discussions that, to have an opportunity of conversing
upon them in the evening, he frequently invited several members of the
Council to dine with him. It was during these conversations that I most
admired the inconceivable versatility of Bonaparte's genius, or rather,
that superior instinct which enabled him to comprehend at a glance, and
in their proper point of view, legislative questions to which he might
have been supposed a stranger. Possessing as he did, in a supreme
degree, the knowledge of mankind, ideas important to the science of
government flashed upon his mind like sudden inspirations.
Some time after his nomination to the Consulate for life, anxious to
perform a sovereign act, he went for the first time to preside at the
Senate. Availing myself that day of a few leisure moments I went out to
see the Consular procession. It was truly royal. The First Consul had
given orders that the military should-be ranged in the streets through
which he had to pass. On his first arrival at the Tuileries, Napoleon
had the soldiers of the Guard ranged in a single line in the interior
of the court, but he now ordered that the line should be doubled, and
should extend from the gate of the Tuileries to that of the Luxembourg.
Assuming a privilege which old etiquette had confined exclusively to
the Kings of France, Bonaparte now for the first time rode in a carriage
drawn by eight horses. A considerable number of carriages followed that
of the First Consul, which was surrounded by generals and aides de
camp on horseback. Louis XIV. going to hold a bed of justice at the
Parliament of Paris never displayed greater pomp than did Bonaparte in
this visit to the Senate. He appeared in all the parade of royalty;
and ten Senators came to meet him at the foot of the staircase of the
Luxembourg.
The object of the First Consul's visit to the Senate was the
presentation of five plans of 'Senatus-consultes'. The other two Consuls
were present at the ceremony, which took place about the middle of
August.
Bonaparte returned in the same style in which he went, accompanied by M.
Lebrun, Cambacérès remaining at the Senate, of which he was President.
The five 'Senatus-consultes' were adopted, but a restriction was made in
that which concerned the forms of the Senate. It was proposed that when
the Consuls visited the Senate they should be received by a deputation
of ten members at the foot of the staircase, as the First Consul had
that day been received; but Bonaparte's brothers Joseph and Lucien
opposed this, and prevented the proposition from being adopted,
observing that the Second and Third Consuls being members of the Senate
could not be received with such honours by their colleagues. This little
scene of political courtesy, which was got up beforehand, was very well
acted.
Bonaparte's visit to the Senate gave rise to a change of rank in
the hierarchy of the different authorities composing the Government.
Hitherto the Council of State had ranked higher in public opinion; but
the Senate, on the occasion of its late deputation to the Tuileries, had
for the first time, received the honour of precedency. This had greatly
displeased some of the Councillors of State, but Bonaparte did not care
for that. He instinctively saw that the Senate would do what he wished
more readily than the other constituted bodies, and he determined to
augment its rights and prerogatives even at the expense of the rights
of the Legislative Body. These encroachments of one power upon another,
authorised by the First Consul, gave rise to reports of changes in
ministerial arrangements. It was rumoured in Paris that the number of
the ministers was to be reduced to three, and that Lucien, Joseph, and
M. de Talleyrand were to divide among them the different portfolios.
Lucien helped to circulate these reports, and this increased the First
Consul's dissatisfaction at his conduct. The letters from Madrid, which
were filled with complaints against him, together with some scandalous
adventures, known in Paris, such as his running away with the wife of
a 'limonadier', exceedingly annoyed Bonaparte, who found his own family
more difficult to govern than France.
France, indeed, yielded with admirable facility to the yoke which, the
First Consul wished to impose on her. How artfully did he undo all that
the Revolution had done, never neglecting any means of attaining his
object! He loved to compare the opinions of those whom he called the
Jacobins with the opinions of the men of 1789; and even them he found
too liberal. He felt the ridicule which was attached to the mute
character of the Legislative Body, which he called his deaf and dumb
assembly. But as that ridicule was favourable to him he took care to
preserve the assembly as it was, and to turn it into ridicule whenever
he spoke of it. In general, Bonaparte's judgment must not be confounded
with his actions. His accurate mind enabled him to appreciate all that
was good; but the necessity of his situation enabled him to judge with
equal shrewdness what was useful to himself.
What I have just said of the Senate affords me an opportunity of
correcting an error which has frequently been circulated in the
chit-chat of Paris. It has erroneously been said of some persons that
they refused to become members of the Senate, and among the number
have been mentioned M. Ducis, M. de La Fayette, and the Marechal de
Rochambeau. The truth is, that no such refusals were ever made. The
following fact, however, may have contributed to raise these reports and
give them credibility. Bonaparte used frequently to say to persons in
his salon and in his cabinet; "You should be a Senator--a man like you
should be a Senator." But these complimentary words did not amount to a
nomination. To enter the Senate certain legal forms were to be
observed. It was necessary to be presented by the Senate, and after
that presentation no one ever refused to become a member of the body,
to which Bonaparte gave additional importance by the creation of
"Senatoreries."--[Districts presided over by a Senator.]--This creation
took place in the beginning of 1803.
CHAPTER XV
1802.
The intoxication of great men--Unlucky zeal--MM. Maret, Champagny,
and Savary--M. de Talleyrand's real services--Postponement of the
execution of orders--Fouché and the Revolution--The Royalist
committee--The charter first planned during the Consulate--Mission
to Coblentz--Influence of the Royalists upon Josephine--The statue
and the pedestal--Madame de Genlis' romance of Madame de la
Valliere--The Legion of Honour and the carnations--Influence of the
Faubourg St. Germain--Inconsiderate step taken by Bonaparte--Louis
XVIII's indignation--Prudent advice of the Abbe Andre--Letter from
Louis XVIII. to Bonaparte--Council held at Neuilly--The letter
delivered--Indifference of Bonaparte, and satisfaction of the
Royalists.
Perhaps one of the happiest ideas that ever were expressed was that of
the Athenian who said, "I appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober." The
drunkenness here alluded to is not of that kind which degrades a man
to the level of a brute, but that intoxication which is occasioned by
success, and which produces in the heads of the ambitious a sort of
cerebral congestion. Ordinary men are not subject to this excitement,
and can scarcely form an idea of it. But it is nevertheless true that
the fumes of glory and ambition occasionally derange the strongest
heads; and Bonaparte, in all the vigour of his genius, was often subject
to aberrations of judgment; for though his imagination never failed him,
his judgment was frequently at fault.
This fact may serve to explain, and perhaps even to excuse the faults
with which the First Consul has been most seriously reproached.
The activity of his mind seldom admitted of an interval between the
conception and the execution of a design; but when he reflected coolly
on the first impulses of his imperious will, his judgment discarded
what was erroneous. Thus the blind obedience, which, like an epidemic
disease, infected almost all who surrounded Bonaparte, was productive of
the most fatal effects. The best way to serve the First Consul was never
to listen to the suggestions of his first ideas, except on the field of
battle, where his conceptions were as happy as they were rapid. Thus,
for example, MM. Maret, de Champagny, and Savary evinced a ready
obedience to Bonaparte's wishes, which often proved very unfortunate,
though doubtless dictated by the best intentions on their part. To
this fatal zeal may be attributed a great portion of the mischief
which Bonaparte committed. When the mischief was done, and past remedy,
Bonaparte deeply regretted it. How often have I heard him say that Maret
was animated by an unlucky zeal! This was the expression he made use of.
M. de Talleyrand was almost the only one among the ministers who did not
flatter Bonaparte, and who really served both the First Consul and the
Emperor. When Bonaparte said to M. de Talleyrand, "Write so and so, and
send it off by a special courier," that minister was never in a hurry to
obey the order, because he knew the character of the First Consul well
enough to distinguish between what his passion dictated and what his
reason would approve: in short, he appealed from Philip drunk to Philip
sober. When it happened that M. de Talleyrand suspended the execution of
an order, Bonaparte never evinced the least displeasure. When, the
day after he had received any hasty and angry order, M. de Talleyrand
presented himself to the First Consul, the latter would say, "Well, did
you send off the courier?"--"No," the minister would reply, "I took care
not to do so before I showed you my letter." Then the First Consul would
usually add, "Upon second thoughts I think it would be best not to send
it." This was the way to deal with Bonaparte. When M. de Talleyrand
postponed sending off despatches, or when I myself have delayed the
execution of an order which I knew had been dictated by anger, and had
emanated neither from his heart nor his understanding, I have heard
him say a hundred times, "It was right, quite right. You understand me:
Talleyrand understands me also. This is the way to serve me: the others
do not leave me time for reflection: they are too precipitate."
Fouché also was one of those who did not on all occasions blindly obey
Bonaparte's commands. His other ministers, on the other hand, when told
to send off a courier the next morning, would have more probably sent
him off the same evening. This was from zeal, but was not the First
Consul right in saying that such zeal was unfortunate?
Of Talleyrand and Fouché, in their connections with the First Consul, it
might be said that the one represented the Constituent Assembly, with
a slight perfume of the old regime, and the other the Convention in all
its brutality. Bonaparte regarded Fouché as a complete personification
of the Revolution. With him, therefore, Fouché's influence was merely
the influence of the Revolution. That great event was one of those which
had made the most forcible impression on Bonaparte's ardent mind, and
he imagined he still beheld it in a visible form as long as Fouché
continued at the head of his police. I am now of opinion that Bonaparte
was in some degree misled as to the value of Fouché's services as
a minister. No doubt the circumstance of Fouché being in office
conciliated those of the Revolutionary party who were his friends. But
Fouché cherished an undue partiality for them, because he knew that
it was through them he held his place. He was like one of the old
Condottieri, who were made friends of lest they should become enemies,
and who owed all their power to the soldiers enrolled under their
banners.
Such was Fouché, and Bonaparte perfectly understood his situation. He
kept the chief in his service until he could find an opportunity of
disbanding his undisciplined followers. But there was one circumstance
which confirmed his reliance on Fouché. He who had voted the death of
the King of France, and had influenced the minds of those who had voted
with him, offered Bonaparte the best guarantee against the attempts of
the Royalists for raising up in favour of the Bourbons the throne which
the First Consul himself had determined to ascend. Thus, for different
reasons, Bonaparte and Fouché had common interests against the House
of Bourbon, and the master's ambition derived encouragement from the
supposed terror of the servant.
The First Consul was aware of the existence in Paris of a Royalist
committee, formed for the purpose of corresponding with Louis XVIII.
This committee consisted of men who must not be confounded with those
wretched intriguers who were of no service to their employers, and were
not unfrequently in the pay of both Bonaparte and the Bourbons. The
Royalist committee, properly so called, was a very different thing. It
consisted of men professing rational principles of liberty, such as the
Marquis de Clermont Gallerande, the Abbe de Montesqieu, M. Becquet,
and M. Royer Collard. This committee had been of long standing; the
respectable individuals whose names I have just quoted acted upon a
system hostile to the despotism of Bonaparte, and favourable to what
they conceived to be the interests of France. Knowing the superior
wisdom of Louis XVIII., and the opinions which he had avowed and
maintained in the Assembly of the Notables, they wished to separate
that Prince from the emigrants, and to point him out to the nation as a
suitable head of a reasonable Constitutional Government. Bonaparte,
whom I have often heard speak on the subject, dreaded nothing so much as
these ideas of liberty, in conjunction with a monarchy. He regarded
them as reveries, called the members of the committee idle dreamers, but
nevertheless feared the triumph of their ideas. He confessed to me that
it was to counteract the possible influence of the Royalist committee
that he showed himself so indulgent to those of the emigrants whose
monarchical prejudices he knew were incompatible with liberal opinions.
By the presence of emigrants who acknowledged nothing short of absolute
power, he thought he might paralyse the influence of the Royalists of
the interior; he therefore granted all such emigrants permission to
return.
About this time I recollect having read a document, which had been
signed, purporting to be a declaration of the principles of Louis XVIII.
It was signed by M. d'Andre, who bore evidence to its authenticity.
The principles contained in the declaration were in almost all points
conformable to the principles which formed the basis of the charter.
Even so early as 1792, and consequently previous to the fatal 21st of
January, Louis XVI., who knew the opinions of M. de Clermont Gallerande,
sent him on a mission to Coblentz to inform the Princes from him,
and the Queen, that they would be ruined by their emigration. I am
accurately informed, and I state this fact with the utmost confidence. I
can also add with equal certainty that the circumstance was mentioned by
M. de Clermont Gallerande in his Memoirs, and that the passage relative
to his mission to Coblentz was cancelled before the manuscript was sent
to press.
During the Consular Government the object of the Royalist committee
was to seduce rather than to conspire. It was round Madame Bonaparte
in particular that their batteries were raised, and they did not prove
ineffectual. The female friends of Josephine filled her mind with ideas
of the splendour and distinction she would enjoy if the powerful hand
which had chained the Revolution should raise up the subverted throne.
I must confess that I was myself, unconsciously, an accomplice of the
friends of the throne; for what they wished for the interest of the
Bourbons I then ardently wished for the interest of Bonaparte.
While endeavours were thus made to gain over Madame Bonaparte to the
interest of the royal family, brilliant offers were held out for the
purpose of dazzling the First Consul. It was wished to retemper for him
the sword of the constable Duguesclin; and it was hoped that a statue
erected to his honour would at once attest to posterity his spotless
glory and the gratitude of the Bourbons. But when these offers reached
the ears of Bonaparte he treated them with indifference, and placed no
faith in their sincerity. Conversing on the subject one day with M.
de La Fayette he said, "They offer me a statue, but I must look to the
pedestal. They may make it my prison." I did not hear Bonaparte
utter these words; but they were reported to me from a source, the
authenticity of which may be relied on.
About this time, when so much was said in the Royalist circles and
in the Faubourg St. Germain, of which the Hotel de Luynes was the
headquarters, about the possible return of the Bourbons, the publication
of a popular book contributed not a little to direct the attention of
the public to the most brilliant period of the reign of Louis XIV. The
book was the historical romance of Madame de la Valloire, by Madame de
Genlis, who had recently returned to France. Bonaparte read it, and I
have since understood that he was very well pleased with it, but he
said nothing to me about it. It was not until some time after that
he complained of the effect which was produced in Paris by this
publication, and especially by engravings representing scenes in the
life of Louis XIV., and which were exhibited in the shop-windows. The
police received orders to suppress these prints; and the order was
implicitly obeyed; but it was not Fouché's police. Fouché saw the
absurdity of interfering with trifles. I recollect that immediately
after the creation of the Legion of Honour, it being summer, the
young men of Paris indulged in the whim of wearing a carnation in
a button-hole, which at a distance had rather a deceptive effect.
Bonaparte took this very seriously. He sent for Fouché, and desired him
to arrest those who presumed thus to turn the new order into ridicule.
Fouché merely replied that he would wait till the autumn; and the First
Consul understood that trifles were often rendered matters of importance
by being honoured with too much attention.
But though Bonaparte was piqued at the interest excited by the
engravings of Madame de Genlis' romance he manifested no displeasure
against that celebrated woman, who had been recommended to him by MM.
de Fontanes and Fievee and who addressed several letters to him. As this
sort of correspondence did not come within the routine of my business
I did not see the letters; but I heard from Madame Bonaparte that they
contained a prodigious number of proper names, and I have reason to
believe that they contributed not a little to magnify, in the eyes of
the First Consul, the importance of the Faubourg St. Germain, which, in
spite of all his courage, was a scarecrow to him.
Bonaparte regarded the Faubourg St. Germain as representing the whole
mass of Royalist opinion; and he saw clearly that the numerous erasures
from the emigrant list had necessarily increased dissatisfaction among
the Royalists, since the property of the emigrants had not been restored
to its old possessors, even in those cases in which it had not been
sold. It was the fashion in a certain class to ridicule the unpolished
manners of the great men of the Republic compared with the manners of
the nobility of the old Court. The wives of certain generals had several
times committed themselves by their awkwardness. In many circles
there was an affectation of treating with contempt what are called the
parvenus; those people who, to use M. de Talleyrand's expression, do not
know how to walk upon a carpet. All this gave rise to complaints against
the Faubourg St. Germain; while, on the other hand, Bonaparte's brothers
spared no endeavours to irritate him against everything that was
calculated to revive the recollection of the Bourbons.
Such were Bonaparte's feelings, and such was the state of society during
the year 1802. The fear of the Bourbons must indeed have had a powerful
influence on the First Consul before he could have been induced to take
a step which may justly be regarded as the most inconsiderate of his
whole life. After suffering seven months to elapse without answering
the first letter of Louis XVIII., after at length answering his second
letter in the tone of a King addressing a subject, he went so far as
to write to Louis, proposing that he should renounce the throne of his
ancestors in his, Bonaparte's, favour, and offering him as a reward for
this renunciation a principality in Italy, or a considerable revenue for
himself and his family.
--[Napoleon seems to have always known, as with Cromwell and the
Stuarts, that if his dynasty failed the Bourbons must succeed him.
"I remember," says Metternich, "Napoleon said to me, 'Do you know
why Louis XVIII. is not now sitting opposite to you? It is only
because it is I who am sitting here. No other person could maintain
his position; and if ever I disappear in consequence of a
catastrophe no one but a Bourbon could sit here.'" (Metternich, tome
i. p. 248). Farther, he said to Metternich, "The King overthrown,
the Republic was master of the soil of France. It is that which I
have replaced. The old throne of France is buried under its
rubbish. I had to found a new one. The Bourbons could not reign
over this creation. My strength lies in my fortune. I am new, like
the Empire; there is, therefore, a perfect homogeneity between the
Empire and myself."--"However," says Metternich, "I have often
thought that Napoleon, by talking in this way, merely sought to
study the opinion of others, or to confuse it, and the direct
advance which he made to Louis XVIII., in 1804 seemed to confirm
this suspicion. Speaking to me one day of this advance he said,
'Monsieur's reply was grand; it was full of fine traditions. There
is something in legitimate rights which appeals to more than the
mere mind. If Monsieur had consulted his mind only he would have
arranged with me, and I should have made for him a magnificent
future'" (Metternich, tome i, p. 276). According to Iung's Lucien
(tome ii. p. 421), the letter written and signed by Napoleon, but
never sent, another draft being substituted, is still in the French
archives. Metternich speaks of Napoleon making a direct advance to
Louis XVIII. in 1804. According to Colonel Iung (Lucien Bonaparte,
tome ii. pp. 4211-426) the attempt was made through the King of
Prussia in 1802, the final answer of Louis being made on the 28th
February 1803, as given in the text, but with a postscript of his
nephew in addition, "With the permission of the King, my uncle, I
adhere with heart and soul to the contents of this note.
"(signed) LOUIS ANTOINE, Duc d'Angouleme."
The reader will remark that there is no great interval between this
letter and the final break with the Bourbons by the death of the Duc
d'Enghien. At this time, according to Savory (tome iii. p. 241),
some of the Bourbons were receiving French pensions. The Prince de
Conti, the Duchesse de Bourbon, and the Duchesse d'Orleans, when
sent out of France by the Directory, were given pensions of from
20,000 to 26,000 francs each. They lived in Catalonia. When the
French troops entered Spain in 1808 General Canclaux, a friend of
the Prince de Conti, brought to the notice of Napoleon that the
tiresome formalities insisted on by the pestilent clerks of all
nations were observed towards these regal personages. Gaudin, the
Minister of Finance, apparently on his own initiative, drew up a
decree increasing the pensions to 80,000 francs, and doing away with
the formalities. "The Emperor signed at once, thanking the Minister
of Finance." The reader, remembering the position of the French
Princes then, should compare this action of Napoleon with the
failure of the Bourbons in 1814 to pay the sums promised to
Napoleon, notwithstanding the strong remonstrances made at Vienna to
Talleyrand by Alexander and Lord Castlereagh. See Talleyrand's
Correspondence with Louis XVIII., tome ii. pp. 27, 28; or French
edition, pp. 285, 288.]--
The reader will recollect the curious question which the First Consul
put to me on the subject of the Bourbons when we were walking in the
park of Malmaison. To the reply which I made to him on that occasion I
attribute the secrecy he observed towards me respecting the letter just
alluded to. I am indeed inclined to regard that letter as the result of
one of his private conferences with Lucien; but I know nothing positive
on the subject, and merely mention this as a conjecture. However, I
had an opportunity of ascertaining the curious circumstances which took
place at Mittau, when Bonaparte's letter was delivered to Louis XVIII.
That Prince was already much irritated against Bonaparte by his delay
in answering his first letter, and also by the tenor of his tardy reply;
but on reading the First Consul's second letter the dethroned King
immediately sat down and traced a few lines forcibly expressing his
indignation at such a proposition. The note, hastily written by Louis
XVIII. in the first impulse of irritation, bore little resemblance to
the dignified and elegant letter which Bonaparte received, and which I
shall presently lay before the reader. This latter epistle closed
very happily with the beautiful device of Francis I., "All is lost but
honour." But the first letter was stamped with a more chivalrous tone of
indignation. The indignant sovereign wrote it with his hand supported on
the hilt of his sword; but the Abbe Andre, in whom Louis XVIII.
reposed great confidence, saw the note, and succeeded, not without some
difficulty, in soothing the anger of the King, and prevailing on him to
write the following letter:
I do not confound M. Bonaparte with those who have preceded him.
I esteem his courage and his military talents. I am grateful for
some acts of his government; for the benefits which are conferred on
my people will always be prized by me.
But he errs in supposing that he can induce me to renounce my
rights; so far from that, he would confirm them, if they could
possibly be doubtful, by the step he has now taken.
I am ignorant of the designs of Heaven respecting me and my
subjects; but I know the obligations which God has imposed upon me.
As a Christian, I will fulfil my duties to my last breath--as the
son of St. Louis, I would, like him, respect myself even in chains--
as the successor of Francis I., I say with him--'Tout est perdu 'hors
l'honneur'.
MITTAU, 1802. LOUIS.
Louis XVIII.'s letter having reached Paris, the Royalist committee
assembled, and were not a little embarrassed as to what should be done.
The meeting took place at Neuilly. After a long deliberation it was
suggested that the delivery of the letter should be entrusted to the
Third Consul, with whom the Abby de Montesqieu had kept up acquaintance
since the time of the Constituent Assembly. This suggestion was adopted.
The recollections of the commencement of his career, under Chancellor
Maupeou, had always caused M. Lebrun to be ranked in a distinct class
by the Royalists. For my part, I always looked upon him as a very
honest man, a warm advocate of equality, and anxious that it should be
protected even by despotism, which suited the views of the First Consul
very well. The Abbe de Montesquiou accordingly waited upon M. Lebrun,
who undertook to deliver the letter. Bonaparte received it with an air
of indifference; but whether that indifference were real or affected, I
am to this day unable to determine. He said very little to me about
the ill success of the negotiation with Louis XVIII. On this subject he
dreaded, above all, the interference of his brothers, who created around
him a sort of commotion which he knew was not without its influence, and
which on several occasions had excited his anger.
The letter of Louis XVIII. is certainly conceived in a tone of dignity
which cannot be too highly admired; and it may be said that Bonaparte
on this occasion rendered a real service to Louis by affording him the
opportunity of presenting to the world one of the finest pages in the
history of a dethroned King. This letter, the contents of which were
known in some circles of Paris, was the object of general approbation to
those who preserved the recollection of the Bourbons, and above all,
to the Royalist committee. The members of that committee, proud of the
noble spirit evinced by the unfortunate monarch, whose return they were
generously labouring to effect, replied to him by a sort of manifesto,
to which time has imparted interest, since subsequent events have
fulfilled the predictions it contained.
CHAPTER XVI
1802.
The day after my disgrace--Renewal of my duties--Bonaparte's
affected regard for me--Offer of an assistant--M. de Meneval--My
second rupture with Bonaparte--The Duc de Rovigo's account of it--
Letter from M. de Barbe Marbois--Real causes of my separation from
the First Consul--Postscript to the letter of M. de Barbe Marbois--
The black cabinet--Inspection of letters dining the Consulate--
I retire to St. Cloud--Communications from M. de Meneval--A week's
conflict between friendship and pride--My formal dismissal--Petty
revenge--My request to visit England--Monosyllabic answer--Wrong
suspicion--Burial of my papers--Communication from Duroc--My letter
to the First Consul--The truth acknowledged.
I shall now return to the circumstances which followed my first
disgrace, of which I have already spoken. The day after that on which I
had resumed my functions I went as usual to awaken the First Consul
at seven in the morning. He treated me just the same as if nothing had
happened between us; and on my part I behaved to him just as usual,
though I really regretted being obliged to resume labours which I found
too oppressive for me. When Bonaparte came down into his cabinet he
spoke to me of his plans with his usual confidence, and I saw, from
the number of letters lying in the basket, that during the few days
my functions had been suspended Bonaparte had not overcome his
disinclination to peruse this kind of correspondence. At the period of
this first rupture and reconciliation the question of the Consulate for
life was yet unsettled. It was not decided until the 2d of August, and
the circumstances to which I am about to refer happened at the end of
February.
I was now restored to my former footing of intimacy with the First
Consul, at least for a time; but I soon perceived that, after the scene
which M. de Talleyrand had witnessed, my duties in the Tuileries were
merely provisional, and might be shortened or prolonged according
to circumstances. I saw at the very first moment that Bonaparte had
sacrificed his wounded pride to the necessity (for such I may, without
any vanity, call it) of employing my services. The forced preference he
granted to me arose from the fact of his being unable to find any one
able to supply my place; for Duroc, as I have already said, showed
a disinclination to the business. I did not remain long in the dark
respecting the new situation in which I stood. I was evidently
still under quarantine; but the period of my quitting the port was
undetermined.
A short time after our reconciliation the First Consul said to me, in
a cajoling tone of which I was not the dupe, "My dear Bourrienne, you
cannot do everything. Business increases, and will continue to increase.
You know what Corvisart says. You have a family; therefore it is right
you should take care of your health. You must not kill yourself with
work; therefore some one must be got to assist you. Joseph tells me
that he can recommend a secretary, one of whom he speaks very highly. He
shall be under your direction; he can make out your copies, and do all
that can consistently be required of him. This, I think, will be a great
relief to you."--"I ask for nothing better," replied I, "than to have
the assistance of some one who, after becoming acquainted with the
business, may, some time or other, succeed me." Joseph sent M. de
Meneval, a young man who, to a good education, added the recommendations
of industry and prudence. I had every reason to be satisfied with him.
It was now that Napoleon employed all those devices and caresses which
always succeeded so well with him, and which yet again gained the day,
to put an end to the inconvenience caused to him by my retirement,
and to retain me. Here I call every one who knew me as witnesses that
nothing could equal my grief and despair to find myself obliged to
again begin my troublesome work. My health had suffered much from it.
Corvisart was a clever counsellor, but it was only during the night that
I could carry out his advice. To resume my duties was to renounce all
hope of rest, and even of health.
--[There is considerable truth in this statement about the effect on
his health. His successor, Meneval, without the same amount of
work, broke down and had to receive assistance (Meneval, tome i. p.
149).]--
I soon perceived the First Consul's anxiety to make M. de Meneval
acquainted with the routine of business, and accustomed to his manner.
Bonaparte had never pardoned me for having presumed to quit him after
he had attained so high a degree of power; he was only waiting for an
opportunity to punish me, and he seized upon an unfortunate circumstance
as an excuse for that separation which I had previously wished to bring
about.
I will explain this circumstance, which ought to have obtained for
me the consolation and assistance of the First Consul rather than the
forfeiture of his favour. My rupture with him has been the subject of
various misstatements, all of which I shall not take the trouble to
correct; I will merely notice what I have read in the Memoirs of the Duc
de Rovigo, in which it is stated that I was accused of peculation. M. de
Rovigo thus expresses himself:
Ever since the First Consul was invested with the supreme power his
life had been a continued scene of personal exertion. He had for
his private secretary M. de Bourrienne, a friend and companion of
his youth, whom he now made the sharer of all his labours. He
frequently sent for him in the dead of the night, and particularly
insisted upon his attending him every morning at seven. Bourrienne
was punctual in his attendance with the public papers, which he had
previously glanced over. The First Consul almost invariably read
their contents himself; he then despatched some business, and sat
down to table just as the clock struck nine. His breakfast, which
lasted six minutes, was no sooner over than he returned to his
cabinet, only left it for dinner, and resumed his close occupation
immediately after, until ten at night, which was his usual hour for
retiring to rest.
Bourrienne was gifted with a most wonderful memory; he could speak
and write many languages, and would make his pen follow as fast as
words were uttered. He possessed many other advantages; he was well
acquainted with the administrative departments, was versed in the
law of nations, and possessed a zeal and activity which rendered his
services quite indispensable to the First Consul. I have known the
several grounds upon which the unlimited confidence placed in him by
his chief rested, but am unable to speak with equal assurance of the
errors which occasioned his losing that confidence.
Bourrienne had many enemies; some were owing to his personal
character, a greater number to the situation which he held.
Others were jealous of the credit he enjoyed with the Head of the
Government; others, again, discontented at his not making that
credit subservient to their personal advantage. Some even imputed
to him the want of success that had attended their claims. It was
impossible to bring any charge against him on the score of
deficiency of talent or of indiscreet conduct; his personal habits
were watched--it was ascertained that he engaged in financial
speculations. An imputation could easily be founded on this
circumstance. Peculation was accordingly laid to his charge.
This was touching the most tender ground, for the First Consul held
nothing in greater abhorrence than unlawful gains. A solitary
voice, however, would have failed in an attempt to defame the
character of a man for whom he had so long felt esteem and
affection; other voices, therefore, were brought to bear against
him. Whether the accusations were well founded or otherwise, it is
beyond a doubt that all means were resorted to for bringing them to
the knowledge of the First Consul.
The most effectual course that suggested itself was the opening a
correspondence either with the accused party direct, or with those
with whom it was felt indispensable to bring him into contact; this
correspondence was carried on in a mysterious manner, and related to
the financial operations that had formed the grounds of a charge
against him.--Thus it is that, on more than one occasion, the very
channels intended for conveying truth to the knowledge of a
sovereign have been made available to the purpose of communicating
false intelligence to him. To give an instance.
Under the reign of Louis XV., and even under the Regency, the Post
Office was organized into a system of minute inspection, which did
not indeed extend to every letter, but was exercised over all such
as afforded grounds for suspicion. They were opened, and, when it
was not deemed safe to suppress them, copies were taken, and they
were returned to their proper channel without the least delay. Any
individual denouncing another may, by the help of such an
establishment, give great weight to his denunciation. It is
sufficient for his purpose that he should throw into the Post Office
any letter so worded as to confirm the impression which it is his
object to convey. The worthiest man may thus be committed by a
letter which he has never read, or the purport of which is wholly
unintelligible to him.
I am speaking from personal experience. It once happened that a
letter addressed to myself, relating to an alleged fact which had
never occurred, was opened. A copy of the letter so opened was also
forwarded to me, as it concerned the duties which I had to perform
at that time; but I was already in possession of the original,
transmitted through the ordinary channel. Summoned to reply to the
questions to which such productions had given rise, I took that
opportunity of pointing out the danger that would accrue from
placing a blind reliance upon intelligence derived from so hazardous
a source. Accordingly, little importance was afterwards attached to
this means of information; but the system was in operation at the
period when M. de Bourrienne was disgraced; his enemies took care to
avail themselves of it; they blackened his character with M. de
Barbe Marbois, who added to their accusations all the weight of his
unblemished character. The opinion entertained by this rigid public
functionary, and many other circumstances, induced the First Consul
to part with his secretary (tome i. p. 418).
Peculation is the crime of those who make a fraudulent use of the public
money. But as it was not in my power to meddle with the public money,
no part of which passed through my hands, I am at loss to conceive how I
can be charged with peculation! The Duc de Rovigo is not the author,
but merely the echo, of this calumny; but the accusation to which his
Memoirs gave currency afforded M. de Barbe Marbois an opportunity of
adding one more to the many proofs he has given of his love of justice.
I had seen nothing of the Memoirs of the Duc de Rovigo except their
announcement in the journals, when a letter from M. de Barbe Marbois was
transmitted to me from my family. It was as follows:
SIR--My attention has been called to the enclosed article in a
recent publication. The assertion it contains is not true, and I
conceive it to be a duty both to you and myself to declare that I
then was, and still am, ignorant of the causes of the separation in
question:--I am, etc.
(Signed) MARBOIS
I need say no more in my justification. This unsolicited testimony of
M. de Marbois is a sufficient contradiction to the charge of peculation
which has been raised against me in the absence of correct information
respecting the real causes of my rupture with the First Consul.
M. le Duc de Rovigo also observes that my enemies were numerous. My
concealed adversaries were indeed all those who were interested that the
sovereign should not have about him, as his confidential companion,
a man devoted to his glory and not to his vanity. In expressing his
dissatisfaction with one of his ministers Bonaparte had said, in the
presence of several individuals, among whom was M. Maret, "If I
could find a second Bourrienne I would get rid of you all." This
was sufficient to raise against me the hatred of all who envied the
confidence of which I was in possession.
The failure of a firm in Paris in which I had invested a considerable
sum of money afforded an opportunity for envy and malignity to irritate
the First Consul against me. Bonaparte, who had not yet forgiven me for
wishing to leave him, at length determined to sacrifice my services to a
new fit of ill-humour.
A mercantile house, then one of the most respectable in Patna, had among
its speculations undertaken some army contracts. With the knowledge of
Berthier, with whom, indeed, the house had treated, I had invested some
money in this business. Unfortunately the principals were, unknown to
me, engaged in dangerous speculations in the Funds, which in a short
time so involved them as to occasion their failure for a heavy amount.
This caused a rumour that a slight fall of the Funds, which took place
at that period, was occasioned by the bankruptcy; and the First Consul,
who never could understand the nature of the Funds, gave credit to the
report. He was made to believe that the business of the Stock Exchange
was ruined. It was insinuated that I was accused of taking advantage
of my situation to produce variations in the Funds, though I was so
unfortunate as to lose not only my investment in the bankrupt house, but
also a sum of money for which I had become bound, by way of surety,
to assist the house in increasing its business. I incurred the violent
displeasure of the First Consul, who declared to me that he no longer
required my services. I might, perhaps have cooled his irritation by
reminding him that he could not blame me for purchasing an interest in
a contract, since he himself had stipulated for a gratuity of 1,500,000
francs for his brother Joseph out of the contract for victualling the
navy. But I saw that for some time past M. de Meneval had begun to
supersede me, and the First Consul only wanted such an opportunity as
this for coming to a rupture with me.
Such is a true statement of the circumstances which led to my separation
from Bonaparte. I defy any one to adduce a single fact in support of
the charge of peculation, or any transaction of the kind; I fear no
investigation of my conduct. When in the service of Bonaparte I caused
many appointments to be made, and many names to be erased from the
emigrant list before the 'Senatus-consulte' of the 6th Floréal, year X.;
but I never counted upon gratitude, experience having taught me that it
was an empty word.
The Duc de Rovigo attributed my disgrace to certain intercepted letters
which injured me in the eyes of the First Consul. I did not know this
at the time, and though I was pretty well aware of the machinations of
Bonaparte's adulators, almost all of whom were my enemies, yet I did not
contemplate such an act of baseness. But a spontaneous letter from M.
de Barbe Marbois at length opened my eyes, and left little doubt on the
subject. The following is the postscript to that noble peer's letter:
I recollect that one Wednesday the First Consul, while presiding at
a Council of Ministers at St. Cloud, opened a note, and, without
informing us what it contained, hastily left the Board, apparently
much agitated. In a few minutes he returned and told us that your
functions had ceased.
Whether the sudden displeasure of the First Consul was excited by a
false representation of my concern in the transaction which proved so
unfortunate to me, or whether Bonaparte merely made that a pretence
for carrying into execution a resolution which I am convinced had been
previously adopted, I shall not stop to determine; but the Duc de Rovigo
having mentioned the violation of the secrecy of letters in my case, I
shall take the opportunity of stating some particulars on that subject.
Before I wrote these Memoirs the existence in the Post Office of the
cabinet, which had obtained the epithet of black, had been denounced in
the chamber of deputies, and the answer was, that it no longer existed,
which of course amounted to an admission that it had existed. I may
therefore, without indiscretion, state what I know respecting it.
The "black cabinet" was established in the reign of Louis XV., merely
for the purpose of prying into the scandalous gossip of the Court and
the capital. The existence of this cabinet soon became generally
known to every one. The numerous postmasters who succeeded each other,
especially in latter times, the still more numerous Post Office clerks,
and that portion of the public who are ever on the watch for what is
held up as scandalous, soon banished all the secrecy of the affair, and
none but fools were taken in by it. All who did not wish to be committed
by their correspondence chose better channels of communication than the
Post; but those who wanted to ruin an enemy or benefit a friend long
continued to avail themselves of the black cabinet, which, at first
intended merely to amuse a monarch's idle hours, soon became a medium of
intrigue, dangerous from the abuse that might be made of it.
Every morning, for three years, I used to peruse the portfolio
containing the bulletins of the black cabinet, and I frankly confess
that I never could discover any real cause for the public indignation
against it, except inasmuch as it proved the channel of vile intrigue.
Out of 30,000 letters, which daily left Paris to be distributed through
France and all parts of the world, ten or twelve, at most, were copied,
and often only a few lines of them.
Bonaparte at first proposed to send complete copies of intercepted
letters to the ministers whom their contents might concern; but a few
observations from me induced him to direct that only the important
passages should be extracted and sent. I made these extracts, and
transmitted them to their destinations, accompanied by the following
words: "The First Consul directs me to inform you that he has just
received the following information," etc. Whence the information came
was left to be guessed at.
The First Consul daily received through this channel about a dozen
pretended letters, the writers of which described their enemies as
opponents of the Government, or their friends as models of obedience and
fidelity to the constituted authorities. But the secret purpose of this
vile correspondence was soon discovered, and Bonaparte gave orders that
no more of it should be copied. I, however, suffered from it at the time
of my disgrace, and was well-nigh falling a victim to it at a subsequent
period.
The letter mentioned by M. de Marbois, and which was the occasion of
this digression on the violation of private correspondence, derived
importance from the circumstance that Wednesday, the 20th of October,
when Bonaparte received it, was the day on which I left the Consular
palace.
I retired to a house which Bonaparte had advised me to purchase at St.
Cloud, and for the fitting up and furnishing of which he had promised to
pay. We shall see how he kept this promise! I immediately sent to direct
Landoire, the messenger of Bonaparte's cabinet, to place all letters
sent to me in the First Consul's portfolio, because many intended for
him came under cover for me. In consequence of this message I received
the following letter from M. de Meneval:
MY DEAR BOURRIENNE--I cannot believe that the First Consul would
wish that your letters should be presented to him. I presume you
allude only to those which may concern him, and which come addressed
under cover to you. The First Consul has written to citizens
Lavallette and Mollien directing them to address their packets to
him. I cannot allow Landoire to obey the order you sent.
The First Consul yesterday evening evinced great regret. He
repeatedly said, "How miserable I am! I have known that man since
he was seven years old." I cannot but believe that he will
reconsider his unfortunate decision. I have intimated to him that
the burden of the business is too much for me, and that he must be
extremely at a loss for the services of one to whom he was so much
accustomed, and whose situation, I am confident, nobody else can
satisfactorily fill. He went to bed very low-spirited. I am, etc.
(Signed) MENEVAL.
19 Vendemiaire, an X.
(21st October 1802.)
Next day I received another letter from M. Meneval as follows:--
I send you your letters. The First Consul prefers that you should
break them open, and send here those which are intended for him. I
enclose some German papers, which he begs you to translate.
Madame Bonaparte is much interested in your behalf; and I can assure
you that no one more heartily desires than the First Consul himself
to see you again at your old post, for which it would be difficult
to find a successor equal to you, either as regards fidelity or
fitness. I do not relinquish the hope of seeing you here again.
A whole week passed away in conflicts between the First Consul's
friendship and pride. The least desire he manifested to recall me
was opposed by his flatterers. On the fifth day of our separation he
directed me to come to him. He received me with the greatest kindness,
and after having good-humouredly told me that I often expressed myself
with too much freedom--a fault I was never solicitous to correct--he
added: "I regret your absence much. You were very useful to me. You are
neither too noble nor too plebeian, neither too aristocratic nor too
Jacobinical. You are discreet and laborious. You understand me better
than any one else; and, between ourselves be it said, we ought to
consider this a sort of Court. Look at Duroc, Bessières, Maret. However,
I am very much inclined to take you back; but by so doing I should
confirm the report that I cannot do without you."
Madame Bonaparte informed me that she had heard persons to whom
Bonaparte expressed a desire to recall me observe, "What would you do?
People will say you cannot do without him. You have got rid of him now;
therefore think no more about him: and as for the English newspapers, he
gave them more importance than they really deserved: you will no longer
be troubled with them." This will bring to mind a scene--which occurred
at Malmaison on the receipt of some intelligence in the 'London
Gazette'.
I am convinced that if Bonaparte had been left to himself he would have
recalled me, and this conviction is warranted by the interval which
elapsed between his determination to part with me and the formal
announcement of my dismissal. Our rupture took place on the 20th of
October, and on the 8th of November following the First Consul sent me
the following letter:
CITIZEN BOURRIENNE, MINISTER OF STATE--I am satisfied with the
services which you have rendered me during the time you have been
with me; but henceforth they are no longer necessary. I wish you to
relinquish, from this time, the functions and title of my private
secretary. I shall seize an early opportunity of providing for you
in a way suited to your activity and talents, and conducive to the
public service.
(Signed)BONAPARTE.
If any proof of the First Consul's malignity were wanting it would be
furnished by the following fact:--A few days after the receipt of the
letter which announced my dismissal I received a note from Duroc;
but, to afford an idea of the petty revenge of him who caused it to
be written, it will be necessary first to relate a few preceding
circumstances.
When, with the view of preserving a little freedom, I declined the
offer of apartments which Madame Bonaparte had prepared at Malmaison
for myself and my family, I purchased a small house at Ruel: the First
Consul had given orders for the furnishing of this house, as well as
one which I possessed in Paris. From the manner in which the orders were
given I had not the slightest doubt but that Bonaparte intended to
make me a present of the furniture. However, when I left his service
he applied to have it returned. As at first I paid no attention to his
demand, as far as it concerned the furniture at Ruel, he directed Duroc
to write the following letter to me:
The First Consul, my dear Bourrienne, has just ordered me to send
him this evening the keys of your residence in Paris, from which the
furniture is not to be removed.
He also directs me to put into a warehouse whatever furniture you
may have at Ruel or elsewhere which you have obtained from
Government.
I beg of you to send me an answer, so as to assist me in the
execution of these orders. You promised me to have everything
settled before the First Consul's return. I must excuse myself in
the best way I can.
(Signed) DUROC.
24 Brumaire, an X.
(15th November 1802.)
Believing myself to be master of my own actions, I had formed the design
of visiting England, whither I was called by some private business.
However, I was fully aware of the peculiarity of my situation, and I was
resolved to take no step that should in any way justify a reproach.
On the 11th of January I therefore wrote to Duroc:
My affairs require my presence in England for some time. I beg of
you, my dear Duroc, to mention my intended journey to the First
Consul, as I do not wish to do anything inconsistent with his views.
I would rather sacrifice my own interest than displease him. I rely
on your friendship for an early answer to this, for uncertainty
would be fatal to me in many respects.
The answer, which speedily arrived, was as follows:--
MY DEAR BOURRIENNE--I have presented to the First Consul the letter
I just received from you. He read it, and said, "No!"
That is the only answer I can give you. (Signed) DUROC.
This monosyllable was expressive. It proved to me that Bonaparte was
conscious how ill he had treated me; and, suspecting that I was actuated
by the desire of vengeance, he was afraid of my going to England, lest I
should there take advantage of that liberty of the press which he had so
effectually put down in France. He probably imagined that my object was
to publish statements which would more effectually have enlightened the
public respecting his government and designs than all the scandalous
anecdotes, atrocious calumnies, and ridiculous fabrications of
Pelletier, the editor of the 'Ambigu'. But Bonaparte was much deceived
in this supposition; and if there can remain any doubt on that subject,
it will be removed on referring to the date of these Memoirs, and
observing the time at which I consented to publish them.
I was not deceived as to the reasons of Bonaparte's unceremonious
refusal of my application; and as I well knew his inquisitorial
character, I thought it prudent to conceal my notes. I acted differently
from Camoens. He contended with the sea to preserve his manuscripts;
I made the earth the depository of mine. I carefully enclosed my most
valuable notes and papers in a tin box, which I buried under ground.
A yellow tinge, the commencement of decay, has in some places almost
obliterated the writing.
It will be seen in the sequel that my precaution was not useless, and
that I was right in anticipating the persecution of Bonaparte, provoked
by the malice of my enemies. On the 20th of April Duroc sent me the
following note:
I beg, my dear Bourrienne, that you will come to St. Cloud this
morning. I have something to tell you on the part of the First
Consul.
(Signed) DUROC.
This note caused me much anxiety. I could not doubt but that my enemies
had invented some new calumny; but I must say that I did not expect such
baseness as I experienced.
As soon as Duroc had made me acquainted with the business which the
First Consul had directed him to communicate, I wrote on the spot the
subjoined letter to Bonaparte:
At General Duroc's desire I have this moment waited upon him, and he
informs me that you have received notice that a deficit of 100,000
francs has been discovered in the Treasury of the Navy, which you
require me to refund this day at noon.
Citizen First Consul, I know not what this means! I am utterly
ignorant of the matter. I solemnly declare to you that this charge
is a most infamous calumny. It is one more to be added to the
number of those malicious charges which have been invented for the
purpose of destroying any influence I might possess with you.
I am in General Duroc's apartment, where I await your orders.
Duroc carried my note to the First Consul as soon as it was written. He
speedily returned. "All's right!" said he. "He has directed me to say it
was entirely a mistake!--that he is now convinced he was deceived! that
he is sorry for the business, and hopes no more will be said about it."
The base flatterers who surrounded Bonaparte wished him to renew his
Egyptian extortions upon me; but they should have recollected that the
fusillade employed in Egypt for the purpose of raising money was no
longer the fashion in France, and that the days were gone by when it was
the custom to 'grease the wheels of the revolutionary car.'
CHAPTER XVII.
1803.
The First Consul's presentiments respecting the duration of peace--
England's uneasiness at the prosperity of France--Bonaparte's real
wish for war--Concourse of foreigners in Paris--Bad faith of
England--Bonaparte and Lord Whitworth--Relative position of France
and England-Bonaparte's journey to the seaboard departments--
Breakfast at Compiegne--Father Berton--Irritation excited by the
presence of Bouquet--Father Berton's derangement and death--Rapp
ordered to send for me--Order countermanded.
The First Consul never anticipated a long peace with England. He wished
for peace merely because, knowing it to be ardently desired by the
people, after ten years of war he thought it would increase his
popularity and afford him the opportunity of laying the foundation of
his government. Peace was as necessary to enable him to conquer the
throne of France as war was essential to secure it, and to enlarge its
base at the expense of the other thrones of Europe. This was the secret
of the peace of Amiens, and of the rupture which so suddenly followed,
though that rupture certainly took place sooner than the First Consul
wished. On the great questions of peace and war Bonaparte entertained
elevated ideas; but in discussions on the subject he always declared
himself in favour of war. When told of the necessities of the people,
of the advantages of peace, its influence on trade, the arts, national
industry, and every branch of public prosperity, he did not attempt to
deny the argument; indeed, he concurred in it; but he remarked, that all
those advantages were only conditional, so long as England was able
to throw the weight of her navy into the scale of the world, and to
exercise the influence of her gold in all the Cabinets of Europe. Peace
must be broken; since it was evident that England was determined
to break it. Why not anticipate her? Why allow her to have all the
advantages of the first step? We must astonish Europe! We must thwart
the policy of the Continent! We must strike a great and unexpected blow.
Thus reasoned the First Consul, and every one may judge whether his
actions agreed with his sentiments.
The conduct of England too well justified the foresight of Bonaparte's
policy; or rather England, by neglecting to execute her treaties, played
into Bonaparte's hand, favoured his love for war, and justified the
prompt declaration of hostilities in the eyes of the French nation, whom
he wished to persuade that if peace were broken it would be against his
wishes. England was already at work with the powerful machinery of
her subsidies, and the veil beneath which she attempted to conceal her
negotiations was still sufficiently transparent for the lynx eye of the
First Consul. It was in the midst of peace that all those plots were
hatched, while millions who had no knowledge of their existence were
securely looking forward to uninterrupted repose.
Since the Revolution Paris had never presented such a spectacle as
during the winter of 1802-3. At that time the concourse of foreigners
in the French capital was immense. Everything wore the appearance of
satisfaction, and the external signs of public prosperity. The visible
regeneration in French society exceedingly annoyed the British Ministry.
The English who flocked to the Continent discovered France to be very
different from what she was described to be by the English papers. This
caused serious alarm on the other side of the Channel, and the English
Government endeavoured by unjust complaints to divert attention from
just dissatisfaction, which its own secret intrigues excited. The King
of England sent a message to Parliament, in which he spoke of armaments
preparing in the ports of France, and of the necessity of adopting
precautions against meditated aggressions. This instance of bad faith
highly irritated the First Consul, who one day, in a fit of displeasure,
thus addressed Lord Whitworth in the salon, where all the foreign
Ambassadors were assembled:
"What is the meaning of this? Are you then tired of peace? Must Europe
again be deluged with blood? Preparations for war indeed! Do you think
to overawe us by this? You shall see that France may be conquered,
perhaps destroyed, but never intimidated--never!"
The English Ambassador was astounded at this unexpected sally, to which
he made no reply. He contented himself with writing to his Government an
account of an interview in which the First Consul had so far forgotten
himself,-whether purposely or not I do not pretend to say.
That England wished for war there could be no doubt. She occupied Malta,
it is true, but she had promised to give it up, though she never had any
intention of doing so. She was to have evacuated Egypt, yet there she
still remained; the Cape of Good Hope was to have been surrendered, but
she still retained possession of it. England had signed, at Amiens, a
peace which she had no intention of maintaining. She knew the hatred
of the Cabinets of Europe towards France, and she was sure, by her
intrigues and subsidies, of arming them on her side whenever her plans
reached maturity. She saw France powerful and influential in Europe, and
she knew the ambitious views of the First Consul, who, indeed, had taken
little pains to conceal them.
The First Consul, who had reckoned on a longer duration of the peace of
Amiens, found himself at the rupture of the treaty in an embarrassing
situation. The numerous grants of furloughs, the deplorable condition of
the cavalry, and the temporary absence of artillery, in consequence of
a project for refounding all the field-pieces, caused much anxiety
to Bonaparte. He had recourse to the conscription to fill up the
deficiencies of the army; and the project of refounding the artillery
was abandoned. Supplies of money were obtained from the large towns,
and Hanover, which was soon after occupied, furnished abundance of good
horses for mounting the cavalry.
War had now become inevitable; and as soon as it was declared the
First Consul set out to visit Belgium and the seaboard departments to
ascertain the best means of resisting the anticipated attacks of the
English. In passing through Compiegne he received a visit from Father
Berton, formerly principal of the military school of Brienne. He was
then rector of the school of arts at Compiegne, a situation in which he
had been placed by Bonaparte. I learned the particulars of this visit
through Josephine. Father Berton, whose primitive simplicity of manner
was unchanged since the time when he held us under the authority of his
ferule, came to invite Bonaparte and Josephine to breakfast with him,
which invitation was accepted. Father Berton had at that time living
with him one of our old comrades of Brienne, named Bouquet; but he
expressly forbade him to show himself to Bonaparte or any one of his
suite, because Bouquet, who had been a commissary at headquarters
in Italy, was in disgrace with the First Consul. Bouquet promised
to observe Father Berton's injunctions, but was far from keeping his
promise. As soon as he saw Bonaparte's carriage drive up, he ran to
the door and gallantly handed out Josephine. Josephine, as she took his
hand, said, "Bouquet,--you have ruined yourself!" Bonaparte, indignant
at what he considered an unwarrantable familiarity, gave way to one of
his uncontrollable fits of passion, and as soon as he entered the room
where the breakfast was laid, he seated himself, and then said to his
wife in an imperious tone, "Josephine, sit there!" He then commenced
breakfast, without telling Father Becton to sit down, although a third
plate had been laid for him. Father Becton stood behind his old pupil's
chair apparently confounded at his violence. The scene produced such an
effect on the old man that he became incapable of discharging his duties
at Compiegne. He retired to Rheims, and his intellect soon after became
deranged. I do not pretend to say whether this alienation of mind was
caused by the occurrence I have just related, and the account of which
I received from Josephine. She was deeply afflicted at what had passed.
Father Berton died insane. What I heard from Josephine was afterwards
confirmed by the brother of Father Becton. The fact is, that in
proportion as Bonaparte acquired power he was the more annoyed at the
familiarity of old companions; and, indeed, I must confess that their
familiarity often appeared very ridiculous.
The First Consul's visit to the northern coast took place towards the
end of the year 1803, at which time the English attacked the Dutch
settlements of Surinam, Demerara, and Essequibo, and a convention of
neutrality was concluded between France, Spain, and Portugal. Rapp
accompanied the First Consul, who attentively inspected the preparations
making for a descent on England, which it was never his intention to
effect, as will be shortly shown.
On the First Consul's return I learned from Rapp that I had been spoken
of during the journey, and in the following way:--Bonaparte, being at
Boulogne, wanted some information which no one there could give, him.
Vexed at receiving no satisfactory answer to his inquiries he called
Rapp, and said, "Do you know, Rapp, where Bourrienne is?"--"General, he
is in Paris."--"Write to him to come here immediately, and send off one
of my couriers with the letter." The rumour of the First Consul's sudden
recollection of me spread like lightning, and the time required to write
the letter and despatch the courier was more than sufficient for
the efforts of those whom my return was calculated to alarm. Artful
representations soon checked these spontaneous symptoms of a return to
former feelings and habits. When Rapp carried to the First Consul
the letter he had been directed to write the order was countermanded.
However, Rapp advised me not to leave Paris, or if I did, to mention the
place where I might be found, so that Duroc might have it in his power
to seize on any favourable circumstance without delay. I was well aware
of the friendship of both Rapp and Duroc, and they could as confidently
rely on mine.
CHAPTER XVIII.
1803.
Vast works undertaken--The French and the Roman soldiers--Itinerary
of Bonaparte's journeys to the coast--Twelve hours on horseback--
Discussions in Council--Opposition of Truguet--Bonaparte'a opinion
on the point under discussion--Two divisions of the world--Europe a
province--Bonaparte's jealousy of the dignity of France--The
Englishman in the dockyard of Brest--Public audience at the
Tuilleries--The First Consul's remarks upon England--His wish to
enjoy the good opinion of the English people--Ball at Malmaison--
Lines on Hortense's dancing--Singular motive for giving the ball.
At the time of the rupture with England Bonaparte was, as I have
mentioned, quite unprepared in most branches of the service; yet
everything was created as if by magic, and he seemed to impart to others
a share of his own incredible activity. It is inconceivable how many
things had been undertaken and executed since the rupture of the peace.
The north coast of France presented the appearance of one vast arsenal;
for Bonaparte on this occasion employed his troops like Roman soldiers,
and made the tools of the artisan succeed to the arms of the warrior.
On his frequent journeys to the coast Bonaparte usually set off at
night, and on the following morning arrived at the post office of
Chantilly, where he breakfasted. Rapp, whom I often saw when he was
in Paris, talked incessantly of these journeys, for he almost always
accompanied the First Consul, and it would have been well had he always
been surrounded by such men. In the evening the First Consul supped at
Abbeville, and arrived early next day at the bridge of Brique. "It would
require constitutions of iron to go through what we do," said Rapp.
"We no sooner alight from the carriage than we mount on horseback, and
sometimes remain in our saddles for ten or twelve hours successively.
The First Consul inspects and examines everything, often talks with the
soldiers. How he is beloved by them! When shall we pay a visit to London
with those brave fellows?"
Notwithstanding these continual journeys the First Consul never
neglected any of the business of government, and was frequently present
at the deliberations of the Council. I was still with him when the
question as to the manner in which the treaties of peace should be
concluded came under the consideration of the Council. Some members,
among whom Truguet was conspicuous, were of opinion that, conformably
with an article of the Constitution, the treaties should be proposed by
the Head of the Government, submitted to the Legislative Body, and
after being agreed to promulgated as part of the laws. Bonaparte thought
differently. I was entirely of his opinion, and he said to me, "It
is for the mere pleasure of opposition that they appeal to the
Constitution, for if the Constitution says so it is absurd. There are
some things which cannot become the subject of discussion in a public
assembly; for instance, if I treat with Austria, and my Ambassador
agrees to certain conditions, can those conditions be rejected by the
Legislative Body? It is a monstrous absurdity! Things would be brought
to a fine pass in this way! Lucchesini and Markow would give dinners
every day like Cambacérès; scatter their money about, buy men who are to
be sold, and thus cause our propositions to be rejected. This would be a
fine way to manage matters!"
When Bonaparte, according to his custom, talked to me in the evening of
what had passed in the Council, his language was always composed of a
singular mixture of quotations from antiquity, historical references,
and his own ideas. He talked about the Romans, and I remember when
Mr. Fox was at Paris that he tried to distinguish himself before that
Foreign Minister, whom he greatly esteemed. In his enlarged way of
viewing the world Bonaparte divided it into two large states, the East
and the West: "What matters," he would often say, "that two countries
are separated by rivers or mountains, that they speak different
languages? With very slight shades of variety France, Spain, England,
Italy, and Germany, have the same manners and customs, the same
religion, and the same dress. In them a man can only marry one wife;
slavery is not allowed; and these are the great distinctions which
divide the civilised inhabitants of the globe. With the exception of
Turkey, Europe is merely a province of the world, and our warfare is but
civil strife. There is also another way of dividing nations, namely,
by land and water." Then he would touch on all the European interests,
speak of Russia, whose alliance he wished for, and of England, the
mistress of the seas. He usually ended by alluding to what was then his
favourite scheme--an expedition to India.
When from these general topics Bonaparte descended to the particular
interests of France, he still spoke like a sovereign; and I may truly
say that he showed himself more jealous than any sovereign ever was of
the dignity of France, of which he already considered himself the sole
representative. Having learned that a captain of the English navy had
visited the dockyard of Brest passing himself off as a merchant,
whose passport he had borrowed, he flew into a rage because no one had
ventured to arrest him.--[see James' Naval History for an account of Sir
Sidney Smith's daring exploit.]--Nothing was lost on Bonaparte, and he
made use of this fact to prove to the Council of State the necessity of
increasing the number of commissary-generals of police. At a meeting of
the Council he said, "If there had been a commissary of police at Brest
he would have arrested the English captain and sent him at once to
Paris. As he was acting the part of a spy I would have had him shot as
such. No Englishman, not even a nobleman, or the English Ambassador,
should be admitted into our dockyards. I will soon regulate all this."
He afterwards said to me, "There are plenty of wretches who are selling
me every day to the English without my being subjected to English
spying."
--[During the short and hollow peace of Amiens Bonaparte sent over
to England as consuls and vice-consuls, a number of engineers and
military men, who were instructed to make plans of all the harbours
and coasts of the United Kingdom. They worked in secrecy, yet not
so secretly but that they were soon suspected: the facts were
proved, and they were sent out of the country without ceremony.--
Editor of 1836 edition.]--
He had on one occasion said before an assemblage of generals, senators,
and high officers of State, who were at an audience of the Diplomatic
Body, "The English think that I am afraid of war, but I am not." And
here the truth escaped him, in spite of himself. "My power will lose
nothing by war. In a very short time I can have 2,000,000 of men at
my disposal. What has been the result of the first war? The union of
Belgium and Piedmont to France. This is greatly to our advantage; it
will consolidate our system. France shall not be restrained by foreign
fetters. England has manifestly violated the treaties! It would be
better to render homage to the King of England, and crown him King of
France at Paris, than to submit to the insolent caprices of the English
Government. If, for the sake of preserving peace, at most for only
two months longer, I should yield on a single point, the English would
become the more treacherous and insolent, and would enact the more in
proportion as we yield. But they little know me! Were we to yield to
England now, she would next prohibit our navigation in certain parts of
the world. She would insist on the surrender of our ships. I know
not what she would not demand; but I am not the man to brook such
indignities. Since England wishes for war she shall have it, and that
speedily!"
On the same day Bonaparte said a great deal more about the treachery
of England. The gross calumnies to which he was exposed in the London
newspapers powerfully contributed to increase his natural hatred of the
liberty of the press; and he was much astonished that such attacks
could be made upon him by English subjects when he was at peace with the
English Government.
I had one day a singular proof of the importance which Bonaparte
attached to the opinion of the English people respecting any misconduct
that was attributed to him. What I am about to state will afford another
example of Bonaparte's disposition to employ petty and roundabout means
to gain his ends. He gave a ball at Malmaison when Hortense was in the
seventh month of her pregnancy.
--[This refers to the first son of Louis and of Hortense, Napoleon
Charles, the intended successor of Napoleon, who was born 1802, died
1807, elder brother of Napoleon III.]--
I have already mentioned that he disliked to see women in that
situation, and above all could not endure to see them dance. Yet, in
spite of this antipathy, he himself asked Hortense to dance at the
ball at Malmaison. She at first declined, but Bonaparte was exceedingly
importunate, and said to her in a tone of good-humoured persuasion, "Do,
I beg of you; I particularly wish to see you dance. Come, stand up,
to oblige me." Hortense at last consented. The motive for this
extraordinary request I will now explain.
On the day after the ball one of the newspapers contained some verses
on Hortense's dancing. She was exceedingly annoyed at this, and when
the paper arrived at Malmaison she expressed, displeasure at it.
Even allowing for all the facility of our newspaper wits, she was
nevertheless at a loss to understand how the lines could have been
written and printed respecting a circumstance which only occurred the
night before. Bonaparte smiled, and gave her no distinct answer. When
Hortense knew that I was alone in the cabinet she came in and asked me
to explain the matter; and seeing no reason to conceal the truth, I told
her that the lines had been written by Bonaparte's direction before the
ball took place. I added, what indeed was the fact, that the ball
had been prepared for the verses, and that it was only for the
appropriateness of their application that the First Consul had pressed
her to dance. He adopted this strange contrivance for contradicting an
article which appeared in an English journal announcing that Hortense
was delivered. Bonaparte was highly indignant at that premature
announcement, which he clearly saw was made for the sole purpose of
giving credit to the scandalous rumours of his imputed connection with
Hortense. Such were the petty machinations which not unfrequently found
their place in a mind in which the grandest schemes were revolving.
CHAPTER XIX.
1803.
Mr. Pitt--Motive of his going out of office--Error of the English
Government--Pretended regard for the Bourbons--Violation of the
treaty of Amiens--Reciprocal accusations--Malta--Lord Whitworth's
departure--Rome and Carthage--Secret satisfaction of Bonaparte--
Message to the Senate, the Legislative Body, and the Tribunate--
The King of England's renunciation of the title of King of France--
Complaints of the English Government--French agents in British ports
--Views of France upon Turkey--Observation made by Bonaparte to the
Legislative Body--Its false interpretation--Conquest of Hanover--
The Duke of Cambridge caricatured--The King of England and the
Elector of Hanover--First address to the clergy--Use of the word
"Monsieur"--The Republican weeks and months.
One of the circumstances which foretold the brief duration of the
peace of Amiens was, that Mr. Pitt was out of office at the time of its
conclusion. I mentioned this to Bonaparte, and I immediately perceived
by his hasty "What do you say?" that my observation had been heard--but
not liked. It did not, however, require any extraordinary shrewdness
to see the true motive of Mr. Pitt's retirement. That distinguished
statesman conceived that a truce under the name of a peace was
indispensable for England; but, intending to resume the war with France
more fiercely than ever, he for a while retired from office, and left
to others the task of arranging the peace; but his intention was to mark
his return to the ministry by the renewal of the implacable hatred
he had vowed against France. Still, I have always thought that the
conclusion of peace, however necessary to England, was an error of the
Cabinet of London. England alone had never before acknowledged any of
the governments which had risen up in France since the Revolution; and
as the past could not be blotted out, a future war, however successful
to England, could not take from Bonaparte's Government the immense
weight it had acquired by an interval of peace. Besides, by the mere
fact of the conclusion of the treaty England proved to all Europe that
the restoration of the Bourbons was merely a pretext, and she defaced
that page of her history which might have shown that she was actuated
by nobler and more generous sentiments than mere hatred of France. It
is very certain that the condescension of England in treating with the
First Consul had the effect of rallying round him a great many partisans
of the Bourbons, whose hopes entirely depended on the continuance of war
between Great Britain and France. This opened the eyes of the greater
number, namely, those who could not see below the surface, and were not
previously aware that the demonstrations of friendship so liberally made
to the Bourbons by the European Cabinets, and especially by England,
were merely false pretences, assumed for the purpose of disguising,
beneath the semblance of honourable motives, their wish to injure
France, and to oppose her rapidly increasing power.
When the misunderstanding took place, France and England might have
mutually reproached each other, but justice was apparently on the side
of France. It was evident that England, by refusing to evacuate Malta,
was guilty of a palpable infraction of the treaty of Amiens, while
England could only institute against France what in the French law
language is called a suit or process of tendency. But it must be
confessed that this tendency on the part of France to augment her
territory was very evident, for the Consular decrees made conquests more
promptly than the sword. The union of Piedmont with France had changed
the state of Europe. This union, it is true, was effected previously
to the treaty of Amiens; but it was not so with the states of Parma and
Piacenza, Bonaparte having by his sole authority constituted himself the
heir of the Grand Duke, recently deceased. It may therefore be easily
imagined how great was England's uneasiness at the internal prosperity
of France and the insatiable ambition of her ruler; but it is no less
certain that, with respect to Malta, England acted with decidedly bad
faith; and this bad faith appeared in its worst light from the following
circumstance:--It had been stipulated that England should withdraw her
troops from Malta three months after the signing of the treaty, yet more
than a year had elapsed, and the troops were still there. The order of
Malta was to be restored as it formerly was; that is to say, it was to
be a sovereign and independent order, under the protection of the Holy
See. The three Cabinets of Vienna, Berlin, and St. Petersburg were to
guarantee the execution of the treaty of Amiens. The English Ambassador,
to excuse the evasions of his Government, pretended that the Russian
Cabinet concurred with England in the delayed fulfilment of the
conditions of the treaty; but at the very moment he was making that
excuse a courier arrived from the Cabinet of St. Petersburg bearing
despatches completely, at variance with the assertion of Lord Whitworth.
His lordship left Paris on the night of the 12th May 1803, and the
English Government, unsolicited, sent passports to the French embassy
in London. The news of this sudden rupture made the English console fall
four per cent., but did not immediately produce such a retrograde effect
on the French funds, which were then quoted at fifty-five francs;--a
very high point, when it is recollected that they were at seven or eight
francs on the eve of the 18th Brumaire.
In this state of things France proposed to the English Government to
admit of the mediation of Russia; but as England had declared war
in order to repair the error she committed in concluding peace, the
proposition was of course rejected. Thus the public gave the First
Consul credit for great moderation and a sincere wish for peace. Thus
arose between England and France a contest resembling those furious wars
which marked the reigns of King John and Charles VII. Our beaux esprits
drew splendid comparisons between the existing state of things and the
ancient rivalry of Carthage and Rome, and sapiently concluded that, as
Carthage fell, England must do so likewise.
Bonaparte was at St. Cloud when Lord Whitworth left Paris. A fortnight
was spent in useless attempts to renew negotiations. War, therefore, was
the only alternative. Before he made his final preparations the First
Consul addressed a message to the Senate, the Legislative Body, and
the Tribunate. In this message he mentioned the recall of the English
Ambassador, the breaking out of hostilities, the unexpected message
of the King of England to his Parliament, and the armaments which
immediately ensued in the British ports. "In vain," he said, "had France
tried every means to induce England to abide by the treaty. She had
repelled every overture, and increased the insolence of her demands.
France," he added, "will not submit to menaces, but will combat for
the faith of treaties, and the honour of the French name, confidently
trusting that the result of the contest will be such as she has a right
to expect from the justice of her cause and the courage of her people."
This message was dignified, and free from that vein of boasting in
which Bonaparte so frequently indulged. The reply of the Senate was
accompanied by a vote of a ship of the line, to be paid for out of the
Senatorial salaries. With his usual address Bonaparte, in acting for
himself, spoke in the name of the people, just as he did in the question
of the Consulate for life. But what he then did for his own interests
turned to the future interests of the Bourbons. The very treaty which
had just been broken off gave rise to a curious observation. Bonaparte,
though not yet a sovereign, peremptorily required the King of England to
renounce the empty title of King of France, which was kept up as if to
imply that old pretensions were not yet renounced. The proposition was
acceded to, and to this circumstance was owing the disappearance of the
title of King of France from among the titles of the King of England,
when the treaty of Paris was concluded on the return of the Bourbons.
The first grievance complained of by England was the prohibition of
English merchandise, which had been more rigid since the peace than
during the war. The avowal of Great Britain on this point might well
have enabled her to dispense with any other subject of complaint; for
the truth is, she was alarmed at the aspect of our internal prosperity,
and at the impulse given to our manufactures. The English Government had
hoped to obtain from the First Consul such a commercial treaty as would
have proved a death-blow to our rising trade; but Bonaparte opposed
this, and from the very circumstance of his refusal he might easily have
foreseen the rupture at which he affected to be surprised. What I state
I felt at the time, when I read with great interest all the documents
relative to this great dispute between the two rival nations, which
eleven years afterwards was decided before the walls of Paris.
It was evidently disappointment in regard to a commercial treaty which
created the animosity of the English Government, as that circumstance
was alluded to, by way of reproach, in the King of England's
declaration. In that document it was complained that France had sent
a number of persona into the ports of Great Britain and Ireland in the
character of commercial agents, which character, and the privileges
belonging to it, they could only have acquired by a commercial treaty.
Such was, in my opinion, the real cause of the complaints of England;
but as it would have seemed too absurd to make it the ground of a
declaration of war, she enumerated other grievances, viz., the union of
Piedmont and of the states of Parma and Piacenza with France, and the
continuance of the French troops in Holland. A great deal was said
about the views and projects of France with respect to Turkey, and this
complaint originated in General Sebastiani's mission to Egypt. On that
point I can take upon me to say that the English Government was
not misinformed. Bonaparte too frequently spoke to me of his ideas
respecting the East, and his project of attacking the English power in
India, to leave any doubt of his ever having renounced them. The result
of all the reproaches which the two Governments addressed to each other
was, that neither acted with good faith.
The First Consul, in a communication to the Legislative Body on the
state of France and on her foreign relations; had said, "England,
single-handed, cannot cope with France." This sufficed to irritate the
susceptibility of English pride, and the British Cabinet affected to
regard it as a threat. However, it was no such thing. When Bonaparte
threatened, his words were infinitely more energetic. The passage above
cited was merely an assurance to France; and if we only look at the past
efforts and sacrifices made by England to stir up enemies to France
on the Continent, we may be justified in supposing that her anger at
Bonaparte's declaration arose from a conviction of its truth. Singly
opposed to France, England could doubtless have done her much harm,
especially by assailing the scattered remnants of her navy; but she
could have done nothing against France on the Continent. The two
powers, unaided by allies, might have continued long at war without any
considerable acts of hostility.
The first effect of the declaration of war by England was the invasion
of Hanover by the French troops under General Mortier. The telegraphic
despatch by which this news was communicated to Paris was as laconic
as correct, and contained, in a few words, the complete history of the
expedition. It ran as follows: "The French are masters of the Electorate
of Hanover, and the enemy's army are made prisoners of war." A day
or two after the shop windows of the print-sellers were filled with
caricatures on the English, and particularly on the Duke of Cambridge.
I recollect seeing one in which the Duke was represented reviewing his
troops mounted on a crab. I mention these trifles because, as I was then
living entirely at leisure, in the Rue Hauteville, I used frequently to
take a stroll on the Boulevards, where I was sometimes much amused with
these prints; and I could not help remarking, that in large cities such
trifles have more influence on the public mind than is usually supposed.
The First Consul thought the taking of the prisoners in Hanover a good
opportunity to exchange them for those taken from us by the English
navy. A proposition to this effect was accordingly made; but the English
Cabinet was of opinion that, though the King of England was also Elector
of Hanover, yet there was no identity between the two Governments,
of both which George III. was the head. In consequence of this subtle
distinction the proposition for the exchange of prisoners fell to the
ground. At this period nothing could exceed the animosity of the two
Governments towards each other, and Bonaparte, on the declaration
of war, marked his indignation by an act which no consideration can
justify; I allude to the order for the arrest of all the English in
France--a truly barbarious measure; for; can anything be more cruel
and unjust than to visit individuals with the vengeance due to the
Government whose subjects they may happen to be? But Bonaparte, when
under the influence of anger, was never troubled by scruples.
I must here notice the fulfilment of a remark Bonaparte often made, use
of to me during the Consulate. "You shall see, Bourrienne," he would
say, "what use I will make of the priests."
War being declared, the First Consul, in imitation of the most Christian
kings of olden times, recommended the success of his arms to the
prayers of the faithful through the medium of the clergy. To this end he
addressed a circular letter, written in royal style, to the Cardinals,
Archbishops, and Bishops of France.
It was as follows:
MONSIEUR--The motives of the present war are known throughout
Europe. The bad faith of the King of England, who has violated his
treaties by refusing to restore Malta to the order of St. John of
Jerusalem, and attacked our merchant vessels without a previous
declaration of war, together with the necessity of a just defence,
forced us to have recourse to arms. I therefore wish you to order
prayers to be offered up, in order to obtain the benediction of
Heaven on our enterprises. The proofs I have received of your zeal
for the public service give me an assurance of your readiness to
conform with my wishes.
Given at St. Cloud, 18 Prairial, an XI. (7th June 1803).
(Signed) BONAPARTE.
This letter was remarkable in more than one respect. It astonished most
of his old brothers-in-arms, who turned it into ridicule; observing that
Bonaparte needed no praying to enable him to conquer Italy twice over.
The First Consul, however, let them laugh on, and steadily followed the
line he had traced out. His letter was admirably calculated to please
the Court of Rome, which he wished should consider him in the light of
another elder son of the Church. The letter was, moreover, remarkable
for the use of the word "Monsieur," which the First Consul now employed
for the first time in an act destined for publicity. This circumstance
would seem to indicate that he considered Republican designations
incompatible with the forms due to the clergy: the clergy were
especially interested in the restoration of monarchy. It may, perhaps,
be thought that I dwell too much on trifles; but I lived long enough in
Bonaparte's confidence to know the importance he attached to trifles.
The First Consul restored the old names of the days of the week, while
he allowed the names of the months, as set down in the Republican
calendar, to remain. He commenced by ordering the Moniteur to be dated
"Saturday," such a day of "Messidor." "See," said he one day, "was there
ever such an inconsistency? We shall be laughed at! But I will do away
with the Messidor. I will efface all the inventions of the Jacobins."
The clergy did not disappoint the expectations of the First Consul. They
owed him much already, and hoped for still more from him. The letter
to the Bishops, etc., was the signal for a number of circulars full of
eulogies on Bonaparte.
These compliments were far from displeasing to the First Consul, who
had no objection to flattery though he despised those who meanly made
themselves the medium of conveying it to him. Duroc once told me that
they had all great difficulty in preserving their gravity when the cure
of a parish in Abbeville addressed Bonaparte one day while he was on
his journey to the coast. "Religion," said the worthy cure, with pompous
solemnity, "owes to you all that it is, we owe to you all that we are;
and I, too, owe to you all that I am."
--[Not so fulsome as some of the terms used a year later when
Napoleon was made Emperor. "I am what I am," was placed over a seat
prepared for the Emperor. One phrase, "God made Napoleon and then
rested," drew from Narbonne the sneer that it would have been better
if the Deity had rested sooner. "Bonaparte," says Joseph de
Maistre, "has had himself described in his papers as the 'Messenger
of God.' Nothing more true. Bonaparte comes straight from heaven,
like a thunderbolt." (Saints-Benve, Caureries, tome iv. p. 203.)]
CHAPTER XX.
1803.
Presentation of Prince Borghese to Bonaparte--Departure for Belgium
Revival of a royal custom--The swans of Amiens--Change of formula
in the acts of Government--Company of performers in Bonaparte's
suite--Revival of old customs--Division of the institute into four
classes--Science and literature--Bonaparte's hatred of literary men
--Ducis--Bernardin de Saint-Pierre--Chenier and Lemercier--
Explanation of Bonaparte's aversion to literature--Lalande and his
dictionary--Education in the hands of Government--M. de Roquelaure,
Archbishop of Malines.
In the month of April 1803 Prince Borghese, who was destined one day to
become Bonaparte's brother-in-law by marrying the widow of Leclerc, was
introduced to the First Consul by Cardinal Caprara.
About the end of June Bonaparte proceeded, with Josephine, on
his journey to Belgium and the seaboard departments. Many curious
circumstances were connected with this journey, of which I was informed
by Duroc after the First Consul's return. Bonaparte left Paris on the
24th of June, and although it was not for upwards of a year afterwards
that his brow was encircled with the imperial-diadem, everything
connected with the journey had an imperial air. It was formerly the
custom, when the Kings of France entered the ancient capital of Picardy,
for the town of Amiens to offer them in homage some beautiful swans.
Care was taken to revive this custom, which pleased Bonaparte greatly,
because it was treating him like a King. The swans were accepted, and
sent to Paris to be placed in the basin of the Tuileries, in order to
show the Parisians the royal homage which the First Consul received when
absent from the capital.
It was also during this journey that Bonaparte began to date his decrees
from the places through which he passed. He had hitherto left a great
number of signatures in Paris, in order that he might be present, as it
were, even during his absence, by the acts of his Government. Hitherto
public acts had been signed in the name of the Consuls of the Republic.
Instead of this formula, he substituted the name of the Government
of the Republic. By means of this variation, unimportant as it might
appear, the Government was always in the place where the First Consul
happened to be. The two other Consuls were now mere nullities, even
in appearance. The decrees of the Government, which Cambacérès signed
during the campaign of Marengo, were now issued from all the towns of
France and Belgium which the First Consul visited during his six weeks'
journey. Having thus centred the sole authority of the Republic in
himself, the performers of the theatre of the Republic became, by a
natural consequence, his; and it was quite natural that they should
travel in his suite, to entertain the inhabitants of the towns in which
he stopped by their performances. But this was not all. He encouraged
the renewal of a host of ancient customs. He sanctioned the revival of
the festival of Joan of Arc at Orleans, and he divided the Institute
into four classes, with the intention of recalling the recollection of
the old academies, the names of which, however, he rejected, in spite of
the wishes and intrigues of Suard and the Abby Morellet, who had gained
over Lucien upon this point.
However, the First Consul did not give to the classes of the Institute
the rank which they formerly possessed as academies. He placed the class
of sciences in the first rank, and the old French Academy in the second
rank. It must be acknowledged that, considering the state of literature
and science at that period, the First Consul did not make a wrong
estimate of their importance.
Although the literature of France could boast of many men of great
talent, such as La Harpe, who died during the Consulate, Ducis,
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Chenier, and Lemercier, yet they could not
be compared with Lagrange, Laplace, Monge, Fourcroy, Berthollet, and
Cuvier, whose labours have so prodigiously extended the limits of
human knowledge. No one, therefore, could murmur at seeing the class of
sciences in the Institute take precedence of its elder sister. Besides,
the First Consul was not sorry to show, by this arrangement, the slight
estimation in which he held literary men. When he spoke to me respecting
them he called them mere manufacturers of phrases. He could not
pardon them for excelling him in a pursuit in which he had no claim to
distinction. I never knew a man more insensible than Bonaparte to the
beauties of poetry or prose. A certain degree of vagueness, which
was combined with his energy of mind, led him to admire the dreams of
Ossian, and his decided character found itself, as it were, represented
in the elevated thoughts of Corneille. Hence his almost exclusive
predilection for these two authors. With this exception, the finest
works in our literature were in his opinion merely arrangements of
sonorous words, void of sense, and calculated only for the ear.
Bonaparte's contempt, or, more properly speaking, his dislike of
literature, displayed itself particularly in the feeling he cherished
towards some men of distinguished literary talent. He hated Chenier,
and Ducis still more. He could not forgive Chenier for the Republican
principles which pervaded his tragedies; and Ducis excited in him; as
if instinctively, an involuntary hatred. Ducis, on his part, was not
backward in returning the Consul's animosity, and I remember his writing
some verses which were inexcusably violent, and overstepped all the
bounds of truth. Bonaparte was so singular a composition of good and bad
that to describe him as he was under one or other of these aspects
would serve for panegyric or satire without any departure from truth.
Bonaparte was very fond of Bernardin Saint-Pierre's romance of 'Paul and
Virginia', which he had read in his boyhood. I remember that he one
day tried to read 'Les etudes de la Nature', but at the expiration of a
quarter of an hour he threw down the book, exclaiming, "How can any one
read such silly stuff. It is insipid and vapid; there is nothing in it.
These are the dreams of a visionary! What is nature? The thing is vague
and unmeaning. Men and passions are the subjects to write about--there
is something there for study. These fellows are good for nothing under
any government. I will, however, give them pensions, because I ought to
do so, as Head of the State. They occupy and amuse the idle. I will make
Lagrange a Senator--he has a head."
Although Bonaparte spoke so disdainfully of literary men it must not be
taken for granted that he treated them ill. On the contrary, all those
who visited at Malmaison were the objects of his attention, and even
flattery. M. Lemercier was one of those who came most frequently, and
whom Bonaparte received with the greatest pleasure. Bonaparte treated M.
Lemercier with great kindness; but he did not like him. His character as
a literary man and poet, joined to a polished frankness, and a mild
but inflexible spirit of republicanism, amply sufficed to explain
Bonaparte's dislike. He feared M. Lemercier and his pen; and, as
happened more than once, he played the part of a parasite by flattering
the writer. M. Lemercier was the only man I knew who refused the cross
of the Legion of Honour.
Bonaparte's general dislike of literary men was less the result of
prejudice than circumstances. In order to appreciate or even to read
literary works time is requisite, and time was so precious to him that
he would have wished, as one may say, to shorten a straight line. He
liked only those writers who directed their attention to positive and
precise things, which excluded all thoughts of government and censures
on administration. He looked with a jealous eye on political economists
and lawyers; in short, as all persons who in any way whatever meddled
with legislation and moral improvements. His hatred of discussions
on those subjects was strongly displayed on the occasion of the
classification of the Institute. Whilst he permitted the reassembling of
a literary class, to the number of forty, as formerly, he suppressed
the class of moral and political science. Such was his predilection for
things of immediate and certain utility that even in the sciences he
favoured only such as applied to terrestrial objects. He never treated
Lalande with so much distinction as Monge and Lagrange. Astronomical
discoveries could not add directly to his own greatness; and, besides,
he could never forgive Lalande for having wished to include him in
a dictionary of atheists precisely at the moment when he was opening
negotiations with the court of Rome.
Bonaparte wished to be the sole centre of a world which he believed he
was called to govern. With this view he never relaxed in his constant
endeavour to concentrate the whole powers of the State in the hands
of its Chief. His conduct upon the subject of the revival of public
instruction affords evidence of this fact. He wished to establish
6000 bursaries, to be paid by Government, and to be exclusively at his
disposal, so that thus possessing the monopoly of education, he could
have parcelled it out only to the children of those who were blindly
devoted to him. This was what the First Consul called the revival of
public instruction. During the period of my closest intimacy with him
he often spoke to me on this subject, and listened patiently to my
observations. I remember that one of his chief arguments was this:
"What is it that distinguishes men? Education--is it not? Well, if the
children of nobles be admitted into the academies, they will be as well
educated as the children of the revolution, who compose the strength of
my government. Ultimately they will enter into my regiments as officers,
and will naturally come in competition with those whom they regard as
the plunderers of their families. I do not wish that!"
My recollections have caused me to wander from the journey of the First
Consul and Madame Bonaparte to the seabord departments and Belgium.
I have, however, little to add to what I have already stated on
the subject. I merely remember that Bonaparte's military suite, and
Lauriston and Rapp in particular, when speaking to me about the journey,
could not conceal some marks of discontent on account of the great
respect which Bonaparte had shown the clergy, and particularly to M. de
Roquelaure, the Archbishop of Malines (or Mechlin). That prelate, who
was a shrewd man, and had the reputation of having been in his youth
more addicted to the habits of the world than to those of the cloister,
had become an ecclesiastical courtier. He went to Antwerp to pay his
homage to the First Consul, upon whom he heaped the most extravagant
praises. Afterwards, addressing Madame Bonaparte, he told her that she
was united to the First Consul by the sacred bonds of a holy alliance.
In this harangue, in which unction was singularly blended with
gallantry, surely it was a departure from ecclesiastical propriety to
speak of sacred bonds and holy alliance when every one knew that those
bonds and that alliance existed only by a civil contract. Perhaps M. de
Roquelaure merely had recourse to what casuists call a pious fraud in
order to engage the married couple to do that which he congratulated
them on having already done. Be this as it may, it is certain that this
honeyed language gained M. de Roquelaure the Consul's favour, and in a
short time after he was appointed to the second class of the Institute.
CHAPTER XXI.
1804.
The Temple--The intrigues of Europe--Prelude to the Continental
system--Bombardment of Granville--My conversation with the First
Consul on the projected invasion of England--Fauche Borel--Moreau
and Pichegru--Fouché's manoeuvres--The Abbe David and Lajolais--
Fouché's visit to St. Cloud--Regnier outwitted by Fouché--
My interview with the First Consul--His indignation at the reports
respecting Hortense--Contradiction of these calumnies--The brothers
Faucher--Their execution--The First Consul's levee--My conversation
with Duroc--Conspiracy of Georges, Moreau, and Pichegru--Moreau
averse to the restoration of the Bourbons--Bouvet de Lozier's
attempted suicide--Arrest of Moreau--Declaration of MM. de Polignac
and de Riviere--Connivance of the police--Arrest of M. Carbonnet and
his nephew.
The time was passed when Bonaparte, just raised to the Consulate, only
proceeded to the Temple to release the victims of the "Loi des suspects"
by his sole and immediate authority. This state prison was now to be
filled by the orders of his police. All the intrigues of Europe were
in motion. Emissaries came daily from England, who, if they could not
penetrate into the interior of France, remained in the towns near
the frontiers, where they established correspondence, and published
pamphlets, which they sent to Paris by post, in the form of letters.
The First Consul, on the other hand, gave way, without reserve, to the
natural irritation which that power had excited by her declaration
of war. He knew that the most effective war he could carry on against
England would be a war against her trade.
As a prelude to that piece of madness, known by the name of the
Continental system, the First Consul adopted every possible preventive
measure against the introduction of English merchandise. Bonaparte's
irritation against the English was not without a cause. The intelligence
which reached Paris from the north of France was not very consolatory.
The English fleets not only blockaded the French ports, but were acting
on the offensive, and had bombarded Granville. The mayor of the town did
his duty, but his colleagues, more prudent, acted differently. In
the height of his displeasure Bonaparte issued a decree, by which he
bestowed a scarf of honour on Letourneur, the mayor, and dismissed his
colleagues from office as cowards unworthy of trust. The terms of this
decree were rather severe, but they were certainly justified by the
conduct of those who had abandoned their posts at a critical moment.
I come now to the subject of the invasion of England, and what the First
Consul said to me respecting it. I have stated that Bonaparte never had
any idea of realising the pretended project of a descent on England. The
truth of this assertion will appear from a conversation which I had
with him after he returned from his journey to the north. In this
conversation he repeated what he had often before mentioned to me in
reference to the projects and possible steps to which fortune might
compel him to resort.
The peace of Amiens had been broken about seven months when, on the 15th
of December 1803, the First Consul sent for me to the Tuileries. His
incomprehensible behaviour to me was fresh in my mind; and as it was
upwards of a year since I had seen him, I confess I did not feel quite
at ease when I received the summons. He was perfectly aware that
I possessed documents and data for writing his history which would
describe facts correctly, and destroy the illusions with which his
flatterers constantly, entertained the public. I have already stated
that at that period I had no intention of the kind; but those who
laboured constantly to incense him against me might have suggested
apprehensions on the subject. At all events the fact is, that when he
sent for me I took the precaution of providing myself with a night-cap,
conceiving it to be very likely that I should be sent to sleep at
Vincennes. On the day appointed for the interview Rapp was on duty.
I did not conceal from him my opinion as to the possible result of my
visit. "You need not be afraid," said Rapp; "the First Consul merely
wishes to talk with you." He then announced me.
Bonaparte came into the grand salon where I awaited him, and addressing
me in the most good-humoured way said, "What do the gossips say of my
preparations for the invasion of England?"--"There is a great difference
of opinion on the subject, General," I replied. "Everyone speaks
according to his own views. Suchet, for instance, who comes to see me
very often, has no doubt that it will take place, and hopes to give
you on the occasion fresh proofs of his gratitude and fidelity."--"But
Suchet tells me that you do not believe it will be attempted."--"That
is true, I certainly do not."--"Why?"--"Because you told me at Antwerp,
five years ago, that you would not risk France on the cast of a
die--that the adventure was too hazardous--and circumstances have not
altered since that time."--"You are right. Those who look forward to the
invasion of England are blockheads. They do not see the affair in its
true light. I can, doubtless, land in England with 100,000 men. A great
battle will be fought, which I shall gain; but I must reckon upon 30,000
men killed, wounded, and prisoners. If I march on London, a second
battle must be fought. I will suppose myself again victorious; but what
should I do in London with an army diminished three-fourths and without
the hope of reinforcements? It would be madness. Until our navy
acquires superiority it is useless to think of such a project. The great
assemblage of troops in the north has another object. My Government must
be the first in the world, or it must fall." Bonaparte then evidently
wished it to be supposed that he entertained the design of invading
England in order to divert the attention of Europe to that direction.
From Dunkirk the First Consul proceeded to Antwerp, where also he had
assembled experienced men to ascertain their opinions respecting the
surest way of attempting a landing, the project of which was merely a
pretence. The employment of large ships of war, after many discussions,
abandoned in favour of a flotilla.
--[At this period a caricature (by Gillray) appeared in London.
which was sent to Paris, and strictly sought after by the police.
One of the copies was shown to the First Consul, who was highly
indignant at it. The French fleet was represented by a number of
nut-shells. An English sailor, seated on a rock, was quietly
smoking his pipe, the whiffs of which were throwing the whole
squadron into disorder.--Bourrienne. Gillray's caricatures should
be at the reader's side during the perusal of this work, also
English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I., by J. Ashton Chatto:
and Windus, 1884.]--
After visiting Belgium, and giving directions there, the First Consul
returned from Brussels to Paris by way of Maestricht, Liege, and
Soissons.
Before my visit to the Tuileries, and even before the rupture of the
peace of Amiens, certain intriguing speculators, whose extravagant
zeal was not less fatal to the cause of the Bourbons than was the blind
subserviency of his unprincipled adherents to the First Consul, had
taken part in some underhand manoeuvres which could have no favourable
result. Amongst these great contrivers of petty machinations the
well-known Fauche Borel, the bookseller of Neufchatel, had long been
conspicuous. Fauche Borel, whose object was to create a stir, and who
wished nothing better than to be noticed and paid, failed not to come
to France as soon as the peace of Amiens afforded him the opportunity. I
was at that time still with Bonaparte, who was aware of all these little
plots, but who felt no personal anxiety on the subject, leaving to his
police the care of watching their authors.
The object of Fauche Borel's mission was to bring about a reconciliation
between Moreau and Pichegru. The latter general, who was banished on the
18th Fructidor 4th (September 1797), had not obtained the First Consul's
permission to return to France. He lived in England, where he awaited
a favourable opportunity for putting his old projects into execution.
Moreau was in Paris, but no longer appeared at the levees or parties
of the First Consul, and the enmity of both generals against Bonaparte,
openly avowed on the part of Pichegru; and still disguised by Moreau,
was a secret to nobody. But as everything was prosperous with
Bonaparte he evinced contempt rather than fear of the two generals. His
apprehensions were, indeed, tolerably allayed by the absence of the one
and the character of the other. Moreau's name had greater weight
with the army than that of Pichegru; and those who were plotting the
overthrow of the Consular Government knew that that measure could not be
attempted with any chance of success without the assistance of Moreau.
The moment was inopportune; but, being initiated in some secrets of
the British Cabinet, they knew that the peace was but a truce, and they
determined to profit by that truce to effect a reconciliation which
might afterwards secure a community of interests. Moreau and Pichegru
had not been friends since Moreau sent to the Directory the papers
seized in M. de Klinglin's carriage, which placed Pichegru's treason
in so clear a light. Since that period Pichegru's name possessed no
influence over the minds of the soldiers, amongst whom he had very few
partisans, whilst the name of Moreau was dear to all who had conquered
under his command.
Fauche Borel's design was to compromise Moreau without bringing him to
any decisive step. Moreau's natural indolence, and perhaps it may
be said his good sense, induced him to adopt the maxim that it was
necessary to let men and things take their course; for temporizing
policy is often as useful in politics as in war. Besides, Moreau was a
sincere Republican; and if his habit of indecision had permitted him to
adopt any resolution, it is quite certain that he would not then have
assisted in the reestablishment of the Bourbons, as Pichegru wished.
What I have stated is an indispensable introduction to the knowledge of
plots of more importance which preceded the great event that marked
the close of the Consulship: I allude to the conspiracy of Georges,
Cadoudal, Moreau, and Pichegru, and that indelible stain on the
character of Napoleon,--the death of the Duc d'Enghien. Different
opinions have been expressed concerning Georges' conspiracy. I shall not
contradict any of them. I will relate what I learned and what I saw,
in order to throw some light on that horrible affair. I am far from
believing what I have read in many works, that it was planned by the
police in order to pave the First Consul's way to the throne. I think
that it was contrived by those who were really interested in it, and
encouraged by Fouché in order to prepare his return to office.
To corroborate my opinion respecting Fouché's conduct and his manoeuvres
I must remind the reader that about the close of 1803 some persons
conceived the project of reconciling Moreau and Pichegru. Fouché, who
was then out of the Ministry, caused Moreau to be visited by men of his
own party, and who were induced, perhaps unconsciously, by Fouché's art,
to influence and irritate the general's mind. It was at first intended
that the Abbe David, the mutual friend of Moreau and Pichegru, should
undertake to effect their reconciliation; but he, being arrested and
confined in the Temple, was succeeded by a man named Lajolais, whom
every circumstance proves to have been employed by Fouché. He proceeded
to London, and, having prevailed on Pichegru and his friends to return
to France, he set off to announce their arrival and arrange everything
for their reception and destruction. Moreau's discontent was the sole
foundation of this intrigue. I remember that one day, about the end of
January 1804, I called on Fouché, who informed me that he had been at
St. Cloud, where he had had a long conversation with the First Consul on
the situation of affairs. Bonaparte told him that he was satisfied with
the existing police, and hinted that it was only to make himself of
consequence that he had given a false colouring to the picture. Fouché
asked him what he would say if he told him that Georges and Pichegru had
been for some time in Paris carrying on the conspiracy of which he had
received information. The First Consul, apparently delighted at what he
conceived to be Fouché's mistake, said, with an air of contempt, "You
are well informed, truly! Regnier has just received a letter from London
stating that Pichegru dined three days ago at Kingston with one of the
King of England's ministers."
As Fouché, however, persisted in his assertion, the First Consul sent to
Paris for the Grand Judge, Regnier, who showed Fouché the letter he had
received. The First Consul triumphed at first to see Fouché at fault;
but the latter so clearly proved that Georges and Pichegru were actually
in Paris that Regnier began to fear he had been misled by his agents,
whom his rival paid better than he did. The First Consul, convinced
that his old minister knew more than his new one, dismissed Regnier, and
remained a long time in consultation with Fouché, who on that occasion
said nothing about his reinstatement for fear of exciting suspicion. He
only requested that the management of the business might be entrusted
to Real, with orders to obey whatever instructions he might receive
from him. I will return hereafter to the arrest of Moreau and the other
persons accused, and will now subjoin the account of a long interview
which I had with Bonaparte in the midst of these important events.
On the 8th of March 1804, some time after the arrest but before the
trial of General Moreau, I had an audience of the First Consul, which
was unsought on my part. Bonaparte, after putting several unimportant
questions to me as to what I was doing, what I expected he should do for
me, and assuring me that he would bear me in mind, gave a sudden turn to
the conversation, and said, "By the by, the report of my connection with
Hortense is still kept up: the most abominable rumours have been spread
as to her first child. I thought at the time that these reports had only
been admitted by the public in consequence of the great desire that I
should not be childless. Since you and I separated have you heard them
repeated?"--"Yes, General, oftentimes; and I confess I could not have
believed that this calumny would have existed so long."--"It is truly
frightful to think of! You know the truth--you have seen all--heard
all--nothing could have passed without your knowledge; you were in her
full confidence during the time of her attachment to Duroc. I therefore
expect, if you should ever write anything about me, that you will clear
me from this infamous imputation. I would not have it accompany my name
to posterity. I trust in you. You have never given credit to the horrid
accusation?"--"No, General, never." Napoleon then entered into a number
of details on the previous life of Hortense; on the way in which she
conducted herself, and on the turn which her marriage had taken. "It has
not turned out," he said, "as I wished: the union has not been a happy
one. I am sorry for it, not only because both are dear to me, but
because the circumstance countenances the infamous reports that are
current among the idle as to my intimacy with her." He concluded the
conversation with these words:--"Bourrienne, I sometimes think of
recalling you; but as there is no good pretext for so doing, the world
would say that I have need of you, and I wish it to be known that I
stand in need of nobody." He again said a few words about Hortense. I
answered that it would fully coincide with my conviction of the truth
to do what he desired, and that I would do it; but that suppressing the
false reports did not depend on me.
Hortense, in fact, while she was Mademoiselle BEAUHARNAIS, regarded
Napoleon with respectful awe. She trembled when she spoke to him, and
never dared to ask him a favour. When she had anything to solicit she
applied to me; and if I experienced any difficulty in obtaining for her
what she sought, I mentioned her as the person for whom I pleaded. "The
little simpleton!" Napoleon would say, "why does she not ask me herself:
is the girl afraid of me?" Napoleon never cherished for her any feeling
but paternal tenderness. He loved her after his marriage with her mother
as he would have loved his own child. During three years I was a witness
to all their most private actions, and I declare that I never saw or
heard anything that could furnish the least ground for suspicion,
or that afforded the slightest trace of the existence of a culpable
intimacy. This calumny must be classed among those with which malice
delights to blacken the characters of men more brilliant than their
fellows, and which are so readily adopted by the light-minded and
unreflecting. I freely declare that did I entertain the smallest doubt
with regard to this odious charge, of the existence of which I was well
aware before Napoleon spoke to me on the subject, I would candidly avow
it. He is no more: and let his memory be accompanied only by that, be it
good or bad, which really belongs to it. Let not this reproach be one
of those charged against him by the impartial historian. I must say,
in concluding this delicate subject, that the principles of Napoleon
on points of this kind were rigid in the utmost degree, and that a
connection of the nature of that charged against him was neither in
accordance with his morals nor his tastes.
I cannot tell whether what followed was a portion of his premeditated
conversation with me, or whether it was the result of the satisfaction
he had derived from ascertaining my perfect conviction of the purity
of his conduct with regard to Hortense, and being assured that I would
express that conviction. Be this as it may, as I was going out at the
door he called me back, saying, "Oh! I have forgotten something." I
returned. "Bourrienne," said he, "do you still keep up your acquaintance
with the Fauchers?"--"Yes, General; I see them frequently."--"You are
wrong."-- "Why should I not? They are clever, well-educated men, and
exceedingly pleasant company, especially Caesar. I derive great pleasure
from their society; and then they are almost the only persons whose
friendship has continued faithful to me since I left you. You know
people do not care for those who can render them no service."--"Maret
will not see the Fauchers."--"That may be, General; but it is nothing to
me; and you must recollect that as it was through him I was introduced
to them at the Tuileries, I think he ought to inform me of his reasons
for dropping their acquaintance."--"I tell you again he has closed his
door against them. Do you the same; I advise you." As I did not seem
disposed to follow this advice without some plausible reason, the First
Consul added, "You must know, then, that I learn from Caesar all that
passes in your house. You do not speak very ill of me yourself, nor does
any one venture to do so in your presence. You play your rubber and go
to bed. But no sooner are you gone than your wife, who never liked me,
and most of those who visit at your house, indulge in the most violent
attacks upon me. I receive a bulletin from Caesar Faucher every day when
he visits at your house; this is the way in which he requites you
for your kindness, and for the asylum you afforded his
brother.--[Constantine Rancher had been condemned in contumacy for the
forgery of a public document.--Bourrienne.]--But enough; you see I know
all--farewell;" and he left me.
The grave having closed over these two brothers,--[The Fauchers were
twin brothers, distinguished in the war of the Revolution, and made
brigadier-generals at the same time on the field of battle. After the
Cent Jours they refused to recognise the Bourbons, and were shot by
sentence of court-martial at Bordeaux. (Bouillet)]--I shall merely state
that they wrote me a letter the evening preceding their execution, in
which they begged me to forgive their conduct towards me. The following
is an extract from this letter:
In our dungeon we hear our sentence of death being cried in the streets.
To-morrow we shall walk to the scaffold; but we will meet death with
such calmness and courage as shall make our executioners blush. We are
sixty years old, therefore our lives will only be shortened by a brief
space. During our lives we have shared in common, illness, grief,
pleasure, danger, and good fortune. We both entered the world on the
same day, and on the same day we shall both depart from it. As to you,
sir....
I suppress what relates to myself.
The hour of the grand levee arrived just as the singular interview which
I have described terminated. I remained a short time to look at this
phantasmagoria. Duroc was there. As soon as he saw me he came up, and
taking me into the recess of a window told me that Moreau's guilt was
evident, and that he was about to be put on his trial. I made some
observations on the subject, and in particular asked whether there were
sufficient proofs of his guilt to justify his condemnation? "They
should be cautious," said I; "it is no joke to accuse the conqueror of
Hohenlinden." Duroc's answer satisfied me that he at least had no doubt
on the subject. "Besides," added he, "when such a general as Moreau has
been between two gendarmes he is lost, and is good for nothing more.
He will only inspire pity." In vain I tried to refute this assertion
so entirely contrary to facts, and to convince Duroc that Moreau would
never be damaged by calling him "brigand," as was the phrase then,
without proofs. Duroc persisted in his opinion. As if a political crime
ever sullied the honour of any one! The result has proved that I judged
rightly.
No person possessing the least degree of intelligence will be convinced
that the conspiracy of Moreau, Georges, Pichegru, and the other persons
accused would ever have occurred but for the secret connivance of
Fouché's police.
Moreau never for a moment desired the restoration of the Bourbons. I was
too well acquainted with M. Carbonnet, his most intimate friend, to be
ignorant of his private sentiments. It was therefore quite impossible
that he could entertain the same views as Georges, the Polignacs,
Riviera, and others; and they had no intention of committing any
overt acts. These latter persons had come to the Continent solely to
investigate the actual state of affairs, in order to inform the Princes
of the House of Bourbon with certainty how far they might depend on the
foolish hopes constantly held out to them by paltry agents, who were
always ready to advance their own interests at the expense of truth.
These agents did indeed conspire, but it was against the Treasury of
London, to which they looked for pay.
Without entering into all the details of that great trial I will relate
some facts which may assist in eliciting the truth from a chaos of
intrigue and falsehood.
Most of the conspirators had been lodged either in the Temple or La
Force, and one of them, Bouvet de Lozier, who was confined in the
Temple, attempted to hang himself. He made use of his cravat to effect
his purpose, and had nearly succeeded, when a turnkey by chance
entered and found him at the point of death. When he was recovered he
acknowledged that though he had the courage to meet death, he was unable
to endure the interrogatories of his trial, and that he had determined
to kill himself, lest he might be induced to make a confession. He did
in fact confess, and it was on the day after this occurred that Moreau
was arrested, while on his way from his country-seat of Grosbois to
Paris.
Fouché, through the medium of his agents, had given Pichegru, Georges,
and some other partisans of royalty, to understand that they might
depend on Moreau, who, it was said, was quite prepared. It is certain
that Moreau informed Pichegru that he (Pichegru) had been deceived, and
that he had never been spoken to on the subject. Russillon declared
on the trial that on the 14th of March the Polignacs said to some one,
"Everything is going wrong--they do not understand each other. Moreau
does not keep his word. We have been deceived." M. de Riviera declared
that he soon became convinced they had been deceived, and was about to
return to England when he was arrested. It is certain that the principal
conspirators obtained positive information which confirmed their
suspicions. They learned Moreau's declaration from Pichegru. Many of the
accused declared that they soon discovered they had been deceived; and
the greater part of them were about to quit Paris, when they were all
arrested, almost at one and the same moment. Georges was going into La
Vendée when he was betrayed by the man who, with the connivance of the
police, had escorted him ever since his departure from London, and who
had protected him from any interruption on the part of the police so
long as it was only necessary to know where he was, or what he was
about. Georges had been in Paris seven months before it was considered
that the proper moment had arrived for arresting him.
The almost simultaneous arrest of the conspirators proves clearly that
the police knew perfectly well where they could lay their hands upon
them.
When Pichegru was required to sign his examination he refused. He
said it was unnecessary; that, knowing all the secret machinery of the
police, he suspected that by some chemical process they would erase all
the writing except the signature, and afterwards fill up the paper
with statements which he had never made. His refusal to sign the
interrogatory, he added, would not prevent him from repeating before
a court of justice the truth which he had stated in answer to the
questions proposed to him. Fear was entertained of the disclosures he
might make respecting his connection with Moreau, whose destruction was
sought for, and also with respect to the means employed by the agents of
Fouché to urge the conspirators to effect a change which they desired.
On the evening of the 15th of February I heard of Moreau's arrest, and
early next morning I proceeded straight to the Rue St. Pierre, where M.
Carbonnet resided with his nephew. I was anxious to hear from him the
particulars of the general's arrest. What was my surprise! I had hardly
time to address myself to the porter before he informed me that M.
Carbonnet and his nephew were both arrested. "I advise you, sir," added
the man, "to retire without more ado, for I can assure you that the
persons who visit M. Carbonnet are watched."--"Is he still at home?"
said I. "Yes, Sir; they are examining his papers."--"Then," said I, "I
will go up." M. Carbonnet, of whose friendship I had reason to be proud,
and whose memory will ever be dear to me, was more distressed by
the arrest of his nephew and Moreau than by his own. His nephew was,
however, liberated after a few hours. M. Carbonnet's papers were sealed
up, and he was placed in solitary confinement at St. Pelagic.
Thus the police, who previously knew nothing, were suddenly informed of
all. In spite of the numerous police agents scattered over France, it
was only discovered by the declarations of Bouvet de Lozier that three
successive landings had been effected, and that a fourth was expected,
which, however, did not take place, because General Savary was
despatched by the First Consul with orders to seize the persons whose
arrival was looked for. There cannot be a more convincing proof of
the fidelity of the agents of the police to their old chief, and their
combined determination of trifling with their new one,
CHAPTER XXII.
1804.
The events of 1804--Death of the Duc d'Enghien--Napoleon's arguments
at St. Helena--Comparison of dates--Possibility of my having saved
the Duc d'Enghien's life--Advice given to the Duc d'Enghien--Sir
Charles Stuart--Delay of the Austrian Cabinet--Pichegru and the
mysterious being--M. Massias--The historians of St. Helena--
Bonaparte's threats against the emigrants and M. Cobentzel--
Singular adventure of Davoust's secretary--The quartermaster--
The brigand of La Vendée.
In order to form a just idea of the events which succeeded each other
so rapidly at the commencement of 1804 it is necessary to consider
them both separately and connectedly. It must be borne in mind that all
Bonaparte's machinations tended to one object, the foundation of the
French Empire in his favour; and it is also essential to consider how
the situation of the emigrants, in reference to the First Consul, had
changed since the declaration of war. As long as Bonaparte continued at
peace the cause of the Bourbons had no support in foreign Cabinets, and
the emigrants had no alternative but to yield to circumstances; but on
the breaking out of a new war all was changed. The cause of the Bourbons
became that of the powers at war with France; and as many causes
concurred to unite the emigrants abroad with those who had returned but
half satisfied, there was reason to fear something from their revolt, in
combination with the powers arrayed against Bonaparte.
Such was the state of things with regard to the emigrants when the
leaders and accomplices of Georges' conspiracy were arrested at the very
beginning of 1804. The assassination of the Duc d'Enghien
--[Louis Antoine Henri de Bourbon, Duc d'Enghien (1772-1804), son of
the Duc de Bourbon, and grandson of the Prince de Condé, served
against France in the army of Condé. When this force was disbanded
he stayed at Ettenheim on account of a love affair with the
Princesse Charlotte de Rohan-Rochefort. Arrested in the territory
of Baden, he was taken to Vincennes, and after trial by
court-martial shot in the moat, 21st May 1804. With him
practically ended the house of Bourbon-Condé as his grandfather
died in 1818, leaving only the Duc de Bourbon, and the Princesee
Louise Adelaide, Abbesse de Remiremont, who died in 1824.]--
took place on the 21st of March; on the 30th of April appeared the
proposition of the Tribunate to found a Government in France under
the authority of one individual; on the 18th of May came the
'Senatus-consulte', naming Napoleon Bonaparte EMPEROR, and lastly,
on the 10th. of June, the sentence of condemnation on Georges and
his accomplices. Thus the shedding of the blood of a Bourbon, and the
placing of the crown of France on the head of a soldier of fortune were
two acts interpolated in the sanguinary drama of Georges' conspiracy. It
must be remembered, too, that during the period of these events we were
at war with England, and on the point of seeing Austria and the Colossus
of the north form a coalition against the new Emperor.
I will now state all I know relative to the death of the Duc d'Enghien.
That unfortunate Prince, who was at Ettenheim, in consequence of a love
affair, had no communication whatever with those who were concocting a
plot in the interior. Machiavelli says that when the author of a crime
cannot be discovered we should seek for those to whose advantage it
turns. In the present case Machiavelli's advice will find an easy
application, since the Duke's death could be advantageous only to
Bonaparte, who considered it indispensable to his accession to the crown
of France. The motives may be explained, but can they be justified?
How could it ever be said that the Duc d'Enghien perished as a presumed
accomplice in the conspiracy of Georges?
Moreau was arrested on the 15th of February 1804, at which time the
existence of the conspiracy was known. Pichegru and Georges were also
arrested in February, and the Duc d'Enghien not till the 15th of March.
Now if the Prince had really been concerned in the plot, if even he
had a knowledge of it, would he have remained at Ettenheim for nearly
a month after the arrest of his presumed accomplices, intelligence of
which he might have obtained in the space of three days? Certainly not.
So ignorant was he of that conspiracy that when informed at Ettenheim of
the affair he doubted it, declaring that if it were true his father and
grandfather would have made him acquainted with it. Would so long an
interval have been suffered to elapse before he was arrested? Alas!
cruel experience has shown that that step would have been taken in a few
hours.
The sentence of death against Georges and his accomplices was not
pronounced till the 10th of June 1804, and the Duc d'Enghien was shot
on the 21st of March, before the trials were even commenced. How is this
precipitation to be explained? If, as Napoleon has declared, the young
Bourbon was an accomplice in the crime, why was he not arrested at
the time the others were? Why was he not tried along with them, on the
ground of his being an actual accomplice; or of being compromised, by
communications with them; or, in short, because his answers might have
thrown light on that mysterious affair? How was it that the name of the
illustrious accused was not once mentioned in the course of that awful
trial?
It can scarcely be conceived that Napoleon could say at St. Helena,
"Either they contrived to implicate the unfortunate Prince in their
project, and so pronounced his doom, or, by omitting to inform him of
what was going on, allowed him imprudently to slumber on the brink of
a precipice; for he was only a stone's cast from the frontier when they
were about to strike the great blow in the name and for the interest of
his family."
This reasoning is not merely absurd, it is atrocious. If the Duke was
implicated by the confession of his accomplices, he should have been
arrested and tried along with them. Justice required this. If he was
not so implicated, where is the proof of his guilt? Because some
individuals, without his knowledge, plotted to commit a crime in the
name of his family he was to be shot! Because he was 130 leagues from
the scene of the plot, and had no connection with it, he was to
die! Such arguments cannot fail to inspire horror. It is absolutely
impossible any reasonable person can regard the Duc d'Enghien as
an accomplice of Cadoudal; and Napoleon basely imposed on his
contemporaries and posterity by inventing such falsehoods, and investing
them with the authority of his name.
Had I been then in the First Consul's intimacy I may aver, with as much
confidence as pride, that the blood of the Duc d'Enghien would not have
imprinted an indelible stain on the glory of Bonaparte. In this terrible
matter I could have done what no one but me could even attempt, and
this on account of my position, which no one else has since held with
Bonaparte. I quite admit that he would have preferred others to me, and
that he would have had more friendship for them than for me, supposing
friendship to be compatible with the character of Bonaparte, but I knew
him better than any one else. Besides, among those who surrounded him I
alone could have permitted myself some return to our former familiarity
on account of our intimacy of childhood. Certainly, in a matter which
permanently touched the glory of Bonaparte, I should not have been
restrained by the fear of some transitory fit of anger, and the reader
has seen that I did not dread disgrace. Why should I have dreaded it?
I had neither portfolio, nor office, nor salary, for, as I have said,
I was only with Bonaparte as a friend, and we had, as it were, a common
purse. I feel a conviction that it would have been very possible for
me to have dissuaded Bonaparte from his fatal design, inasmuch as I
positively know that his object, after the termination of the peace, was
merely to frighten the emigrants, in order to drive them from Ettenheim,
where great numbers, like the Duc d'Enghien, had sought refuge. His
anger was particularly directed against a Baroness de Reith and a
Baroness d'Ettengein, who had loudly vituperated him, and distributed
numerous libels on the left bank of the Rhine. At that period Bonaparte
had as little design against the Duc d'Enghien's life as against that of
any other emigrant. He was more inclined to frighten than to harm him,
and certainly his first intention was not to arrest the Prince, but, as
I have said, to frighten the 'emigres', and to drive them to a distance.
I must, however, admit that when Bonaparte spoke to Rapp and Duroc of
the emigrants on the other side of the Rhine he expressed himself with
much irritability: so much so, indeed, that M. de Talleyrand, dreading
its effects for the Duc d'Enghien, warned that Prince, through the
medium of a lady to whom he was attached, of his danger, and advised him
to proceed to a greater distance from the frontier. On receiving this
notice the Prince resolved to rejoin his grandfather, which he could not
do but by passing through the Austrian territory. Should any doubt exist
as to these facts it may be added that Sir Charles Stuart wrote to M. de
Cobentzel to solicit a passport for the Duc d'Enghien; and it was solely
owing to the delay of the Austrian Cabinet that time was afforded for
the First Consul to order the arrest of the unfortunate Prince as soon
as he had formed the horrible resolution of shedding the blood of a
Bourbon. This resolution could have originated only with himself, for
who would have dared to suggest it to him? The fact is, Bonaparte knew
not what he did. His fever of ambition amounted to delirium; and he knew
not how he was losing himself in public opinion because he did not know
that opinion, to gain which he would have made every sacrifice.
When Cambacérès (who, with a slight reservation, had voted the death of
Louis XVI.) warmly opposed in the Council the Duc d'Enghien's arrest,
the First Consul observed to him, "Methinks, Sir, you have grown very
chary of Bourbon blood!"
Meanwhile the Duc d'Enghien was at Ettenheim, indulging in hope rather
than plotting conspiracies. It is well known that an individual made an
offer to the Prince de Condé to assassinate the First Consul, but
the Prince indignantly rejected the proposition, and nobly refused to
recover the rights of the Bourbons at the price of such a crime. The
individual above-mentioned was afterwards discovered to be an agent of
the Paris police, who had been commissioned to draw the Princes into
a plot which would have ruined them, for public feeling revolts at
assassination under any circumstances.
It has been alleged that Louis XVIII.'s refusal to treat with Bonaparte
led to the fatal catastrophe of the Duc d'Enghien's death. The first
correspondence between Louis XVIII. and the First Consul, which has been
given in these Memoirs, clearly proves the contrary. It is certainly
probable that Louis XVIII.'s refusal to renounce his rights should have
irritated Bonaparte. But it was rather late to take his revenge
two years after, and that too on a Prince totally ignorant of those
overtures. It is needless to comment on such absurdities. It is equally
unnecessary to speak of the mysterious being who often appeared at
meetings in the Faubourg St. Germain, and who was afterwards discovered
to be Pichegru.
A further light is thrown on this melancholy catastrophe by a
conversation Napoleon had, a few days after his elevation to the
imperial throne, with M. Masaias, the French Minister at the Court
of the Grand Duke of Baden. This conversation took place at
Aix-la-Chapelle. After some remarks on the intrigues of the emigrants
Bonaparte observed, "You ought at least to have prevented the plots
which the Duc d'Enghien was hatching at Ettenheim."--"Sire, I am too old
to learn to tell a falsehood. Believe me, on this subject your Majesty's
ear has been abused."--"Do you not think, then, that had the conspiracy
of Georges and Pichegru proved successful, the Prince would have passed
the Rhine, and have come post to Paris?"
M. Massias, from whom I had these particulars, added, "At this last
question of the Emperor I hung down my head and was silent, for I saw he
did not wish to hear the truth."
Now let us consider, with that attention which the importance of the
subject demands, what has been said by the historians of St. Helena.
Napoleon said to his companions in exile that "the Duc d'Enghien's death
must be attributed either to an excess of zeal for him (Napoleon), to
private views, or to mysterious intrigues. He had been blindly urged
on; he was, if he might say so, taken by surprise. The measure was
precipitated, and the result predetermined."
This he might have said; but if he did so express himself, how are we
to reconcile such a declaration with the statement of O'Meara? How give
credit to assertions so very opposite?
Napoleon said to M. de Las Casas:
"One day when alone, I recollect it well, I was taking my coffee,
half seated on the table at which I had just dined, when suddenly
information was brought to me that a new conspiracy had been
discovered. I was warmly urged to put an end to these enormities;
they represented to me that it was time at last to give a lesson to
those who had been day after day conspiring against my life; that
this end could only be attained by shedding the blood of one of
them; and that the Duc d'Enghien, who might now be convicted of
forming part of this new conspiracy, and taken in the very act,
should be that one. It was added that he had been seen at
Strasburg; that it was even believed that he had been in Paris; and
that the plan was that he should enter France by the east at the
moment of the explosion, whilst the Duc de Berri was disembarking in
the west. I should tell you," observed the Emperor, "that I did not
even know precisely who the Duc d'Enghien was (the Revolution having
taken place when I was yet a very young man, and I having never been
at Court), and that I was quite in the dark as to where he was at
that moment. Having been informed on those points I exclaimed that
if such were the case the Duke ought to be arrested, and that orders
should be given to that effect. Everything had been foreseen and
prepared; the different orders were already drawn up, nothing
remained to be done but to sign them, and the fate of the young
Prince was thus decided."
Napoleon next asserts that in the Duke's arrest and condemnation all the
usual forms were strictly observed. But he has also declared that the
death of that unfortunate Prince will be an eternal reproach to those
who, carried away by a criminal zeal, waited not for their Sovereign's
orders to execute the sentence of the court-martial. He would, perhaps,
have allowed the Prince to live; but yet he said, "It is true I wished
to make an example which should deter."
It has been said that the Duc d'Enghien addressed a letter to Napoleon,
which was not delivered till after the execution. This is false and
absurd! How could that Prince write to Bonaparte to offer him his
services and to solicit the command of an army? His interrogatory makes
no mention of this letter, and is in direct opposition to the sentiments
which that letter would attribute to him. The truth is, no such letter
ever existed. The individual who was with the Prince declared he never
wrote it. It will never be believed that any one would have presumed to
withhold from Bonaparte a letter on which depended the fate of so august
a victim.
In his declarations to his companions in exile Napoleon endeavoured
either to free himself of this crime or to justify it. His fear or his
susceptibility was such, that in discoursing with strangers he merely
said, that had he known of the Prince's letter, which was not delivered
to him.--God knows why!--until after he had breathed his last, he would
have pardoned him. But at a subsequent date he traced, with his own
hand, his last thoughts, which he supposed would be consecrated in the
minds of his contemporaries, and of posterity. Napoleon, touching on the
subject which he felt would be one of the most important attached to his
memory, said that if the thing were to do again he would act as he then
did. How does this declaration tally with his avowal, that if he
had received the Prince's letter he should have lived? This is
irreconcilable. But if we compare all that Napoleon said at St. Helena,
and which has been transmitted to us by his faithful followers; if we
consider his contradictions when speaking of the Duc d'Enghien's death
to strangers, to his friends, to the public, or to posterity, the
question ceases to be doubtful. Bonaparte wished to strike a blow which
would terrify his enemies. Fancying that the Duc de Berri was ready
to land in France, he despatched his aide de camp Savary, in disguise,
attended by gendarmes, to watch the Duke's landing at Biville, near
Dieppe. This turned out a fruitless mission. The Duke was warned in
time not to attempt the useless and dangerous enterprise, and Bonaparte,
enraged to see one prey escape him, pounced upon another. It is well
known that Bonaparte often, and in the presence even of persons whom
he conceived to have maintained relations with the partisans of the
Bourbons at Paris, expressed himself thus: "I will put an end to these
conspiracies. If any of the emigrants conspire they shall be shot. I
have been told that Cobentzel harbours some of them. I do not believe
this; but if it be true, Cobentzel shall be arrested and shot along with
them. I will let the Bourbons know I am not to be trifled with." The
above statement of facts accounts for the suppositions respecting the
probable influence of the Jacobins in this affair. It has been said, not
without some appearance of reason, that to get the Jacobins to help him
to ascend the throne Bonaparte consented to sacrifice a victim of the
blood royal, as the only pledge capable of ensuring them against
the return of the proscribed family. Be this as it may, there are no
possible means of relieving Bonaparte from his share of guilt in the
death of the Duc d'Enghien.
To the above facts, which came within my own knowledge, I may add the
following curious story, which was related to me by an individual who
himself heard it from the secretary of General Davoust.
Davoust was commanding a division in the camp of Boulogne, and his
secretary when proceeding thither to join him met in the diligence a
man who seemed to be absorbed in affliction. This man during the whole
journey never once broke silence but by some deep sighs, which he had
not power to repress. General Davoust's secretary observed him with
curiosity and interest, but did not venture to intrude upon his grief
by any conversation. The concourse of travellers from Paris to the
camp was, however, at that time very great, and the inn at which the
diligence stopped in the evening was so crowded that it was impossible
to assign a chamber to each traveller. Two, therefore, were put into
one room, and it so happened that the secretary was lodged with his
mysterious travelling companion.
When they were alone he addressed him in a torso of interest which
banished all appearance of intrusion. He inquired whether the cause of
his grief was of a nature to admit of any alleviation, and offered to
render him any assistance in his power. "Sir," replied the stranger,
"I am much obliged for the sympathy you express for me--I want nothing.
There is no possible consolation for me. My affliction can end only with
my life. You shall judge for yourself, for the interest you seem to take
in my misfortune fully justifies my confidence. I was quartermaster
in the select gendarmerie, and formed part of a detachment which was
ordered to Vincennes. I passed the night there under arms, and at
daybreak was ordered down to the moat with six men. An execution was to
take place. The prisoner was brought out, and I gave the word to fire.
The man fell, and after the execution I learned that we had shot the
Duc d'Enghien. Judge of my horror! . . . I knew the prisoner only by the
name of the brigand of La Vendée! . . . I could no longer remain in the
service--I obtained my discharge, and am about to retire to my family.
Would that I had done so sooner!" The above has been related to me and
other persons by Davoust's secretary, whom I shall not name.
CHAPTER XXIII.
1804.
General Ordener's mission--Arrest of the Duc d'Enghien--Horrible
night-scene---Harrel's account of the death of the Prince--Order for
digging the grave--The foster-sister of the Duc d'Enghien--Reading
the sentence--The lantern--General Savary--The faithful dog and the
police--My visit to Malmaison--Josephine's grief--
The Duc d'Enghien's portrait and lock of hair--Savary's emotion--
M. de Chateaubriand's resignation--M. de Chateaubriand's connection
with Bonaparte--Madame Bacciocchi and M. de Fontanes--Cardinal Fesch
--Dedication of the second edition of the 'Genie du Christianisme'
--M. de Chateaubriand's visit to the First Consul on the morning of
the Duc d'Enghien's death--Consequences of the Duc d'Enghien's
death--Change of opinion in the provinces--The Gentry of the
Chateaus--Effect of the Duc d'Enghien's death on foreign Courts--
Remarkable words of Mr. Pitt--Louis XVIII. sends back the insignia
of the Golden Fleece to the King of Spain.
I will now narrate more fully the sanguinary scene which took place at
Vincennes. General Ordener, commanding the mounted grenadiers of the
Guard, received orders from the War Minister to proceed to the Rhine, to
give instructions to the chiefs of the gendarmerie of New Brissac,
which was placed at his disposal. General Ordener sent a detachment of
gendarmerie to Ettenheim, where the Duc d'Enghien was arrested on the
15th of March. He was immediately conducted to the citadel of Strasburg,
where he remained till the 18th, to give time for the arrival of orders
from Paris. These orders were given rapidly, and executed promptly,
for the carriage which conveyed the unfortunate Prince arrived at the
barrier at eleven o'clock on the morning of the 20th, where it remained
for five hours, and afterwards proceeded by the exterior boulevards on
the road to Vincennes, where it arrived at night. Every scene of this
horrible drama was acted under the veil of night: the sun did not even
shine upon its tragical close. The soldiers received orders to proceed
to Vincennes at night. It was at night that the fatal gates of the
fortress were closed upon the Prince. At night the Council assembled and
tried him, or rather condemned him without trial. When the clock struck
six in the morning the orders were given to fire, and the Prince ceased
to exist.
Here a reflection occurs to me. Supposing one were inclined to admit
that the Council held on the 10th of March had some connection with the
Duc d'Enghien's arrest, yet as no Council was held from the time of the
Duke's arrival at the barrier to the moment of his execution, it
could only be Bonaparte himself who issued the orders which were too
punctually obeyed. When the dreadful intelligence of the Duc d'Enghien's
death was spread in Paris it excited a feeling of consternation which
recalled the recollection of the Reign of Terror. Could Bonaparte have
seen the gloom which pervaded Paris, and compared it with the joy which
prevailed on the day when he returned victorious from the field of
Marengo, he would have felt that he had tarnished his glory by a stain
which could never be effaced.
About half-past twelve on the 22d of March I was informed that some one
wished to speak with me. It was Harrel.
--[Harrel, who had been unemployed till the plot of Arena and
Ceracchi on the 18th Vendemiairean IX (10th October 1800) which he
had feigned to join, and had then revealed to the police (see ante),
had been made Governor of Vincennes.]--
I will relate word for word what he communicated to me. Harrel probably
thought that he was bound in gratitude to acquaint me with these
details; but he owed me no gratitude, for it was much against my will
that he had encouraged the conspiracy of Ceracchi, and received the
reward of his treachery in that crime. The following is Harrel's
statement:--
"On the evening of the day before yesterday, when the Prince arrived,
I was asked whether I had a room to lodge a prisoner in; I replied,
No--that there were only my apartments and the Council-chamber. I was
told to prepare instantly a room in which a prisoner could sleep who
was to arrive that evening. I was also desired to dig a pit in the
courtyard.
--[This fact must be noted. Harrel is told to dig a trench before
the sentence. Thus it was known that they had come to kill the Duc
d'Enghien. How can this be answered? Can it possibly be supposed
that anyone, whoever it was, would have dared to give each an order
in anticipation if the order had not been the carrying out of a
formal command of Bonaparte? That is incredible.--Bourrienne.]--
"I replied that that could not be easily done, as the courtyard was
paved. The moat was then fixed upon, and there the pit was dug. The
Prince arrived at seven o'clock in the evening; he was perishing
with cold and hunger. He did not appear dispirited. He said he wanted
something to eat, and to go to bed afterwards. His apartment not being
yet sufficiently aired, I took him into my own, and sent into the
village for some refreshment. The Prince sat down to table, and invited
me to eat with him. He then asked me a number of questions respecting
Vincennes--what was going on there, and other particulars. He told me
that he had been brought up in the neighbourhood of the castle, and
spoke to me with great freedom and kindness. 'What do they want with
me?' he said. 'What do they mean to do with me?' But these questions
betrayed no uneasiness or anxiety. My wife, who was ill, was lying in
the same room in an alcove, closed by a railing. She heard, without
being perceived, all our conversation, and she was exceedingly agitated,
for she recognised the Prince, whose foster-sister she was, and whose
family had given her a pension before the Revolution.
"The Prince hastened to bed, but before he could have fallen asleep the
judges sent to request his presence in the Council-chamber. I was not
present at his examination; but when it was concluded he returned to
his chamber, and when they came to read his sentence to him he was in a
profound sleep. In a few moments after he was led out for execution. He
had so little suspicion of the fate that awaited him that on descending
the staircase leading to the moat he asked where they were taking him.
He received no answer. I went before the Prince with a lantern. Feeling
the cold air which came up the staircase he pressed my arm and said,
'Are they going to put me into a dungeon?'"
The rest is known. I can yet see Harrel shuddering while thinking of
this action of the Prince's.
Much has been said about a lantern which it is pretended was attached
to one of the Duc d'Enghien's button-holes. This is a pure invention.
Captain Dautancourt, whose sight was not very good, took the lantern
out of Harrel's hand to read the sentence to the victim, who had been
condemned with as little regard to judicial forms as to justice. This
circumstance probably gave rise to the story about the lantern to which
I have just alluded. The fatal event took place at six o'clock on the
morning of the 21st of March, and it was then daylight.
General Savary did not dare to delay the execution of the sentence,
although the Prince urgently demanded to have an interview with the
First Consul. Had Bonaparte seen the prince there can be little doubt
but that he would have saved his life. Savary, however, thought himself
bound to sacrifice his own opinions to the powerful faction which then
controlled the First Consul; and whilst he thought he was serving his
master, he was in fact only serving the faction to which, I must say, he
did not belong. The truth is, that General Savary can only be reproached
for not having taken upon himself to suspend the execution, which very
probably would not have taken place had it been suspended. He was merely
an instrument, and regret on his part would, perhaps, have told more in
his favour than his vain efforts to justify Bonaparte. I have just
said that if there had been any suspension there would have been no
execution; and I think this is almost proved by the uncertainty which
must have existed in the mind of the First Consul. If he had made up his
mind all the measures would have been taken in advance, and if they had
been, the carriage of the Duke would certainly not have been kept
for five hours at the barriers. Besides, it is certain that the first
intention was to take the Prince to the prison of the Temple.
From all that I have stated, and particularly from the non-suspension of
the execution, it appears to me as clear as day that General Savary had
received a formal order from Bonaparte for the Duc d'Enghien's death,
and also a formal order that it should be so managed as to make it
impossible to speak to Bonaparte again on the subject until all should
be over. Can there be a more evident, a more direct proof of this than
the digging of the grave beforehand? I have repeated Harrel's story just
as he related it to me. He told it me without solicitation, and he could
not invent a circumstance of this nature.
General Savary was not in the moat during the execution, but on
the bank, from whence he could easily see all that passed. Another
circumstance connected with the Duc d'Enghien's death has been
mentioned, which is true. The Prince had a little dog; this faithful
animal returned incessantly to the fatal spot in the moat. There are few
who have not seen that spot. Who has not made a pilgrimage to Vincennes
and dropped a tear where the victim fell? The fidelity of the poor dog
excited so much interest that the police prevented any one from visiting
the fatal spot, and the dog was no longer heard to howl over his
master's grave.
I promised to state the truth respecting the death of the Duc d'Enghien,
and I have done so, though it has cost me some pain. Harrel's narrative,
and the shocking circumstance of the grave being dug beforehand, left
me no opportunity of cherishing any doubts I might have wished to
entertain; and everything which followed confirmed the view I then took
of the subject. When Harrel left me on the 22d I determined to go to
Malmaison to see Madame Bonaparte, knowing, from her sentiments towards
the House of Bourbon, that she would be in the greatest affliction. I
had previously sent to know whether it would be convenient for her to
see me, a precaution I had never before observed, but which I conceived
to be proper upon that occasion. On my arrival I was immediately
introduced to her boudoir, where she was alone with Hortense and Madame
de Rémusat. They were all deeply afflicted. "Bourrienne," exclaimed
Josephine, as soon as she perceived me, "what a dreadful event! Did you
but know the state of mind Bonaparte is in! He avoids, he dreads the
presence of every one! Who could have suggested to him such an act as
this?" I then acquainted Josephine with the particulars which I had
received from Harrel. "What barbarity!" she resumed. "But no reproach
can rest upon me, for I did everything to dissuade him from this
dreadful project. He did not confide the secret to me, but I guessed it,
and he acknowledged all. How harshly he repelled my entreaties! I clung
to him! I threw myself at his feet! 'Meddle with what concerns you!'
he exclaimed angrily. 'This is not women's business! Leave me!' And he
repulsed me with a violence which he had never displayed since our first
interview after your return from Egypt. Heavens! what will become of
us?"
I could say nothing to calm affliction and alarm in which I
participated, for to my grief for the death of the Duc d'Enghien was
added my regret that Bonaparte should be capable of such a crime.
"What," said Josephine, "can be thought of this in Paris? He must be the
object of universal, imprecation, for even here his flatterers appear
astounded when they are out of his presence. How wretched we have been
since yesterday; and he!.... You know what he is when he is dissatisfied
with himself. No one dare speak to him, and all is mournful around us.
What a commission he gave to Savary! You know I do not like the general,
because he is one of those whose flatteries will contribute to ruin
Bonaparte. Well! I pitied Savary when he came yesterday to fulfil a
commission which the Duc d'Enghien had entrusted to him. Here," added
Josephine, "is his portrait and a lock of his hair, which he has
requested me to transmit to one who was dear to him. Savary almost
shed tears when he described to me the last moments of the Duke; then,
endeavouring to resume his self-possession, he said: 'It is in vain to
try to be indifferent, Madame! It is impossible to witness the death of
such a man unmoved!'"
Josephine afterwards informed me of the only act of courage which
occurred at this period--namely, the resignation which M. de
Chateaubriand had sent to Bonaparte. She admired his conduct greatly,
and said: "What a pity he is not surrounded by men of this description!
It would be the means of preventing all the errors into which he is led
by the constant approbation of those about him." Josephine thanked me
for my attention in coming to see her at such an unhappy juncture; and I
confess that it required all the regard I cherished for her to induce me
to do so, for at that moment I should not have wished to see the First
Consul, since the evil was irreparable. On the evening of that day
nothing was spoken of but the transaction of the 21st of March, and the
noble conduct of M. de Chateaubriand. As the name of that celebrated
man is for ever written in characters of honour in the history of that
period, I think I may with propriety relate here what I know respecting
his previous connection with Bonaparte.
I do not recollect the precise date of M. de Chateaubriand's return
to France; I only know that it was about the year 1800, for we were,
I think, still at the Luxembourg: However, I recollect perfectly that
Bonaparte began to conceive prejudices against him; and when I one day
expressed my surprise to the First Consul that M. de Chateaubriand's
name did not appear on any of the lists which he had ordered to be
presented to him for filling up vacant places, he said: "He has been
mentioned to me, but I replied in a way to check all hopes of his
obtaining any appointment. He has notions of liberty and independence
which will not suit my system. I would rather have him my enemy than my
forced friend. At all events, he must wait awhile; I may, perhaps, try
him first in a secondary place, and, if he does well, I may advance
him."
The above is, word for word, what Bonaparte said the first time I
conversed with him about M. de Chateaubriand. The publication of 'Atala'
and the 'Genie du Christianisme' suddenly gave Chateaubriand celebrity,
and attracted the attention of the First Consul. Bonaparte who then
meditated the restoration of religious worship: in France, found himself
wonderfully supported by the publication of a book which excited the
highest interest, and whose superior merit led the public mind to the
consideration of religious topics. I remember Madame Bacciocchi coming
one day to visit her brother with a little volume in her hand; it was
'Atala'. She presented it to the First Consul, and begged he would read
it. "What, more romances!" exclaimed he. "Do you think I have time to
read all your fooleries?" He, however, took the book from his sister and
laid it down on my desk. Madame Bacciocchi then solicited the erasure
of M. de Chateaubriand's name from the list of emigrants. "Oh! oh!" said
Bonaparte, "it is Chateaubriand's book, is it? I will read it, then.
Bourrienne, write to Fouché to erase his name from the list."
Bonaparte, at that time paid so little attention to what was doing in
the literary world that he was not aware of Chateaubriand being the
author of 'Atala'. It was on the recommendation of M. de Fontanel that
Madame Bacciocchi tried this experiment, which was attended by complete
success. The First Consul read 'Atala', and was much pleased with it.
On the publication of the 'Genie du Christianisme' some time after, his
first prejudices were wholly removed. Among the persons about him there
were many who dreaded to see a man of de Chateaubriand's talent approach
the First Consul, who knew how to appreciate superior merit when it did
not exite his envy.
Our relations with the Court of the Vatican being renewed, and Cardinal
Fesch appointed Ambassador to the Holy See, Bonaparte conceived the idea
of making M. de Chateaubriand first secretary to the Embassy, thinking
that the author of the 'Genie du Christianisme' was peculiarly fitted
to make up for his uncle's deficiency of talent in the capital of the
Christian world, which was destined to become the second city of the
Empire.
It was not a little extraordinary to let a man, previously, a stranger
to diplomatic business; stepping over all the intermediate degrees;
and being at once invested with the functions of first secretary to
an important Embassy. I oftener than once heard the First Consul
congratulate himself on having made the appointment. I knew, though
Bonaparte was not aware of the circumstance at the time, that
Chateaubriand at first refused the situation, and that he was only
induced to accept it by the entreaties of the head of the clergy,
particularly of the Abby Emery, a man of great influence. They
represented to the author of the 'Genie du Christianisme' that it was
necessary he should accompany the uncle of the First Consul to Rome; and
M. de Chateaubriand accordingly resolved to do so.
However, clouds, gathered; I do not know from what cause, between the
ambassador and his secretary. All I know is, that on Bonaparte being
informed of the circumstance he took the part of the Cardinal, and the
friends of M. de Chateaubriand expected to see him soon deprived of his
appointment, when, to the great astonishment of every one, the secretary
to the Roman Embassy, far from being disgraced, was raised by the First
Consul to the rank of Minister Plenipotentiary to the Valais, with leave
to travel in Switzerland and Italy, together with the promise of the
first vacant Embassy.
This favour excited a considerable sensation at the Tuileries; but as it
was known to be the will and pleasure of the First Consul all expression
of opinion on the subject was confined to a few quiet murmurs that
Bonaparte had done for the name of Chateaubriand what, in fact, he had
done only on account of his talent. It was during the continuance of
this favour that the second edition of the 'Genie du Christianisme' was
dedicated to the First Consul.
M. de Chateaubriand returned to France previously to entering on the
fulfilment of his new mission. He remained for some months in Paris,
and on the day appointed for his departure he went to take leave of the
First Consul. By a singular chance it happened to be the fatal morning
of the 21st of March, and consequently only a few hours after the
Duc d'Enghien had been shot. It is unnecessary to observe that M. de
Chateaubriand was ignorant of the fatal event. However, on his return
home he said to his friends that he had remarked a singular change
in the appearance of the First Consul, and that there was a sort of
sinister expression in his countenance. Bonaparte saw his new minister
amidst the crowd who attended the audience, and several times seemed
inclined to step forward to speak to him, but as often turned away, and
did not approach him the whole morning. A few hours after, when M. de
Chateaubriand mentioned his observations to some of his friends; he was
made acquainted with the cause of that agitation which, in spite of all
his strength of mind and self-command, Bonaparte could not disguise.
M. de Chateaubriand instantly resigned his appointment of Minister
Plenipotentiary to the Valais. For several days his friends were much
alarmed for his safety, and they called every morning early to ascertain
whether he had not been carried off during the night. Their fears were
not without foundation. I must confess that I, who knew Bonaparte well,
was somewhat surprised that no serious consequence attended the anger he
manifested on receiving the resignation of the man who had dedicated his
work to him. In fact, there was good reason for apprehension, and it was
not without considerable difficulty that Elisa succeeded in averting
the threatened storm. From this time began a state of hostility between
Bonaparte and Chateaubriand which only terminated at the Restoration.
I am persuaded, from my knowledge of Bonaparte's character, that though
he retained implacable resentment against a returned emigrant who had
dared to censure his conduct in so positive a manner, yet, his first
burst of anger being soothed, that which was the cause of hatred was
at the same time the ground of esteem. Bonaparte's animosity was, I
confess, very natural, for he could not disguise from himself the real
meaning of a resignation made under such circumstances. It said plainly,
"You have committed a crime, and I will not serve your Government,
which is stained with the blood of a Bourbon!" I can therefore very well
imagine that Bonaparte could never pardon the only man who dared to give
him such a lesson in the midst of the plenitude of his power. But, as
I have often had occasion to remark, there was no unison between
Bonaparte's feelings and his judgment.
I find a fresh proof of this in the following passage, which he dictated
to M. de Montholon at St. Helena (Memoires, tome iv. p 248). "If," said
he, "the royal confidence had not been placed in men whose minds were
unstrung by too important circumstances, or who, renegade to their
country, saw no safety or glory for their master's throne except under
the yoke of the Holy Alliance; if the Duc de Richelieu, whose ambition
was to deliver his country from the presence of foreign bayonets; if
Chateaubriand, who had just rendered valuable services at Ghent; if they
had had the direction of affairs, France would have emerged from these
two great national crises powerful and redoubtable. Chateaubriand had
received from Nature the sacred fire-his works show it! His style is not
that of Racine but of a prophet. Only he could have said with impunity
in the chamber of peers, 'that the redingote and cocked hat of Napoleon,
put on a stick on the coast of Brest, would make all Europe run to
arms.'"
The immediate consequences of the Duc d'Enghien's death were not
confined to the general consternation which that unjustifiable stroke
of state policy produced in the capital. The news spread rapidly through
the provinces and foreign countries, and was everywhere accompanied by
astonishment and sorrow. There is in the departments a separate class of
society, possessing great influence, and constituted entirely of persons
usually called the "Gentry of the Chateaux," who may be said to form the
provincial Faubourg St. Germain, and who were overwhelmed by the news.
The opinion of the Gentry of the Chateaux was not hitherto unfavourable
to the First Consul, for the law of hostages which he repealed had
been felt very severely by them. With the exception of some families
accustomed to consider themselves, in relation to the whole world, what
they were only within the circle of a couple of leagues; that is to say,
illustrious personages, all the inhabitants of the provinces, though
they might retain some attachment to the ancient order of things,
had viewed with satisfaction the substitution of the Consular for the
Directorial government, and entertained no personal dislike to the First
Consul. Among the Chateaux, more than anywhere else, it had always been
the custom to cherish Utopian ideas respecting the management of public
affairs, and to criticise the acts of the Government. It is well known
that at this time there was not in all France a single old mansion
surmounted by its two weathercocks which had not a systems of policy
peculiar to itself, and in which the question whether the First Consul
would play the part of Cromwell or Monk was not frequently canvassed. In
those innocent controversies the little news which the Paris papers were
allowed to publish was freely discussed, and a confidential letter from
Paris sometimes furnished food for the conversation of a whole week.
While I was with Bonaparte he often talked to me about the life in the
Chateaux, which he considered as the happiest for men with sufficient
income and exempt from ambition. He knew and could appreciate this
sort of life, for he often told me the period of his life which he
remembered. with the greatest pleasure was that which he had passed in a
Chateau of the family of Boulat du Colombier near Valence. Bonaparte set
great value on the opinion of the Chateaux, because while living in
the country he had observed the moral influence which their inhabitants
exercise over their neighbourhood. He had succeeded to a great degree
in conciliating them, but the news of the death of the Duc d'Enghien
alienated from him minds which were still wavering, and even those which
had already declared in his favour. That act of tyranny dissolved the
charm which had created hope from his government and awakened affections
which had as yet only slumbered. Those to whom this event was almost
indifferent also joined in condemning it; for there are certain
aristocratic ideas which are always fashionable in a certain class
of society. Thus for different causes this atrocity gave a retrograde
direction to public opinion, which had previously been favourably
disposed to Bonaparte throughout the whole of France.
The consequences were not less important, and might have been disastrous
with respect to foreign Courts. I learned, through a channel which
does not permit me to entertain any doubt of the correctness of my
information, that as soon as the Emperor Alexander received the news it
became clear that England might conceive a well-founded hope of
forming a new coalition against France. Alexander openly expressed his
indignation. I also learned with equal certainty that when Mr. Pitt was
informed of the death of the French Prince he said, "Bonaparte has
now done himself more mischief than we have done him since the last
declaration of war."
--[The remark made on this murder by the astute cold-blooded Fouché
is well known. He said, "It was worse than a crime--it was a
blunder!"--Editor of 1836 Edition.]--
Pitt was not the man to feel much concern for the death of any one;
but he understood and seized all the advantages afforded to him by this
great error of policy committed by the most formidable enemy of England.
In all the Treasury journals published in London Bonaparte was never
spoken of under any other name than that of the "assassin of the Duc
d'Enghien." The inert policy of the Cabinet of Vienna prevented the
manifestation of its displeasure by remonstrances, or by any outward
act. At Berlin, in consequence of the neighbourhood of the French troops
in Hanover, the commiseration for the death of the Duc d'Enghien was
also confined to the King's cabinet, and more particularly to the salons
of the Queen of Prussia; but it is certain that that transaction almost
everywhere changed the disposition of sovereigns towards the First
Consul, and that if it did not cause, it at least hastened the success
of the negotiations which England was secretly carrying on with Austria
and Prussia. Every Prince of Germany was offended by the violation of
the Grand Duke of Baden's territory, and the death of a Prince could not
fail everywhere to irritate that kind of sympathy of blood and of race
which had hitherto always influenced the crowned heads and sovereign
families of Europe; for it was felt as an injury to all of them.
When Louis XVIII. learned the death of the Duc d'Enghien he wrote to
the King of Spain, returning him the insignia of the Order of the
Golden Fleece (which had also been conferred on Bonaparte), with the
accompanying letter:
SIRE, MONSIEUR, AND DEAR COUSIN--It is with regret that I send back
to you the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece which his
Majesty, your father, of glorious memory conferred upon me. There
can be nothing in common between me and the great criminal whom
audacity and fortune have placed on my throne, since he has had the
barbarity to stain himself with the blood of a Bourbon, the Duc
d'Enghien.
Religion might make me pardon an assassin, but the tyrant of my
people must always be my enemy.
In the present age it is more glorious to merit a sceptre than to
possess one.
Providence, for incomprehensible reasons, may condemn me to end my
days in exile, but neither my contemporaries nor posterity shall
ever have to say, that in the period of adversity I showed my self
unworthy of occupying the throne of my ancestors.
LOUIS
The death of the Duc d'Enghien was a horrible episode in the proceedings
of the great trial which was then preparing, and which was speedily
followed by the accession of Bonaparte to the Imperial dignity. It
was not one of the least remarkable anomalies of the epoch to see
the judgment by which criminal enterprises against the Republic were
condemned pronounced in the name of the Emperor who had so evidently
destroyed that Republic. This anomaly certainly was not removed by the
subtlety, by the aid of which he at first declared himself Emperor of
the Republic, as a preliminary to his proclaiming himself Emperor of
the French. Setting aside the means, it must be acknowledged that it
is impossible not to admire the genius of Bonaparte, his tenacity in
advancing towards his object, and that adroit employment of suppleness
and audacity which made him sometimes dare fortune, sometimes avoid
difficulties which he found insurmountable, to arrive, not merely at the
throne of Louis XVI., but at the reconstructed throne of Charlemagne.
CHAPTER XXIV.
1804.
Pichegru betrayed--His arrest--His conduct to his old aide de camp--
Account of Pichegru's family, and his education at Brienne--
Permission to visit M. Carbonnet--The prisoners in the Temple--
Absurd application of the word "brigand"--Moreau and the state of
public opinion respecting him--Pichegru's firmness--Pichegru
strangled in prison--Public opinion at the time--Report on the death
of Pichegru.
I shall now proceed to relate what I knew at the time and what I have
since learnt of the different phases of the trial of Georges, Pichegru,
Moreau and the other persons accused of conspiracy,--a trial to all the
proceedings of which I closely attended. From those proceedings I was
convinced that Moreau was no conspirator, but at the same time I must
confess that it is very probable the First Consul might believe that
he had been engaged in the plot, and I am also of opinion that the real
conspirators believed Moreau to be their accomplice and their chief;
for the object of the machinations of the police agents was to create a
foundation for such a belief, it being important to the success of their
scheme.
It has been stated that Moreau was arrested on the day after the
confessions made by Bouvet de Lozier; Pichegru was taken by means of the
most infamous treachery that a man can be guilty of. The official police
had at last ascertained that he was in Paris, but they could not learn
the place of his concealment. The police agents had in vain exerted all
their efforts to discover him, when an old friend, who had given him his
last asylum, offered to deliver him up for 100,000 crowns. This infamous
fellow gave an exact description of the chamber which Pichegru
occupied in the Rue de Chabanais, and in consequence of his information
Comminges, commissary of police, proceeded thither, accompanied by some
determined men. Precautions were necessary, because it was known that
Pichegru was a man of prodigious bodily strength, and that besides,
as he possessed the means of defence, he would not allow himself to
be taken without making a desperate resistance. The police entered his
chamber by using false keys, which the man who had sold him had the
baseness to get made for them. A light was burning on his night table.
The party of police, directed by Comminges, overturned the table,
extinguished the light, and threw themselves on the general, who
struggled with all his strength, and cried out loudly. They were obliged
to bind him, and in this state the conqueror of Holland was removed to
the Temple, out of which he was destined never to come alive.
It must be owned that Pichegru was far from exciting the same interest
as Moreau. The public, and more especially the army, never pardoned
him for his negotiations with the Prince de Condé prior to the 18th
Fructidor. However, I became acquainted with a trait respecting him
while he was in Paris which I think does him much honour. A son of M.
Lagrenee, formerly director of the French Academy at Rome, had been one
of Pichegru's aides de camp. This young man, though he had obtained the
rank of captain, resigned on the banishment of his general, and resumed
the pencil, which he had lad aside for the sword. Pichegru, while he was
concealed in Paris; visited his former aide de camp, who insisted upon
giving him an asylum; but Pichegru positively refused to accept M.
Lagrenee's offer, being determined not to commit a man who had already
given him so strong a proof of friendship. I learned this fact by a
singular coincidence. At this period Madame de Bourrienne wished to have
a portrait of one of our children; she was recommended to M. Lagrenee,
and he related the circumstance to her.
It was on the night of the 22d of February that Pichegru was arrested
in the manner I have described. The deceitful friend who gave him up was
named Le Blanc, and he went to settle at Hamburg with the reward of his
treachery, I had entirely lost sight of Pichegru since we left Brienne,
for Pichegru was also a pupil of that establishment; but, being older
than either Bonaparte or I, he was already a tutor when we were
only scholars, and I very well recollect that it was he who examined
Bonaparte in the four first rules of arithmetic.
Pichegru belonged to an agricultural family of Franche-Comte. He had a
relation, a minim,' in that country. The minim, who had the charge of
educating the pupils of the Military School of Brienne, being very poor,
and their poverty not enabling them to hold out much inducement to other
persons to assist them, they applied to the minims of Franche-Comte.
In consequence of this application Pichegru's relation, and some other
minims, repaired to Brienne. An aunt of Pichegru, who was a sister of
the order of charity, accompanied them, and the care of the infirmary
was entrusted to her. This good woman took her nephew to Brienne with
her, and he was educated at the school gratuitously. As soon as his
age permitted, Pichegru was made a tutor; but all, his ambition was
to become a minim. He was, however, dissuaded from that pursuit by his
relation, and he adopted the military profession. There is this further
remarkable circumstance in the youth of Pichegru, that, though he was
older by several years than Bonaparte, they were both made lieutenants
of artillery at the same time. What a difference in their destiny!
While the one was preparing to ascend a throne the other was a solitary
prisoner in the dungeon of the Temple.
I had no motive to induce me to visit either the Temple or La Force,
but I received at the time circumstantial details of what was passing in
those prisons, particularly in the former; I went, however, frequently
to St. Pelagie, where M. Carbonnet was confined. As soon as I knew that
he was lodged in that prison I set about getting an admission from Real,
who smoothed all difficulties. M. Carbonnet was detained two months
in solitary confinement. He was several times examined, but the
interrogatories produced no result, and, notwithstanding the desire
to implicate him in consequence of the known intimacy between him and
Moreau, it was at last found impossible to put him on trial with the
other parties accused.
The Temple had more terrors than St. Pelagie, but not for the prisoners
who were committed to it, for none of those illustrious victims of
police machination displayed any weakness, with the exception of Bouvet
de Lozier, who, being sensible of his weakness, wished to prevent its
consequences by death. The public, however, kept their attention riveted
on the prison in which Moreau was confined. I have already mentioned
that Pichegru was conveyed thither on the night of the 22d of February;
a fortnight later Georges was arrested, and committed to the same
prison.
Either Real or Desmarets, and sometimes both together, repaired to
the Temple to examine the prisoners. In vain the police endeavoured to
direct public odium against the prisoners by placarding lists of their
names through the whole of Paris, even before they were arrested.
In those lists they were styled "brigands," and at the head of "the
brigands," the name of General Moreau shone conspicuously. An absurdity
without a parallel. The effect produced was totally opposite to that
calculated on; for, as no person could connect the idea of a brigand
with that of a general who was the object of public esteem, it was
naturally concluded that those whose names were placarded along with his
were no more brigands than he.
Public opinion was decidedly in favour of Moreau, and every one was
indignant at seeing him described as a brigand. Far from believing him
guilty, he was regarded as a victim fastened on because his reputation
embarrassed Bonaparte; for Moreau had always been looked up to as
capable of opposing the accomplishment of the First Consul's ambitious
views. The whole crime of Moreau was his having numerous partisans among
those who still clung to the phantom of the Republic, and that crime
was unpardonable in the eyes of the First Consul, who for two years had
ruled the destinies of France as sovereign master. What means were not
employed to mislead the opinion of the public respecting Moreau? The
police published pamphlets of all sorts, and the Comte de Montgaillard
was brought from Lyons to draw up a libel implicating him with Pichegru
and the exiled Princes. But nothing that was done produced the effect
proposed.
The weak character of Moreau is known. In fact, he allowed himself to
be circumvented by a few intriguers, who endeavoured to derive advantage
from the influence of his name. But he was so decidedly opposed to the
reestablishment of the ancient system that he replied to one of the
agents who addressed' him, "I cannot put myself at the head of any
movement for the Bourbons, and such an attempt would not succeed. If
Pichegru act on another principle--and even in that case I have told
him that the Consuls and the Governor of Paris must disappear--I believe
that I have a party strong enough in the Senate to obtain possession of
authority, and I will immediately make use of it to protect his friends;
public opinion will then dictate what may be fit to be done, but I will
promise nothing in writing." Admitting these words attributed to Moreau
to be true, they prove that he was dissatisfied with the Consular
Government, and that he wished a change; but there is a great difference
between a conditional wish and a conspiracy.
The commander of the principal guard of the Temple was General Savory,
and he had reinforced that guard by his select gendarmerie. The
prisoners did not dare to communicate one with another for fear of
mutual injury, but all evinced a courage which created no little alarm
as to the consequences of the trial. Neither offers nor threats produced
any confessions in the course of the interrogatories. Pichegru, in
particular, displayed an extraordinary firmness, and Real one day, on
leaving the chamber where he had been examining him, said aloud in the
presence of several persons, "What a man that Pichegru is!"
Forty days elapsed after the arrest of General Pichegru when, on
the morning of the 6th of April, he was found dead in the chamber he
occupied in the Temple. Pichegru had undergone ten examinations; but he
had made no confessions, and no person was committed by his replies.
All his declarations, however, gave reason to believe that he would
speak out, and that too in a lofty and energetic manner during the
progress of the trial. "When I am before my judges," said he, "my
language shall be conformable to truth and the interests of my country."
What would that language have been? Without doubt there was no wish that
it should be heard. Pichegru would have kept his promise, for he was
distinguished for his firmness of character above everything, even above
his qualities as a soldier; differing in this respect from Moreau, who
allowed himself to be guided by his wife and mother-in-law, both of whom
displayed ridiculous pretensions in their visits to Madame Bonaparte.
The day on which Real spoke before several persons of Pichegru in the
way I have related was the day of his last examination. I afterwards
learned, from a source on which I can rely, that during his examination
Pichegru, though careful to say nothing which could affect the other
prisoners, showed no disposition to be tender of him who had sought and
resolved his death, but evinced a firm resolution to unveil before the
public the odious machinery of the plot into which the police had drawn
him. He also declared that he and his companions had no longer any
object but to consider of the means of leaving Paris, with the view of
escaping from the snares laid for them when their arrest took place. He
declared that they had all of them given up the idea of overturning
the power of Bonaparte, a scheme into which they had been enticed
by shameful intrigues. I am convinced the dread excited by his
manifestation of a resolution to speak out with the most rigid candour
hastened the death of Pichegru. M. Real, who is still living, knows
better than any one else what were Pichegru's declarations, as he
interrogated him. I know not whether that gentleman will think fit,
either at the present or some future period, to raise the veil of
mystery which hangs over these events, but of this I am sure, he will be
unable to deny anything I advance. There is evidence almost amounting
to demonstration that Pichegru was strangled in prison, and consequently
all idea of suicide must be rejected as inadmissible. Have I positive
and substantive proof of what I assert? I have not; but the concurrence
of facts and the weight of probabilities do not leave me in possession
of the doubts I should wish to entertain on that tragic event. Besides,
there exists a certain popular instinct, which is rarely at fault,
and it must be in the recollection of many, not only that the general
opinion favoured the notion of Pichegru's assassination, but that the
pains taken to give that opinion another direction, by the affected
exhibition of the body, only served to strengthen it. He who
spontaneously says, I have not committed such or such a crime, at least
admits there is room for suspecting his guilt.
The truth is, the tide of opinion never set in with such force against
Bonaparte as during the trial of Moreau; nor was the popular sentiment
in error on the subject of the death of Pichegru, who was clearly
strangled in the Temple by secret agents. The authors, the actors, and
the witnesses of the horrible prison scenes of the period are the only
persons capable of removing the doubts which still hang over the
death of Pichegru; but I must nevertheless contend that the preceding
circumstances, the general belief at the time, and even probability, are
in contradiction with any idea of suicide on the part of Pichegru. His
death was considered necessary, and this necessity was its real cause.
CHAPTER XXV.
1804.
Arrest of Georges--The fruiterer's daughter of the Rue de La
Montagne--St. Genevieve--Louis Bonaparte's visit to the Temple--
General Lauriston--Arrest of Villeneuve and Barco--Villeneuve
wounded--Moreau during his imprisonment--Preparations for leaving
the Temple--Remarkable change in Georges--Addresses and
congratulations--Speech of the First Consul forgotten--Secret
negotiations with the Senate--Official proposition of Bonaparte's
elevation to the Empire--Sitting of the Council of State--
Interference of Bonaparte--Individual votes--Seven against twenty--
His subjects and his people--Appropriateness of the title of
Emperor--Communications between Bonaparte and the Senate--Bonaparte
first called Sire by Cambacérès--First letter signed by Napoleon as
Emperor--Grand levee at the Tuileries--Napoleon's address to the
Imperial Guard--Organic 'Senatus-consulte'--Revival of old formulas
and titles--The Republicanism of Lucien--The Spanish Princess--
Lucien's clandestine marriage--Bonaparte's influence on the German
Princes--Intrigues of England--Drake at Munich--Project for
overthrowing Bonaparte's Government--Circular from the Minister for
Foreign Affairs to the members of the Diplomatic Body--Answers to
that circular.
Georges was arrested about seven o'clock, on the evening of the 9th
of March, with another conspirator, whose name, I think, was Leridan.
Georges was stopped in a cabriolet on the Place de l'Odeon, whither he
had no doubt been directed by the police agent, who was constantly about
him. In not seizing him at his lodgings, the object, probably, was to
give more publicity to his arrest, and to produce an effect upon the
minds of the multitude. This calculation cost the life of one man, and
had well-nigh sacrificed the lives of two, for Georges, who constantly
carried arms about him, first shot dead the police officer who seized
the horse's reins, and wounded another who advanced to arrest him is
the cabriolet. Besides his pistols there was found upon him a poniard of
English manufacture.
Georges lodged with a woman named Lemoine, who kept a fruiterer's shop
in the Rue de la Montagne St. Genevieve, and on the evening of the
9th of March he had just left his lodging to go, it was said, to a
perfumer's named Caron. It is difficult to suppose that the circumstance
of the police being on the spot was the mere effect of chance. The
fruiterer's daughter was putting into the cabriolet a parcel belonging
to Georges at the moment of his arrest. Georges, seeing the officers
advance to seize him, desired the girl to get out of the way, fearing
lest he should shoot her when he fired on the officers. She ran into a
neighbouring house, taking the parcel along with her. The police, it
may readily be supposed, were soon after her. The master of the house in
which she had taken refuge, curious to know what the parcel contained,
had opened it, and discovered, among other things, a bag containing
1000 Dutch sovereigns, from which he acknowledged he had abstracted a
considerable sum. He and his wife, as well as the fruiterer's daughter,
were all arrested; as to Georges, he was taken that same evening to the
Temple, where he remained until his removal to the Conciergerie when the
trial commenced.
During the whole of the legal proceedings Georges and the other
important prisoners were kept in solitary confinement. Immediately on
Pichegru's death the prisoners were informed of the circumstance. As
they were all acquainted with the general, and none believed the fact of
his reported suicide, it may easily be conceived what consternation and
horror the tragical event excited among them. I learned, and I was sorry
to hear of it, that Louis Bonaparte, who was an excellent man, and,
beyond all comparison, the best of the family, had the cruel curiosity
to see Georges in his prison a few days after the death of Pichegru, and
when the sensation of horror excited by that event in the interior of
the Temple was at its height, Louis repaired to the prison, accompanied
by a brilliant escort of staff-officers, and General Savary introduced
him to the prisoners. When Louis arrived, Georges was lying on his bed
with his hands strongly bound by manacles. Lauriston, who accompanied
Louis, related to me some of the particulars of this visit, which, in
spite of his sincere devotedness to the first Consul, he assured me had
been very painful to him.
After the arrest of Georges there were still some individuals marked out
as accomplices in the conspiracy who had found means to elude the search
of the police. The persons last arrested were, I think, Villeneuve, one
of the principal confidants of Georges, Burban Malabre, who went by the
name of Barco, and Charles d'Hozier. They were not taken till five
days after the arrest of the Duc d'Enghien. The famous Commissioner
Comminges, accompanied by an inspector and a detachment of gendarmes
d'Elite, found Villeneuve and Burban Malabre in the house of a man named
Dubuisson, in the Rue Jean Robert.
This Dubuisson and his wife had sheltered some of the principal persons
proscribed by the police. The Messieurs de Polignac and M. de Riviere
had lodged with them. When the police came to arrest Villeneuve and
Burban Malabre the people with whom they lodged declared that they had
gone away in the morning. The officers, however, searched the house, and
discovered a secret door within a closet. They called, and receiving no
answer, the gendarmerie had recourse to one of those expedients which
were, unfortunately, too familiar to them. They fired a pistol through
the door. Villeneuve, who went by the name of Joyau, was wounded in the
arm, which obliged him and his companion to come from the place of their
concealment, and they were then made prisoners.
Moreau was not treated with the degree of rigour observed towards the
other prisoners. Indeed, it would not have been safe so to treat him,
for even in his prison he received the homage and respect of all the
military, not excepting even those who were his guards. Many of these
soldiers had served under him, and it could not be forgotten how much
he was beloved by the troops he had commanded. He did not possess
that irresistible charm which in Bonaparte excited attachment, but his
mildness of temper and excellent character inspired love and respect. It
was the general opinion in Paris that a single word from Moreau to the
soldiers in whose custody he was placed would in a moment have converted
the gaoler-guard into a guard of honour, ready to execute all that might
be required for the safety of the conqueror of Hohenlinden. Perhaps the
respect with which he was treated and the indulgence of daily seeing his
wife and child were but artful calculations for keeping him within the
limits of his usual character. Besides, Moreau was so confident of
the injustice of the charge brought against him that he was calm and
resigned, and showed no disposition to rouse the anger of an enemy who
would have been happy to have some real accusation against him. To these
causes combined I always attributed the resignation; and I may say the
indifference, of Moreau while he was in prison and on his trial.
When the legal preparations for the trial were ended the prisoners of
the Temple were permitted to communicate with each other, and, viewing
their fate with that indifference which youth, misfortune, and courage
inspired, they amused themselves with some of those games which usually
serve for boyish recreation. While they were thus engaged the order
arrived for their removal to the Conciergerie. The firmness of all
remained unshaken, and they made their preparations for departure as
if they were going about any ordinary business. This fortitude was
particularly remarkable in Georges, in whose manner a change had taken
place which was remarked by all his companions in misfortune.
For some time past the agents of Government throughout France had been
instructed to solicit the First Consul to grant for the people what the
people did not want, but what Bonaparte wished to take while he appeared
to yield to the general will, namely, unlimited sovereign authority,
free from any subterfuge of denomination. The opportunity of the great
conspiracy just discovered, and in which Bonaparte had not incurred a
moment's danger, as he did at the time of the infernal machine, was
not suffered to escape; that opportunity was, on the contrary, eagerly
seized by the authorities of every rank, civil, ecclesiastical, and
military, and a torrent of addresses, congratulations, and thanksgivings
inundated the Tuileries. Most of the authors of these addressee did not
confine themselves to mere congratulations; they entreated Bonaparte to
consolidate his work, the true meaning of which was that it was time he
should make himself Emperor and establish hereditary succession. Those
who on other occasions had shown an officious readiness to execute
Bonaparte's commands did not now fear to risk his displeasure by
opposing the opinion he had expressed in the Council of State on the
discussion of the question of the Consulate for life. Bonaparte then
said, "Hereditary succession is absurd. It is irreconcilable with the
principle of the sovereignty of the people, and impossible in France."
In this scene of the grand drama Bonaparte played his part with his
accustomed talent, keeping himself in the background and leaving to
others the task of preparing the catastrophe. The Senate, who took the
lead in the way of insinuation, did not fail, while congratulating the
First Consul on his escape from the plots of foreigners, or, as they
were officially styled, the daggers of England, to conjure him not to
delay the completion of his work. Six days after the death of the Duc
d'Enghien the Senate first expressed this wish. Either because Bonaparte
began to repent of a useless crime, and felt the ill effect it must
produce on the public mind, or because he found the language of the
Senate somewhat vague, he left the address nearly a month unanswered,
and then only replied by the request that the intention of the address
might be more completely expressed. These negotiations between the
Senate and the Head of the Government were not immediately published.
Bonaparte did not like publicity except for what had arrived at a
result; but to attain the result which was the object of his ambition
it was necessary that the project which he was maturing should be
introduced in the Tribunate, and the tribune Curee had the honour to
be the first to propose officially, on the 30th of April 1804, the
conversion of the Consular Republic into an Empire, and the elevation
of Bonaparte to the title of Emperor; with the rights of hereditary
succession.
If any doubts could exist respecting the complaisant part which Curee
acted on this occasion one circumstance would suffice to remove them;
that is, that ten days before the development of his proposition
Bonaparte had caused the question of founding the Empire and
establishing hereditary succession in his family to be secretly
discussed in the Council of State. I learned from one of the Councillors
of State all that passed on that occasion, and I may remark that
Cambacérès showed himself particularly eager in the Council of State, as
well as afterwards in the Senate, to become the exalted subject of him
who had been his first colleague in the Consulate.
About the middle of April, the Council of State being assembled as for
an ordinary sitting, the First Consul, who was frequently present at the
sittings, did not appear. Cambacérès arrived and took the Presidency in
his quality of Second Consul, and it was remarked that his air was more
solemn than usual, though he at all times affected gravity.
The partisans of hereditary succession were the majority, and resolved
to present an address to the First Consul. Those of the Councillors who
opposed this determined on their part to send a counter-address; and to
avoid this clashing of opinions Bonaparte signified his wish that each
member of the Council should send him his opinion individually, with his
signature affixed. By a singular accident it happened to be Berlier's
task to present to the First Consul the separate opinions of the
Council. Out of the twenty-seven Councillors present only seven opposed
the question. Bonaparte received them all most graciously, and told
them, among other things, that he wished for hereditary power only for
the benefit of France; that the citizens would never be his subjects,
and that the French people would never be his people. Such were the
preliminaries to the official proposition of Curee to the Tribunate, and
upon reflection it was decided that, as all opposition would be useless
and perhaps dangerous to the opposing party, the minority should join
the majority. This was accordingly done.
The Tribunate having adopted the proposition of Curee, there was no
longer any motive for concealing the overtures of the Senate. Its
address to the First Consul was therefore published forty days after its
date: the pear was then ripe. This period is so important that I must
not omit putting together the most remarkable facts which either came
within my own observation, or which I have learned since respecting the
foundation of the Empire.
Bonaparte had a long time before spoken to me of the title of Emperor
as being the most appropriate for the new sovereignty which he wished
to found in France. This, he observed, was not restoring the old system
entirely, and he dwelt much on its being the title which Caesar had
borne. He often said, "One may be the Emperor of a republic, but not the
King of a republic, those two terms are incongruous."
In its first address the Senate had taken as a test the documents it had
received from the Government in relation to the intrigues of Drake, who
had been sent from England to Munich. That text afforded the opportunity
for a vague expression of what the Senate termed the necessities of
France. To give greater solemnity to the affair the Senate proceeded in
a body to the Tuileries, and one thing which gave a peculiar character
to the preconcerted advances of the Senate was that Cambacérès, the
Second Consul, fulfilled his functions of President on this occasion,
and delivered the address to the First Consul.
However, the First Consul thought the address of the Senate, which, I
have been informed, was drawn up by Francois de Neufchateau, was not
expressed with sufficient clearness; he therefore, after suffering
a little interval to elapse, sent a message to the Senate signed by
himself, in which he said, "Your address has been the object of my
earnest consideration." And though the address contained no mention of
hereditary succession, he added, "You consider the hereditary succession
of the supreme magistracy necessary to defend the French people against
the plots of our enemies and the agitation arising from rival ambition.
At the same time several of our institutions appear to you to require
improvement so as to ensure the triumph of equality and public liberty,
and to offer to the nation and the Government the double guarantee
they require." From the subsequent passages of the message it will be
sufficient to extract the following: "We have been constantly guided by
this great truth: that the sovereignty dwells with the French people,
and that it is for their interest, happiness, and glory that the Supreme
Magistracy, the Senate, the Council of State, the Legislative Body, the
Electoral Colleges, and the different branches of the Government,
are and must be instituted." The omission of the Tribunate in this
enumeration is somewhat remarkable. It announced a promise which was
speedily realised.
The will of Bonaparte being thus expressed in his message to
the--Senate, that body, which was created to preserve the institutions
consecrated by the Constitution of the year VIII., had no alternative
but to submit to the intentions manifested by the First Consul. The
reply to the message was, therefore, merely a counterpart of the message
itself. It positively declared that hereditary government was essential
to the happiness, the glory, and the prosperity of France, and that that
government could be confided only to Bonaparte and his family. While the
Senate so complaisantly played its part in this well-get-up piece, yet,
the better to impose on the credulity of the multitude, its reply, like
Bonaparte's message, resounded with the words liberty and equality.
Indeed, it was impudently asserted in that reply that Bonaparte's
accession to hereditary power would be a certain guarantee for the
liberty of the press, a liberty which Bonaparte held in the greatest
horror, and without which all other liberty is but a vain illusion.
By this reply of the Senate the most important step was performed. There
now remained merely ceremonies to regulate and formulas to fill up.
These various arrangements occasioned a delay of a fortnight. On the
18th of May the First Consul was greeted for the first time by the
appellation of Sire by his former colleague, Cambacérès, who at the
head of the Senate went to present to Bonaparte the organic
'Senatus-consulte' containing the foundation of the Empire. Napoleon was
at St. Cloud, whither the Senate proceeded in state. After the speech
of Cambacérès, in which the old designation of Majesty was for the first
time revived, the EMPEROR replied:--
All that can contribute to the welfare of the country is essentially
connected with my happiness. I accept the title which you believe
to be conducive to the glory of the nation. I submit to the
sanction of the people the law of hereditary succession. I hope
that France will never repent the honours she may confer on my
family. At all events, my spirit will not be with my posterity when
they cease to merit the confidence and love of the great nation.
Cambacérès next went to congratulate the Empress, and then was realised
to Josephine the prediction which I had made to her three years before
at Malmaison.
--[In the original motion as prepared by Curee, the Imperial dignity
was to be declared hereditary in the family of Napoleon. Previous to
being formerly read before the Tribunate, the First Consul sent for
the document, and when it was returned it was found that the word
family was altered to descendants. Fabre, the President of the
Tribunate, who received the altered document from Maret, seeing the
effect the alteration would have on the brothers of Napoleon, and
finding that Maret affected to crest the change as immaterial, took
on himself to restore the original form, and in that shape it was
read by the unconscious Curee to the Tribunals. On this curious,
passage see Miot de Melito, tome ii, p. 179. As finally settled the
descent of the crown in default of Napoleon's children was limited
to Joseph and Louis and their descendants, but the power of adoption
was given to Napoleon. The draft of the 'Senates-consulte' was
heard by the Council of State in silence, and Napoleon tried in vain
to get even the most talkative of the members now to speak. The
Senate were not unanimous in rendering the 'Senatus-consulte'. The
three votes given against it were said to have been Gregoire, the
former constitutional Bishop of Blois, Carat, who as Minister of
Justice had read to Louis XVI. the sentence of death, and
Lanjuinais, one of the very few survivors of the Girondists, Thiers
says there was only one dissentient voice. For the fury of the
brothers of Napoleon, who saw the destruction of all their ambitions
hopes in any measure for the descent of the crown except in the
family, see Miot, tome ii. p.. 172, where Joseph is described as
cursing the ambition of his brother, and desiring his death as a
benefit for France and his family.]--
Bonaparte's first act as Emperor, on the very day of his elevation to
the Imperial throne, was the nomination of Joseph to the dignity of
Grand Elector, with the title of Imperial Highness. Louis was raised to
the dignity of Constable, with the same title, and Cambacérès and Lebrun
were created Arch-Chancellor and Arch-Treasurer of the Empire. On the
same day Bonaparte wrote the following letter to Cambacérès, the first
which he signed as Emperor, and merely with the name of Napoleon:--
CITIZEN CONSUL CAMBACERES--Your title has changed; but your
functions and my confidence remain the same. In the high dignity
with which you are now invested you will continue to manifest, as
you have hitherto done in that of Consul, that wisdom and that
distinguished talent which entitle you to so important a share in
all the good which I may have effected. I have, therefore, only to
desire the continuance of the sentiments you cherish towards the
State and me.
Given at the Palace of St. Cloud, 28th Floréal, an XII.
(18th May 1804).
(Signed) NAPOLEON.
By the Emperor.
H. B. MARET.
I have quoted this first letter of the Emperor because it is
characteristic of Bonaparte's art in managing transitions. It was to
the Citizen Consul that the Emperor addressed himself, and it was dated
according to the Republican calendar. That calendar, together with the
delusive inscription on the coin, were all that now remained of the
Republic. Next day the Emperor came to Paris to hold a grand levee at
the Tuileries, for he was not the man to postpone the gratification that
vanity derived from his new dignity and title. The assembly was more
numerous and brilliant than on any former occasion. Bessières having
addressed the Emperor on the part of the Guards, the Emperor replied in
the following terms: "I know the sentiments the Guards cherish towards
me. I repose perfect confidence in their courage and fidelity. I
constantly see, with renewed pleasure, companions in arms who have
escaped so many dangers, and are covered with so many honourable wounds.
I experience a sentiment of satisfaction when I look at the Guards, and
think that there has not, for the last fifteen years, in any of the
four quarters of the world, been a battle in which some of them have not
taken part."
On the same day all the generals and colonels in Paris were presented
to the Emperor by Louis Bonaparte, who had already begun to exercise his
functions of Constable. In a few days everything assumed a new aspect;
but in spite of the admiration which was openly expressed the Parisians
secretly ridiculed the new courtiers. This greatly displeased
Bonaparte, who was very charitably informed of it in order to check his
prepossession in favour of the men of the old Court, such as the Comte
de Segur, and at a later period Comte Louis de Narbonne.
To give all possible solemnity to his accession Napoleon ordered
that the Senate itself should proclaim in Paris the organic
'Senates-consulte', which entirely changed the Constitution of the
State. By one of those anomalies which I have frequently had occasion
to remark, the Emperor fixed for this ceremony Sunday, the 30th Floral.
That day was a festival in all Paris, while the unfortunate prisoners
were languishing in the dungeons of the Temple.
On the day after Bonaparte's accession the old formulae were restored.
The Emperor determined that the French Princes and Princesses should
receive the title of Imperial Highness; that his sisters should take the
same title; that the grand dignitaries of the Empire should be called
Serene Highnesses; that the Princes and titularies of the grand
dignitaries should be addressed by the title of Monseigneur; that M.
Maret, the Secretary of State, should have the rank of Minister; that
the ministers should retain the title of Excellency, to which should be
added that of Monseigneur in the petitions addressed to them; and that
the title of Excellency should be given to the President of the Senate.
At the same time Napoleon appointed the first Marshals of the Empire,
and determined that they should be called Monsieur le Marechal when
addressed verbally, and Monseigneur in writing. The following are
the names of these sons of the Republic transformed into props of the
Empire: Berthier, Murat, Moncey, Jourdan, Massena, Augereau, Bernadotte,
Soult, Brune, Lannes, Mortier, Ney, Davoust, and Besaieres. The title
of Marshal of the Empire was also granted to the generals
Kellerman, Lefebvre, Perignon, and Serrurier, as having served as
commander-in-chief.
The reader cannot have failed to observe that the name of Lucien has
not been mentioned among the individuals of Bonaparte's family on whom
dignities were conferred. The fact is, the two brothers were no longer
on good terms with each other. Not, as it has been alleged, because
Lucien wished to play the part of a Republican, but because he would not
submit to the imperious will of Napoleon in a circumstance in which the
latter counted on his brother's docility to serve the interests of his
policy. In the conferences which preceded the great change in the form
of government it was not Lucien but Joseph who, probably for the sake of
sounding opinion, affected an opposition, which was by some mistaken for
Republicanism. With regard to Lucien, as he had really rendered great
services to Napoleon on the 19th Brumaire at St. Cloud, and as he
himself exaggerated the value of those services, he saw no reward worthy
of his ambition but a throne independent of his brother. It is certain
that when at Madrid he had aspired to win the good graces of a Spanish
Infanta, and on that subject reports were circulated with which I have
nothing to do, because I never had any opportunity of ascertaining their
truth. All I know is that, Lucien's first wife being dead, Bonaparte,
wished him to marry a German Princess, by way of forming the first
great alliance in the family. Lucien, however, refused to comply with
Napoleon's wishes, and he secretly married the wife of an agent, named,
I believe, Joubertou, who for the sake of convenience was sent to the
West Indies, where he: died shortly after. When Bonaparte heard of this
marriage from the priest by whom it had been clandestinely performed,
he fell into a furious passion, and resolved not to confer on Lucien the
title of French Prince, on account of what he termed his unequal match.
Lucien, therefore, obtained no other dignity than that of Senator.
--[According to Lucien himself, Napoleon wished him to marry the
Queen of Etruria Maria-Louise, daughter of Charles IV. of Spain, who
had married, 1795 Louie de Bourbon, Prince of Parma, son of the Duke
of Parma, to whom Napoleon had given Tuscany in 1801 as the Kingdom
of, Etruria. Her husband had died in May 1808, and she governed in
the name of her son. Lucien, whose first wife, Anne Christine
Boyer, had died in 1801, had married his second wife, Alexandrine
Laurence de Bleschamps, who had married, but who had divorced, a M.
Jonberthon. When Lucien had been ambassador in Spain in 1801,
charged among other things with obtaining Elba, the Queen, he says,
wished Napoleon should marry an Infanta,--Donna Isabella, her
youngest daughter, afterwards Queen of Naples, an overture to which
Napoleon seems not to have made any answer. As for Lucien, he
objected to his brother that the Queen was ugly, and laughed at
Napoleon's representations as to her being "propre": but at last he
acknowledged his marriage with Madame Jouberthon. This made a
complete break between the brothers, and on hearing of the execution
of the Duc d'Enghien, Lucien said to his wife, "Alexandrine, let us
go; he has tasted blood." He went to Italy, and in 1810 tried to go
to the United States. Taken prisoner by the English, he was
detained first at Malta, and then in England, at Ludlow Castle and
at Thorngrove, till 1814, when he went to Rome. The Pope, who ever
showed a kindly feeling towards the Bonapartes, made the
ex-"Brutus" Bonaparte Prince de Canino and Duc de Musignano.
In 1815 he joined Napoleon and on the final fall of the Empire
he was interned at Rome till the death of his brother.]--
Jerome, who pursued an opposite line of conduct, was afterwards made
a King. As to Lucien's Republicanism, it did not survive the 18th
Brumaire, and he was always a warm partisan of hereditary succession.
But I pass on to relate what I know respecting the almost incredible
influence which, on the foundation of the Empire, Bonaparte exercised
over the powers which did not yet dare to declare war against him. I
studied Bonaparte's policy closely, and I came to this conclusion on the
subject, that he was governed by ambition, by the passion of dominion,
and that no relations, on a footing of equality, between himself and any
other power, could be of long duration. The other States of Europe had
only to choose one of two things--submission or war. As to secondary
States, they might thenceforth be considered as fiefs of the French
Government; and as they could not resist, Bonaparte easily accustomed
them to bend to his yoke. Can there be a stronger proof of this
arbitrary influence than what occurred at Carlsruhe, after the violation
of the territory of Baden, by the arrest of the Duc d'Enghien? Far from
venturing to make any observation on that violation, so contrary to the
rights of nations, the Grand Duke of Baden was obliged to publish, in
his own State, a decree evidently dictated by Bonaparte. The decree
stated, that many individuals formerly belonging to the army of Condé
having come to the neighbourhood of Carlsruhe, his Electoral Highness
had felt it his duty to direct that no individual coming from Condé's
army, nor indeed any French emigrant, should, unless he had permission
previously to the place, make a longer sojourn than was allowed to
foreign travellers. Such was already the influence which Bonaparte
exercised over Germany, whose Princes, to use an expression which he
employed in a later decree, were crushed by the grand measures of the
Empire.
But to be just, without however justifying Bonaparte, I must acknowledge
that the intrigues which England fomented in all parts of the Continent
were calculated to excite his natural irritability to the utmost degree.
The agents of England were spread over the whole of Europe, and they
varied the rumours which they were commissioned to circulate, according
to the chances of credit which the different places afforded. Their
reports were generally false; but credulity gave ear to them, and
speculators endeavoured, each according to his interest, to give them
support. The headquarters of all this plotting was Munich, where
Drake, who was sent from England, had the supreme direction. His
correspondence, which was seized by the French Government, was at first
placed amongst the documents to be produced on the trial of Georges,
Moreau, and the other prisoners; but in the course of the preliminary
proceedings the Grand Judge received directions to detach them, and make
them the subject of a special report to the First Consul, in order that
their publication beforehand might influence public opinion, and
render it unfavourable to those who were doomed to be sacrificed. The
instructions given by Drake to his agents render it impossible to doubt
that England wished to overthrow the Government of Bonaparte. Drake
wrote as follows to a man who was appointed to travel through France:--
The principal object of your journey being the overthrow of the
existing Government, one of the means of effecting it is to acquire
a knowledge of the enemy's plans. For this purpose it is of the
highest importance to begin, in the first place, by establishing
communications with persons who may be depended upon in the
different Government offices in order to obtain exact information of
all plans with respect to foreign or internal affairs. The
knowledge of these plans will supply the best means of defeating
them; and failure is the way to bring the Government into complete
discredit--the first and most important step towards the end
proposed. Try to gain over trustworthy agents in the different
Government departments. Endeavour, also, to learn what passes in
the secret committee, which is supposed to be established at St
Cloud, and composed of the friends of the First Consul. Be careful
to furnish information of the various projects which Bonaparte may
entertain relative to Turkey and Ireland. Likewise send
intelligence respecting the movements of troops, respecting vessels
and ship-building, and all military preparations.
Drake, in his instructions, also recommended that the subversion of
Bonaparte's Government should, for the time, be the only object in
view, and that nothing should be said about the King's intentions until
certain information could be obtained respecting his views; but most of
his letters and instructions were anterior to 1804. The whole bearing
of the seized documents proved what Bonaparte could not be ignorant of,
namely, that England was his constant enemy; but after examining them,
I was of opinion that they contained nothing which could justify the
belief that the Government of Great Britain authorised any attempt at
assassination.
When the First Consul received the report of the Grand Judge relative to
Drake's plots' against his Government he transmitted a copy of it to the
Senate, and it was in reply to this communication that the Senate
made those first overtures which Bonaparte thought vague, but which,
nevertheless, led to the formation of the Empire. Notwithstanding this
important circumstance, I have not hitherto mentioned Drake, because
his intrigues for Bonaparte's overthrow appeared to me to be more
immediately connected with the preliminaries of the trial of Georges and
Moreau, which I shall notice in my next chapter.
--[These were not plots for assassination. Bonaparte, in the same
way, had his secret agents in every country of Europe, without
excepting England. Alison (chap. xxxvii. par. 89) says on this
matter of Drake that, though the English agents were certainly
attempting a counter-revolution, they had no idea of encouraging the
assassination of Napoleon, while "England was no match for the
French police agents in a transaction of this description, for the
publication of Regular revealed the mortifying fact that the whole
correspondence both of Drake and Spencer Smith had been regularly
transmitted, as fast as it took place, to the police of Paris, and
that their principal corresponded in that city, M. Mehu de la
Tonche, was himself an agent of the police, employed to tempt the
British envoys into this perilous enterprise."]--
At the same time that Bonaparte communicated to the Senate the report
of the Grand Judge, the Minister for Foreign Affairs addressed the
following circular letter to the members of the Diplomatic Body:
The First Consul has commanded me to forward to your Excellency a
copy of a report which has been presented to him, respecting a
conspiracy formed in France by Mr. Drake, his Britannic Majesty's
Minister at the Court of Munich, which, by its object as well as its
date, is evidently connected with the infamous plot now in the
course of investigation.
The printed copy of Mr. Drake's letters and authentic documents is
annexed to the report. The originals will be immediately sent, by
order of the First Consul, to the Elector of Bavaria.
Such a prostitution of the most honourable function which can be
intrusted to a man is unexampled in the history of civilised
nations. It will astonish and afflict Europe as an unheard of
crime, which hitherto the most perverse Governments have not dared
to meditate. The First Consul is too well acquainted with
sentiments of the Diplomatic Body accredited to him not to be fully
convinced that every one of its members will behold, with profound
regret, the profanation of the sacred character of Ambassador,
basely transformed into a minister of plots, snares, and corruption.
All the ambassadors, ministers, plenipotentiaries, envoys, ordinary or
extraordinary, whatever might be their denomination, addressed answers
to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, in which they expressed horror and
indignation at the conduct of England and Drake's machinations. These
answers were returned only five days after the Duc d'Enghien's death;
and here one cannot help admiring the adroitness of Bonaparte, who thus
compelled all the representatives of the European Governments to give
official testimonies of regard for his person and Government.
CHAPTER XXYI.
1804.
Trial of Moreau, Georges, and others--Public interest excited by
Moreau--Arraignment of the prisoners--Moreau's letter to Bonaparte--
Violence of the President of the Court towards the prisoners--
Lajolais and Rolland--Examinations intended to criminate Moreau--
Remarkable observations--Speech written by M. Garat--Bonaparte's
opinion of Garat's eloquence--General Lecourbe and Moreau's son--
Respect shown to Moreau by the military--Different sentiments
excited by Georges and Moreau--Thoriot and 'Tui-roi'--Georges'
answers to the interrogatories--He refuses an offer of pardon--
Coster St. Victor--Napoleon and an actress--Captain Wright--
M. de Riviere and the medal of the Comte d'Artois--Generous struggle
between MM. de Polignac--Sentence on the prisoners--Bonaparte's
remark--Pardons and executions.
On the 28th of May, about ten days after Napoleon had been declared
Emperor, the trials of Moreau and others commenced. No similar event
that has since occurred can convey an idea of the fermentation which
then prevailed in Paris. The indignation excited by Moreau's arrest was
openly manifested, and braved the observation of the police. Endeavours
had been successfully made to mislead public opinion with respect to
Georges and some others among the accused, who were looked upon as
assassins in the pay of England, at least by that numerous portion of
the public who lent implicit faith to declarations presented to them as
official. But the case was different with regard to those individuals
who were particularly the objects of public interest,--viz. MM. de
Polignac, de Riviere, Charles d'Hozier, and, above all, Moreau. The
name of Moreau towered above all the rest, and with respect to him the
Government found itself not a little perplexed. It was necessary on the
one hand to surround him with a guard sufficiently imposing, to repress
the eagerness of the people and of his friends, and yet on the other
hand care was required that this guard should not be so strong as to
admit of the possibility of making it a rallying-point, should the voice
of a chief so honoured by the army appeal to it for defence. A rising
of the populace in favour of Moreau was considered as a very possible
event,--some hoped for it, others dreaded it. When I reflect on the
state of feeling which then prevailed, I am certain that a movement in
his favour would infallibly have taken place had judges more complying
than even those who presided at the trial condemned Moreau to capital
punishment.
It is impossible to form an idea of the crowd that choked up the avenues
of the Palace of Justice on the day the trials commenced. This crowd
continued during the twelve days the proceedings lasted, and was
exceedingly great on the day the sentence was pronounced. Persons of the
highest class were anxious to be present.
I was one of the first in the Hall, being determined to watch the course
of these solemn proceedings. The Court being assembled, the President
ordered the prisoners to be brought in. They entered in a file, and
ranged themselves on the benches each between two gendarmes. They
appeared composed and collected, and resignation was depicted on the
countenances of all except Bouvet de Lozier, who did not dare to raise
his eyes to his companions in misfortune, whom his weakness, rather
than his will, had betrayed. I did not recognise him until the President
proceeded to call over the prisoners, and to put the usual questions
respecting their names, professions, and places of abode. Of the
forty-nine prisoners, among whom were several females, only two were
personally known to me; namely, Moreau, whose presence on the prisoner's
bench seemed to wring every heart, and Georges, whom I had seen at the
Tuileries in the First Consul's cabinet.
The first sitting of the Court was occupied with the reading of the act
of accusation or indictment, and the voices of the ushers, commanding
silence, could scarce suppress the buzz which pervaded the Court at the
mention of Moreau's name. All eyes were turned towards the conqueror
of Hohenlinden, and while the Procureur Imperial read over the long
indictment and invoked the vengeance of the law on an attempt against
the head of the Republic, it was easy to perceive how he tortured his
ingenuity to fasten apparent guilt on the laurels of Moreau. The good
sense of the public discerned proofs of his innocence in the very
circumstances brought forward against him. I shall never forget
the effect produced--so contrary to what was anticipated by the
prosecutors--by the reading of a letter addressed by Moreau from his
prison in the Temple to the First Consul, when the judges appointed
to interrogate him sought to make his past conduct the subject of
accusation, on account of M. de Klinglin's papers having fallen into his
hands. He was reproached with having too long delayed transmitting
these documents to the Directory; and it was curious to see the Emperor
Napoleon become the avenger of pretended offences committed against the
Directory which he had overthrown.
In the letter here alluded to Moreau said to Bonaparte, then First
Consul--
"In the short campaign of the year V. (from the 20th to the 23d of
March 1797) we took the papers belonging to the staff of the enemy's
army, and a number of documents were brought to me which General
Desaix, then wounded, amused himself by perusing. It appeared from
this correspondence that General Pichegru had maintained
communications with the French Princes. This discovery was very
painful, and particularly to me, and we agreed to say nothing of the
matter. Pichegru, as a member of the Legislative Body, could do but
little to injure the public cause, since peace was established. I
nevertheless took every precaution for protecting the army against
the ill effects of a system of espionage. . . . The events of
the 18th Fructidor occasioned so much anxiety that two officers, who
knew of the existence of the correspondence, prevailed on me to
communicate it to the Government. . . . I felt that, as a
public functionary, I could no longer remain silent. . . .
During the two last campaigns in Germany, and since the peace,
distant overtures have been made to me, with the view of drawing me
into connection with the French Princes. This appeared so absurd
that I took no notice of these overtures. As to the present
conspiracy, I can assure you I have been far from taking any share
in it. I repeat to you, General, that whatever proposition to that
effect was made me, I rejected it, and regarded it as the height of
madness. When it was represented to me that the invasion of England
would offer a favourable opportunity for effecting a change in the
French Government, I invariably answered that the Senate was the
authority to which the whole of France would naturally cling in the
time of trouble, and that I would be the first to place myself under
its orders. To such overtures made to a private individual, who
wished to preserve no connection either with the army, of whom
nine-tenths have served under me, or any constituted authority, the
only possible answer was a refusal. Betrayal of confidence I
disdained. Such a step, which is always base, becomes doubly odious
when the treachery is committed against those to whom we owe
gratitude, or have been bound by old friendship.
"This, General, is all I have to tell you respecting my relations
with Pichegru, and it must convince you that very false and hasty
inferences have been drawn from conduct which, though perhaps
imprudent, was far from being criminal."
Moreau fulfilled his duty as a public functionary by communicating to
the Directory the papers which unfolded a plot against the Government,
and which the chances of war had thrown into his hands. He fulfilled his
duty as a man of honour by not voluntarily incurring the infamy which
can never be wiped from the character of an informer. Bonaparte in
Moreau's situation would have acted the same part, for I never knew a
man express stronger indignation than himself against informers, until
he began to consider everything a virtue which served his ambition, and
everything a crime which opposed it.
The two facts which most forcibly obtruded themselves on my attention
during the trial were the inveterate violence of the President of the
Court towards the prisoners and the innocence of Moreau.
--[It is strange that Bourrienne does not acknowledge that he was
charged by Napoleon with the duty of attending this trial of Moreau,
and of sending in a daily report of the proceedings.]--
But, in spite of the most insidious examinations which can be conceived,
Moreau never once fell into the least contradiction. If my memory fail
me not, it was on the fourth day that he was examined by Thuriot, one
of the judges. The result, clear as day to all present, was, that Moreau
was a total stranger to all the plots, all the intrigues which had been
set on foot in London. In fact, during the whole course of the trial, to
which I listened with as much attention as interest, I did not discover
the shadow of a circumstance which could in the least commit him, or
which had the least reference to him. Scarcely one of the hundred and
thirty-nine witnesses who were heard for the prosecution knew him, and
he himself declared on the fourth sitting, which took place on the
31st of May, that there was not an individual among the accused whom
he knew,--not one whom he had ever seen. In the course of the long
proceedings, notwithstanding the manifest efforts of Thuriot to extort
false admissions and force contradictions, no fact of any consequence
was elicited to the prejudice of Moreau. His appearance was as calm as
his conscience; and as he sat on the bench he had the appearance of one
led by curiosity to be present at this interesting trial, rather than of
an accused person, to whom the proceedings might end in condemnation and
death. But for the fall of Moreau in the ranks of the enemy,--but
for the foreign cockade which disgraced the cap of the conqueror of
Hohenlinden, his complete innocence would long since have been put
beyond doubt, and it would have been acknowledged that the most infamous
machinations were employed for his destruction. It is evident that
Lajolais, who had passed from London to Paris, and from Paris to London,
had been acting the part of an intriguer rather than of a conspirator;
and that the object of his missions was not so much to reconcile Moreau
and Pichegru as to make Pichegru the instrument of implicating Moreau.
Those who supposed Lajolais to be in the pay of the British Government
were egregiously imposed on. Lajolais was only in the pay of the secret
police; he was condemned to death, as was expected, but he received
his pardon, as was agreed upon. Here was one of the disclosures which
Pichegru might have made; hence the necessity of getting him out of the
way before the trial. As to the evidence of the man named Rolland,
it was clear to everybody that Moreau was right when he said to the
President, "In my opinion, Rolland is either a creature of the police,
or he has given his evidence under the influence of fear." Rolland made
two declarations the first contained nothing at all; the second was in
answer to the following observations: "You see you stand in a
terrible situation; you must either be held to be an accomplice in the
conspiracy, or you must be taken as evidence. If you say nothing, you
will be considered in the light of an accomplice; if you confess, you
will be saved." This single circumstance may serve to give an idea of
the way the trials were conducted so as to criminate Moreau. On his part
the general repelled the attacks, of which he was the object, with calm
composure and modest confidence, though flashes of just indignation
would occasionally burst from him. I recollect the effect he produced
upon the Court and the auditors at one of the sittings, when the
President had accused him of the design of making himself Dictator. He
exclaimed, "I Dictator! What, make myself Dictator at the head of the
partisans of the Bourbons! Point out my partisans! My partisans
would naturally be the soldiers of France, of whom I have commanded
nine-tenths, and saved more than fifty thousand. These are the
partisans I should look to! All my aides de camp, all the officers of my
acquaintance, have been arrested; not the shadow of a suspicion could be
found against any of them, and they have been set at liberty. Why, then,
attribute to me the madness of aiming to get myself made Dictator by
the aid of the adherents of the old French Princes, of persons who have
fought in their cause since 1792? You allege that these men, in the
space of four-and-twenty hours, formed the project of raising me to the
Dictatorship! It is madness to think of it! My fortune and my pay have
been alluded to; I began the world with nothing; I might have had by
this time fifty millions; I have merely a house and a bit of ground;
as to my pay, it is forty thousand francs. Surely that sum will not be
compared with my services."
During the trial Moreau delivered a defence, which I knew had been
written by his friend Garat, whose eloquence I well remember was always
disliked by Bonaparte. Of this I had a proof on the occasion of a grand
ceremony which took place in the Place des Victoires, on laying the
first stone of a monument which was to have been erected to the memory
of Desaix, but which was never executed. The First Consul returned home
in very ill-humour, and said to me, "Bourrienne, what a brute that Garat
is! What a stringer of words! I have been obliged to listen to him for
three-quarters of an hour. There are people who never know when to hold
their tongues!"
Whatever might be the character of Garat's eloquence or Bonaparte's
opinion of it, his conduct was noble on the occasion of Moreau's trial;
for he might be sure Bonaparte would bear him a grudge for lending the
aid of his pen to the only man whose military glory, though not equal
to that of the First Consul, might entitle him to be looked upon as
his rival in fame. At one of the sittings a circumstance occurred
which produced an almost electrical effect. I think I still see General
Lecourbe, the worthy friend of Moreau, entering unexpectedly into the
Court, leading a little boy. Raising the child in his arms, he exclaimed
aloud, and with considerable emotion, "Soldiers, behold the son of your
general!"
--[This action of Lecourbe, together with the part played in this
trial by his brother, one of the judges, was most unfortunate, not
only for Lecourbe but for France, which consequently lost the
services of its best general of mountain warfare. His campaigns of
Switzerland in 1799 on the St. Gothard against Suwarrow are well
known. Naturally disgraced for the part he took with Moreau, he was
not again employed till the Cent Jours, when he did good service,
although he had disapproved of the defection of Ney from the
Royalist cause. He died in 1816; his brother, the judge, had a most
furious reception from Napoleon, who called him a prevaricating
judge, and dismissed him from his office (Rémusat, tome ii. p.
8).]--
At this unexpected movement all the military present spontaneously rose
and presented arms; while a murmur of approbation from the spectators
applauded the act. It is certain that had Moreau at that moment said but
one word, such was the enthusiasm in his favour, the tribunal would have
been broken up and the prisoners liberated. Moreau, however, was silent,
and indeed appeared the only unconcerned person in Court. Throughout the
whole course of the trial Moreau inspired so much respect that when he
was asked a question and rose to reply the gendarmes appointed to guard
him rose at the same time and stood uncovered while he spoke.
Georges was far from exciting the interest inspired by Moreau. He was
an object of curiosity rather than of interest. The difference of their
previous conduct was in itself sufficient to occasion a great contrast
in their situation before the Court. Moreau was full of confidence and
Georges full of resignation. The latter regarded his fate with a fierce
kind of resolution. He occasionally resumed the caustic tone which he
seemed to have renounced when he harangued his associates before their
departure from the Temple. With the most sarcastic bitterness he alluded
to the name and vote of Thuriot, one of the most violent of the judges,
often terming him 'Tue-roi';
--[Thuriot and the President Hemart both voted for the death of the
King. Merlin, the imperial Procureur-General, was one of the
regicides.--Bourrienne.]--
and after pronouncing his name, or being forced to reply to his
interrogatories, he would ask for a glass of brandy to wash his mouth.
Georges had the manners and bearing of a rude soldier; but under his
coarse exterior he concealed the soul of a hero. When the witnesses
of his arrest had answered the questions of the President Hemart, this
judge turned towards the accused, and inquired whether he had anything
to say in reply.--"No."--"Do you admit the facts?"--"Yes." Here Georges
busied himself in looking over the papers which lay before him, when
Hemart warned him to desist, and attend to the questions. The following
dialogue then commenced. "Do you confess having been arrested in the
place designated by the witness?"--"I do not know the name of the
place."--"Do you confess having been arrested?"--"Yes."--"Did you
twice fire a pistol?"--"Yes."--"Did you kill a man?"--"Indeed I do not
know."-- "Had you a poniard?"--"Yes."--"And two pistols?"--"Yes."--"Who
was in company with you?"--"I do not know the person."--"Where did you
lodge in Paris?"--"Nowhere."--"At the time of your arrest did you
not reside in the house of a fruiterer in the Rue de la Montagne St.
Genevieve?"-- "At the time of my arrest I was in a cabriolet. I
lodged nowhere."-- "Where did you sleep on the evening of your
arrest?"--"Nowhere."--"What were you doing in Paris?"--"I was walking
about."--"Whom have you seen in Paris?"--"I shall name no one; I know no
one."
From this short specimen of the manner in which Georges replied to the
questions of the President we may judge of his unshaken firmness during
the proceedings. In all that concerned himself he was perfectly
open; but in regard to whatever tended to endanger his associates he
maintained the most obstinate silence, notwithstanding every attempt to
overcome his firmness.
That I was not the only one who justly appreciated the noble character
of Georges is rendered evident by the following circumstance. Having
accompanied M. Carbonnet to the police, where he went to demand his
papers, on the day of his removal to St. Pelagic, we were obliged to
await the return of M. Real, who was absent. M. Desmarets and several
other persons were also in attendance. M. Real had been at the
Conciergerie, where he had seen Georges Cadoudal, and on his entrance
observed to M. Desmarets and the others, sufficiently loud to be
distinctly heard by M. Carbonnet and myself, "I have had an interview
with Georges who is an extraordinary man. I told him that I was disposed
to offer him a pardon if he would promise to renounce the conspiracy
and accept of employment under Government. But to my arguments and
persuasions he only replied, 'My comrades followed me to France, and I
shall follow them, to death.'" In this he kept his word.
Were we to judge these memorable proceedings from the official documents
published in the Moniteur and other journals of that period, we should
form a very erroneous opinion. Those falsities were even the object of
a very serious complaint on the part of Cosier St. Victor, one of the
accused.
After the speech of M. Gauthier, the advocate of Coster St. Victor, the
President inquired of the accused whether he had anything further to
say in his defence, to which he replied, "I have only to add that the
witnesses necessary to my exculpation have not yet appeared. I must
besides express my surprise at the means which have been employed to
lead astray public opinion, and to load with infamy not only the accused
but also their intrepid defenders. I have read with pain in the journals
of to-day that the proceedings--" Here the President interrupting,
observed that "these were circumstances foreign to the case."--"Not in
the least," replied Cosier St. Victor; "on the contrary, they bear very
materially on the cause, since mangling and misrepresenting our defence
is a practice assuredly calculated to ruin us in the estimation of
the public. In the journals of to-day the speech of M. Gauthier is
shamefully garbled, and I should be deficient in gratitude were I not
here to bear testimony to the zeal and courage which he has displayed in
my defence. I protest against the puerilities and absurdities which have
been put into his mouth, and I entreat him not to relax in his generous
efforts. It is not on his account that I make this observation; he does
not require it at my hands; it is for 'myself, it is for the accused,
whom such arts tend to injure in the estimation of the public."
Coster St. Victor had something chivalrous in his language and manners
which spoke greatly in his favour; he conveyed no bad idea of one of the
Fiesco conspirators, or of those leaders of the Fronds who intermingled
gallantry with their politics.
An anecdote to this effect was current about the period of the trial.
Coster St. Victor, it is related, being unable any longer to find a
secure asylum in Paris, sought refuge for a single night in the house
of a beautiful actress, formerly in the good graces of the First Consul;
and it is added that Bonaparte, on the same night, having secretly
arrived on a visit to the lady, found himself unexpectedly in the
presence of Coster St. Victor, who might have taken his life; but that
only an interchange of courtesy took place betwixt the rival gallants.
This ridiculous story was doubtless intended to throw additional odium
on the First Consul, if Cosier St. Victor should be condemned and not
obtain a pardon, in which case malignity would not fail to attribute his
execution to the vengeance of a jealous lover.
I should blush to relate such stories, equally destitute of probability
and truth, had they not obtained some credit at the time. Whilst I was
with Bonaparte he never went abroad during the night; and it was not
surely at a moment when the saying of Fouché, "The air is full of
poniards," was fully explained that he would have risked such nocturnal
adventures.
Wright was heard in the sixth sitting, on the 2d of June, as the hundred
and thirty-fourth witness in support of the prosecution. He, however,
refused to answer any interrogatories put to him, declaring that, as
a prisoner of war, he considered himself only amenable to his own
Government.
The Procureur-General requested the President to order the examinations
of Captain Wright on the 21st of May' and at a later period to be read
over to him; which being done, the witness replied, that it was omitted
to be stated that on these occasions the questions had been accompanied
with the threat of transferring him to a military tribunal, in order to
be shot, if he did not betray the secrets of his country.
In the course of the trial the most lively interest was felt for MM. de
Polignac--
--[The eldest of the Polignacs, Armand (1771-1847), condemned to
death, had that penalty remitted, but was imprisoned in Ham till
permitted to escape m 1813. He became Duc de Richelieu in 1817.
His younger brother, Jules (1780-1847) was also imprisoned and
escaped. In 1814 he was one of the first to display the white flag
in Paris. In 1829 he became Minister of Charles X. and was
responsible for the ordinances which cost his master his throne in
1830. Imprisoned, nominally for life, he was released in 1836, and
after passing some time in England returned to France. The
remission of the sentence of death on Prince Armand was obtained by
the Empress Josephine. Time after time, urged on by Madame de
Rémusat, she implored mercy from Napoleon, who at last consented to
see the wife of the Prince. Unlike the Bourbon Louis XVIII., who
could see Madame de Lavalette only to refuse the wretched woman's
prayer for her husband, for Napoleon to grant the interview was to
concede the pardon. The Prince escaped death, and his wife who had
obtained the interview by applying to Madame de Rémusat, when she
met her benefactress in the times of the Restoration, displayed a
really grand forgetfulness of what had passed (see Rémusat, tome ii.
chap. i.).]--
Charles d'Hozier, and de Riviere. So short a period had elapsed since
the proscription of the nobility that, independently of every feeling
of humanity, it was certainly impolitic to exhibit before the public the
heirs of an illustrious name, endowed with that devoted heroism which
could not fail to extort admiration even from those who condemned their
opinions and principles.
The prisoners were all young, and their situation create universal
sympathy. The greatest number of them disdained to have recourse to a
denial, and seemed less anxious for the preservation of their own lives
than for the honour of the cause in which they had embarked, not with
the view of assassination, as had been demonstrated, but for the purpose
of ascertaining the true state of the public feeling, which had been
represented by some factious intriguers as favourable to the Bourbons.
Even when the sword of the law was suspended over their heads the
faithful adherents of the Bourbons displayed on every occasion their
attachment and fidelity to the royal cause. I recollect that the Court
was dissolved in tears when the President adduced as a proof of the
guilt of M. de Riviere his having worn a medal of the Comte d'Artois,
which the prisoner requested to examine; and, on its being handed to him
by an officer, M. de Riviere pressed it to his lips and his heart, then
returning it, he said that he only wished to render homage to the Prince
whom he loved.
The Court was still more deeply affected on witnessing the generous
fraternal struggle which took place during the last sitting between
the two De Polignacs. The emotion was general when the eldest of the
brothers, after having observed that his always going out alone and
during the day did not look like a conspirator anxious for concealment,
added these remarkable words which will remain indelibly engraven on
my memory: "I have now only one wish, which is that, as the sword is
suspended over our heads, and threatens to cut short the existence of
several of the accused, you would, in consideration of his youth if not
of his innocence, spare my brother, and shower down upon me the whole
weight of your vengeance." It was during the last sitting but one,
on Friday the 8th of June, that M. Armand de Polignac made the above
affecting appeal in favour of his brother. The following day, before
the fatal sentence was pronounced, M. Jules de Polignac addressed the
judges, saying, "I was so deeply affected yesterday, while my brother
was speaking, as not fully to have attended to what I read in my own
defence: but being now perfectly tranquil, I entreat, gentlemen,
that you will not regard what he urged in my behalf. I repeat, on the
contrary, and with most justice, if one of us must fall a sacrifice,
if there be yet time, save him, restore him to the tears of his wife;
I have no tie like him, I can meet death unappalled;--too young to have
tasted the pleasures of the world, I cannot regret their loss."--"No,
no," exclaimed his brother, "you are still in the outset of your career;
it is I who ought to fall."
At eight in the morning the members of the Tribunal withdrew to the
council-chamber. Since the commencement of the proceedings the crowd,
far from diminishing, seemed each day to increase; this morning it was
immense, and, though the sentence was not expected to be pronounced till
a late hour, no one quitted the Court for fear of not being able to find
a place when the Tribunal should resume its sitting.
Sentence of death was passed upon Georges Caudoudal, Bouvet de Lozier,
Rusillon, Rochelle, Armand de Polignac, Charles d'Hozier, De Riviere,
Louis Ducorps, Picot, Lajolais, Roger, Coster St. Victor, Deville,
Gaillard, Joyaub, Burban; Lemercier, Jean Cadudol, Lelan, and Merille;
while Lies de Polignac, Leridant, General Moreau,--[General Moreau's
sentence was remitted, and he was allowed to go to America.]--Rolland,
and Hisay were only condemned to two years' imprisonment.
This decree was heard with consternation by the assembly, and soon
spread throughout Paris. I may well affirm it to have been a day of
public mourning; even though it was Sunday every place of amusement was
nearly deserted. To the horror inspired by a sentence of death passed so
wantonly, and of which the greater number of the victims belonged to the
most distinguished class of society, was joined the ridicule inspired by
the condemnation of Moreau; of the absurdity of which no one seemed
more sensible than Bonaparte himself, and respecting which he expressed
himself in the most pointed terms. I am persuaded that every one who
narrowly watched the proceedings of this celebrated trial must have been
convinced that all means were resorted to in order that Moreau, once
accused, should not appear entirely free from guilt.
Bonaparte is reported to have said, "Gentlemen, I have no control over
your proceedings; it is your duty strictly to examine the evidence
before presenting a report to me. But when it has once the sanction
of your signatures, woe to you if an innocent man be condemned." This
remark is in strict conformity with his usual language, and bears a
striking similarity to the conversation I held with him on the following
Thursday; but though this language might be appropriate from the lips
of a sovereign whose ministers are responsible, it appears but a lame
excuse in the mouth of Bonaparte, the possessor of absolute power.
The condemned busied themselves in endeavouring to procure a repeal of
their sentence, the greatest number of them yielded in this respect to
the entreaties of their friends, who lost no time in taking the
steps requisite to obtain the pardon of those in whom they were
most interested. Moreau at first also determined to appeal; but he
relinquished his purpose before the Court of Cessation commenced its
sittings.
As soon as the decree of the special Tribunal was delivered, Murat,
Governor of Paris, and brother-in-law to the Emperor, sought his
presence and conjured him in the most urgent manner to pardon all the
criminals, observing that such an act of clemency would redound greatly
to his honour in the opinion of France and all Europe, that it would
be said the Emperor pardoned the attempt against the life of the
First Consul, that this act of mercy would shed more glory over the
commencement of his reign than any security which could accrue from the
execution of the prisoners. Such was the conduct of Murat; but he did
not solicit, as has been reported, the pardon of any one in particular.
Those who obtained the imperial pardon were Bouvet de Lozier, who
expected it from the disclosures he had made; Rusillon, de Riviere,
Rochelle, Armand de Polignac, d'Hozier, Lajolais, who had beforehand
received a promise to that effect, and Armand Gaillard.
The other ill-fated victims of a sanguinary police underwent their
sentence on the 25th of June, two days after the promulgation of the
pardon of their associates.
Their courage and resignation never forsook them even for a moment,
and Georges, knowing that it was rumoured he had obtained a pardon,
entreated that he might die the first, in order that his companions in
their last moments might be assured he had not survived them.
CHAPTER XXVII.
1804.
Clavier and Hemart--Singular Proposal of Corvisart-M. Desmaisons--
Project of influencing the judges--Visit to the Tuileries--Rapp in
attendance--Long conversation with the Emperor--His opinion on the
trial of Moreau--English assassins and Mr. Fox--Complaints against
the English Government--Bonaparte and Lacuee--Affectionate
behaviour--Arrest of Pichegru--Method employed by the First Consul
to discover his presence in Paris--Character of Moreau--Measures of
Bonaparte regarding him--Lauriston sent to the Temple--Silence
respecting the Duc d'Enghien--Napoleon's opinion of Moreau and
Georges--Admiration of Georges--Offers of employment and dismissal--
Recital of former vexations--Audience of the Empress--Melancholy
forebodings--What Bonaparte said concerning himself--Marks of
kindness.
The judges composing the Tribunal which condemned Moreau were not all
like Thuriot and Hemart. History has recorded an honourable contrast
to the general meanness of the period in the reply given by M. Clavier,
when urged by Hemart to vote for the condemnation of Moreau. "Ah,
Monsieur, if we condemn him, how shall we be able to acquit ourselves?"
I have, besides, the best reason for asserting that the judges were
tampered with, from, a circumstance which occurred to myself.
Bonaparte knew that I was intimately connected with M. Desmaisons, one
of the members of the Tribunal, and brother in-law to Corvisart; he also
knew that Desmaisons was inclined to believe in Moreau's innocence, and
favourable to his acquittal. During the progress of the trial Corvisart
arrived at my house one morning at a very early hour, in a state of such
evident embarrassment that, before he had time to utter a word, I said
to him, "What is the matter? Have you heard any bad news?"
"No," replied Corvisart, "but I came by the Emperor's order. He wishes
you to see my brother-in-law. 'He is,' said he to me, 'the senior judge,
and a man of considerable eminence; his opinion will carry with it great
weight, and I know that he is favourable to Moreau; he is in the wrong.
Visit Bourrienne, said the Emperor, and concert with him respecting the
best method of convincing Desmaisons of his error, for I repeat he is
wrong, he is deceived.' This is the mission with which I am entrusted."
"How," said I, with thorough astonishment, "how came you to be employed
in this affair? Could you believe for one moment that I would tamper
with a magistrate in order to induce him to exercise an unjust rigour?"
"No, rest assured," replied Corvisart, "I merely visited you this
morning in obedience to the order of the Emperor; but I knew beforehand
in what manner you would regard the proposition with which I was
charged. I knew your opinions and your character too well to entertain
the smallest doubt in this respect, and I was convinced that I ran no
risk in becoming the bearer of a commission which would be attended with
no effect. Besides, had I refused to obey the Emperor, it would have
proved prejudicial to your interest, and confirmed him in the opinion
that you were favourable to the acquittal of Moreau. For myself,"
added Corvisart, "it is needless to affirm that I have no intention of
attempting to influence the opinion of my brother-in-law; and if I had,
you know him sufficiently well to be convinced in what light he would
regard such a proceeding."
Such were the object and result of Corvisart's visit, and I am thence
led to believe that similar attempts must have been made to influence
other members of the Tribunal.
--["The judges had been pressed and acted on in a thousand ways by
the hangers on of the Palace and especially by Real, the natural
intermediary between justice and the Government. Ambition,
servility, fear, every motive capable of influencing them, had been
used: even their humane scruples were employed" (Lanfrey tome iii.
p. 193, who goes on to say that the judges were urged to sentence
Moreau to death in order that the Emperor might fully pardon him).]
But however this may be, prudence led me to discontinue visiting M.
Desmaisons, with whom I was in habits of the strictest friendship.
About this period I paid a visit which occupies an important place in
my recollections. On the 14th of June 1804, four days after the
condemnation of Georges and his accomplices, I received a summons to
attend the Emperor at St. Cloud. It was Thursday, and as I thought
on the great events and tragic scenes about to be acted, I was rather
uneasy respecting his intentions.
But I was fortunate enough to find my friend Rapp in waiting, who said
to me as I entered, "Be not alarmed; he is in the best of humours at
present, and wishes to have some conversation with you."
Rapp then announced me to the Emperor, and I was immediately admitted to
his presence. After pinching my ear and asking his usual questions, such
as, "What does the world say? How are your children? What are you about?
etc.," he said to me, "By the by, have you attended the proceedings
against Moreau?"--"Yes, Sire, I have not been absent during one of the
sittings."--"Well, Bourrienne, are you of the opinion that Moreau is
innocent?"--"Yes, Sire; at least I am certain that nothing has come out
in the course of the trial tending to criminate him; I am even surprised
how he came to be implicated in this conspiracy, since nothing has
appeared against him which has the most remote connexion with the
affair."--"I know your opinion on this subject; Duroc related to me the
conversation you held with him at the Tuileries; experience has shown
that you were correct; but how could I act otherwise? You know that
Bouvet de Lozier hanged himself in prison, and was only saved by
accident. Real hurried to the Temple in order to interrogate him, and in
his first confessions he criminated Moreau, affirming that he had held
repeated conferences with Pichegru. Real immediately reported to me this
fact, and proposed that Moreau should be arrested, since the rumours
against him seemed to be well founded; he had previously made the same
proposition. I at first refused my sanction to this measure; but
after the charge made against him by Bouvet de Lozier, how could I act
otherwise than I did? Could I suffer such open conspiracies against the
Government? Could I doubt the truth of Bouvet de Lozier's declaration,
under the circumstances in which it was made? Could I foresee that he
would deny his first declaration when brought before the Court? There
was a chain of circumstances which human sagacity could not penetrate,
and I consented to the arrest of Moreau when it was proved that he was
in league with Pichegru. Has not England sent assassins?"--"Sire," said
I, "permit me to call to your recollection the conversation you had in
my presence with Mr. Fox, after which you said to me, 'Bourrienne, I am
very happy at having heard from the mouth of a man of honour that the
British Government is incapable of seeking my life; I always wish to
esteem my enemies."--"Bah! you are a fool! Parbleu! I did not say that
the English Minister sent over an assassin, and that he said to him,
'Here is gold and a poniard; go and kill the First Consul.' No, I
did not believe that; but it cannot be denied that all those foreign
conspirators against my Government were serving England, and receiving
pay from that power. Have I agents in London to disturb the Government
of Great Britain? I have waged with it honourable warfare; I have not
attempted to awaken a remembrance of the Stuarts amongst their old
partisans. Is not Wright, who landed Georges and his accomplices at
Dieppe, a captain in the British navy? But rest assured that, with the
exception of a few babblers, whom I can easily silence, the hearts
of the French people are with me; everywhere public opinion has been
declared in my favour, so that I have nothing to apprehend from giving
the greatest publicity to these plots, and bringing the accused to a
solemn trial. The greater number of those gentlemen wished me to bring
the prisoners before a military commission, that summary judgment might
be obtained; but I refused my consent to this measure. It might have
been said that I dreaded public opinion; and I fear it not. People may
talk as much as they please, well and good, I am not obliged to hear
them; but I do not like those who are attached to my person to blame
what I have done."
As I could not wholly conceal an involuntary emotion, in which the
Emperor saw something more than mere surprise, he paused, took me by
the ear, and, smiling in the most affectionate manner, said, "I had no
reference to you in what I said, but I have to complain of Lacuee. Could
you believe that during the trial he went about clamouring in behalf
of Moreau? He, my aide de camp--a man who owes everything to me! As for
you, I have said that you acted very well in this affair."--"I know not,
Sire, what has either been done or said by Lacuee,--whom I have not seen
for a long time; what I said to Duroc is what history teaches in every
page."--"By the by," resumed the Emperor, after a short silence, "do
you know that it was I myself who discovered that Pichegru was in Paris.
Everyone said to me, Pichegru is in Paris; Fouché, Real, harped on the
same string, but could give me no proof of their assertion. 'What a fool
you are,' said I to Real, when in an instant you may ascertain the fact.
Pichegru has a brother, an aged ecclesiastic, who resides in Paris; let
his dwelling be searched, and should he be absent, it will warrant a
suspicion that Pichegru is here; if, on the contrary, his brother should
be at home, let him be arrested: he is a simple-minded man, and in the
first moments of agitation will betray the truth. Everything happened as
I had foreseen, for no sooner was he arrested than, without waiting
to be questioned, he inquired if it was a crime to have received his
brother into his house. Thus every doubt was removed, and a miscreant
in the house in which Pichegru lodged betrayed him to the police. What
horrid degradation to betray a friend for the sake of gold."
Then reverting to Moreau, the Emperor talked a great deal respecting
that general. "Moreau," he said, "possesses many good qualities;
his bravery is undoubted; but he has more courage than energy; he is
indolent and effeminate. When with the army he lived like a pasha;
he smoked, was almost constantly in bed, and gave himself up to the
pleasures of the table. His dispositions are naturally good; but he is
too indolent for study; he does not read, and since he has been tied to
his wife's apronstrings is fit for nothing. He sees only with the eyes
of his wife and her mother, who have had a hand in all these late plots;
and then, Bourrienne, is it not very strange that it was by my advice
that he entered into this union? I was told that Mademoiselle Hulot was
a creole, and I believed that he would find in her a second Josephine;
how greatly was I mistaken! It is these women who have estranged us from
each other, and I regret that he should have acted so unworthily. You
must remember my observing to you more than two years ago that Moreau
would one day run his head against the gate of the Tuileries; that he
has done so was no fault of mine, for you know how much I did to secure
his attachment. You cannot have forgotten the reception I gave him at
Malmaison. On the 18th Brumaire I conferred on him the charge of the
Luxembourg, and in that situation he fully justified my choice.
But since that period he has behaved towards me with the utmost
ingratitude--entered into all the silly cabala against me, blamed all my
measures, and turned into ridicule the Legion of Honour. Have not some
of the intriguers put it into his head that I regard him with jealousy?
You must be aware of that. You must also know as well as I how anxious
the members of the Directory were to exalt the reputation of Moreau.
Alarmed at my success in Italy, they wished to have in the armies a
general to serve as a counterpoise to my renown. I have ascended the
throne and he is the inmate of a prison! You are aware of the incessant
clamouring raised against me by the whole family, at which I confess I
was very much displeased; coming from those whom I had treated so well!
Had he attached himself to me, I would doubtless have conferred on
him the title of First Marshal of the Empire; but what could I do? He
constantly depreciated my campaigns and my government. From discontent
to revolt there is frequently only one step, especially when a man of a
weak character becomes the tool of popular clubs; and therefore when
I was first informed that Moreau was implicated in the conspiracy of
Georges I believed him to be guilty, but hesitated to issue an order
for his arrest till I had taken the opinion of my Council. The members
having assembled, I ordered the different documents to be laid before
them, with an injunction to examine them with the utmost care, since
they related to an affair of importance, and I urged them candidly to
inform me whether, in their opinion, any of the charges against Moreau
were sufficiently strong to endanger his life. The fools! their reply
was in the affirmative; I believe they were even unanimous! Then I had
no alternative but to suffer the proceedings to take their course. It is
unnecessary to affirm to you, Bourrienne, that Moreau never should have
perished on a scaffold! Most assuredly I would have pardoned him; but
with the sentence of death hanging over his head he could no longer have
proved dangerous; and his name would have ceased to be a rallying-point
for disaffected Republicans or imbecile Royalists. Had the Council
expressed any doubts respecting his guilt I would have intimated to him
that the suspicions against him were so strong as to render any further
connection between us impossible; and that the best course he could
pursue would be to leave France for three years, under the pretext of
visiting some of the places rendered celebrated during the late wars;
but that if he preferred a diplomatic mission I would make a suitable
provision for his expenses; and the great innovator, Time, might effect
great changes during the period of his absence. But my foolish Council
affirmed to me that his guilt, as a principal, being evident, it was
absolutely necessary to bring him to trial; and now his sentence is only
that of a pickpocket. What think you I ought to do? Detain him? He might
still prove a rallying-point. No. Let him sell his property and quit?
Can I confine him in the Temple? It is full enough without him. Still,
if this had been the only great error they had led me to commit--"
"Sire, how greatly you have been deceived."
"Oh yes, I have been so; but I cannot see everything with my own eyes."
At this part of our conversation, of which I have suppressed my own
share as much as possible, I conceived that the last words of Bonaparte
alluded to the death of the Duc d'Enghien; and I fancied he was about to
mention that event but he again spoke of Moreau.
"He is very much mistaken," resumed the Emperor, "if he conceives I
bore any ill-will towards him. After his arrest I sent Lauriston to
the Temple, whom I chose because he was of an amiable and conciliating
disposition; I charged him to tell Moreau to confess he had only seen
Pichegru, and I would cause the proceedings against him to be suspended.
Instead of receiving this act of generosity as he ought to have done,
he replied to it with great haughtiness, so much was he elated that
Pichegru had not been arrested; he afterwards, however, lowered his
tone. He wrote to me a letter of excuse respecting his anterior conduct,
which I caused to be produced on the trial. He was the author of his
own ruin; besides, it would have required men of a different stamp from
Moreau to conspire against me. Amoung, the conspirators, for example,
was an individual whose fate I regret; this Georges in my hands might
have achieved great things. I can duly appreciate the firmness of
character he displayed, and to which I could have given a proper
direction. I caused Real to intimate to him that, if he would attach
himself to me, not only should he be pardoned, but that I would give him
the command of a regiment. Perhaps I might even have made him my aide de
camp. Complaints would have been made, but, parbleu, I should not have
cared. Georges refused all my offers; he was as inflexible as iron.
What could I do? he underwent his fate, for he was a dangerous man;
circumstances rendered his death a matter of necessity. Examples of
severity were called for, when England was pouring into France the whole
offscouring of the emigration; but patience, patience! I have a long
arm, and shall be able to reach them, when necessary. Moreau regarded
Georges merely as a ruffian--I viewed him in a different light. You may
remember the conversation I had with him at the Tuileries--you and Rapp
were in an adjoining cabinet. I tried in vain to influence him--some of
his associates were affected at the mention of country and of glory; he
alone stood cold and unmoved. I addressed myself to his feelings, but
in vain; he was insensible to everything I said. At that period Georges
appeared to me little ambitious of power; his whole wishes seemed to
centre in commanding the Vendeans. It was not till I had exhausted every
means of conciliation that I assumed the tone and language of the first
magistrate. I dismissed him with a strong injunction to live retired--to
be peaceable and obedient--not to misinterpret the motives of my conduct
towards himself--nor attribute to weakness what was merely the result
of moderation and strength. 'Rest assured,' I added, 'and repeat to
your associates, that while I hold the reins of authority there will be
neither chance nor salvation for those who dare to conspire against me:
How he conformed to this injunction the event has shown. Real told
me that when Moreau and Georges found themselves in the presence of
Pichegru they could not come to any understanding, because Georges would
not act against the Bourbons. Well, he had a plan, but Moreau had none;
he merely wished for my overthrow, without having formed any ulterior
views whatever. This showed that he was destitute of even common sense.
Apropos, Bourrienne, have you seen Corvisart?"--"Yes, Sire."--"Well!"
"He delivered to me the message with which you entrusted him."--"And
Desmaisons!--I wager that you have not spoken to him in conformity to my
wishes."--"Sire, the estimation in which I hold Desmaisons deterred me
from a course so injurious to him; for in what other light could he have
considered what I should have said to him? I have never visited at his
house since the commencement of the trial."--"Well! well! Be prudent and
discreet, I shall not forget you." He then waved a very gracious salute
with his hand, and withdrew into his cabinet.
The Emperor had detained me more than an hour. On leaving the
audience-chamber I passed through the outer salon, where a number
of individuals were waiting; and I perceived that an observance of
etiquette was fast gaining ground, though the Emperor had not yet
adopted the admirable institution of Court Chamberlains.
I cannot deny that I was much gratified with my reception; besides I was
beginning to be weary of an inactive life, and was anxious to obtain a
place, of which I stood in great need, from the losses I had sustained
and the unjust resumption which Bonaparte had made of his gifts. Being
desirous to speak of Napoleon with the strictest impartiality, I prefer
drawing my conclusions from those actions in which I had no personal
concern. I shall therefore only relate here, even before giving an
account of my visit to the Empress on leaving the audience-chamber,
the former conduct of Napoleon towards myself and Madame de Bourrienne,
which will justify the momentary alarm with which I was seized when
summoned to the Tuileries, and the satisfaction I felt at my reception.
I had a proof of what Rapp said of the Emperor being in good-humour,
and was flattered by the confidential manner in which he spoke to me
concerning some of the great political secrets of his Government. On
seeing me come out Rapp observed, "You have had a long audience."--"Yes,
not amiss;" and this circumstance procured for me a courtly salutation
from all persons waiting in the antechamber.'
I shall now relate how I spent the two preceding years. The month after
I tendered my resignation to the First Consul, and which he refused to
accept, the house at St. Cloud belonging to Madame Deville was offered
to me; it was that in which the Duc d'Angouleme and the Duc de Berri
were inoculated. I visited this mansion, thinking it might be suitable
for my family; but, notwithstanding the beauty of its situation, it
seemed far too splendid either for my taste or my fortune. Except the
outer walls, it was in a very dilapidated state, and would require
numerous and expensive repairs. Josephine, being informed that Madame
de Bourrienne had set her face against the purchase, expressed a wish
to see the mansion, and accompanied us for that purpose. She was so much
delighted with it that she blamed my wife for starting any objections
to my becoming, its possessor. "With regard to the expense," Josephine
replied to her, "ah, we shall arrange that." On our return to Malmaison
she spoke of it in such high terms that Bonaparte said to me, "Why don't
you purchase it, Bourrienne, since the price is so reasonable?"
The house was accordingly purchased. An outlay of 20,000 francs
was immediately required to render it habitable. Furniture was also
necessary for this large mansion, and orders for it were accordingly
given. But no sooner were repairs begun than everything crumbled to
pieces, which rendered many additional expenses necessary.
About this period Bonaparte hurried forward the works at St. Cloud,
to which place he immediately removed. My services being constantly
required, I found it so fatiguing to go twice or thrice a day from Ruel
to St. Cloud that I took possession of my new mansion, though it was
still filled with workmen. Scarcely eight days had elapsed from this
period when Bonaparte intimated that he no longer had occasion for my
services. When my wife went to take leave Napoleon spoke to her in a
flattering manner of my good qualities, my merit, and the utility of my
labours, saying that he was himself the most unfortunate of the three,
and that my loss could never be replaced. He then added, "I shall be
absent for a month, but Bourrienne may be quite easy; let him remain in
retirement, and on my return I shall reward his services, should I even
create a place on purpose for him."
Madame de Bourrienne then requested leave to retain the apartments
appropriated to her in the Tuileries till after her accouchement, which
was not far distant, to which he replied, "You may keep them as long as
you please; for it will be some time before I again reside in Paris."
Bonaparte set out on his journey, and shortly afterwards I went with my
family to visit Madame de Coubertin, my cousin-german, who received
us with her usual kindness. We passed the time of the First Consul's
absence at her country seat, and only returned to St. Cloud on the day
Bonaparte was expected.
Scarcely a quarter of an hour had elapsed after his arrival when I
received an intimation to give up, in twenty-four hours, the apartments
in the Tuileries, which he had promised my wife should retain till after
her confinement. He reclaimed at the same time the furniture of Ruel,
which he presented to me two years before, when I purchased that small
house on purpose to be near him.
I addressed several memorials to him on this subject, stating that I had
replaced the worn-out furniture with new and superior articles; but this
he wholly disregarded, compelling me to give up everything, even to the
greatest trifle. It may be right to say that on his return the Emperor
found his table covered with information respecting my conduct in Paris,
though I had not held the smallest communication with any one in the
capital, nor once entered it during his absence.
After my departure for Hamburg, Bonaparte took possession of my stables
and coach-house, which he filled with horses. Even the very avenues and
walks were converted into stabling. A handsome house at the entrance to
the park was also appropriated to similar purposes; in fact, he spared
nothing. Everything was done in the true military style; I neither had
previous intimation of the proceedings nor received any remuneration
for my loss. The Emperor seemed to regard the property as his own; but
though he all but ordered me to make the purchase, he did not furnish
the money that was paid for it. In this way it was occupied for more
than four years.
The recollection of those arbitrary and vexatious proceedings on the
part of Bonaparte has led me farther than I intended. I shall
therefore return to the imperial residence of St. Cloud. On leaving the
audience-chamber, as already stated, I repaired to the apartments of the
Empress, who, knowing that I was in the Palace, had intimated her wishes
for my attendance. No command could have been more agreeable to me, for
every one was certain of a gracious reception from Josephine. I do not
recollect which of the ladies in waiting was in attendance when my
name was announced; but she immediately retired, and left me alone with
Josephine. Her recent elevation had not changed the usual amenity of
her disposition. After some conversation respecting the change in her
situation, I gave her an account of what had passed between the Emperor
and myself.
I faithfully related all that he had said of Moreau, observing that at
one moment I imagined he was about to speak of the Duc d'Enghien, when
he suddenly reverted to what he had been saying, and never made the
slightest allusion to the subject.
Madame Bonaparte replied to me, "Napoleon has spoken the truth
respecting Moreau. He was grossly deceived by those who believed they
could best pay their court to him by calumniating that general. His
silence on the subject of the Duc d'Enghien does not surprise me; he
says as little respecting it as possible, and always in a vague manner,
and with manifest repugnance. When you see Bonaparte again be silent on
the subject, and should chance bring it forward, avoid every expression
in the smallest degree indicative of reproach; he would not suffer it;
you would ruin yourself for ever in his estimation, and the evil is,
alas! without remedy. When you came to Malmaison I told you that I had
vainly endeavoured to turn him from his fatal purpose, and how he
had treated me. Since then he has experienced but little internal
satisfaction; it is only in the presence of his courtiers that he
affects a calm and tranquil deportment; but I perceive his sufferings
are the greater from thus endeavouring to conceal them. By the by, I
forgot to mention that he knew of the visit you paid me on the day after
the catastrophe. I dreaded that your enemies, the greater number of
whom are also mine, might have misrepresented that interview; but,
fortunately, he paid little attention to it. He merely said, 'So
you have seen Bourrienne? Does he sulk at me? Nevertheless I must do
something for him.' He has again spoken in the same strain, and repeated
nearly the same expressions three days ago; and since he has commanded
your presence to-day, I have not a doubt but he has something in view
for your advantage."--"May I presume to inquire what it is?"--"I do
not yet know; but I would recommend to you, in the meantime, to be
more strictly on your guard than ever; he is so suspicious, and so well
informed of all that is done or said respecting himself. I have suffered
so much since I last saw you; never can I forget the unkind manner in
which he rejected my entreaties! For several days I laboured under a
depression of spirits which greatly irritated him, because he clearly
saw whence it proceeded. I am not dazzled by the title of Empress; I
dread some evil will result from this step to him, to my children, and
to myself. The miscreants ought to be satisfied; see to what they have
driven us! This death embitters every moment of my life. I need not say
to you, Bourrienne, that I speak this in confidence."--"You cannot doubt
my prudence."--"No, certainly not, Bourrienne. I do not doubt it. My
confidence in you is unbounded. Rest assured that I shall never
forget what you have done for me, under various circumstances, and the
devotedness you evinced to me on your return from Egypt.--Adieu, my
friend. Let me see you soon again."
It was on the 14th of June 1804 that I had this audience of the Emperor,
and afterwards attended the Empress.
On my return home I spent three hours in making notes of all that was
said to me by these two personages; and the substance of these notes I
have now given to the reader.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
1804.
Curious disclosures of Fouché--Remarkable words of Bonaparte
respecting the protest of Louis XVIII--Secret document inserted in
the Moniteur--Announcement from Bonaparte to Regnier--Fouché
appointed Minister of Police--Error of Regnier respecting the
conspiracy of Georges--Undeserved praise bestowed on Fouché--
Indication of the return of the Bourbons--Variation between the
words and conduct of Bonaparte--The iron crown--Celebration of the
14th of July--Church festivals and loss of time--Grand ceremonial at
the Invalides--Recollections of the 18th Brumaire--New oath of the
Legion of Honour--General enthusiasm--Departure for Boulogne--Visits
to Josephine at St. Cloud and Malmaison--Josephine and Madame de
Rémusat--Pardons granted by the Emperor--Anniversary of the 14th of
July--Departure for the camp of Boulogne--General error respecting
Napoleon's designs--Caesar's Tower--Distribution of the crosses of
the Legion of Honour--The military throne--Bonaparte's charlatanism
--Intrepidity of two English sailors--The decennial prizes and the
Polytechnic School--Meeting of the Emperor and Empress--First
negotiation with the Holy Sea--The Prefect of Arras and Comte Louis
de Narbonne--Change in the French Ministry.
Louis XVIII., being at Warsaw when he was informed of the elevation of
Napoleon to the Imperial dignity, addressed to the sovereigns of Europe
a protest against that usurpation of his throne. Fouché, being the first
who heard of this protest, immediately communicated the circumstance to
the Emperor, observing that doubtless the copies would be multiplied and
distributed amongst the enemies of his Government, in the Faubourg St.
Germain, which might produce the worst effects, and that he therefore
deemed it his duty to inform him that orders might be given to Regnier
and Real to keep a strict watch over those engaged in distributing this
document.
"You may judge of my surprise," added Fouché, "you who know so well that
formerly the very mention of the Bourbons rendered Bonaparte furious,
when, after perusing the protest, he returned it to me, saying, 'Ah, ah,
so the Comte de Lille makes his protest! Well, well, all in good time.
I hold my right by the voice of the French nation, and while I wear a
sword I will maintain it! The Bourbons ought to know that I do not fear
them; let them, therefore, leave me in tranquillity. Did you say that
the fools of the Faubourg St. Germain would multiply the copies of this
protest of Comte de Lille? well, they shall read it at their ease. Send
it to the Moniteur, Fouché; and let it be inserted to-morrow morning.'"
This passed on the 30th of June, and the next day the protest of Louis
XVIII. did actually appear in that paper.
Fouché was wholly indifferent respecting the circulation of this
protest; he merely wished to show the Emperor that he was better
informed of passing events than Regnier, and to afford Napoleon another
proof of the inexperience and inability of the Grand Judge in police;
and Fouché was not long in receiving the reward which he expected from
this step. In fact, ten days after the publication of the protest, the
Emperor announced to Regnier the re-establishment of the Ministry of
General Police.
The formula, I Pray God to have you in His holy keeping, with which the
letter to Regnier closed, was another step of Napoleon in the knowledge
of ancient usages, with which he was not sufficiently familiar when he
wrote Cambacérès on the day succeeding his elevation to the Imperial
throne; at the same time it must be confessed that this formula assorted
awkwardly with the month of "Messidor," and the "twelfth year of the
Republic!"
The errors which Regnier had committed in the affair of Georges were the
cause which determined Bonaparte to re-establish the Ministry of Police,
and to bestow it on a man who had created a belief in the necessity of
that measure, by a monstrous accumulation of plots and intrigues. I am
also certain that the Emperor was swayed by the probability of a
war breaking out, which would force him to leave France; and that he
considered Fouché as the most proper person to maintain the public
tranquillity during his absence, and detect any cabala that might be
formed in favour of the Bourbons.
At this period, when Bonaparte had given the finishing blow to the
Republic, which had only been a shadow since the 19th Brumaire, it was
not difficult to foresee that the Bourbons would one day remount the
throne of their ancestors; and this presentiment was not, perhaps,
without its influence in rendering the majority greater in favour of the
foundation of the Empire than for the establishment of a Consulate for
life. The reestablishment of the throne was a most important step in
favour of the Bourbons, for that was the thing most difficult to be
done. But Bonaparte undertook the task; and, as if by the aid of a magic
rod, the ancient order of things was restored in the twinkling of
an eye. The distinctions of rank--orders--titles, the
noblesse--decorations--all the baubles of vanity--in short, all
the burlesque tattooing which the vulgar regard as an indispensable
attribute of royalty, reappeared in an instant. The question no longer
regarded the form of government, but the individual who should be placed
at its head. By restoring the ancient order of things, the Republicans
had themselves decided the question, and it could no longer be doubted
that when an occasion presented itself the majority of the nation would
prefer the ancient royal family, to whom France owed her civilisation,
her greatness, and her power, and who had exalted her to such a high
degree of glory and prosperity.
It was not one of the least singular traits in Napoleon's character that
during the first year of his reign he retained the fete of the 14th of
July. It was not indeed strictly a Republican fate, but it recalled the
recollection of two great popular triumphs,--the taking of the Bastille
and the first Federation. This year the 14th of July fell on a Saturday,
and the Emperor ordered its celebration to be delayed till the following
day, because it was Sunday; which was in conformity with the sentiments
he delivered respecting the Concordat. "What renders me," he said, "most
hostile to the re-establishment of the Catholic worship is the number of
festivals formerly observed. A saint's day is a day of indolence, and I
wish not for that; the people must labour in order to live. I consent to
four holidays in the year, but no more; if the gentlemen from Rome are
not satisfied with this, they may take their departure."
The loss of time seemed to him so great a calamity that he seldom
failed to order an indispensable solemnity to be held on the succeeding
holiday. Thus he postponed the Corpus Christi to the following Sunday.
On Sunday, the 15th of July 1804, the Emperor appeared for the first
time before the Parisians surrounded by all the pomp of royalty. The
members of the Legion of Honour, then in Paris, took the oath prescribed
by the new Constitution, and on this occasion the Emperor and Empress
appeared attended for the first time by a separate and numerous retinue.
The carriages in the train of the Empress crossed the garden of the
Tuileries, hitherto exclusively appropriated to the public; then
followed the cavalcade of the Emperor, who appeared on horseback,
surrounded by his principal generals, whom he had created Marshals
of the Empire. M. de Segur, who held the office of Grand Master of
Ceremonies, had the direction of the ceremonial to be observed on this
occasion, and with, the Governor received the Emperor on the threshold
of the Hotel des Invalides. They conducted the Empress to a tribune
prepared for her reception, opposite the Imperial throne which Napoleon
alone occupied, to the right of the altar. I was present at this
ceremony, notwithstanding the repugnance I have to such brilliant
exhibitions; but as Duroc had two days before presented me with tickets,
I deemed it prudent to attend on the occasion, lest the keen eye of
Bonaparte should have remarked my absence if Duroc had acted by his
order.
I spent about an hour contemplating the proud and sometimes almost
ludicrous demeanour of the new grandees of the Empire; I marked the
manoeuvring of the clergy, who, with Cardinal Belloy at their head,
proceeded to receive the Emperor on his entrance into the church. What a
singular train of ideas was called up to my mind when I beheld my
former comrade at the school of Brienne seated upon an elevated
throne, surrounded by his brilliant staff, the great dignitaries of his
Empire--his Ministers and Marshals! I involuntarily recurred to the
19th Brumaire, and all this splendid scene vanished; when I thought of
Bonaparte stammering to such a degree that I was obliged to pull the
skirt of his coat to induce him to withdraw.
It was neither a feeling of animosity nor of jealousy which called up
such reflections; at no period of our career would I have exchanged my
situation for his; but whoever can reflect, whoever has witnessed the
unexpected elevation of a former equal, may perhaps be able to conceive
the strange thoughts that assailed my mind, for the first time, on this
occasion.
When the religious part of the ceremony terminated, the church assumed,
in some measure, the appearance of a profane temple. The congregation
displayed more devotion to the Emperor than towards the God of the
Christians,--more enthusiasm than fervour. The mass had been heard
with little attention; but when M. de Lacepede, Grand Chancellor of the
Legion of Honour, after pronouncing a flattering discourse, finished the
call of the Grand Officers of the Legion, Bonaparte covered, as did
the ancient kings of France when they held a bed of justice. A profound
silence, a sort of religious awe, then reigned throughout the assembly,
and Napoleon, who did not now stammer as in the Council of the Five
Hundred, said in a firm voice:
"Commanders, officers, legionaries, citizens, soldiers; swear upon
your honour to devote yourselves to the service of the Empire--to the
preservation of the integrity of the French territory--to the defence of
the Emperor, of the laws of the Republic, and of the property which they
have made sacred--to combat by all the means which justice, reason, and
the laws authorise every attempt to reestablish the feudal system; in
short, swear to concur with all your might in maintaining liberty and
equality, which are the bases of all our institutions. Do you swear?"
Each member of the Legion of Honour exclaimed, "I swear;" adding, "Vive
l'Empereur!" with an enthusiasm it is impossible to describe, and in
which all present joined.
What, after all, was this new oath? It only differed from that taken by
the Legion of Honour, under the Consulate, in putting the defence of the
Emperor before that of the laws of the Republic; and this was not merely
a form. It was, besides, sufficiently laughable and somewhat audacious,
to make them swear to support equality at the moment so many titles and
monarchical distinctions had been re-established.
On the 18th of July, three days after this ceremony, the Emperor left
Paris to visit the camp at Boulogne. He was not accompanied by the
Empress on this journey, which was merely to examine the progress of
the military operations. Availing myself of the invitation Josephine had
given me, I presented myself at St. Cloud a few days after the departure
of Napoleon; as she did not expect my visit, I found her surrounded by
four or five of the ladies in waiting, occupied in examining some of the
elegant productions of the famous Leroi and Madame Despeaux; for amidst
the host of painful feelings experienced by Josephine she was too much
of a woman not to devote some attention to the toilet.
On my introduction they were discussing the serious question of the
costume to be worn by the Empress on her journey to Belgium to meet
Napoleon at the Palace of Lacken, near Brussels. Notwithstanding
those discussions respecting the form of hats, the colour and shape of
dresses, etc., Josephine received me in her usual gracious manner.
But not being able to converse with me, she said, without giving it
an appearance of invitation but in a manner sufficiently evident to
be understood, that she intended to pass the following morning at
Malmaison.
I shortened my visit, and at noon next day repaired to that delightful
abode, which always created in my mind deep emotion. Not an alley, not a
grove but teemed with interesting recollections; all recalled to me the
period when I was the confidant of Bonaparte. But the time was past when
he minutely calculated how much a residence at Malmaison would cost, and
concluded by saying that an income of 30,000 livres would be necessary.
When I arrived Madame Bonaparte was in the garden with Madame de
Rémusat, who was her favourite from the similarity of disposition which
existed between them.
Madame de Rémusat was the daughter of the Minister Vergennes, and sister
to Madame de Nansouty, whom I had sometimes seen with Josephine, but
not so frequently as her elder sister. I found the ladies in the avenue
which leads to Ruel, and saluted Josephine by inquiring respecting the
health of Her Majesty. Never can I forget the tone in which she replied:
"Ah! Bourrienne, I entreat that you will suffer me, at least here, to
forget that I am an Empress." As she had not a thought concealed from
Madame de Rémusat except some domestic vexations, of which probably I
was the only confidant, we conversed with the same freedom as if alone,
and it is easy to define that the subject of our discourse regarded
Bonaparte.
After having spoken of her intended journey to Belgium, Josephine said
to me, "What a pity, Bourrienne, that the past cannot be recalled! He
departed in the happiest disposition: he has bestowed some pardons and I
am satisfied that but for those accursed politics he would have pardoned
a far greater number. I would have said much more, but I endeavoured to
conceal my chagrin because the slightest contradiction only renders him
the more obstinate. Now, when in the midst of his army, he will forget
everything. How much have I been afflicted that I was not able to obtain
a favourable answer to all the petitions which were addressed to me.
That good Madame de Monteason came from Romainville to St. Cloud to
solicit the pardon of MM. de Riviere and de Polignac; we succeeded in
gaining an audience for Madame de Polignac; . . . how beautiful she
is! Bonaparte was greatly affected on beholding her; he said to her,
'Madame, since it was only my life your husband menaced, I may pardon
him.' You know Napoleon, Bourrienne; you know that he is not naturally
cruel; it is his counsellors and flatterers who have induced him to
commit so many villainous actions. Rapp has behaved extremely well; he
went to the Emperor, and would not leave him till he had obtained the
pardon of another of the condemned, whose name I do not recollect. How
much these Polignacs have interested me! There will be then at least
some families who will owe him gratitude! Strive, if it be possible,
to throw a veil over the past; I am sufficiently miserable in my
anticipations of the future. Rest assured, my dear Bourrienne, that
I shall not fail to exert myself during our stay in Belgium in your
behalf, and inform you of the result. Adieu!"
During the festival in celebration of the 14th of July, which I have
already alluded to, the Emperor before leaving the Hotel des Invalides
had announced that he would go in person to distribute the decorations
of the Legion of Honour to the army assembled in the camp of Boulogne.
He was not long before he fulfilled his promise. He left St. Cloud on
the 18th and travelled with such rapidity that the next morning, whilst
every one was busy with preparations for his reception, he was already
at that port, in the midst of the labourers, examining the works. He
seemed to multiply himself by his inconceivable activity, and one might
say that he was present everywhere.
At the Emperor's departure it was generally believed at Paris that the
distribution of the crosses at the camp of Boulogne was only a pretext,
and that Bonaparte had at length gone to carry into execution the
project of an invasion of England, which every body supposed he
contemplated. It was, indeed, a pretext. The Emperor wished to excite
more and more the enthusiasm of the army--to show himself to the
military invested in his new dignity, to be present at some grand
manoeuvres, and dispose the army to obey the first signal he might give.
How indeed, on beholding such great preparations, so many transports
created, as it were, by enchantment, could any one have supposed that
he did not really intend to attempt a descent on England? People almost
fancied him already in London; it was known that all the army corps
echelloned on the coast from Maples to Ostend were ready to embark.
Napoleon's arrival in the midst of his troops inspired them, if
possible, with a new impulse. The French ports on the Channel had for a
long period been converted into dockyards and arsenals, where works were
carried on with that inconceivable activity which Napoleon knew so
well how to inspire. An almost incredible degree of emulation prevailed
amongst the commanders of the different camps, and it descended from
rank to rank to the common soldiers and even to the labourers.
As every one was eager to take advantage of the slightest effects of
chance, and exercised his ingenuity in converting them into prognostics
of good fortune for the Emperor, those who had access to him did not
fail to call his attention to some remains of a Roman camp which had
been discovered at the Tour d'Ordre, where the Emperor's tent was
pitched. This was considered an evident proof that the French Caesar
occupied the camp which the Roman Caesar had formerly constructed to
menace Great Britain. To give additional force to this allusion, the
Tour d'Ordre resumed the name of Caesar's Tower. Some medals of William
the Conqueror, found in another spot, where, perhaps, they had been
buried for the purpose of being dug up, could not fail to satisfy the
most incredulous that Napoleon must conquer England.
It was not far from Caesar's Tower that 80,000 men of the camps of
Boulogne and Montreuil, under the command of Marshal Soult, were
assembled in a vast plain to witness the distribution of the crosses
of the Legion of Honour impressed with the Imperial effigy. This plain,
which I saw with Bonaparte in our first journey to the coast, before
our departure to Egypt, was circular and hollow; and in the centre was
a little hill. This hill formed the Imperial throne of Bonaparte in the
midst of his soldiers. There he stationed himself with his staff and
around this centre of glory the regiments were drawn up in lines and
looked like so many diverging rays. From this throne, which had been
erected by the hand of nature, Bonaparte delivered in a loud voice the
same form of oath which he had pronounced at the Hotel des Invalides a
few days before. It was the signal for a general burst of enthusiasm,
and Rapp, alluding to this ceremony, told me that he never saw the
Emperor appear more pleased. How could he be otherwise? Fortune then
seemed obedient to his wishes. A storm came on during this brilliant
day, and it was apprehended that part of the flotilla would have
suffered.
Bonaparte quitted the hill from which he had distributed the crosses and
proceeded to the port to direct what measures should be taken, when upon
his arrival the storm--
--[The following description of the incident when Napoleon nearly
occasioned the destruction of the Boulogne flotilla was forwarded to
the 'Revue Politique et Litteraire' from a private memoir. The
writer, who was an eye-witness, says--
One morning, when the Emperor was mounting his horse, he announced
that he intended to hold a review of his naval forces, and gave the
order that the vessels which lay in the harbour should alter their
positions, as the review was to be held on the open sea. He started
on his usual ride, giving orders that everything should be arranged
on his return, the time of which he indicated. His wish was
communicated to Admiral Bruix, who responded with imperturbable
coolness that he was very sorry, but that the review could not take
place that day. Consequently not a vessel was moved. On his return
back from his ride the Emperor asked whether all was ready. He was
told what the Admiral had said. Twice the answer had to be repeated
to him before he could realise its nature, and then, violently
stamping his foot on the ground, he sent for the Admiral. The
Emperor met him halfway. With eyes burning with rage, he exclaimed
in an excited voice, "Why have my orders not been executed?" With
respectful firmness Admiral Bruix replied, "Sire, a terrible storm
is brewing. Your Majesty may convince yourself of it; would you
without need expose the lives of so many men?" The heaviness of the
atmosphere and the sound of thunder in the distance more than
justified the fears of the Admiral. "Sir, said the Emperor, getting
more and more irritated, "I have given the orders once more; why
have they not been executed? The consequences concern me alone.
Obey!" 'Sire, I will not obey,' replied the Admiral. "You are
insolent!" And the Emperor, who still held his riding-whip in his
hand, advanced towards the admiral with a threatening gesture.
Admiral Bruix stepped back and put his hand on the sheath of his
sword and said, growing very pale, "sire, take care!" The whole
suite stood paralysed with fear. The Emperor remained motionless
for some time, his hand lifted up, his eyes fixed on the Admiral,
who still retained his menacing attitude. At last the Emperor threw
his whip on the floor. M. Bruix took his hand off his sword, and
with uncovered head awaited in silence the result of the painful
scene. Rear-Admiral Magon was then ordered to see that the
Emperor's orders were instantly executed. "As for you, sir," said
the Emperor, fixing his eyes on Admiral Bruix, you leave Boulogne
within twenty-four hours and depart for Holland. Go!" M. Magon
ordered the fatal movement of the fleet on which the Emperor had
insisted. The first arrangements had scarcely been made when the
sea became very high. The black sky was pierced by lightning, the
thunder rolled and every moment the line of vessels was broken by
the wind, and shortly after, that which the Admiral had foreseen
came to pass, and the most frightful storm dispersed the vessels in
each a way that it seamed impossible to save them. With bent head,
arms crossed, and a sorrowful look in his face, the Emperor walked
up and down on the beach, when suddenly the most terrible cries were
heard. More than twenty gunboats filled with soldiers and sailors
were being driven towards the shore, and the unfortunate men were
vainly fighting against the furious waves, calling for help which
nobody could give them. Deeply touched by the spectacle and the
heart-rending cries and lamentations of the multitude which had
assembled on the beach, the Emperor, seeing his generals and
officers tremble with horror, attempted to set an example of
devotion, and, in spite of all efforts to keep him back, he threw
himself into a boat, saying, "Let me go! let me go! they must be
brought out of this." In a moment the boat was filled with water.
The waves poured over it again and again, and the Emperor was
drenched. One wave larger than the others almost threw him
overboard and his hat was carried sway. Inspired by so much
courage, officers, soldiers, seamen, and citizens tried to succour
the drowning, some in boats, some swimming. But, alas! only a small
number could be saved of the unfortunate men. The following day
more than 200 bodies were thrown ashore, and with them the hat of
the conqueror of Marengo. That sad day was one of desolation for
Boulogne and for the camp. The Emperor groaned under the burden of
an accident which he had to attribute solely to his own obstinacy.
Agents were despatched to all parts of the town to subdue with gold
the murmurs which were ready to break out into a tumult.]--
--ceased as if by enchantment. The flotilla entered the port safe and
sound and he went back to the camp, where the sports and amusements
prepared for the soldiers commenced, and in the evening the brilliant
fireworks which were let off rose in a luminous column, which was
distinctly seen from the English coast.--[It appears that Napoleon was
so well able to cover up this fiasco that not even Bourrienne ever heard
the true story. D.W.]
When he reviewed the troops he asked the officers, and often the
soldiers, in what battles they had been engaged, and to those who
had received serious wounds he gave the cross. Here, I think, I may
appropriately mention a singular piece of charlatanism to which the
Emperor had recourse, and which powerfully contributed to augment the
enthusiasm of his troops. He would say to one of his aides de camp,
"Ascertain from the colonel of such a regiment whether he has in his
corps a man who has served in the campaigns of Italy or the campaigns
of Egypt. Ascertain his name, where he was born, the particulars of his
family, and what he has done. Learn his number in the ranks, and to what
company he belongs, and furnish me with the information."
On the day of the review Bonaparte, at a single glance, could perceive
the man who had been described to him. He would go up to him as if he
recognised him, address him by his name, and say, "Oh! so you are here!
You are a brave fellow--I saw you at Aboukir--how is your old father?
What! have you not got the Cross? Stay, I will give it you." Then the
delighted soldiers would say to each other, "You see the Emperor knows
us all; he knows our families; he knows where we have served." What a
stimulus was this to soldiers, whom he succeeded in persuading that they
would all some time or other become Marshals of the Empire!
Lauriston told me, amongst other anecdotes relating to Napoleon's
sojourn at the camp at Boulogne, a remarkable instance of intrepidity on
the part of two English sailors. These men had been prisoners at Verdun,
which was the most considerable depot of English prisoners in France
at the rupture of the peace of Amiens. They effected their escape from
Verdun, and arrived at Boulogne without having been discovered on the
road, notwithstanding the vigilance with which all the English were
watched. They remained at Boulogne for some time, destitute of money,
and without being able to effect their escape. They had no hope of
getting aboard a boat, on account of the strict watch that was kept upon
vessels of every kind. These two sailors made a boat of little pieces
of wood, which they put together as well as they could, having no other
tools than their knives. They covered it with a piece of sail-cloth. It
was only three or four feet wide, and not much longer, and was so
light that a man could easily carry it on his shoulders,--so powerful a
passion is the love of home and liberty! Sure of being shot if they were
discovered, almost equally sure of being drowned if they effected their
escape, they, nevertheless, resolved to attempt crossing the Channel in
their fragile skiff. Perceiving an English frigate within sight of the
coast, they pushed off and endeavoured to reach her. They had not gone
a hundred toises from the shore when they were perceived by the
custom-house officers, who set out in pursuit of them, and brought them
back again. The news of this adventure spread through the camp, where
the extraordinary courage of the two sailors was the subject of general
remark. The circumstance reached the Emperor's ears. He wished to see
the men, and they were conducted to his presence, along with their
little boat. Napoleon, whose imagination was struck by everything
extraordinary, could not conceal his surprise at so bold a project,
undertaken with such feeble means of execution. "Is it really true,"
said the Emperor to them, "that you thought of crossing the sea in
this?"--"Sire," said they, "if you doubt it, give us leave to go, and
you shall see us depart."--"I will. You are bold and enterprising men--I
admire courage wherever I meet it. But you shall not hazard your lives.
You are at liberty; and more than that, I will cause you to be put on
board an English ship. When you return to London tell how I esteem brave
men, even when they are my enemies." Rapp, who with Lauriaton, Duroc,
and many others were present at this scene, were not a little astonished
at the Emperor's generosity. If the men had not been brought before him,
they would have been shot as spies, instead of which they obtained
their liberty, and Napoleon gave several pieces of gold to each. This
circumstance was one of those which made the strongest impression
on Napoleon, and he recollected it when at St. Helena, in one of his
conversations with M. de Las Casas.
No man was ever so fond of contrasts as Bonaparte. He liked, above
everything, to direct the affairs of war whilst seated in his easy
chair, in the cabinet of St. Cloud, and to dictate in the camp his
decrees relative to civil administration. Thus, at the camp of Boulogne,
he founded the decennial premiums, the first distribution of which he
intended should take place five years afterwards, on the anniversary of
the 18th Brumaire, which was an innocent compliment to the date of the
foundation of the Consular Republic. This measure also seemed to promise
to the Republican calendar a longevity which it did not attain. All
these little circumstances passed unobserved; but Bonaparte had so often
developed to me his theory of the art of deceiving mankind that I knew
their true value. It was likewise at the camp of Boulogne that, by a
decree emanating from his individual will, he destroyed the noblest
institution of the Republic, the Polytechnic School, by converting it
into a purely military academy. He knew that in that sanctuary of high
study a Republican spirit was fostered; and whilst I was with him he
had often told me it was necessary that all schools, colleges, and
establishments for public instruction should be subject to military
discipline. I frequently endeavoured to controvert this idea, but
without success.
It was arranged that Josephine and the Emperor should meet in Belgium.
He proceeded thither from the camp of Boulogne, to the astonishment of
those who believed that the moment for the invasion of England had at
length arrived. He joined the Empress at the Palace of Lacken, which
the Emperor had ordered to be repaired and newly furnished with great
magnificence.
The Emperor continued his journey by the towns bordering on the Rhine.
He stopped first in the town of Charlemagne, passed through the three
bishoprics,
--[There are two or three little circumstances in connection with
this journey that seem worth inserting here:
Mademoiselle Avrillion was the 'femme de chambre' of Josephine, and
was constantly about her person from the time of the first
Consulship to the death of the Empress in 1814. In all such matters
as we shall quote from them, her memoirs seem worthy of credit.
According to Mademoiselle, the Empress during her stay at Aix-la-
Chapelle, drank the waters with much eagerness and some hope. As
the theatre there was only supplied with some German singers who
were not to Josephine's taste, she had part of a French operatic
company sent to her from Paris. The amiable creole had always a
most royal disregard of expense. When Bonaparte joined her, he
renewed his old custom of visiting his wife now and then at her
toilet, and according to Mademoiselle Avrillion, he took great
interest in the subject of her dressing. She says, "It was a most
extraordinary thing for us to see the man whose head was filled with
such vast affairs enter into the most minute details of the female
toilet and of what dresses, what robes, and what jewels the Empress
should wear on such and such an occasion. One day he daubed her
dress with ink because he did not like it, and wanted her to put on
another. Whenever he looked into her wardrobe he was sure to throw
everything topsy-turvy."
This characteristic anecdote perfectly agrees with what we have
heard from other persons. When the Neapolitan Princess di----- was
at the Tuileries as 'dame d'honneur' to Bonaparte's sister Caroline
Murat, then Queen of Naples, on the grand occasion of the marriage
with Maria Louisa, the, Princess, to her astonishment, saw the
Emperor go up to a lady of the Court and address her thus: "This is
the same gown you wore the day before yesterday! What's the meaning
of this, madame? This is not right, madame!"
Josephine never gave him a similar cause of complaint, but even when
he was Emperor she often made him murmur at the profusion of her
expenditure under this head. The next anecdote will give some idea
of the quantity of dresses which she wore for a day or so, and then
gave away to her attendants, who appear to have carried on a very
active trade in them.
"While we were at Mayence the Palace was literally besieged by Jews,
who continually brought manufactured and other goods to show to the
followers of the Court; and we had the greatest difficulty to avoid
buying them. At last they proposed that we should barter with them;
and when Her Majesty had given us dresses that were far too rich for
us to wear ourselves, we exchanged them with the Jews for
piecegoods. The robes we thus bartered did not long remain in the
hands of the Jews, and there must have been a great demand for them
among the belles of Mayence, for I remember a ball there at which
the Empress might have seen all the ladies of a quadrille party
dressed in her cast-off clothes.--I even saw German Princesses
wearing them" (Memoires de Mademoiselle Avrillion).]
--on his way Cologne and Coblentz, which the emigration had rendered so
famous, and arrived at Mayence, where his sojourn was distinguished by
the first attempt at negotiation with the Holy See, in order to induce
the Pope to come to France to crown the new Emperor, and consolidate his
power by supporting it with the sanction of the Church. This journey of
Napoleon occupied three months, and he did not return to St. Cloud till
October. Amongst the flattering addresses which the Emperor received in
the course of his journey I cannot pass over unnoticed the speech of M.
de la Chaise, Prefect of Arras, who said, "God made Bonaparte, and
then rested." This occasioned Comte Louis de Narbonne, who was not yet
attached to the Imperial system, to remark "That it would have been well
had God rested a little sooner."
During the Emperor's absence a partial change took place in the
Ministry. M. de Champagny succeeded M. Chaptal as Minister of the
Interior. At the camp of Boulogne the pacific Joseph found himself, by
his brother's wish, transformed into a warrior, and placed in command
of a regiment of dragoons, which was a subject of laughter with a great
number of generals. I recollect that one day Lannes, speaking to me of
the circumstance in his usual downright and energetic way, said, "He had
better not place him under my orders, for upon the first fault I will
put the scamp under arrest."
CHAPTER XXIX.
1804.
England deceived by Napoleon--Admirals Missiessy and Villeneuve--
Command given to Lauriston--Napoleon's opinion of Madame de Stael--
Her letters to Napoleon--Her enthusiasm converted into hatred--
Bonaparte's opinion of the power of the Church--The Pope's arrival
at Fontainebleau--Napoleon's first interview with Pius VII.--
The Pope and the Emperor on a footing of equality--Honours rendered
to the Pope--His apartments at the Tuileries--His visit to the
Imperial printing office--Paternal rebuke--Effect produced in
England by the Pope's presence in Paris--Preparations for Napoleon's
coronation--Votes in favour of hereditary succession--Convocation of
the Legislative Body--The presidents of cantons--Anecdote related by
Michot the actor--Comparisons--Influence of the Coronation on the
trade of Paris--The insignia of Napoleon and the insignia of
Charlemagne--The Pope's mule--Anecdote of the notary Raguideau--
Distribution of eagles in the Champ de Mars--Remarkable coincidence.
England was never so much deceived by Bonaparte as during the period of
the encampment at Boulogne. The English really believed that an invasion
was intended, and the Government exhausted itself in efforts for raising
men and money to guard against the danger of being taken by surprise.
Such, indeed, is the advantage always possessed by the assailant. He can
choose the point on which he thinks it most convenient to act, while the
party which stands on the defence, and is afraid of being attacked, is
compelled to be prepared in every point. However, Napoleon, who was then
in the full vigour of his genius and activity, had always his eyes fixed
on objects remote from those which surrounded him, and which seemed to
absorb his whole attention. Thus, during the journey of which I have
spoken, the ostensible object of which was the organisation of the
departments on the Rhine, he despatched two squadrons from Rochefort and
Boulogne, one commanded by Missiessy, the other by Villeneuve--I shall
not enter into any details about those squadrons; I shall merely mention
with respect to them that, while the Emperor was still in Belgium,
Lauriston paid me a sudden and unexpected visit. He was on his way
to Toulon to take command of the troops which were to be embarked on
Villeneuve's squadron, and he was not much pleased with the service to
which he had been appointed.
Lauriston's visit was a piece of good fortune for me. We were always on
friendly terms, and I received much information from him, particularly
with respect to the manner in which the Emperor spent his time. "You
can have no idea," said he, "how much the Emperor does, and the sort of
enthusiasm which his presence excites in the army. But his anger at the
contractors is greater than ever, and he has been very severe with some
of them." These words of Lauriaton did not at all surprise me, for
I well knew Napoleon's dislike to contractors, and all men who had
mercantile transactions with the army. I have often heard him say that
they were a curse and a leprosy to nations; that whatever power he might
attain, he never would grant honours to any of them, and that of all
aristocracies, theirs was to him the most insupportable. After his
accession to the Empire the contractors were no longer the important
persons they had been under the Directory, or even during the two first
years of the Consulate. Bonaparte sometimes acted with them as he
had before done with the Beya of Egypt, when he drew from them forced
contributions.
--[Lauriston, one of Napoleon's aides de camp, who was with him at
the Military School of Paris, and who had been commissioned in the
artillery at the same time as Napoleon, considered that he should
have had the post of Grand Ecuyer which Caulaincourt had obtained.
He had complained angrily to the Emperor, and after a stormy
interview was ordered to join the fleet of Villeneuve--In
consequence he was at Trafalgar. On his return after Austerlitz
his temporary disgrace was forgotten, and he was sent as governor to
Venice. He became marshal under the Restoration.]--
I recollect another somewhat curious circumstance respecting the visit
of Lauriston, who had left the Emperor and Empress at Aix-la-Chapelle.
Lauriston was the best educated of the aides de camp, and Napoleon often
conversed with him on such literary works as he chose to notice. "He
sent for me one day," said Lauriston, "when I was on duty at the Palace
of Lacken, and spoke to me of the decennial prizes, and the tragedy of
'Carion de Nisas', and a novel by Madame de Stael, which he had just
read, but which I had not seen, and was therefore rather embarrassed in
replying to him. Respecting Madame de Stael and her Delphine, he said
some remarkable things. 'I do not like women,' he observed, 'who make
men of themselves, any more than I like effeminate men. There is a
proper part for every one to play in the world. What does all this
flight of imagination mean? What is the result of it? Nothing. It is all
sentimental metaphysics and disorder of the mind. I cannot endure that
woman; for one reason, that I cannot bear women who make a set at me,
and God knows how often she has tried to cajole me!'"
The words of Lauriston brought to my recollection the conversations
I had often had with Bonaparte respecting Madame de Stael, of whose
advances made to the First Consul, and even to the General of the Army
of Italy, I had frequently been witness. Bonaparte knew nothing at first
of Madame de Stael but that she was the daughter of M. Necker, a man
for whom, as I have already shown, he had very little esteem. Madame de
Stael had not been introduced to him, and knew nothing more of him than
what fame had published respecting the young conqueror of Italy, when
she addressed to him letters full of enthusiasm. Bonaparte read some
passages of them to me, and, laughing, said, "What do you think,
Bourrienne, of these extravagances. This woman is mad." I recollect that
in one of her letters Madame de Stael, among other things, told him that
they certainly were created for each other--that it was in consequence
of an error in human institutions that the quiet and gentle Josephine
was united to his fate--that nature seemed to have destined for the
adoration of a hero such as he, a soul of fire like her own. These
extravagances disgusted Bonaparte to a degree which I cannot describe.
When he had finished reading these fine epistles he used to throw them
into the fire, or tear them with marked ill-humour, and would say,
"Well, here is a woman who pretends to genius--a maker of sentiments,
and she presumes to compare herself to Josephine! Bourrienne, I shall
not reply to such letters."
I had, however, the opportunity of seeing what the perseverance of
a woman of talent can effect. Notwithstanding Bonaparte's prejudices
against Madame de Stael, which he never abandoned, she succeeded in
getting herself introduced to him; and if anything could have disgusted
him with flattery it would have been the admiration, or, to speak more
properly, the worship, which she paid him; for she used to compare him
to a god descended on earth,--a kind of comparison which the clergy, I
thought, had reserved for their own use. But, unfortunately, to please
Madame de Stael it would have been necessary that her god had been
Plutua; for behind her eulogies lay a claim for two millions, which M.
Necker considered still due to him on account of his good and worthy
services. However, Bonaparte said on this occasion that whatever value
he might set on the suffrage of Madame de Stael, he did not think fit to
pay so dear for it with the money of the State. The conversion of Madame
de Stael's enthusiasm into hatred is well known, as are also the petty
vexations, unworthy of himself, with which the Emperor harassed her in
her retreat at Coppet.
Lauriston had arrived at Paris, where he made but a short stay, some
days before Caffarelli, who was sent on a mission to Rome to sound
the Papal Court, and to induce the Holy Father to come to Paris to
consecrate Bonaparte at his coronation. I have already described the
nature of Bonaparte's ideas on religion. His notions on the subject
seemed to amount to a sort of vague feeling rather than to any belief
founded on reflection. Nevertheless, he had a high opinion of the
power of the Church; but not because he considered it dangerous
to Governments, particularly to his own. Napoleon never could have
conceived how it was possible that a sovereign wearing a crown and
a sword could have the meanness to kneel to a Pope, or to humble his
sceptre before the keys of St. Peter. His spirit was too great to admit
of such a thought. On the contrary, he regarded the alliance between the
Church and his power as a happy means of influencing the opinions of
the people, and as an additional tie which was to attach them to a
Government rendered legitimate by the solemn sanction of the Papal
authority. Bonaparte was not deceived. In this, as well as in many other
things, the perspicacity of his genius enabled him to comprehend all
the importance of a consecration bestowed on him by the Pope; more
especially as Louis XVIII., without subjects, without territory, and
wearing only an illusory crown, had not received that sacred unction
by which the descendants of Hugh Capet become the eldest sons of the
Church.
As soon as the Emperor was informed of the success of Caffarelli's
mission, and that the Pope, in compliance with his desire, was about
to repair to Paris to confirm in his hands the sceptre of Charlemagne,
nothing was thought of but preparations for that great event, which had
been preceded by the recognition of Napoleon as Emperor of the French on
the part of all the States of Europe, with the exception of England.
On the conclusion of the Concordat Bonaparte said to me, "I shall let
the Republican generals exclaim as much as they like against the Mass. I
know what I am about; I am working for posterity." He was now gathering
the fruits of his Concordat. He ordered that the Pope should be
everywhere treated in his journey through the French territory with the
highest distinction, and he proceeded to Fontainebleau to receive his
Holiness. This afforded an opportunity for Bonaparte to re-establish
the example of those journeys of the old Court, during which changes
of ministers used formerly to be made. The Palace of Fontainebleau,
now become Imperial, like all the old royal chateaux, had been newly
furnished with a luxury and taste corresponding to the progress of
modern art. The Emperor was proceeding on the road to Nemours when
courtiers informed him of the approach of Pius VII. Bonaparte's object
was to avoid the ceremony which had been previously settled. He had
therefore made the pretext of going on a hunting-party, and was in
the way as it were by chance when the Pope's carriage was arriving. He
alighted from horseback, and the Pope came out of his carriage. Rapp was
with the Emperor, and I think I yet hear him describing, in his original
manner and with his German accent, this grand interview, upon which,
however, he for his part looked with very little respect. Rapp, in fact,
was among the number of those who, notwithstanding his attachment to
the Emperor, preserved independence of character, and he knew he had no
reason to dissemble with me. "Fancy to yourself," said he, "the amusing
comedy that was played." After the Emperor and the Pope had well
embraced they went into the same carriage; and, in order that they might
be upon a footing of equality, they were to enter at the same time by
opposite doors. All that was settled; but at breakfast the Emperor had
calculated how he should manage, without appearing to assume anything,
to get on the righthand side of the Pope, and everything turned out as
he wished. "As to the Pope," said Rapp, "I must own that I never saw a
man with a finer countenance or more respectable appearance than Pius
VII."
After the conference between the Pope and the Emperor at Fontainebleau,
Pius VII. set off for Paris first. On the road the same honours were
paid to him as to the Emperor. Apartments were prepared for him in the
Pavilion de Flore in the Tuileries, and his bedchamber was arranged
and furnished in the same manner as his chamber in the Palace of
Monte-Cavallo, his usual residence in Rome. The Pope's presence in
Paris was so extraordinary a circumstance that it was scarcely believed,
though it had some time before been talked of. What, indeed, could be
more singular than to see the Head of the Church in a capital where four
years previously the altars had been overturned, and the few faithful
who remained had been obliged to exercise their worship in secret!
The Pope became the object of public respect and general curiosity. I
was exceedingly anxious to see him, and my wish was gratified on the day
when he went to visit the Imperial printing office, then situated where
the Bank of France now is.
A pamphlet, dedicated to the Pope, containing the "Pater Noster," in one
hundred and fifty different languages, was struck off in the presence of
his Holiness. During this visit to the printing office an ill-bred young
man kept his hat on in the Pope's presence. Several persons, indignant
at this indecorum, advanced to take off the young man's hat. A little
confusion arose, and the Pope, observing the cause of it, stepped up to
the young man and said to him, in a tone of kindness truly patriarchal,
"Young man, uncover, that I may give thee my blessing. An old man's
blessing never yet harmed any one." This little incident deeply affected
all who witnessed it. The countenance and figure of Pope Pius VII.
commanded respect. David's admirable portrait is a living likeness of
him.
The Pope's arrival at Paris produced a great sensation in London,
greater indeed there than anywhere else, notwithstanding the separation
of the English Church from the Church of Rome. The English Ministry now
spared no endeavours to influence public opinion by the circulation
of libels against Bonaparte. The Cabinet of London found a twofold
advantage in encouraging this system, which not merely excited
irritation against the powerful enemy of England, but diverted from
the British Government the clamour which some of its measures were
calculated to create. Bonaparte's indignation against England was roused
to the utmost extreme, and in truth this indignation was in some degree
a national feeling in France.
Napoleon had heard of the success of Caffarelli's negotiations previous
to his return to Paris, after his journey to the Rhine. On arriving
at St. Cloud he lost no time in ordering the preparations for his
coronation. Everything aided the fulfilment of his wishes. On 28th
November the Pope arrived at Paris, and two days after, viz. on the 1st
of December, the Senate presented to the Emperor the votes of the people
for the establishment of hereditary succession in his family: for as
it was pretended that the assumption of the title of Emperor was no way
prejudicial to the Republic, the question of hereditary succession only
had been proposed for public sanction. Sixty thousand registers had been
opened in different parts of France,--at the offices of the ministers,
the prefects, the mayors of the communes, notaries, solicitors, etc.
France at that time contained 108 departments, and there were 3,574,898
voters. Of these only 2569 voted against hereditary succession.
Bonaparte ordered a list of the persons who had voted against the
question to be sent to him, and he often consulted it. They proved to be
not Royalist, but for the most part staunch Republicans. To my knowledge
many Royalists abstained from voting at all, not wishing to commit
themselves uselessly, and still less to give their suffrages to the
author of the Duc d'Enghien's death. For my part, I gave my vote in
favour of hereditary succession in Bonaparte's family; my situation, as
may well be imagined, did not allow me to do otherwise.
Since the month of October the Legislative Body had been convoked to
attend the Emperor's coronation. Many deputies arrived, and with them a
swarm of those presidents of cantons who occupied a conspicuous place
in the annals of ridicule at the close of the year 1804. They became the
objects of all sorts of witticisms and jests. The obligation of wearing
swords made their appearance very grotesque. As many droll, stories
were told of them as were ten years afterwards related of those who
were styled the voltigeurs of Louis XIV. One of these anecdotes was so
exceedingly ludicrous that, though it was probably a mere invention, yet
I cannot refrain from relating it. A certain number of these presidents
were one day selected to be presented to the Pope; and as most of them
were very poor they found it necessary to combine economy with the
etiquette necessary to be observed under the new order of things. To
save the expense of hiring carriages they therefore proceeded to the
Pavilion de Flore on foot, taking the precaution of putting on gaiters
to preserve their white silk stockings from the mud which covered the
streets, for it was then the month of December. On arriving at the
Tuileries one of the party put his gaiters into his pocket. It happened
that the Pope delivered such an affecting address that all present were
moved to tears, and the unfortunate president who had disposed of
his gaiters in the way just mentioned drew them out instead of his
handkerchief and smeared his face over with mud. The Pope is said
to have been much amused at this mistake. If this anecdote should be
thought too puerile to be repeated here, I may observe that it afforded
no small merriment to Bonaparte, who made Michot the actor relate it to
the Empress at Paris one evening after a Court performance.
Napoleon had now attained the avowed object of his ambition; but his
ambition receded before him like a boundless horizon. On the 1st of
December; the day on which the Senate presented to the Emperor the
result of the votes for hereditary succession, Francois de Neufchateau
delivered an address to him, in which there was no want of adulatory
expressions. As President of the Senate he had had some practice in
that style of speechmaking; and he only substituted the eulogy of the
Monarchical Government for that of the Republican Government 'a sempre
bene', as the Italians say.
If I wished to make comparisons I could here indulge in some curious
ones. Is it not extraordinary that Fontainebleau should have witnessed,
at the interval of nearly ten years, Napoleon's first interview with the
Pope, and his last farewell to his army, and that the Senate, who had
previously given such ready support to Bonaparte, should in 1814 have
pronounced his abdication at Fontainebleau.
The preparations for the Coronation proved very advantageous to the
trading classes of Paris. Great numbers of foreigners and people from
the provinces visited the capital, and the return of luxury and the
revival of old customs gave occupation to a variety of tradespeople
who could get no employment under the Directory or Consulate, such as
saddlers, carriage-makers, lacemen, embroiderers, and others. By these
positive interests were created more partisans of the Empire than by
opinion and reflection; and it is but just to say that trade had not
been so active for a dozen years before. The Imperial crown jewels were
exhibited to the public at Biennais the jeweller's. The crown was of a
light form, and, with its leaves of gold, it less resembled the crown
of France than the antique crown of the Caesars. These things were
afterwards placed in the public treasury, together with the imperial
insignia of Charlemagne, which Bonaparte had ordered to be brought from
Aix-la-Chapelle. But while Bonaparte was thus priding himself in his
crown and his imagined resemblance to Charlemagne, Mr. Pitt, lately
recalled to the Ministry, was concluding at Stockholm a treaty with
Sweden, and agreeing to pay a subsidy to that power to enable it to
maintain hostilities against France. This treaty was concluded on the 3d
of December, the day after the Coronation.
--[The details of the preparation for the Coronation caused many
stormy scenes between Napoleon and his family. The Princesses, his
sisters and sisters-in-law, were especially shocked at having to
carry the train of the Imperial mantle of Josephine, and even when
Josephine was actually moving from the altar to the throne the
Princesses evinced their reluctance so plainly that Josephine could
not advance and an altercation took place which had to be stopped by
Napoleon himself. Joseph was quite willing himself give up
appearing in a mantle with a train, but he wished to prevent his
wife bearing the mantle of the Empress; and he opposed his brother
on so many points that Napoleon ended by calling on him to either
give up his position and retire from all politics, or else to fully
accept the imperial regime. How the economical Camberceres used up
the ermine he could not wear will be seen in Junot tome iii. p.
196. Josephine herself was in the greatest anxiety as to whether
the wish of the Bonaparte family that she should be divorced would
carry the day with her husband. When she had gained her cause for
the time and after the Pope had engaged to crown her, she seems to
have most cleverly managed to get the Pope informed that she was
only united to Napoleon by a civil marriage. The Pope insisted on
a religious marriage. Napoleon was angry, but could not recede, and
the religions rite was performed by Cardinal Fesch the day, or two
days, before the Coronation. The certificate of the marriage was
carefully guarded from Napoleon by Josephine, and even placed beyond
his reach at the time of the divorce. Such at least seems to be the
most probable account of this mysterious and doubtful matter.
The fact that Cardinal Fesch maintained that the religious rite had
been duly performed, thirteen of the Cardinals (not, however
including Fesch) were so convinced of the legality of the marriage
that they refused to appear at the ceremony of marriage with Marie
Louise, thus drawing down the wrath of the Emperor, and becoming the
"Cardinals Noirs," from being forbidden; to wear their own robes,
seems to leave no doubt that the religious rite had been performed.
The marriage was only pronounced to be invalid in 1809 by the local
canonical bodies, not by the authority of the pope.]--
It cannot be expected that I should enter into a detail of the ceremony
which took place on the 2d of December. The glitter of gold, the waving
plumes, and richly-caparisoned horses of the Imperial procession; the
mule which preceded the Pope's cortege, and occasioned so much merriment
to the Parisians, have already been described over and over again. I
may, however, relate an anecdote connected with the Coronation, told me
by Josephine, and which is exceedingly characteristic of Napoleon.
When Bonaparte was paying his addresses to Madame de BEAUHARNAIS,
neither the one nor the other kept a carriage; and therefore Bonaparte
frequently accompanied her when she walked out. One day they went
together to the notary Raguideau, one of the shortest men I think I ever
saw in my life, Madame de Beauharnais placed great confidence, in him,
and went there on purpose to acquaint him of her intention to marry the
young general of artillery,--the protege of Barras. Josephine went
alone into, the notary's cabinet, while Bonaparte waited for her in an
adjoining room. The door of Raguideau's cabinet did not shut close, and
Bonaparte plainly heard him dissuading Madame de Beauharnais from her
projected marriage. "You are going to take a very wrong step," said he,
"and you will be sorry for it, Can you be so mad as to marry a young man
who has nothing but his cloak and his sword?" Bonaparte, Josephine told
me, had never mentioned this to her, and she never supposed that he had
heard what fell from Raguideau. "Only think, Bourrienne," continued she,
"what was my astonishment when, dressed in the Imperial robes on the
Coronation day, he desired that Raguideau might be sent for, saying that
he wished to see him immediately; and when Raguideau appeared; he said
to him, 'Well, sir! have I nothing but my cloak and my sword now?'"
Though Bonaparte had related to me almost all the circumstances of
his life, as they occurred to his memory, he never once mentioned this
affair of Raguideau, which he only seemed to have suddenly recollected
on his Coronation day.
The day after the Coronation all the troops in Paris were assembled
in the Champ de Mars the Imperial eagles might be distributed to each
regiment, in lieu of the national flags. I had stayed away from the
Coronation in the church of Notre Dame, but I wished to see the military
fete in the Champ de Mars because I took real pleasure in seeing
Bonaparte amongst his soldiers. A throne was erected in front of the
Military School, which, though now transformed into a barrack, must
have recalled, to Bonaparte's mind some singular recollections of his
boyhood. At a given signal all the columns closed and approached the
throne. Then Bonaparte, rising, gave orders for the distribution of the
eagles, and delivered the following address to the deputations of the
different corps of the army:
"Soldiers, Soldiers! behold your colours. These eagles will always
be your rallying-point! They will always be where your Emperor may
think them necessary for the defence of his throne and of his
people. Swear to sacrifice your lives to defend them, and by your
courage to keep them constantly in the path of victory.--Swear!"
It would be impossible to describe the acclamations which followed this
address; there is something so seductive in popular enthusiasm that even
indifferent persons cannot help yielding to its influence. And yet the
least reflection would have shown how shamefully Napoleon forswore the
declaration he made to the Senate, when the organic 'Senatus-consulte'
for the foundation of the Empire was presented to him at St: Cloud: On
that occasion he said; "The French people shall never be MY people!" And
yet the day after his Coronation his eagles were to be carried wherever
they might be necessary for the defence of his people.
By a singular coincidence, while on the 2d of December 1804 Bonaparte
was receiving from the head of the Church the Imperial crown of
France, Louis XVIII., who was then at Colmar, prompted as it were by
an inexplicable presentiment, drew up and signed a declaration to the
French people, in which he declared that he then, swore never to break
the sacred bond which united his destiny to theirs, never to renounce
the inheritance of his ancestors, or to relinquish his rights.
CHAPTER XXX.
1805
My appointment as Minister Plenipotentiary at Hamburg--My interview
with Bonaparte at Malmaison--Bonaparte's designs respecting Italy--
His wish to revisit Brienne--Instructions for my residence in
Hamburg--Regeneration of European society--Bonaparte's plan of
making himself the oldest sovereign in Europe--Amedee Jaubert's
mission--Commission from the Emperor to the Empress--My conversation
with Madame Bonaparte.
I must now mention an event which concerns myself personally, namely, my
appointment as Minister Plenipotentiary, to the Dukes of Brunswick and
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and to the Hanse towns.
This appointment took place on the 22d of March 1806. Josephine, who had
kindly promised to apprise me of what the Emperor intended to do for me,
as soon as she herself should know his intentions, sent a messenger to
acquaint me with my appointment, and to tell me that the Emperor wished
to see me. I had not visited Josephine since her departure for Belgium.
The pomp and ceremonies of the Coronation had, I may say, dazzled me,
and deterred me from presenting myself at the Imperial Palace, where I
should have been annoyed by the etiquette which had been observed since
the Coronation. I cannot describe what a disagreeable impression this
parade always produced on me. I could not all at once forget the time
when I used without ceremony to go into Bonaparte's chamber and wake him
at the appointed hour. As to Bonaparte I had not seen him since he sent
for me after the condemnation of Georges, when I saw that my candour
relative to Moreau was not displeasing to him. Moreau had since quitted
France without Napoleon's subjecting him to the application of the
odious law which has only been repealed since the return of the
Bourbons, and by virtue of which he was condemned to the confiscation
of his property. Moreau sold his estate of Gros Bois to Berthier, and
proceeded to Cadiz, whence he embarked for America. I shall not again
have occasion to speak of him until the period of the intrigues into
which he was drawn by the same influence which ruined him in France.
On the evening of the day when I received the kind message from
Josephine I had an official invitation to proceed the next day to
Malmaison, where the Emperor then was. I was much pleased at the idea of
seeing him there rather than at the Tuileries, or even at St. Cloud. Our
former intimacy at Malmaison made me feel more at my ease respecting
an interview of which my knowledge of Bonaparte's character led me to
entertain some apprehension. Was I to be received by my old comrade of
Brienne, or by His Imperial Majesty? I was received by my old college
companion.
On my arrival at Malmaison I was ushered into the tentroom leading to
the library. How I was astonished at the good-natured familiarity with
which he received me! This extraordinary man displayed, if I may employ
the term, a coquetry towards me which surprised me, notwithstanding my
past knowledge of his character. He came up to me with a smile on
his lips, took my hand (which he had never done since he was Consul),
pressed it affectionately, and it was impossible that I could look upon
him as the Emperor of France and the future King of Italy. Yet I was
too well aware of his fits of pride to allow his familiarity to lead me
beyond the bounds of affectionate respect. "My dear Bourrienne," said
he, "can you suppose that the elevated rank I have attained has altered
my feelings towards you? No. I do not attach importance to the glitter
of Imperial pomp; all that is meant for the people; but I must still
be valued according to my deserts. I have been very well satisfied with
your services, and I have appointed you to a situation where I shall
have occasion for them. I know that I can rely upon you." He then asked
with great warmth of friendship what I was about, and inquired after
my family, etc. In short, I never saw him display less reserve or more
familiarity and unaffected simplicity; which he did the more readily,
perhaps, because his greatness was now incontestable.
"You know," added Napoleon, "that I set out in a week for Italy. I shall
make myself King; but that is only a stepping-stone. I have greater
designs respecting Italy.
"It must be a kingdom comprising all the Transalpine States, from
Venice to the Maritime Alps. The union of Italy with France can only
be temporary; but it is necessary, in order to accustom the nations
of Italy to live under common laws. The Genoese, the Piedmontese, the
Venetians, the Milanese, the inhabitants of Tuscany, the Romans, and
the Neapolitans, hate each other. None of them will acknowledge the
superiority of the other, and yet Rome is, from the recollections
connected with it, the natural capital of Italy. To make it so, however,
it is necessary that the power of the Pope should be confined within
limits purely spiritual. I cannot now think of this; but I will reflect
upon it hereafter. At present I have only vague ideas on the subject,
but they will be matured in time, and then all depends on circumstances.
What was it told me, when we were walking like two idle fellows, as
we were, in the streets of Paris, that I should one day be master of
France--my wish--merely a vague wish. Circumstances have done the
rest. It is therefore wise to look into the future, and that I do. With
respect to Italy, as it will be impossible with one effort to unite her
so as to form a single power, subject to uniform laws, I will begin
by making her French. All these little States will insensibly become
accustomed to the same laws, and when manners shall be assimilated and
enmities extinguished, then there will be an Italy, and I will give her
independence. But for that I must have twenty years, and who can count
on the future? Bourrienne, I feel pleasure in telling you all this. It
was locked up in my mind. With you I think aloud."
I do not believe that I have altered two words of what Bonaparte said
to me respecting Italy, so perfect, I may now say without vanity, was my
memory then, and so confirmed was my habit of fixing in it all that he
said to me. After having informed me of his vague projects Bonaparte,
with one of those transitions so common to him, said, "By the by,
Bourrienne, I have something to tell you. Madame de Brienne has begged
that I will pass through Brienne, and I promised that I will. I will not
conceal from you that I shall feel great pleasure in again beholding
the spot which for six years was the scene of our boyish sports and
studies." Taking advantage of the Emperor's good humour I ventured to
tell him what happiness it would give me if it were possible that
I could share with him the revival of all recollections which were
mutually dear to us. But Napoleon, after a moment's pause, said with
extreme kindness, "Hark ye, Bourrienne, in your situation and mine this
cannot be. It is more than two years since we parted. What would be said
of so sudden a reconciliation? I tell you frankly that I have regretted
you, and the circumstances in which I have frequently been placed have
often made me wish to recall you. At Boulogne I was quite resolved upon
it. Rapp, perhaps, has informed you of it. He liked you, and he assured
me that he would be delighted at your return. But if upon reflection
I changed my mind it was because, as I have often told you, I will not
have it said that I stand in need of any one. No. Go to Hamburg. I have
formed some projects respecting Germany in which you can be useful to
me. It is there I will give a mortal blow to England. I will deprive
her of the Continent,--besides, I have some ideas not yet matured which
extend much farther. There is not sufficient unanimity amongst the
nations of Europe. European society must be regenerated--a superior
power must control the other powers, and compel them to live in peace
with each other; and France is well situated for that purpose. For
details you will receive instructions from Talleyrand; but I recommend
you, above all things, to keep a strict watch on the emigrants. Woe
to them if they become too dangerous! I know that there are still
agitators,--among them all the 'Marquis de Versailles', the courtiers
of the old school. But they are moths who will burn themselves in the
candle. You have been an emigrant yourself, Bourrienne; you feel a
partiality for them, and you know that I have allowed upwards of two
hundred of them to return upon your recommendation. But the case is
altered. Those who are abroad are hardened. They do not wish to return
home. Watch them closely. That is the only particular direction I give
you. You are to be Minister from France to Hamburg; but your place will
be an independent one; besides your correspondence with the Minister for
Foreign Affairs, I authorise you to write to me personally, whenever you
have anything particular to communicate. You will likewise correspond
with Fouché."
Here the Emperor remained silent for a moment, and I was preparing to
retire, but he detained me, saying in the kindest manner, "What, are
you going already, Bourrienne? Are you in a hurry? Let us chat a little
longer. God knows, when we may see each other again!" Then after two or
three moments' silence he said, "The more I reflect on our situation, on
our former intimacy, and our subsequent separation, the more I see the
necessity of your going to Hamburg. Go, then, my dear fellow, I advise
you. Trust me. When do you think of setting out?" "In May."--"In May?
. . . Ah, I shall be in Milan then, for I wish to stop at Turin. I like
the Piedmontese; they are the best soldiers in Italy."--"Sire, the King
of Italy will be the junior of the Emperor of France!"
--[I alluded to a conversation which I had with Napoleon when we
first went to the Tuileries. He spoke to me about his projects of
royalty, and I stated the difficulties which I thought he would
experience in getting himself acknowledged by the old reigning
families of Europe. "If it comes to that," he replied. "I will
dethrone them all, and then I shall be the oldest sovereign among
them."--Bourrienne.]--
--"Ah! so you recollect what I said one day at the Tuileries; but,
my dear fellow, I have yet a devilish long way to go before I gain my
point."--"At the rate, Sire, at which you are going you will not be long
in reaching it."--"Longer than you imagine. I see all the obstacles
in my way; but they do not alarm me. England is everywhere, and the
struggle is between her and me. I see how it will be. The whole of
Europe will be our instruments; sometimes serving one, sometimes the
other, but at bottom the dispute is wholly between England and France.
"A propos," said the Emperor, changing the subject, for all who knew him
are aware that this 'a propos' was his favourite, and, indeed, his only
mode of transition; a propos, Bourrienne, you surely must have heard of
the departure of Jaubert,
--[Amedee Jaubart had been with Napoleon in Egypt, and was appointed
to the cabinet of the Consul as secretary interpreter of Oriental
languages. He was sent on several missions to the East, and brought
back, is 1818, goats from Thibet, naturalising in France the
manufacture of cashmeres. He became a peer of France under the
Monarchy of July.]--
and his mission. What is said on the subject?"--"Sire, I have only heard
it slightly alluded to. His father, however, to whom he said nothing
respecting the object of his journey, knowing I was intimate with
Jaubert, came to me to ascertain whether I could allay his anxiety
respecting a journey of the duration of which he could form no idea. The
precipitate departure of his son had filled him with apprehension I told
him the truth, viz., that Jaubert had said no more to me on the subject
than to him."--"Then you do not know where he is gone?"--"I beg your
pardon, Sire; I know very well."--"How, the devil!" said Bonaparte,
suddenly turning on me a look of astonishment. "No one, I, declare, has
ever told me; but I guessed it. Having received a letter from Jaubert
dated Leipsic, I recollected what your Majesty had often told me of your
views respecting Persia and India. I have not forgotten our conversation
in Egypt, nor the great projects which you enfolded to me to relieve the
solitude and sometimes the weariness of the cabinet of Cairo. Besides,
I long since knew your opinion of Amedee, of his fidelity, his ability,
and his courage. I felt convinced, therefore, that he had a mission to
the Shah of Persia."--"You guessed right; but I beg of you, Bourrienne,
say nothing of this to any person whatever. Secrecy on this point is
of great importance. The English would do him an ill turn, for they
are well aware that my views are directed against their possessions
and their influence in the East."--"I think, Sire, that my answer to
Amedee's worthy father is a sufficient guarantee for my discretion.
Besides, it was a mere supposition on my part, and I could have stated
nothing with certainty before your Majesty had the kindness to inform
me of the fact. Instead of going to Hamburg, if your Majesty pleases,
I will join Jaubert, accompany him to Persia, and undertake half
his mission."-- "How! would you go with him?"--"Yes, Sire; I am much
attached to him. He is an excellent man, and I am sure that he would not
be sorry to have me with him."--"But . . . Stop, Bourrienne, . . . this,
perhaps, would not be a bad idea. You know a little of the East. You are
accustomed to the climate. You could assist Jaubert. . . . But. . . .
No! Daubert must be already far off--I, fear you could not overtake him.
And besides you have a numerous family. You will be more useful to me
in Germany. All things considered, go to Hamburg--you know the country,
and, what is better you speak the language."
I could see that Bonaparte still had something to say to me. As we
were walking up and down the room he stopped; and looking at me with an
expression of sadness, he said, "Bourrienne, you must, before I proceed
to Italy, do me a service. You sometimes visit my wife, and it is right;
it is fit you should. You have been too long one of the family not to
continue your friendship with her. Go to her.
--[This employment of Bourrienne to remonstrate with Josephine is a
complete answer to the charge sometimes made that Napoleon, while
scolding, really encouraged the foolish expenses of his wife, as
keeping her under his control. Josephine was incorrigible. "On the
very day of her death," says Madame de Rémusat "she wished to put on
a very pretty dressing-gown because she thought the Emperor of
Russia would perhaps come to see her. She died all covered with
ribbons and rose-colored satin." "One would not, sure, be frightful
when one's dead!" As for Josephine's great fault--her failure to
give Napoleon an heir--he did not always wish for one. In 1802, on
his brother Jerome jokingly advising Josephine to give the Consul a
little Caesar. Napoleon broke out, "Yea, that he may end in the
same manner as that of Alexander? Believe me, Messieurs, that at
the present time it is better not to have children: I mean when one
is condemned to rule nations." The fate of the King of Rome shows
that the exclamation was only too true!]--
"Endeavour once more to make her sensible of her mad extravagance. Every
day I discover new instances of it, and it distresses me. When I speak
to her--on the subject I am vexed; I get angry--she weeps. I forgive
her, I pay her bills--she makes fair promises; but the same thing occurs
over and over again. If she had only borne me a child! It is the torment
of my life not to have a child. I plainly perceive that my power will
never be firmly established until I have one. If I die without an heir,
not one of my brothers is capable of supplying my place. All is begun,
but nothing is ended. God knows what will happen! Go and see Josephine,
and do not forget my injunctions.."
Then he resumed the gaiety which he had exhibited at intervals during
our conversation, far clouds driven by the wind do not traverse the
horizon with such rapidity as different ideas and sensations succeeded
each other in Napoleon's mind. He dismissed me with his usual nod of
the head, and seeing him in such good humour I said on departing, "well,
Sire, you are going to hear the old bell of Brienne. I have no doubt
it will please you better than the bells of Ruel." He replied, "That's
true--you are right. Adieu!"
Such are my recollections of this conversation, which lasted for more
than an hour and a half. We walked about all the time, for Bonaparte
was indefatigable in audiences of this sort, and would, I believe, have
walked and talked for a whole day without being aware of it. I left him,
and, according to his desire, went to see Madame Bonaparte, which indeed
I had intended to do before he requested it.
I found Josephine with Madame de la Rochefoucauld, who had long been in
her suite, and who a short time before had obtained the title of lady
of honour to the Empress. Madame de la Rochefoucauld was a very amiable
woman, of mild disposition, and was a favourite with Josephine. When I
told the Empress that I had just left the Emperor, she, thinking that I
would not speak freely before a third person, made a sign to Madame
de la Rochefoucauld to retire. I had no trouble in introducing the
conversation on the subject concerning which Napoleon had directed me
to speak to Josephine, for; after the interchange of a few indifferent
remarks, she herself told me of a violent scene, which had occurred
between her and the Emperor two days before. "When I wrote to you
yesterday," said she, "to announce your appointment, and to tell you
that Bonaparte would recall you, I hoped that you would come to see me
on quitting him, but I did not think that he would have sent for you so
soon. Ah! how I wish that you were still with him, Bourrienne; you could
make him hear reason. I know not who takes pleasure in bearing tales to
him; but really I think there are persons busy everywhere in finding out
my debts, and telling him of them."
These complaints, so gently uttered by Josephine rendered less difficult
the preparatory mission with which I commenced the exercise of my
diplomatic functions. I acquainted Madame Bonaparte with all that the
Emperor had said to me. I reminded her of the affair of the 1,200,000
francs which we had settled with half that sum. I even dropped some
allusions to the promises she had made.
"How can I help it?" Said she. "Is it my fault?" Josephine uttered these
words in a tone of sincerity which was at once affecting and ludicrous.
"All sorts of beautiful things are brought to me," she continued; "they
are praised up; I buy them--I am not asked for the money, and all of
a sudden, when I have got none, they come upon me with demands for
payment. This reaches Napoleon's ears, and he gets angry. When I have
money, Bourrienne you know how I employ it. I give it principally to the
unfortunate who solicit my assistance, and to poor emigrants. But I will
try to be more economical in future. Tell him so if you see him again,
But is it not my duty to bestow as much in charity as I can?"--"Yes,
Madame; but permit me to say that nothing requires greater discernment
than the distribution of charity. If you had always sat upon a throne
you might have always supposed that your bounty always fall into the
hands of the deserving; but you cannot be ignorant that it oftener falls
to the lot of intrigue than to the meritorious needy. I cannot disguise
from you that the Emperor was very earnest when he spoke on this
subject; and he desired me to tell you so."--"Did he reproach me with
nothing else?"--"No Madame. You know the influence you have over
him with respect to everything but what relates to politics. Allow a
faithful and sincere friend to prevail upon you seriously not to vex him
on this point."--"Bourrienne, I give you my word. Adieu! my friend."
In communicating to Josephine what the Emperor had said to me I took
care not to touch a chord which would have awakened feelings far more
painful to her than even the Emperor's harsh reproof on account of her
extravagance. Poor Josephine! how I should have afflicted her had I
uttered a word of Bonaparte's regret at not having a child. She always
had a presentiment of the fate that one day awaited her. Besides,
Josephine told the truth in assuring me that it was not her fault that,
she spent as she did; at least all the time I was with both of them,
order and economy were no more compatible with her than moderation
and--patience with Napoleon. The sight of the least waste put him beside
himself, and that was a sensation his wife hardly ever spared him. He
saw with irritation the eagerness of his family to gain riches; the more
he gave, the more insatiable they appeared, with the exception of Louis,
whose inclinations were always upright, and his tastes moderate. As
for the other members of his family, they annoyed him so much by their
importunity that one day he said, "Really to listen to them it would be
thought that I had wasted the heritage of our father."
CHAPTER XXXI.
1805
Napoleon and Voltaire--Demands of the Holy See--Coolness between the
pope and the Emperor--Napoleon's departure for Italy--Last interview
between the Pope and the Emperor at Turin--Alessandria--The field of
Marengo--The last Doge of Genoa--Bonaparte's arrival at Milan--Union
of Genoa to the French Empire--Error in the Memorial of St. Helen--
Bonaparte and Madam Grassini--Symptoms of dissatisfaction on the
part of Austria and Russia--Napoleon's departure from Milan--
Monument to commemorate the battle of Marengo--Napoleon's arrival in
Paris and departure for Boulogne--Unfortunate result of a naval
engagement--My visit to Fouché's country seat--Sieyès, Barras, the
Bourbons, and Bonaparte--Observations respecting Josephine.
Voltaire says that it is very well to kiss the feet of Popes provided
their hands are tied. Notwithstanding the slight estimation in which
Bonaparte held Voltaire, he probably, without being aware of this
irreverent satire, put it into practice. The Court of Rome gave him
the opportunity of doing so shortly after his Coronation. The Pope, or
rather the Cardinals, his advisers' conceiving that so great an instance
of complaisance as the journey of His Holiness to Paris ought not to
go for nothing; demanded a compensation, which, had they been better
acquainted with Bonaparte's character and policy, they would never have
dreamed of soliciting. The Holy see demanded the restitution of Avignon,
Bologna, and some parts of the Italian territory which had formerly been
subject to the Pope's dominion. It may be imagined how such demands were
received by Napoleon, particularly after he had obtained all he wanted
from the Pope. It was, it must be confessed, a great mistake of the
Court of Rome, whose policy is usually so artful and adroit, not to make
this demand till after the Coronation. Had it been made the condition of
the Pope's journey to France perhaps Bonaparte would have consented to
give up, not Avignon, certainly, but the Italian territories, with the
intention of taking them back again. Be this as it may, these tardy
claims, which were peremptorily rejected, created an extreme coolness
between Napoleon and Pius VII. The public did not immediately perceive
it, but there is in the public an instinct of reason which the most able
politicians never can impose upon; and all eyes were opened when it was
known that the Pope, after having crowned Napoleon as Emperor of France,
refused to crown him as sovereign of the regenerated kingdom of Italy.
Napoleon left Paris on the 1st of April to take possession of the
Iron Crown at Milan. The Pope remained some time longer in the French
capital. The prolonged presence of His Holiness was not without its
influence on the religious feelings of the people, so great was the
respect inspired by the benign countenance and mild manners of the Pope.
When the period of his persecutions arrived it would have been well for
Bonaparte had Pius VII. never been seen in Paris, for it was impossible
to view in any other light than as a victim the man whose truly
evangelic meekness had been duly appreciated.
Bonaparte did not evince great impatience to seize the Crown of Italy,
which he well knew could not escape him. He stayed a considerable time
at Turin, where he resided in the Stupinis Palace, which may be
called the St. Cloud of the Kings of Sardinia. The Emperor cajoled the
Piedmontese. General Menou, who was made Governor of Piedmont, remained
there till Napoleon founded the general government of the Transalpine
departments in favour of his brother-in-law, the Prince Borghese, of
whom he would have, found it difficult to make anything else than a
Roman Prince. Napoleon was still at Turin when the Pope passed through
that city on his return to Rome. Napoleon had a final interview with
His Holiness to whom he now affected to show the greatest personal
deference. From Turin Bonaparte proceeded to Alessandria, where he
commenced those immense works on which such vast sums were expended. He
had many times spoken to me of his projects respecting Alessandria, as I
have already observed, all his great measures as Emperor were merely
the execution of projects conceived at a time when his future elevation
could have been only a dream of the imagination. He one day said to
Berthier, in my presence, during our sojurn at Milan after the battle of
Marengo, "With Alessandria in my possession I should always be master
of Italy. It might be made the strongest fortress in the world; it is
capable of containing a garrison of 40,000 men, with provisions for six
months. Should insurrection take place, should Austria send a formidable
force here, the French troops might retire to Alessandria, and stand a
six months' siege. Six months would be more than sufficient, wherever I
might be, to enable me to fall upon Italy, rout the Austrians, and raise
the siege of Alessandria!"
As he was so near the field of Marengo the Emperor did not fail to visit
it, and to add to this solemnity he reviewed on the field all the corps
of French troops which were in Italy. Rapp told me afterwards that the
Emperor had taken with him from Paris the dress and the hat which he
wore on the day of that memorable battle, with the intention of wearing
them on the field where it was fought. He afterwards proceeded by the
way of Casal to Milan.
There the most brilliant reception he had yet experienced awaited him.
His sojourn at Milan was not distinguished by outward demonstrations of
enthusiasm alone. M. Durszzo, the last Doge of Genoa, added another gem
to the Crown of Italy by supplicating the Emperor in the name of
the Republic, of which he was the representative, to permit Genoa to
exchange her independence for the honour of becoming a department of
France. This offer, as may be guessed, was merely a plan contrived
beforehand. It was accepted with an air of protecting kindness, and at
the same moment that the country of Andrea Doria was effaced from the
list of nations its last Doge was included among the number of French
Senators. Genoa, which formerly prided herself in her surname, the
Superb, became the chief station of the twenty-seventh military
division. The Emperor went to take possession of the city in person, and
slept in the Doria Palace, in the bed where Charles V. had lain. He left
M. le Brun at Genoa as Governor-General.
At Milan the Emperor occupied the Palace of Monza. The old Iron Crown
of the Kings of Lombardy was brought from the dust in which it had been
buried, and the new Coronation took place in the cathedral at Milan, the
largest in Italy, with the exception of St. Peter's at Rome. Napoleon
received the crown from the hands of the Archbishop of Milan, and placed
it on his head, exclaiming, "Dieu me l'a donnee, gare a qui la touche."
This became the motto of the Order of the Iron Crown, which the Emperor
founded in commemoration of his being crowned King of Italy.
Napoleon was crowned in the month of May 1805: and here I cannot avoid
correcting some gross and inconceivable errors into which Napoleon must
have voluntarily fallen at St. Helena. The Memorial states "that the
celebrated singer Madame Grasaini attracted his attention at the time of
the Coronation." Napoleon alleges that Madame Grassini on that occasion
said to him, "When I was in the prime of my beauty and talent all I
wished was that you would bestow a single look upon me. That wish was
not fulfilled, and now you notice me when I am no longer worthy your
attention."
I confess I am at a loss to conceive what could induce Napoleon to
invent such a story. He might have recollected his acquaintance with
Madame Grassini at Milan before the battle of Marengo. It was in 1800,
and not in 1805, that I was first introduced to her, and I know that
I several times took tea with her and Bonaparte in the General's
apartments I remember also another circumstance, which is, that on the
night when I awoke Bonaparte to announce to him the capitulation of
Genoa, Madame Grassini also awoke. Napoleon was charmed with Madame
Grasaini's delicious voice, and if his imperious duties had permitted it
he would have listened with ecstasy to her singing for hours together.
Whilst Napoleon was at Milan, priding himself on his double sovereignty,
some schemes were set on foot at Vienna and St. Petersburg which I shall
hereafter have occasion to notice. The Emperor, indeed, gave cause for
just complaint by the fact of annexing Genoa to the Empire within four
months after his solemn declaration to the Legislative Body, in which
he pledged himself in the face of France and Europe not to seek any
aggrandisement of territory. The pretext of a voluntary offer on the
part of Genoa was too absurd to deceive any one. The rapid progress of
Napoleon's ambition could not escape the observation of the Cabinet of
Vienna, which began to allow increased symptoms of hostility. The
change which was effected in the form of the Government of the Cisalpine
Republic was likewise an act calculated to excite remonstrance on the
part of all the powers who were not entirely subject to the yoke of
France. He disguised the taking of Genoa under the name of a gift,
and the possession of Italy under the appearance of a mere change of
denomination. Notwithstanding these flagrant outrages the exclusive
apologists of Napoleon have always asserted that he did not wish for
war, and he himself maintained that assertion at St. Helena. It is said
that he was always attacked, and hence a conclusion is drawn in favour
of his love of peace. I acknowledge Bonaparte would never have fired
a single musket-shot if all the powers of Europe had submitted to be
pillaged by him one after the other without opposition. It was in fact
declaring war against them to place them under the necessity of breaking
a peace, during the continuance of which he was augmenting his power,
and gratifying his ambition, as if in defiance of Europe. In this
way Napoleon commenced all the wars in which he was engaged, with
the exception of that which followed the peace of Marengo, and which
terminated in Moreau's triumph at Hohenlinden. As there was no liberty
of the press in France he found it easy to deceive the nation. He was in
fact attacked, and thus he enjoyed the pleasure of undertaking his great
military expeditions without being responsible in the event of failure.
During the Emperor's stay in the capital of the new kingdom of Italy he
received the first intelligence of the dissatisfaction of Austria and
Russia. That dissatisfaction was not of recent date. When I entered on
my functions at Hamburg I learned some curious details (which I will
relate in their proper place) respecting the secret negotiations
which had been carried on for a considerable time previously to the
commencement of hostilities. Even Prussia was no stranger to the
dissatisfaction of Austria and Russia; I do not mean the King, but
the Cabinet of Berlin, which was then under the control of Chancellor
Hardenberg; for the King of Prussia had always personally declared
himself in favour of the exact observance of treaties, even when their
conditions were not honourable. Be that as it may, the Cabinet of
Berlin, although dissatisfied in 1806 with the rapid progress of
Napoleon's ambition, was nevertheless constrained to conceal its
discontent, owing to the presence of the French troops in Hanover.
On returning from Milan the Emperor ordered the erection, of a monument
on the Great St. Bernard in commemoration of the victory of Marengo. M.
Denon who accompanied Napoleon, told me that he made a useless search to
discover the body of Desaix, which Bonaparte wished to be buried beneath
the monument and that it was at length found by General Savary. It
is therefore certain that the ashes of the brave Desaix repose on the
summit of the Alps.
The Emperor arrived in Paris about the end of June and instantly set off
for the camp at Boulogne. It was now once more believed that the project
of invading England would be accomplished. This idea obtained the
greater credit because Bonaparte caused some experiments for embarkation
to be made, in his presence. These experiments, however, led to no
result. About this period a fatal event but too effectually contributed
to strengthen the opinion of the inferiority of our navy. A French
squadron consisting of fifteen ships, fell in with the English fleet
commanded by Admiral Calder, who had only nine vessels under his
command, and in an engagement, which there was every reason to expect
would terminate in our favour, we had the misfortune to lose two ships.
The invasion of England was as little the object of this as of the
previous journey to Boulogne; all Napoleon had in view was to stimulate
the enthusiasm of the troops, and to hold out those threats against
England when conceived necessary for diverting attention from the real
motive of his hostile preparations, which was to invade Germany and
repulse the Russian troops, who had begun their march towards Austria.
Such was the true object of Napoleons last journey to Boulogne.
I had been some time at Hamburg when these events took place, and it was
curious to observe the effect they produced. But I must not forget one
circumstance in which I am personally concerned, and which brings
me back to the time when I was in Paris. My new title of Minister
Plenipotentiary obliged me to see a little more of society than during
the period when prudence required me to live as it were in retirement.
I had received sincere congratulations from Duroc, Rape, and Lauriston,
the three friends who had shown the greatest readiness to serve my
interests with the Emperor; and I had frequent occasion to see M.
Talleyrand, as my functions belonged to his department. The Emperor,
on my farewell audience, having informed me that I was to correspond
directly with the Minister of the General Police, I called on Fouché,
who invited me to spend some days at his estate of Pont-Carre. I
accepted the invitation because I wanted to confer with him, and I spent
Sunday and Monday, the 28th and 29th of April, at Pont-Carre.
Fouché, like the Emperor, frequently revealed what he intended to
conceal; but he had such a reputation for cunning that this sort of
indiscretion was attended by no inconvenience to him. He was supposed
to be such a constant dissembler that those who did not know him well
looked upon the truth when he spoke it merely as an artful snare laid
to entrap them. I, however, knew that celebrated person too well to
confound his cunning with his indiscretion. The best way to get out
of him more than he was aware of was to let him talk on without
interruption. There were very few visitors at Pont-Carre, and during the
two days I spent there I had several conversations with Fouché. He told
me a great deal about the events of 1804, and he congratulated himself
on having advised Napoleon to declare himself Emperor--"I have no
preference," says Fouché, "for one form of government more than another.
Forms signify nothing. The first object of the Revolution was not the
overthrow of the Bourbons, but merely the reform of abuses and the
destruction of prejudices. However, when it was discovered that Louis
XVI. had neither firmness to refuse what he did not wish to grant, nor
good faith to grant what his weakness had led him to promise, it was
evident that the Bourbons could no longer reign over France and things
were carried to such a length that we were under the necessity of
condemning Louis XVI. and resorting to energetic measures. You know all
that passed up to the 18th Brumaire, and after. We all perceived that
a Republic could not exist in France; the question, therefore, was to
ensure the perpetual removal of the Bourbons; and I believed the only
means for so doing was to transfer the inheritance of their throne to
another family. Some time before the 18th Brumaire I had a conversation
with Sieyès and Barras, in which it was proposed, in case of the
Directory being threatened, to recall the Duke of Orleans; and I could
see very well that Barras favoured that suggestion, although he alluded
to it merely as a report that was circulated about, and recommended me
to pay attention to it. Sieyès said nothing, and I settled the question
by observing, that if any such thing had been agitated I must have
been informed of it through the reports of my agents. I added, that the
restoration of the throne to a collateral branch of the Bourbons would
be an impolitic act, and would but temporarily change the position of
those who had brought about the Revolution. I rendered an account of
this interview with Barras to General Bonaparte the first time I had
an opportunity of conversing with him after your return from Egypt.
I sounded him; and I was perfectly convinced that in the state of
decrepitude into which the Directory had fallen he was just the man we
wanted. I therefore adopted such measures with the police as tended to
promote his elevation to the First Magistracy. He soon showed himself
ungrateful, and instead of giving me all his confidence he tried to
outwit me. He put into the hands of a number of persons various matters
of police which were worse than useless. Most of their agents, who were
my creatures, obeyed my instructions in their reports; and it often
happened that the First Consul thought he had discovered, through the
medium of others, information that came from me, and of the falsehood
of which I easily convinced him. I confess I was at fault on the 3d
Nivoise; but are there any human means of preventing two men, who have
no accomplices, from bringing a plot to execution? You saw the First
Consul on his return from the opera; you heard all his declamations. I
felt assured that the infernal machine was the work of the Royalists. I
told the Emperor this, and he was, I am sure, convinced of it; but he,
nevertheless, proscribes a number of men on the mere pretence of their
old opinions. Do you suppose I am ignorant of what he said of me and of
my vote at the National Convention? Most assuredly it ill becomes him
to reproach the Conventionists. It was that vote which placed the crown
upon his head. But for the situation in which we were placed by that
event, which circumstances had rendered inevitable, what should we
have cared for the chance of seeing the Bourbons return? You must have
remarked that the Republicans, who were not Conventionists, were in
general more averse than we to the proceedings of the 18th Brumaire, as,
for example, Bernadotte and Moreau. I know positively that Moreau was
averse to the Consulate; and that it was only from irresolution that
he accepted the custody of the Directory. I know also that he excused
himself to his prisoners for the duty which had devolved upon him. They
themselves told me this."
Fouché entered further into many details respecting his conduct, and
the motives which had urged him to do what he did in favour of the First
Consul. My memory does not enable me to report all he told me, but I
distinctly recollect that the impression made on my mind by what fell
from him was, that he had acted merely with a view to his own interests.
He did not conceal his satisfaction at having outwitted Regnier, and
obliged Bonaparte to recall him, that he set in motion every spring
calculated to unite the conspirators, or rather to convert the
discontented into conspirators, is evident from the following remarks
which fell from him: "With the information I possessed, had I remained
in office it is probable that I might have prevented the conspiracy, but
Bonaparte would still have had to fear the rivalry of Moreau. He would
not have been Emperor; and we should still have had to dread the return
of the Bourbons, of which, thank God, there is now no fear."
During my stay at Pont-Carry I said but little to Fouché about my long
audience with the Emperor. However, I thought I might inform him that
I was authorised to correspond directly with his Majesty. I thought it
useless to conceal this fact, since he would soon learn it through his
agents. I also said a few words about Bonaparte's regret at not having
children. My object was to learn Fouché's opinion on this subject, and
it was not without a feeling of indignation that I heard him say, "It
is to be hoped the Empress will soon die. Her death will remove many
difficulties. Sooner or later he must take a wife who will bear him a
child; for as long as he has no direct heir there is every chance
that his death will be the signal for a Revolution. His brothers are
perfectly incapable of filling his place, and a new party would rise up
in favour of the Bourbons; which must be prevented above all things.
At present they are not dangerous, though they still have active and
devoted agents. Altona is full of them, and you will be surrounded by
them. I beg of you to keep a watchful eye upon them, and render me a
strict account of all their movements, and even of their most trivial
actions. As they have recourse to all sorts of disguises, you cannot
be too vigilant; therefore it will be advisable, in the first place, to
establish a good system of espionage; but have a care of the spies who
serve both sides, for they swarm in Germany."
This is all I recollect of my conversations with Fouché at Pont-Carre. I
returned to Paris to make preparations for my journey to Hamburg.
CHAPTER XXXII.
1805.
Capitulation of Sublingen--Preparations for war--Utility of
commercial information--My instructions--Inspection of the emigrants
and the journals--A pamphlet by Kotzebue--Offers from the Emperor of
Russia to Moreau--Portrait of Gustavus Adolphus by one of his
ministers--Fouché's denunciations--Duels at Hamburg--M. de Gimel
--The Hamburg Correspondent--Letter from Bernadotte.
I left Paris on the 20th of May 1805. On the 5th of June following I
delivered my credentials to the Senate of Hamburg, which was represented
by the Syndic Doormann and the Senator Schutte. M. Reinhart, my
predecessor, left Hamburg on the 12th of June.
The reigning Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Brunswick, to whom I had
announced my arrival as accredited Minister to them, wrote me letters
recognising me in that character. General Walmoden had just signed the
capitulation of Sublingen with Marshal Mortier, who had the command
in Hanover. The English Government refused to ratify this, because it
stipulated that the troops should be prisoners of war. Bonaparte had two
motives for relaxing this hard condition. He wished to keep Hanover as
a compensation for Malta, and to assure the means of embarrassing and
attacking Prussia, which he now began to distrust. By advancing upon
Prussia he would secure his left, so that when convenient he might march
northward. Mortier, therefore, received orders to reduce the conditions
of the capitulation to the surrender of the arms, baggage, artillery,
and horses. England, which was making great efforts to resist
the invasion with which she thought herself threatened, expended
considerable sums for the transport of the troops from Hanover to
England. Her precipitation was indescribable, and she paid the most
exorbitant charges for the hire of ships. Several houses in Hamburg made
fortunes on this occasion. Experience has long since proved that it is
not at their source that secret transactions are most readily known. The
intelligence of an event frequently resounds at a distance, while the
event itself is almost entirely unknown in the place of its occurrence.
The direct influence of political events on commercial speculations
renders merchants exceedingly attentive to what is going on. All who
are engaged in commercial pursuits form a corporation united by the
strongest of all bonds, common interest; and commercial correspondence
frequently presents a fertile field for observation, and affords much
valuable information, which often escapes the inquiries of Government
agents.
I resolved to form a connection with some of the mercantile houses
which maintained extensive and frequent communications with the Northern
States. I knew that by obtaining their confidence I might gain a
knowledge of all that was going on in Russia, Sweden, England, and
Austria. Among the subjects upon which it was desirable to obtain
information I included negotations, treaties, military measures--such as
recruiting troops beyond the amount settled for the peace establishment,
movements of troops, the formation of camps and magazines, financial
operations, the fitting-out of ships, and many other things, which,
though not important in themselves, frequently lead to the knowledge of
what is important.
I was not inclined to place reliance on all public reports and gossiping
stories circulated on the Exchange without close investigation; for I
wished to avoid transmitting home as truths what might frequently be
mere stock-jobbing inventions. I was instructed to keep watch on
the emigrants, who were exceedingly numerous in Hamburg and its
neighbourhood, Mecklenburg, Hanover, Brunswick, and Holstein; but I must
observe that my inspection was to extend only to those who were known to
be actually engaged in intrigues and plots.
I was also to keep watch on the state of the public mind, and on the
journals which frequently give it a wrong direction, and to point out
those articles in the journals which I thought censurable. At first
I merely made verbal representations and complaints, but I could not
always confine myself to this course. I received such distinct and
positive orders that, in spite of myself, inspection was speedily
converted into oppression. Complaints against the journals filled
one-fourth of my despatches.
As the Emperor wished to be made acquainted with all that was printed
against him, I sent to Paris, in May 1805, and consequently a very few
days after my arrival in Hamburg, a pamphlet by the celebrated Kotzebue,
entitled 'Recollections of my Journey to Naples and Rome'. This
publication, which was printed at Berlin, was full of indecorous attacks
and odious allusions on the Emperor.
I was informed at that time, through a certain channel, that the Emperor
Alexander had solicited General Moreau to enter his service, and take
the command of the Russian infantry. He offered him 12,000 roubles
to defray his travelling expenses. At a subsequent period Moreau
unfortunately accepted these offers, and died in the enemy's ranks.
On the 27th of June M. Bouligny arrived at Hamburg. He was appointed to
supersede M. d'Ocariz at Stockholm. The latter minister had left Hamburg
on the 11th of June for Constantinople, where he did not expect to
stay three months. I had several long conversations with him before his
departure, and he did not appear to be satisfied with his destination.
We frequently spoke of the King of Sweden, whose conduct M. d'Ocariz
blamed. He was, he said, a young madman, who, without reflecting on the
change of time and circumstances, wished to play the part of Gustavus
Adolphus, to whom he bore no resemblance but in name. M. d'Ocariz spoke
of the King of Sweden's camp in a tone of derision. That Prince had
returned to the King of Prussia the cordon of the Black Eagle because
the order had been given to the First Consul. I understood that
Frederick William was very much offended at this proceeding, which was
as indecorous and absurd as the return of the Golden Fleece by Louis
XVII. to the King of Spain was dignified and proper. Gustavus Adolphus
was brave, enterprising, and chivalrous, but inconsiderate and
irascible. He called Bonaparte Monsieur Napoleon. His follies and
reverses in Hanover were without doubt the cause of his abdication.
On the 31st of October 1805 he published a declaration of war against
France in language highly insulting to the Emperor.
Fouché overwhelmed me with letters. If I had attended to all his
instructions I should have left nobody unmolested. He asked me for
information respecting a man named Lazoret, of the department of Gard, a
girl, named Rosine Zimbenni, having informed the police that he had been
killed in a duel at Hamburg. I replied that I knew but of four Frenchmen
who had been killed in that way; one, named Clement, was killed by
Tarasson; a second, named Duparc, killed by Lezardi; a third, named
Sadremont, killed by Revel; and a fourth, whose name I did not know,
killed by Lafond. This latter had just arrived at Hamburg when he was
killed, but he was not the man sought for.
Lafond was a native of Brabant, and had served in the British army. He
insulted the Frenchman because he wore the national cockade--A duel
was the consequence, and the offended party fell. M. Reinhart, my
predecessor wished to punish Lafond, but the Austrian Minister having
claimed him as the subject of his sovereign, he was not molested. Lafond
took refuge in Antwerp, where he became a player.
During the first months which succeeded my arrival in Hamburg I
received orders for the arrest of many persons, almost all of whom were
designated as dangerous and ill disposed men. When I was convinced that
the accusation was groundless I postponed the arrest. The matter was
then forgotten, and nobody complained.
A title, or a rank in foreign service, was a safeguard against the Paris
inquisition. Of this the following is an instance. Count Gimel, of whom
I shall hereafter have occasion to speak more at length, set out about
this time for Carlsbad. Count Grote the Prussian Minister, frequently
spoke to me of him. On my expressing apprehension that M. de Gimel
might be arrested, as there was a strong prejudice against him, M. Grote
replied, "Oh! there is no fear of that. He will return to Hamburg with
the rauk of an English colonel."
On the 17th of July there appeared in the Correspondent an article
exceedingly insulting to France. It had been inserted by order of
Baron Novozilzow, who was at Berlin, and who had become very hostile
to France, though it was said he had been sent from St. Petersburg on
a specific mission to Napoleon. The article in question was transmitted
from Berlin by an extraordinary courier, and Novozilzow in his note to
the Senate said it might be stated that the article was inserted at the
request of His Britannic Majesty. The Russian Minister at Berlin,
M. Alopaeus, despatched also an 'estafette' to the Russian charge
d'affaires at Hamburg, with orders to apply for the insertion of the
article, which accordingly appeared. In obedience to the Emperor's
instructions, I complained of it, and the Senate replied that it never
opposed the insertion of an official note sent by any Government; that
insults would redound against those from whom they came; that the reply
of the French Government would be published; and that the Senate had
never deviated from this mode of proceeding.
I observed to the Senate that I did not understand why the Correspondent
should make itself the trumpet of M. Novozilzow; to which the Syndic
replied, that two great powers, which might do them much harm, had
required the insertion of the article, and that it could not be refused.
The hatred felt by the foreign Princes, which the death of the Duc
d'Enghien had considerably increased; gave encouragement to the
publication of everything hostile to Napoleon. This was candidly avowed
to me by the Ministers and foreigners of rank whom I saw in Hamburg. The
King of Sweden was most violent in manifesting the indignation which was
generally excited by the death of the Duc d'Enghien. M. Wetterstadt, who
had succeeded M. La Gerbielske in the Cabinet of Stockholm, sent to
the Swedish Minister at Hamburg a long letter exceedingly insulting
to Napoleon. It was in reply to an article inserted in the 'Moniteur'
respecting the return of the Black Eagle to the King of Prussia. M.
Peyron, the Swedish Minister at Hamburg, who was very far from approving
all that his master did, transmitted to Stockholm some very energetic
remarks on the ill effect which would be produced by the insertion
of the article in the 'Correspondent'. The article was then a little
modified, and M. Peyron received formal orders to get it inserted.
However; on my representations the Senate agreed to suppress it, and it
did not appear.
Marshal Bernadotte, who had the command of the French troops in Hanover,
kept up a friendly correspondence with me unconnected with the duties of
our respective functions.
On the occupation of Hanover Mr. Taylor, the English Minister at Cassel,
was obliged to leave that place; but he soon returned in spite of the
opposition of France. On this subject the marshal furnished me with the
following particulars:
I have just received, my dear Bourrienne, information which leaves
no doubt of what has taken place at Cassel with respect to Mr.
Taylor. That Minister has been received in spite of the
representations of M. Bignon, which, however, had previously been
merely verbal. I know that the Elector wrote to London to request
that Mr. Taylor should not return. In answer to this the English
Government sent him back. Our Minister has done everything he could
to obtain his dismissal; but the pecuniary interests of the Elector
have triumphed over every other consideration. He would not risk
quarrelling with the Court from which he expects to receive more
than 12,000,000 francs. The British Government has been written to
a second time, but without effect. The Elector himself, in a
private letter, has requested the King of England to recall Mr.
Taylor, but it is very probable that the Cabinet of London will
evade this request.
Under these circumstances our troops have approached nearer to
Cassel. Hitherto the whole district of Gottingen had been exempt
from quartering troops. New arrangements, tendered necessary by the
scarcity of forage, have obliged me to send a squadron of 'chasseurs
de cheval' to Munden, a little town four leagues from Cassel. This
movement excited some alarm in the Elector, who expressed a wish to
see things restored to the same footing as before. He has requested
M. Bignon to write to me, and to assure me again that he will be
delighted to become acquainted with me at the waters of Nemidorff,
where he intends to spend some time. But on this subject I shall
not alter the determination I have already mentioned to you.
--Yours, etc.,
(Signed) BERNADOTTE.
STADE, 10th Thermidor (29th July, 1805).
CHAPTER XXXIII.
1805.
Treaty of alliance between England and Russia--Certainty of an
approaching war--M. Forshmann, the Russian Minister--Duroc's mission
to Berlin--New project of the King of Sweden--Secret mission to the
Baltic--Animosity against France--Fall of the exchange between
Hamburg and Paris--Destruction of the first Austrian army--Taking of
Ulm--The Emperor's displeasure at the remark of a soldier--Battle of
Trafalgar--Duroc's position at the Court of Prussia--Armaments in
Russia--Libel upon Napoleon in the Hamburg 'Corespondent'--
Embarrassment of the Syndic and Burgomaster of Hamburg--The conduct
of the Russian Minister censured by the Swedish and English
Ministers.
At the beginning of August 1805 a treaty of alliance between Russia and
England was spoken of. Some persons of consequence, who had the means
of knowing all that was going on in the political world, had read this
treaty, the principal points of which were communicated to me.
Article 1st stated that the object of the alliance was to restore the
balance of Europe. By art. 2d the Emperor of Russia was to place 36,000
men at the disposal of England. Art. 3d stipulated that neither of the
two powers would consent to treat with France, nor to lay down arms
until the King of Sardinia should either be restored to his dominions or
receive an equivalent indemnity in the northeast of Italy. By art. 4th
Malta was to be evacuated by the English, and occupied by the Russians.
By art. 5th the two powers were to guarantee the independence of the
Republic of the Ionian Isles, and England was to pledge herself to
assist Russia in her war against Persia. If this plan of a treaty, of
the existence of which I was informed on unquestionable authority, had
been brought to any result it is impossible to calculate what might have
been its consequences.
At that time an immediate Continental war was confidently expected by
every person in the north of Europe; and it is very certain that, had
not Napoleon taken the hint in time and renounced his absurd schemes at
Boulogne, France would have stood in a dangerous situation.
M. Forshmann, the Russian charge d'affaires, was intriguing to excite
the north of Europe against France. He repeatedly received orders to
obtain the insertion of irritating articles in the 'Correspondent'. He
was an active, intriguing, and spiteful little man, and a declared enemy
of France; but fortunately his stupidity and vanity rendered him less
dangerous than he wished to be. He was universally detested, and he
would have lost all credit but that the extensive trade carried on
between Russia and Hamburg forced the inhabitants and magistrates of
that city to bear with a man who might have done them, individually,
considerable injury.
The recollection of Duroc's successful mission to Berlin during the
Consulate induced Napoleon to believe that that general might appease
the King of Prussia, who complained seriously of the violation of the
territory of Anspach, which Bernadotte, in consequence of the orders he
received, had not been able to respect. Duroc remained about six weeks
in Berlin.
The following letter from Duroc will show that the facility of passing
through Hesse seemed to excuse the second violation of the Prussian
territory; but there was a great difference between a petty Prince of
Hesse and the King of Prussia.
I send you, my dear Bourrienne, two despatches, which I have
received for you. M. de Talleyrand, who sends them, desires me to
request that you will transmit General Victor's by a sure
conveyance.
I do not yet know whether I shall stay long in Berlin. By the last
accounts I received the Emperor is still in Paris, and numerous
forces are assembling on the Rhine. The hopes of peace are
vanishing every day, and Austria does everything to promote war.
I have received accounts from Marshal Bernadotte. He has effected
his passage through Hesse. Marshal Bernadotte was much pleased with
the courtesy he experienced from the Elector.
The junction of the corps commanded by Bernadotte with the army of the
Emperor was very important, and Napoleon therefore directed the Marshal
to come up with him as speedily as possible, and by the shortest road.
It was necessary he should arrive in time for the battle of Austerlitz.
Gustavus, King of Sweden, who was always engaged in some enterprise,
wished to raise an army composed of Swedes, Prussians, and English; and
certainly a vigorous attack in the north would have prevented Bernadotte
from quitting the banks of the Elbe and the Weser, and reinforcing
the Grand Army which was marching on Vienna. But the King of Sweden's
coalition produced no other result than the siege of the little fortress
of Hameln.
Prussia would not come to a rupture with France, the King of Sweden
was abandoned, and Bonaparte's resentment against him increased. This
abortive project of Gustavus contributed not a little to alienate the
affections of his subjects, who feared that they might be the victims
of the revenge excited by the extravagant plans of their King, and the
insults he had heaped upon Napoleon, particularly since the death of the
Duc d'Enghien.
On the 13th of September 1805 I received a letter from the Minister of
Police soliciting information about Swedish Pomerania.
Astonished at not obtaining from the commercial Consuls at Lübeck and
Stettin any accounts of the movements of the Russians, I had sent to
those ports, four days before the receipt of the Police Minister's
letter, a confidential agent, to observe the Baltic: though we were only
64 leagues from Stralsund the most uncertain and contradictory accounts
came to hand. It was, however, certain that a landing of the Russians
was expected at Stralsund, or at Travemtinde, the port of Lübeck, at the
mouth of the little river Trave. I was positively informed that Russia
had freighted a considerable number of vessels for those ports.
The hatred of the French continued to increase in the north of Europe.
About the end of September there appeared at Kiel, in Denmark, a
libellous pamphlet, which was bought and read with inconceivable
avidity. This pamphlet, which was very ably written, was the production
of some fanatic who openly preached a crusade against France. The author
regarded the blood of millions of men as a trifling sacrifice for the
great object of humiliating France and bringing her back to the limits
of the old monarchy. This pamphlet was circulated extensively in the
German departments united to France, in Holland, and in Switzerland. The
number of incendiary publications which everywhere abounded indicated
but too plainly that if the nations of the north should be driven
back towards the Arctic regions they would in their turn repulse their
conquerors towards the south; and no man of common sense could doubt
that if the French eagles were planted in foreign capitals, foreign
standards would one day wave over Paris.
On the 30th of September 1805 I received, by an 'estafette',
intelligence of the landing at Stralsund of 6000 Swedes, who had arrived
from Stockholm in two ships of war.
About the end of September the Hamburg exchange on Paris fell
alarmingly. The loss was twenty per cent. The fall stopped at seventeen
below par. The speculation for this fall of the exchange had been made
with equal imprudence and animosity by the house of Osy and Company.
The head of that house, a Dutch emigrant, who had been settled at
Hamburg about six years, seized every opportunity of manifesting his
hatred of France. An agent of that rich house at Rotterdam was also very
hostile to us, a circumstance which shows that if many persons sacrifice
their political opinions to their interests there are others who
endanger their interests for the triumph of their opinions.
On the 23d of October 1805 I received official intelligence of the
total destruction of the first Austrian army: General Barbou, who was
in Hanover, also informed me of that event in the following terms: "The
first Austrian army has ceased to exist." He alluded to the brilliant
affair of Ulm. I immediately despatched twelve estafettes to different
parts; among other places to Stralsund and Husum. I thought that these
prodigies, which must have been almost incredible to those who were
unacquainted with Napoleon's military genius, might arrest the progress
of the Russian troops, and produces some change in the movements of the
enemy's forces. A second edition of the 'Correspondent' was published
with this intelligence, and 6000 copies were sold at four times the
usual price.
I need not detain the reader with the details of the capitulation of
Ulm, which have already been published, but I may relate the following
anecdote, which is not generally known. A French general passing before
the ranks of his men said to them, "Well, comrades, we have prisoners
enough here."--"yes indeed," replied one of the soldiers, "we never saw
so many . . . collected together before." It was stated at the time,
and I believe it, that the Emperor was much displeased when he heard of
this, and remarked that it was "atrocious to insult brave men to whom
the fate of arms had proved unfavourable."
In reading the history of this period we find that in whatever place
Napoleon happened to be, there was the central point of action. The
affairs of Europe were arranged at his headquarters in the same manner
as if he had been in Paris. Everything depended on his good or bad
fortune. Espionage, seduction, false promises, exactions,--all were
put in force to promote the success of his projects; but his despotism,
which excited dissatisfaction in France, and his continual aggressions,
which threatened the independence of foreign States, rendered him more
and more unpopular everywhere.
The battle of Trafalgar took place while Napoleon was marching on
Vienna, and on the day after the capitulation of Ulm. The southern coast
of Spain then witnessed an engagement between thirty-one French and
about an equal number of English ships, and in spite of this equality of
force the French fleet was destroyed.--[The actual forces present were
27 English ships of the line and 38 Franco-Spanish ships of the line;
see James' Naval History, vol. iii. p. 459.]
This great battle afforded another proof of our naval inferiority.
Admires Calder first gave us the lesson which Nelson completed, but
which cost the latter his life. According to the reports which Duroc
transmitted to me, courage gave momentary hope to the French; but they
were at length forced to yield to the superior naval tactics of the
enemy. The battle of Trafalgar paralysed our naval force, and banished
all hope of any attempt against England.
The favour which the King, of Prussia had shown to Duroc was withdrawn
when his Majesty received intelligence of the march of Bernadotte's
troops through the Margravate of Anspach. All accounts concurred
respecting the just umbrage which that violation of territory
occasioned to the King of Prussia. The agents whom I had in that quarter
overwhelmed me with reports of the excesses committed by the French in
passing through the Margravate. A letter I received from Duroc contains
the following remarks on this subject:
The corps of Marshal Bernadotte has passed through Anapach and by
some misunderstanding this has been regarded at Berlin as an insult
to the King, a violence committed upon his neutrality. How can it
be supposed, especially under present circumstances, that the
Emperor could have any intention of insulting or committing violence
upon his friend? Besides, the reports have been exaggerated, and
have been made by persons who wish to favour our enemies rather than
us. However, I am perfectly aware that Marshal Bernadotte's 70,000
men are not 70,000 virgins. Be this as it may, the business might
have been fatal, and will, at all events, be very injurious to us.
Laforeat and I are treated very harshly, though we do not deserve
it. All the idle stories that have been got up here must have
reached you. Probably Prussia will not forget that France was, and
still may be, the only power interested in her glory and
aggrandisement.
At the end of October the King of Prussia, far from thinking of war,
but in case of its occurrence wishing to check its disasters as far as
possible, proposed to establish a line of neutrality. This was the first
idea of the Confederation of the North. Duroc, fearing lest the Russians
should enter Hamburg, advised me, as a friend, to adopt precautions. But
I was on the spot; I knew all the movement the little detached corps,
and I was under no apprehension.
The editor of the Hamburg 'Correspondent' sent me every evening a proof
of the number which was to appear next day,--a favour which was granted
only to the French Minister. On the 20th of November I received
the proof as usual, and saw nothing objectionable in it. How great,
therefore, was my astonishment when next morning I read in the same
journal an article personally insulting to the Emperor, and in which the
legitimate sovereigns of Europe were called upon to undertake a crusade
against the usurper etc. I immediately sent for M. Doormann, first
Syndic of the Senate of Hamburg. When he appeared his mortified look
sufficiently informed me that he knew what I had to say to him. I
reproached him sharply, and asked him how, after all I had told him of
the Emperor's susceptibility, he could permit the insertion of such an
article. I observed to him that this indecorous diatribe had no official
character, since it had no signature; and that, therefore, he had acted
in direct opposition to a decree of the Senate, which prohibited the
insertion in the journals of any articles which were not signed. I
told him plainly that his imprudence might be attended with serious
consequences. M. Doormann did not attempt to justify himaelt but merely
explained to me how the thing had happened.
On the 20th of November, in the evening, M. Forshmann, the Russian
charge d'affaires who had in the course of the day arrived from the
Russian headquarters presented to the editor of the Correspondent the
article in question. The editor, after reading the article, which he
thought exceedingly indecorous, observed to M. Forshmann that his paper
was already made up, which was the fact, for I had seen a proof. M.
Forshmann, however, insisted on the insertion of the article. The editor
then told him that he could not admit it without the approbation of the
Syndic Censor. M. Forshmann immediately waited upon M. Doormann, and
when the latter begged that he would not insist on the insertion of the
article, M. Forshmann produced a letter written in French, which,
among other things, contained the following: "You will get the enclosed
article inserted in the Correspondent without suffering a single word
to be altered. Should the censor refuse, you must apply to the directing
Burgomaster, and, in case of his refusal, to General Tolstoy, who will
devise some means of rendering the Senate more complying, and forcing it
to observe an impartial deference."
M. Doorman, thinking he could not take upon himself to allow the
insertion of the article, went, accompanied by M. Forshmann, to wait
upon M. Von Graffen, the directing Burgomaster. MM. Doorman and Von
Graffen earnestly pointed out the impropriety of inserting the article;
but M. Forshmann referred to his order, and added that the compliance of
the Senate on this point was the only means of avoiding great mischief.
The Burgomaster and the Syndic, finding themselves thus forced to admit
the article, entreated that the following passage at least might be
suppressed: "I know a certain chief, who, in defiance of all laws divine
and human,--in contempt of the hatred he inspires in Europe, as well as
among those whom he has reduced to be his subjects, keeps possession of
a usurped throne by violence and crime. His insatiable ambition would
subject all Europe to his rule. But the time is come for avenging the
rights of nations . . . ." M. Forshmann again referred to his orders,
and with some degree of violence insisted on the insertion of the
article in its complete form. The Burgomaster then authorised the editor
of the Correspondent to print the article that night, and M. Forshmann,
having obtained that authority, carried the article to the office at
half-past eleven o'clock.
Such was the account given me by M. Doormann. I observed that I did not
understand how the imaginary apprehension of any violence on the part of
Russia should have induced him to admit so insolent an attack upon the
most powerful sovereign in Europe, whose arms would soon dictate laws
to Germany. The Syndic did not dissemble his fear of the Emperor's
resentment, while at the same time he expressed a hope that the Emperor
would take into consideration the extreme difficulty of a small power
maintaining neutrality in the extraordinary circumstances in which
Hamburg was placed, and that the articles might be said to have been
presented almost at the point of the Cossacks' spears. M. Doormann added
that a refusal, which world have brought Russian troops to Hamburg,
might have been attended by very unpleasant consequences to me, and
might have committed the Senate in a very different way. I begged of
him, once for all, to set aside in these affairs all consideration of my
personal danger: and the Syndic, after a conversation of more than
two hours, departed more uneasy in his mind than when he arrived,
and conjuring me to give a faithful report of the facts as they had
happened.
M. Doormann was a very worthy man, and I gave a favourable
representation of his excuses and of the readiness which he had always
evinced to keep out of the Correspondent articles hostile to France;
as, for example, the commencement of a proclamation of the Emperor of
Germany to his subjects, and a complete proclamation of the King of
Sweden. As it happened, the good Syndic escaped with nothing worse than
a fright; I was myself astonished at the success of my intercession.
I learned from the Minister for Foreign Affairs that the Emperor was
furiously indignant on reading the article, in which the French army was
outraged as well as he. Indeed, he paid but little attention to insults
directed against himself personally. Their eternal repetition had inured
him to them; but at the idea of his army being insulted he was violently
enraged, and uttered the most terrible threats.
It is worthy of remark that the Swedish and English Ministers, as soon
as they read the article, waited upon the editor of the Correspondent,
and expressed their astonishment that such a libel should have been
published. "Victorious armies," said they, "should be answered by
cannonballs and not by insults as gross as they are ridiculous." This
opinion was shared by all the foreigners at that time in Hamburg.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
1805
Difficulties of my situation at Hamburg--Toil and responsibility--
Supervision of the emigrants--Foreign Ministers--Journals--Packet
from Strasburg--Bonaparte fond of narrating Giulio, an extempore
recitation of a story composed by the Emperor.
The brief detail I have given in the two or three preceding chapters
of the events which occurred previously to and during the campaign of
Austerlitz, with the letters of Duroc and Bernadotte, may afford the
reader some idea of my situation during the early part of my residence
in Hamburg. Events succeeded each other with such incredible rapidity
as to render my labour excessive. My occupations were different, but
not less laborious, than those which I formerly performed when near the
Emperor; and, besides, I was now loaded with a responsibility which did
not attach to me as the private secretary of General Bonaparte and the
First Consul. I had, in fact, to maintain a constant watch over the
emigrants in Altona, which was no easy matter--to correspond daily with
the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Police--to confer
with the foreign Ministers accredited at Hamburg--to maintain active
relations with the commanders of the French army--to interrogate my
secret agents, and keep a strict surveillance over their proceedings;
it was, besides, necessary to be unceasingly on the watch for scurrilous
articles against Napoleon in the Hamburg 'Corespondent'. I shall
frequently have occasion to speak of all these things, and especially
of the most marked emigrants, in a manner less irregular, because what I
have hitherto said may, in some sort, be considered merely as a summary
of all the facts relating to the occurrences which daily passed before
my eyes.
In the midst of these multifarious and weighty occupations I received a
packet with the Strasburg postmark at the time the Empress was in that
city. This packet had not the usual form of a diplomatic despatch,
and the superscription announced that it came from the residence of
Josephine. My readers, I venture to presume, will not experience less
gratification than I did on a perusal of its contents, which will be
found at the end of this chapter; but before satisfying the curiosity
to which I have perhaps given birth, I may here relate that one of the
peculiarities of Bonaparte was a fondness of extempore narration; and
it appears he had not discontinued the practice even after he became
Emperor.
In fact, Bonaparte, during the first year after his elevation to the
Imperial throne, usually passed those evenings in the apartments of the
Empress which he could steal from public business. Throwing himself on a
sofa, he would remain absorbed in gloomy silence, which no one dared to
interrupt. Sometimes, however, on the contrary, he would give the reins
to his vivid imagination and his love of the marvelous, or, to speak
more correctly, his desire to produce effect, which was perhaps one of
his strongest passions, and would relate little romances, which were
always of a fearful description and in unison with the natural turn
of his ideas. During those recitals the ladies-in-waiting were always
present, to one of whom I am indebted for the following story, which she
had written nearly in the words of Napoleon. "Never," said this lady in
her letter to me, "did the Emperor appear more extraordinary. Led away
by the subject, he paced the salon with hasty strides; the intonations
of his voice varied according to the characters of the personages he
brought on the scene; he seemed to multiply himself in order to play
the different parts, and no person needed to feign the terror which he
really inspired, and which he loved to see depicted in the countenances
of those who surrounded him." In this tale I have made no alterations,
as can be attested by those who, to my knowledge, have a copy of it. It
is curious to compare the impassioned portions of it with the style of
Napoleon in some of the letters addressed to Josephine.
VOLUME III. -- 1805-1814
CHAPTER I.
1805.
Abolition of the Republican calendar--Warlike preparations in
Austria--Plan for re-organizing the National Guard--Napoleon in
Strasburg--General Mack--Proclamation--Captain Bernard's
reconnoitering mission--The Emperor's pretended anger and real
satisfaction--Information respecting Ragusa communicated by Bernard
--Rapid and deserved promotion--General Bernard's
retirement to the United States of America.
I had been three months at Hamburg when I learned that the Emperor had
at last resolved to abolish the only remaining memorial of the Republic,
namely, the revolutionary calendar. That calendar was indeed an absurd
innovation, for the new denominations of the months were not applicable
in all places, even in France; the corn of Provence did not wait to be
opened by the sun of the month of Messidor. On the 9th of September
a 'Senates-consulte' decreed that on the 1st of January following the
months and days should resume their own names. I read with much interest
Laplace's report to the Senate, and must confess I was very glad to see
the Gregorian calendar again acknowledged by law, as it had already
been acknowledged in fact. Frenchmen in foreign countries experienced
particular inconvenience from the adoption of a system different from
all the rest of the world.
A few days after the revival of the old calendar the Emperor departed
for the army. When at Hamburg it may well be supposed that I was anxious
to obtain news, and I received plenty from the interior of Germany and
from some friends in Paris. This correspondence enables me to present to
my readers a comprehensive and accurate picture of the state of public
affairs up to the time when Napoleon took the field. I have already
mentioned how artfully he always made it appear that he was anxious for
peace, and that he was always the party attacked; his, conduct previous
to the first conquest of Vienna affords a striking example of this
artifice. It was pretty evident that the transformation of the Cisalpine
Republic into the kingdom of Italy, and the union of Genoa to France
were infractions of treaties; yet the Emperor, nevertheless, pretended
that all the infractions were committed by Austria. The truth is, that
Austria was raising levies as secretly as possible, and collecting her
troops on the frontiers of Bavaria. An Austrian corps even penetrated
into some provinces of the Electorate; all this afforded Napoleon a
pretext for going to the aid of his allies.
In the memorable sitting preceding his departure the Emperor presented
a project of a 'Senatus-consulte' relative to the re-organisation of the
National Guard. The Minister for Foreign Affairs read an explanation
of the reciprocal conduct of France and Austria since the peace of
Luneville, in which the offences of France were concealed with wonderful
skill. Before the sitting broke up the Emperor addressed the members,
stating that he was about to leave the capital to place himself at the
head of the army to afford prompt succour to his allies, and defend
the dearest interests of his people. He boasted of his wish to preserve
peace, which Austria and Russia, as he alleged, had, through the
influence of England, been induced to disturb.
This address produced a very powerful impression in Hamburg. For my
part, I recognised in it Napoleon's usual boasting strain; but on this
occasion events seemed bent on justifying it. The Emperor may certainly
have performed more scientific campaigns than that of Austerlitz, but
never any more glorious in results. Everything seemed to partake of the
marvellous, and I have often thought of the secret joy which Bonaparte
must have felt on seeing himself at last an the point of commencing
a great war in Germany, for which he had so often expressed an ardent
desire. He proceeded first to Strasburg, whither Josephine accompanied
him.
All the reports that I received agreed with the statements of my private
correspondence in describing the incredible enthusiasm which prevailed
in the army on learning that it was to march into Germany. For the first
time Napoleon had recourse to an expeditious mode of transport, and
20,000 carriages conveyed his army, as if by enchantment, from the
shores of the Channel to the banks of the Rhine. The idea of an active
campaign fired the ambition of the junior part of the army. All
dreamed of glory, and of speedy promotion, and all hoped to distinguish
themselves before the eyes of a chief who was idolised by his troops.
Thus during his short stay at Strasburg the Emperor might with reason
prophesy the success which crowned his efforts under the walls of
Vienna.
Rapp, who accompanied him, informed me that on leaving Strasburg he
observed, in the presence of several persons, "It will be said that I
made Mack's plan of campaign for him. The Caudine Forks are at Ulm."
--[This allusion to the Caudine Forks was always in Napoleon's mouth
when he saw an enemy's army concentrated on a point, and foresaw its
defeat--Bourrienne.]--
Experience proved that Bonaparte was not deceived; but I ought on this
occasion to contradict a calumnious report circulated at that time,
and since maliciously repeated. It has been said that there existed
an understanding between Mack and Bonaparte, and that the general was
bought over to deliver up the gates of Ulm. I have received positive
proof that this assertion is a scandalous falsehood; and the only thing
that could give it weight was Napoleon's intercession after the campaign
that Mack might not be put on his trial. In this intercession Napoleon
was actuated only by humanity.
On taking the field Napoleon placed himself at the head of the
Bavarians, with whom be opposed the enemy's army before the arrival
of his own troops. As soon as they were assembled he published the
following proclamation, which still further excited the ardour of the
troops.
SOLDIERS--The war of the third coalition is commenced. The Austrian
army has passed the Inn, violated treaties, attacked and driven our
ally from his capital. You yourselves have been obliged to hasten,
by forced marches, to the defence of our frontiers. But you have
now passed the Rhine; and we will not stop till we have secured the
independence of the Germanic body, succoured our allies, and humbled
the pride of our unjust assailants. We will not again make peace
without a sufficient guarantee! Our generosity shall not again
wrong our policy. Soldiers, your Emperor is among you! You are but
the advanced guard of the great people. If it be necessary they
will all rise at my call to confound and dissolve this new league,
which has been created by the malice and the gold of England.
But, soldiers, we shall have forced marches to make, fatigues and
privations of every kind to endure. Still, whatever obstacles may
be opposed to us, we will conquer them; and we will never rest until
we have planted our eagles on the territory of our enemies!
In the confidential notes of his diplomatic agents, in his speeches, and
in his proclamations, Napoleon always described himself as the attacked
party, and perhaps his very earnestness in so doing sufficed to reveal
the truth to all those who had learned to read his thoughts differently
from what his words expressed them.
At the commencement of the campaign of Austerlitz a circumstance
occurred from which is to be dated the fortune of a very meritorious
man. While the Emperor was at Strasburg he asked General Marescot, the
commander-in-chief of the engineers, whether he could recommend from his
corps a brave, prudent, and intelligent young officer, capable of being
entrusted with an important reconnoitering mission. The officer selected
by General Marescot was a captain in the engineers, named Bernard, who
had been educated in the Polytechnic School. He set off on his mission,
advanced almost to Vienna, and returned to the headquarters of the
Emperor at the capitulation of Ulm.
Bonaparte interrogated him himself, and was well satisfied with his
replies; but, not content with answering verbally the questions put by
Napoleon, Captain Bernard had drawn up a report of what he observed,
and the different routes which might be taken. Among other things he
observed that it would be a great advantage to direct the whole army
upon Vienna, without regard to the fortified places; for that, once
master of the capital of Austria, the Emperor might dictate laws to all
the Austrian monarchy. "I was present," said Rapp to me, "at this young
officer's interview with the Emperor. After reading the report, would
you believe that the Emperor flew into a furious passion? 'How!' cried
he, 'you are very bold, very presumptuous! A young officer to take the
liberty of tracing out a plan of campaign for me! Begone, and await my
orders.'"
This, and some other circumstances which I shall have to add respecting
Captain Bernard, completely reveal Napoleon's character. Rapp told
me that as soon as the young officer had left the Emperor all at once
changed his tone. "That," said he, "is a clever young man; he has taken
a proper view of things. I shall not expose him to the chance of being
shot. Perhaps I shall sometime want his services. Tell Berthier to
despatch an order for his departure for Elyria."
This order was despatched, and Captain Bernard, who, like his comrades,
was ardently looking forward to the approaching campaign, regarded as a
punishment what was, on the Emperor's part, a precaution to preserve a
young man whose merit he appreciated. At the close of the campaign, when
the Emperor promoted those officers who had distinguished themselves,
Bernard, who was thought to be in disgrace, was not included in
Berthier's list among the captains of engineers whom he recommended to
the rank of chef de bataillon; but Napoleon himself inscribed Bernard's
name before all the rest. However, the Emperor forgot him for some
time; and it was only an accidental circumstance that brought him to his
recollection. I never had any personal acquaintance with Bernard, but
I learned from Rapp, how he afterwards became his colleague as aide de
camp to the Emperor; a circumstance which I shall now relate, though it
refers to a later period.
Before the Emperor left Paris for the campaign of 1812 he wished to gain
precise information respecting Ragusa and Elyria. He sent for Marmont,
but was not satisfied with his answers. He then interrogated several
other generals, but the result of his inquiries always was, "This is
all very well; but it is not what I want. I do not know Ragusa." He
then sent for General Dejean, who had succeeded M. de Marescot as first
inspector of the Engineers.
"Have you any one among your officers," he asked, "who is well
acquainted with Ragusa?" Dejean, after a little reflection, replied,
"Sire, there is a chef de bataillon who has been a long time forgotten,
but who knows Elyria perfectly."--"What's his name?"--"Bernard."--"Ah!
stop . . . Bernard! I remember that name. Where is he?"--"At Antwerp,
Sire, employed on the fortifications."--"Let a telegraphic despatch be
immediately, transmitted,--[by semaphore arms.]--desiring him to mount
his horse and come with all speed to Paris."
The promptitude with which the Emperor's orders were always executed
is well known. A few days after Captain Bernard was in the Emperor's
cabinet in Paris. Napoleon received him very graciously. The first thing
he said was, "Talk to me about Ragusa." This was a favourite mode of
interrogation with him in similar cases, and I have heard him say that
it was a sure way of drawing out all that a man had observed in any
country that he had visited. Be that as it may, he was perfectly
satisfied with M. Bernard's information respecting Elyria; and when the
chef de bataillon had finished speaking Napoleon said, "Colonel Bernard,
I am now acquainted with Ragusa." The Emperor afterwards conversed
familiarly with him, entered into details respecting the system of
fortification adopted at Antwerp, referred to the plan of the works,
criticised it, and showed how he would, if he besieged the town, render
the means of defence unavailing. The new Colonel explained so well how
he would defend the town against the Emperor's attack that Bonaparte was
delighted, and immediately bestowed upon, the young officer a mark of
distinction which, as far as I know, he never granted but upon that
single occasion. The Emperor was going to preside at the Council of
State, and desired Colonel Bernard to accompany him, and many times
during the sittings be asked him for his opinion upon the points which
were under discussion. On leaving the Council Napoleon said, "Bernard,
you are in future my aide de camp." After the campaign he was made
General of Brigade, soon after General of Division, and now he is
acknowledged to be one of the ablest engineer officers in existence.
Clarke's silly conduct deprived France of this distinguished man, who
refused the brilliant offers of several sovereigns of Europe for the
sake of retiring to the United States of America, where he commands
the Engineers, and has constructed fortifications on the coast of
the Floridas which are considered by engineers to be masterpieces of
military art.
CHAPTER II.
1805.
Rapidity of Napoleon's victories--Murat at Wertingen--Conquest of
Ney's duchy--The French army before Ulm--The Prince of Liechtenstein
at the Imperial headquarters--His interview with Napoleon described
by Rapp--Capitulation of Ulm signed by Berthier and Mack--Napoleon
before and after a victory--His address to the captive generals--
The Emperor's proclamation--Ten thousand prisoners taken by Murat--
Battle of Caldiero in Italy--Letter from Duroc--Attempts to retard
the Emperor's progress--Fruitless mission of M. de Giulay--The first
French eagles taken by the Russians--Bold adventure of Lannes and
Murat--The French enter Vienna--Savary's mission to the Emperor
Alexander.
To convey an idea of the brilliant campaign of 1805 from an abstract
of the reports and letters I received at Hamburg I should, like the
almanac-makers, be obliged to note down a victory for every day. Was
not the rapidity of the Emperor's first operations a thing hitherto
unprecedented? He departed from Paris on the 24th of September, and
hostilities commenced on the 2d of October. On the 6th and 7th the
French passed the Danube, and turned the enemy's army. On the 8th Murat,
at the battle of Wertingen, on the Danube, took 2000 Austrian prisoners,
amongst whom, besides other general officers, was Count Auffemberg.
Next day the Austrians fell back upon Gunsburg, retreating before
our victorious legions, who, pursuing their triumphal course, entered
Augsburg on the 10th, and Munich on the 12th. When I received my
despatches I could have fancied I was reading a fabulous narrative. Two
days after the French entered Munich--that is to say, on the 14th--an
Austrian corps of 6000 men surrendered to Marshal Soult at Memingen,
whilst Ney conquered, sword in hand, his future Duchy of Elchingen.
Finally, on the 17th of October, came the famous capitulation of General
Mack at Ulm,' and on the same day hostilities commenced in Italy between
the French and Austrians, the former commanded by Massena and the latter
by Prince Charles.
--[Prince Maurice Liechtenstein was sent by General Mack as a flag
of truce to the Imperial headquarters before Ulm. He was, according
to custom, led blindfold on horseback. Rapp, who was present,
together with several of Napoleon's aides de camp, afterwards spoke
to me of the Prince's interview with the Emperor. I think he told
me that Berthier was present likewise. "Picture to yourself," said
Rapp, "the astonishment, or rather confusion, of the poor Prince
when the bandage was removed from his eyes. He knew nothing of what
had been going on, and did not even suspect that the Emperor had yet
joined the army. When he understood that he was in the presence of
Napoleon he could not suppress an exclamation of surprise, which did
not escape the Emperor, and he ingenuously acknowledged that General
Mack had no idea he was before the walls of Ulm." Prince
Liechtenstein proposed to capitulate on condition that the garrison
of Ulm should be allowed to return into Austria. This proposal, in
the situation in which the garrison stood, Rapp said, made the
Emperor smile. "How can you expect," said Napoleon, "that I can
accede to such a proposition? What shall I gain by it? Eight days.
In eight days you will be in my power without any condition. Do you
suppose I am not acquainted with everything? . . You expect the
Russians? . . . At the nearest they are in Bohemia. Were I to
allow you to march out, what security can I have that you will not
join them, and afterwards fight against me? Your generals have
deceived me often enough, and I will no longer be duped. At Marengo
I was weak enough to allow the troops of Melas to march out of
Alessandria. He promised to treat for peace. What happened? Two
months after Moreau had to fight with the garrison of Alessandria.
Besides, this war is not an ordinary war. After the conduct of your
Government I am not bound to keep any terms with it. I have no
faith in its promises. You have attacked me. If I should agree to
what you ask, Mack would pledge his word, I know. But, even relying
on his good faith, would be he able to keep his promise? As far as
regards himself--yes; but as regards his army--no. If the Archduke
Ferdinand were still with you I could rely upon his word, because he
would be responsible for the conditions, and he would not disgrace
himself; but I know he has quitted Ulm and passed the Danube. I
know how to reach him, however."
Rapp said it was impossible to imagine the embarrassment of Prince
Liechtenstein whilst the Emperor was speaking. He, however,
somewhat regained his self-possession, and observed that, unless the
conditions which he proposed were granted the army would not
capitulate. "If that be the case," said Napoleon. "you may as well
go back to Mack, for I will never grant such conditions. Are you
jesting with me? Stay; here is the capitulation of Memingen--show
it to your General--let him surrender on the same conditions--I will
consent to no others. Your officers may return to Austria, but the
soldiers must be prisoners. Tell him to be speedy, for I have no
time to lose. The more he delays the worse he will render his own
condition and yours. To-morrow I shall have here the corps to which
Memingen capitulated, and then we shall see what is to be done.
Make Mack clearly understand that he has no alternative but to
conform to my will."
The imperious tones which Napoleon employed towards his enemies
almost always succeeded, and it produced the accustomed effect upon
Mack. On the same day that Prince Liechtenstein had been at our
headquarters Mack wrote to the Emperor, stating that he would not
have treated with any other on such terms; but that he yielded to
the ascendency of Napoleon's fortune; and on the following day
Berthier was sent into Ulm, from whence he returned with the
capitulation signed. Thus Napoleon was not mistaken respecting the
Caudine Forks of the Austrian army. The garrison of Ulm marched out
with what are called the honours of war, and were led prisoners into
France.--Bourrienne.]--
Napoleon, who was so violently irritated by any obstacle which opposed
him, and who treated with so much hauteur everybody who ventured to
resist his inflexible will, was no longer the same man when, as a
conqueror, he received the vanquished generals at Ulm. He condoled with
them on their misfortune; and this, I can affirm, was not the result of
a feeling of pride concealed beneath a feigned generosity. Although he
profited by their defeat he pitied them sincerely. How frequently has he
observed to me, "How much to be pitied is a general on the day after
a lost battle." He had himself experienced this misfortune when he was
obliged to raise the siege of St. Jean d'Acre. At that moment he would,
I believe, have strangled Djezzar; but if Djezzar had surrendered, he
would have treated him with the same attention which he showed to Mack
and the other generals of the garrison of Ulm. These generals were
seventeen in number, and among them was Prince Liechtenstein. There were
also General Klenau (Baron de Giulay), who had acquired considerable
military reputation in the preceding wars, and General Fresnel, who
stood in a more critical situation than his companions in misfortune,
for he was a Frenchman, and an emigrant.
Rapp told me that it was really painful to see these generals. They
bowed respectfully to the Emperor, having Mack at their head. They
preserved a mournful silence, and Napoleon was the first to speak, which
he did in the following terms: "Gentlemen, I feel sorry that such brave
men as you are should be the victims of the follies of a Cabinet which
cherishes insane projects, and which does not hesitate to commit the
dignity of the Austrian nation by trafficking with the services of its
generals. Your names are known to me--they are honourably known wherever
you have fought. Examine the conduct of those who have committed you.
What could be more iniquitous than to attack me without a declaration of
war? Is it not criminal to bring foreign invasion upon a country? Is it
not betraying Europe to introduce Asiatic barbarities into her disputes?
If good policy had been followed the Aulic Council, instead of attacking
me, would have sought my alliance in order to drive back the Russians
to the north. The alliance which your Cabinet has formed will appear
monstrous in history. It is the alliance of dogs, shepherds, and wolves
against sheep--such a scheme could never have been planned in the mind
of a statesman. It is fortunate for you that I have not been defeated in
the unjust struggle to which I have been provoked; if I had, the Cabinet
of Vienna would have soon perceived its error, for which, perhaps, it
will yet one day pay dearly."
What a change fifteen days of success, crowned by the capture of Ulm,
had made in affairs! At Hamburg I knew through my agents to what a
degree of folly the hopes of Napoleon's enemies had risen before he
began the campaign. The security of the Cabinet of Vienna was really
inexplicable; not only did they not dream of the series of victories
which made Napoleon master of all the Austrian monarchy, but the
assistants of Drake and all the intriguers of that sort treated France
already as a conquered country, and disposed of some of our provinces.
In the excess of their folly, to only give one instance, they promised
the town of Lyons to the King of Sardinia, to recompense him for the
temporary occupation of Piedmont.
--[In the treaties and declarations (see Martens and Thiers, tome v.
p. 355) there is rather a tendency to sell the skin of the bear
before killing him.]--
While Napoleon flattered his prisoners at the expense of their
Government he wished to express satisfaction at the conduct of his own
army, and with this view he published a remarkable proclamation, which
in some measure presented an abstract of all that had taken place since
the opening of the campaign.
This proclamation was as follows:--
SOLDIERS OF THE GRAND ARMY--In a fortnight we have finished an
entire campaign. What we proposed to do has been done. We have
driven the Austrian troops from Bavaria, and restored our ally to
the sovereignty of his dominions.
That army, which, with equal presumption and imprudence, marched
upon our frontiers, is annihilated.
But what does this signify to England? She has gained her object.
We are no longer at Boulogne, and her subsidy will be neither more
nor less.
Of a hundred thousand men who composed that army, sixty thousand are
prisoners. They will replace our conscripts in the labours of
agriculture.
Two hundred pieces of cannon, the whole park of artillery, ninety
flags, and all their generals are in our power. Fifteen thousand
men only have escaped.
Soldiers! I announced to you the result of a great battle; but,
thanks to the ill-devised schemes of the enemy, I was enabled to
secure the wished-for result without incurring any danger, and, what
is unexampled in the history of nations, that result has been gained
at the sacrifice of scarcely fifteen hundred men killed and wounded.
Soldiers! this success is due to your unlimited confidence in your
Emperor, to your patience in enduring fatigues and privations of
every kind, and to your singular courage and intrepidity.
But we will not stop here. You are impatient to commence another
campaign!
The Russian army, which English gold has brought from the
extremities of the universe, shall experience the same fate as that
which we have just defeated.
In the conflict in which we are about to engage the honour of the
French infantry is especially concerned. We shall now see another
decision of the question which has already been determined in
Switzerland and Holland; namely, whether the French infantry is the
first or the second in Europe.
Among the Russians there are no generals in contending against whom
I can acquire any glory. All I wish is to obtain the victory with
the least possible bloodshed. My soldiers are, my children.
This proclamation always appeared to me a masterpiece of military
eloquence. While he lavished praises on his troops, he excited their
emulation by hinting that the Russians were capable of disputing with
them the first rank among the infantry of Europe, and he concluded his
address by calling them his children.
The second campaign, to which Napoleon alleged they so eagerly looked
forward, speedily ensued, and hostilities were carried on with a degree
of vigour which fired the enthusiasm of the army. Heaven knows what
accounts were circulated of the Russians, who, as Bonaparte solemnly
stated in his proclamation, had come from the extremity of the world.
They were represented as half-naked savages, pillaging, destroying
and burning wherever they went. It was even asserted that they were
cannibals, and had been seen to eat children. In short, at that period
was introduced the denomination of northern barbarians which has
since been so generally applied to the Russians. Two days after the
capitulation of Ulm Murat obtained the capitulation of Trochtelfingen
from General Yarneck, and made 10,000 prisoners, so that, without
counting killed and wounded, the Austrian army had sustained a
diminution of 50,000 men after a campaign of twenty days. On the 27th
of October the French army crossed the Inn, and thus penetrated into
the Austrian territory. Salzburg and Brannan were immediately taken. The
army of Italy, under the command of Massena, was also obtaining great
advantages. On the 30th of October, that is to say, the very day on
which the Grand Army took the above-mentioned fortresses, the army of
Italy, having crossed the Adige, fought a sanguinary battle at Caldiero,
and took 5000 Austrian prisoners.
In the extraordinary campaign, which has been distinguished by the name
of "the Campaign of Austerlitz," the exploits of our troops succeeded
each other with the rapidity of thought. I confess I was equally
astonished and delighted when I received a note from Duroc, sent by an
extraordinary courier, and commencing laconically with the words, "We
are in Vienna; the Emperor is well."
Duroc's letter was dated the 13th November, and the words, "We are in
Vienna," seemed to me the result of a dream. The capital of Austria,
which from time immemorial had not been occupied by foreigners--the city
which Sobieski had saved from Ottoman violence, had become the prey of
the Imperial eagle of France, which, after a lapse of three centuries,
avenged the humiliations formerly imposed upon Francis I. by the 'Aquila
Grifagna' of Charles V. Duroc had left the Emperor before the camp of
Boulogne was raised; his mission to Berlin being terminated, he rejoined
the Emperor at Lintz.
--[As soon as Bonaparte became Emperor he constituted himself the
avenger of all the insults given to the sovereigns, whom he styled
his predecessors. All that related to the honour of France was
sacred to him. Thus he removed the column of Rosbach from the
Prussian territory.--Bourrienne.]--
Before I noticed the singular mission of M. Haugwitz to the Emperor
Napoleon, and the result of that mission, which circumstances rendered
diametrically the reverse of its object, I will relate what came to my
knowledge respecting some other negotiations on the part of Austria, the
evident intent of which was to retard Napoleon's progress, and
thereby to dupe him. M. de Giulay, one of the generals included in the
capitulation of Ulm, had returned home to acquaint his sovereign with
the disastrous event. He did not conceal, either from the Emperor
Francis or the Cabinet of Vienna, the destruction of the Austrian army,
and the impossibility of arresting the rapid advance of the French. M.
de Giulay was sent with a flag of truce to the headquarters of Napoleon,
to assure him of the pacific intentions of the Emperor of Austria, and
to solicit an armistice. The snare was too clumsy not to be immediately
discovered by so crafty a man as Napoleon.
--[Metternich (tome ii. p. 346, compare French edition, tome ii.
p. 287) says, "Let us hold always the sword in one hand and the
olive branch in the other; always ready to negotiate, but only
negotiating while advancing." Here is Napoleons system.]--
He had always pretended a love for peace, though he was overjoyed at
the idea of continuing a war so successfully commenced, and he directed
General Giulay to assure the Emperor of Austria that he was not less
anxious for peace than he, and that he was ready to treat for it, but
without suspending the course of his operations. Bonaparte, indeed,
could not, without a degree of imprudence of which he was incapable,
consent to an armistice; for M. de Giulay, though entrusted with powers
from Austria, had received none from Russia. Russia, therefore,
might disavow the armistice and arrive in time to defend Vienna, the
occupation of which was so important to the French army. The Russians,
indeed, were advancing to oppose us, and the corps of our army,
commanded by Mortier on the left bank of the Danube, experienced in
the first engagement a check at Dirnstein, which not a little vexed
the Emperor. This was the first reverse of fortune we had sustained
throughout the campaign. It was trivial, to be sure, but the capture by
the Russians of three French eagles, the first that had fallen into the
hands of the enemy, was very mortifying to Napoleon, and caused him to
prolong for some days his staff at St. Folten, where he then was.
The rapid occupation of Vienna was due to the successful temerity of
Lannes and Murat, two men alike distinguished for courage and daring
spirit. A bold artifice of these generals prevented the destruction
of the Thabor bridge at Vienna, without which our army would have
experienced considerable difficulty in penetrating into the Austrian
capital. This act of courage and presence of mind, which had so great an
influence on the events of the campaign, was described to me by
Lannes, who told the story with an air of gaiety, unaccompanied by any
self-complacency, and seemed rather pleased with the trick played
upon the Austrians than proud of the brilliant action which had been
performed. Bold enterprises were so natural to Lannes that he was
frequently the only person who saw nothing extraordinary in his own
exploits. Alas! what men were sacrificed to Napoleon's ambition!
The following is the story of the Bridge of Thabor as I heard it from
Lannes:--
--[I was one day walking with Murat, on the right bank of the
Danube, and we observed on the left bank, which was occupied by the
Austrians, some works going on, the evident object of which was to
blow up the bridge on the approach of our troops. The fools had the
impudence to make these preparations under our very noses; but we
gave them a good lesson. Having arranged our plan, we returned to
give orders, and I entrusted the command of my column of grenadiers
to an officer on whose courage and intelligence I could rely. I
then returned to the bridge, accompanied by Murat and two or three
other officers. We advanced, unconcernedly, and entered into
conversation with the commander of a post in the middle of the
bridge. We spoke to him about an armistice which was to be speedily
concluded: While conversing with the Austrian officers we contrived
to make them turn their eyes towards the left bank, and then,
agreeably to the orders we had given, my column of grenadiers
advanced on the bridge. The Austrian cannoneers, on the left bank,
seeing their officers in the midst of us, did not dare to fire, and
my column advanced at a quick step. Murat and I, at the head of it,
gained the left bank. All the combustibles prepared for blowing up
the bridge were thrown into the river, and my men took possession of
the batteries erected for the defence of the bridge head. The poor
devils of Austrian officers were perfectly astounded when I told
them they were my prisoners.]--
Such, as well as I can recollect, was the account given by Lannes, who
laughed immoderately in describing the consternation of the Austrian
officers when they discovered the trick that had been played upon them.
When Lannes performed this exploit he had little idea of the important
consequences which would attend, it. He had not only secured to the
remainder of the French army a sure and easy entrance to Vienna, but,
without being aware of it, he created an insurmountable impediment to
the junction of the Russian army with the Austrian corps, commanded by
Prince Charles, who, being pressed by Massena, hastily advanced into the
heart of the Hereditary States, where he fully expected a great battle
would take place.
As soon as the corps of Murat and Lannes had taken possession of Vienna
the Emperor ordered all the divisions of the army to march upon that
capital.
--[The story to told in much the same way in Theirs (tome vi, p.
260), Rupp (p. 57), and Savory (tome ii. p. 162), but as Erreurs
(tome i. p. 814) points out, Bourrienne makes an odd mistake in
believing the Thabor Bridge gave the French access to Vienna. The
capital is on the right bank, and was already in their power. The
possession of the bridge enabled them to pass over to the left bank,
and to advance towards Austerlitz before the Archduke Charles,
coming from Italy, could make his junction with the allied army.
See plan 48 of Thiers' Atlas, or 58 of Alison's. The immediate
result of the success of this rather doubtful artifice would have
been the destruction of the corps of Kutusoff; but Murat in his turn
was deceived by Bagration into belief in an armistice. In fact,
both sides at this time fell into curious errors.]--
Napoleon established his headquarters at Schoenbrunn, where he planned
his operations for compelling the corps of Prince Charles to retire to
Hungary, and also for advancing his own forces to meet the Russians.
Murat and Lannes always commanded the advanced guard during the
forced marches ordered by Napoleon, which were executed in a way truly
miraculous.
To keep up the appearance of wishing to conclude peace as soon as
reasonable propositions should be made to him, Napoleon sent for his
Minister for foreign Affairs, who speedily arrived at Vienna, and
General Savary was sent on a mission to the Emperor Alexander. The
details of this mission I have learned only from the account of it given
by the Duc de Rovigo in his apologetic Memoirs. In spite of the Duke's
eagerness to induce a belief in Napoleon's pacific disposition, the very
facts on which he supports his argument lead to the contrary conclusion.
Napoleon wished to dictate his conditions before the issue of a battle
the success of which might appear doubtful to the young Emperor of
Russia, and these conditions were such as he might impose when victory
should be declared in favour of our eagles. It must be clear to every
reflecting person that by always proposing what he knew could not be
honourably acceded to, he kept up the appearance of being a pacificator,
while at the same time he ensured to himself the pleasure of carrying on
the war.
CHAPTER III.
1805.
My functions at Hamburg--The King of Sweden at Stralsund--
My bulletin describing the situation of the Russian armies--Duroc's
recall from Berlin--General Dumouriez--Recruiting of the English in
Hanover--The daughter of M. de Marbeof and Napoleon--Treachery of
the King of Naples--The Sun of Austerlitz--Prince Dolgiorouki
Rapp's account of the battle of Austerlitz--Gerard's picture--
Eugène's marriage.
I must now relate how, in conformity with my instructions, I was
employed in Hamburg in aiding the success of the French army. I had sent
an agent to observe the Russian troops, which were advancing by forced
marches to the banks of the Elbe. This agent transmitted to me from
Gadbusch an account of the routes taken by the different columns. It was
then supposed that they would march upon Holland by the way of Bremen
and Oldenburg. On the receipt of thus intelligence the Electorate
of Hanover was evacuated by the French, and General Barbou, who had
commanded there concentrated his forces in Hamelin.
On the 2d of November 1805 the King of Sweden arrived at Stralsund. I
immediately intimated to our Government that this circumstance would
probably give a new turn to the operations of the combined army, for
hitherto the uncertainty of its movements and the successive counter-
orders afforded no possibility of ascertaining any determined plan. The
intention seemed to be, that all the Swedo-Russian troops should cross
the Elbe at the same point; viz., Lauenburg, six miles from Hamburg.
There was not on the 5th of November a single Russian on the southern
bank of the Elbe.
The first column of the grand Russian army passed through Warsaw on the
1st of November, and on the 2d the Grand-Duke Constantine was expected
with the Guards. This column, which amounted to 6000 men, was the first
that passed through Prussian Poland.
At this time we momentarily expected to see the Hanoverian army landed
on the banks of the Weser or the Elbe, augmented by some thousands of
English. Their design apparently was either to attack Holland, or to
attempt some operation on the rear of our Grand Army.
The French Government was very anxious to receive accurate accounts
of the march of the Swedo-Russian troops through Hanover, and of the
Russian army through Poland. My agents at Warsaw and Stralsund, who were
exceedingly active and intelligent, enabled me to send off a bulletin
describing the state of Hanover, the movements of the Russians and
Swedes, together with information of the arrival of English troops in
the Elbe, and a statement of the force of the combined army in Hanover,
which consisted of 15,000 Russians, 8000 Swedes, and 12,000 English;
making in all 35,000 men.
It was probably on account of this bulletin that Napoleon expressed to
Duroc his satisfaction with my services. The Emperor on recalling Duroc
from Berlin did not manifest the least apprehension respecting Prussia.
Duroc wrote to me the following letter on the occasion of his recall:
MY DEAR BOURRIENNE--The Emperor having thought my services necessary
to the army has recalled me. I yesterday had a farewell audience of
the King and Queen, who treated me very graciously. His Majesty
presented me with his portrait set in diamonds. The Emperor
Alexander will probably depart to morrow, and the Archduke Anthony
vary speedily. We cannot but hope that their presence here will
facilitate a good understanding.
(Signed) DUROC.
Whenever foreign armies were opposing France the hopes of the emigrants
revived. They falsely imagined that the powers coalesced against
Napoleon were labouring in their cause; and many of them entered the
Russian and Austrian armies. Of this number was General Dumouriez.
I received information that he had landed at Stade on the 21st of
November; but whither he intended to proceed was not known. A man named
St. Martin, whose wife lived with Dumouriez, and who had accompanied the
general from England to Stade, came to Hamburg, where he observed
great precautions for concealment, and bought two carriages, which were
immediately forwarded to Stade. St, Martin himself immediately proceeded
to the latter place. I was blamed for not having arrested this man; but
he had a commission attesting that he was in the English service, and,
as I have before mentioned; a foreign commission was a safeguard; and
the only one which could not be violated in Hamburg.
In December 1805 the English recruiting in Hanover was kept up without
interruption, and attended with extraordinary success. Sometimes a
hundred men were raised in a day. The misery prevailing in Germany,
which had been ravaged by the war, the hatred against the French, and
the high bounty that was offered enabled the English to procure as many
men as they wished.
The King of Sweden, meditating on the stir he should make in Hanover,
took with him a camp printing-press to publish the bulletins of the
grand Swedish army.--The first of these bulletins announced to Europe
that his Swedish Majesty was about to leave Stralsund; and that his
army would take up its position partly between Nelsen and Haarburg, and
partly between Domitz and the frontiers of Hamburg.
Among the anecdotes of Napoleon connected with this campaign I find
in my notes the following, which was related to me by Rapp. Some days
before his entrance into Vienna Napoleon, who was riding on horseback
along the road, dressed in his usual uniform of the chasseurs of the
Guard, met an open carriage, in which were seated a lady and a priest.
The lady was in tears, and Napoleon could not refrain from stopping to
ask her what was the cause of her distress. "Sir," she replied, for
she did not know the Emperor, "I have been pillaged at my estate,
two leagues from hence, by a party of soldiers, who have murdered my
gardener. I am going to seek your Emperor, who knows my family, to whom
he was once under great obligations."--"What is your name?" inquired
Napoleon.--"De Bunny," replied the lady. "I am the daughter of M de
Marbeuf, formerly Governor of Corsica."--"Madame," exclaimed Napoleon,
"I am the Emperor. I am delighted to have the opportunity of serving
you."--"You cannot conceive," continued Rapp, "the attention which the
Emperor showed Madame de Bunny. He consoled her, pitied her, almost
apologised for the misfortune she had sustained. 'Will you have the
goodness, Madame,' said he, 'to go and wait for me at my head-quarters?
I will join you speedily; every member of M. de Marbeuf's family has
a claim on my respect.' The Emperor immediately gave her a picquet of
chasseurs of his guard to escort her. He saw her again during the day,
when he loaded her with attentions, and liberally indemnified her for
the losses she had sustained."
For some time previous to the battle of Austerlitz the different corps
of the army intersected every part of Germany and Italy, all tending
towards Vienna as a central point. At the beginning of November the
corps commanded by Marshal Bernadotte arrived at Saltzburg at the moment
when the Emperor had advanced his headquarters to Braunau, where there
were numerous magazines of artillery and a vast quantity of provisions
of every kind. The junction of the corps commanded by Bernadotte in
Hanover with the Grand Army was a point of such high importance that
Bonaparte had directed the Marshal to come up with him as speedily as
possible, and to take the shortest road. This order obliged Bernadotte
to pass through the territory of the two Margravates.
At that time we were at peace with Naples. In September the Emperor had
concluded with Ferdinand IV. a treaty of neutrality. This treaty enabled
Carra St. Cyr, who occupied Naples, to evacuate that city and to join
Massena in Upper Italy; both reached the Grand Army on the 28th of
November. But no sooner had the troops commanded by Carra St. Cyr
quitted the Neapolitan territory than the King of Naples, influenced
by his Ministers, and above all by Queen Caroline, broke the treaty
of neutrality, ordered hostile preparations against France, opened his
ports to the enemies of the Emperor, and received into his States 12,000
Russians and 8000 English. It was on the receipt of this news that
Bonaparte, in one of his most violent bulletins, styled the Queen of
Naples a second Fredegonda. The victory of Austerlitz having given
powerful support to his threats, the fall of Naples was decided, and
shortly after his brother Joseph was seated on the Neapolitan throne.
At length came the grand day when, to use Napoleon's expression, the Sun
of Austerlitz rose. All our forces were concentrated on one point, at
about 40 leagues beyond Vienna. There remained nothing but the wreck
of the Austrian army, the corps of Prince Charles being by scientific
manoeuvres kept at a distance from the line of operations; but the
Russians alone were superior to us in numbers, and their army was almost
entirely composed of fresh troops. The most extraordinary illusion
prevailed in the enemy's camp. The north of Europe has its Gascons as
well as the south of France, and the junior portion of the Russian army
at this period assumed an absurd braggadocio tone. On the very eve of
the battle the Emperor Alexander sent one of his aides de camp, Prince
Dolgorouki, as a flag of truce to Napoleon. The Prince could not repress
his self-sufficiency even in the presence of the Emperor, and Rapp
informed me that on dismissing him the Emperor said, "If you were on
'the heights of Montmartre,' I would answer such impertinence only
by cannon-balls." This observation was very remarkable, inasmuch as
subsequent events rendered it a prophecy.
As to the battle itself, I can describe it almost as well as if I had
witnessed it, for some time after I had the pleasure of seeing my friend
Rapp, who was sent an a mission to Prussia. He gave me the following
account:
"When we arrived at Austerlitz the Russians were not aware of the
scientific plans which the Emperor had laid for drawing them upon
the ground he had marked out; and seeing our advanced guards fall
back before theirs they already considered themselves conquerors.
They supposed that their Guard alone would secure an easy triumph.
But the action commenced, and they experienced an energetic
resistance on all points. At one o'clock the victory was yet
uncertain, for they fought admirably. They wished to make a last
effort by directing close masses against our centre. Their Imperial
Guard deployed; their artillery, cavalry, and infantry marched upon
a bridge which they attacked, and this movement, which was concealed
by the rising and falling of the ground, was not observed by
Napoleon. I was at that moment near the Emperor, awaiting his
orders. We heard a well-maintained firing of musketry. The
Russians were repulsing one of our brigades. The Emperor ordered me
to take some of the Mamelukes, two squadrons of chasseurs, and one
of grenadiers of the Guard, and to go and reconnoitre the state of
things. I set off at full gallop, and soon discovered the disaster.
The Russian cavalry had penetrated our squares, and was sabring our
men. I perceived in the distance some masses of cavalry and
infantry; which formed the reserve of the Russians. At that moment
the enemy advanced to meet us, bringing with him four pieces of
artillery, and ranged himself in order of battle. I had the brave
Morland on my left, and General D'Allemagne on my right. 'Forward,
my lads!' exclaimed I to my troop. 'See how your brothers and
friends are being cut to pieces. Avenge them! avenge our flag!
Forward!' These few words roused my men. We advanced as swiftly as
our horses could carry us upon the artillery, which was taken. The
enemy's cavalry, which awaited us firmly, was repulsed by the same
shock, and fled in disorder, galloping as we did over the wrecks of
our squares. The Russians rallied but a squadron of horse
grenadiers came up to reinforce me, and thus enabled me to hold
ground against the reserves of the Russian Guard. We charged again,
and this charge was terrible. The brave Morland was killed by my
side. It was downright butchery. We were opposed man to man, and
were so mingled together that the infantry of neither one nor the
other side could venture to fire for fear of killing its own men.
At length the intrepidity of our troops overcame every obstacle, and
the Russians fled in disorder, in sight of the two Emperors of
Russia and Austria, who had stationed themselves on a height in
order to witness the battle. They saw a desperate one," said Rapp,
"and I trust they were satisfied. For my part, my dear friend, I
never spent so glorious a day. What a reception the Emperor gave me
when I returned to inform him that we had won the battle! My sword
was broken, and a wound which I received on my head was bleeding
copiously, so that I was covered with blood! He made me a General
of Division. The Russians did not return to the charge; we had
taken all their cannon and baggage, and Prince Repnin was among the
prisoners."
Thus it was that Rapp related to me this famous battle of which he was
the hero, as Kellerman had been the hero of Marengo. What now remains of
Austerlitz? The recollection, the glory, and the magnificent picture of
Gerard, the idea of which was suggested to the Emperor by the sight of
Rapp with the blood streaming from his wound.
I cannot forbear relating here a few particulars which I learned
from Rapp respecting his mission after the cure of his wound; and
the marriage of Prince Eugène to the Princess Augusta of Bavaria. The
friendship which Rapp cherished for me was of the most sincere kind.
During my disgrace he did not even conceal it from Napoleon; and whoever
knows anything of the Emperor's Court will acknowledge that that was
a greater mark of courage than the carrying of a redoubt or making the
most brilliant charge of cavalry. Rapp possessed courage of every kind,
an excellent heart, and a downright frankness, which for a time brought
him into disgrace with Napoleon. The only thing for which Rapp could be
reproached was his extreme prejudice against the nobility, which I am
convinced was the sole reason why he was not created a Duke. The Emperor
made him a Count because he wished that all his aides de camp should
have titles.
"He had been a fortnight at Schoenbrunn," said Rapp to me, "and I had
not yet resumed my duties, when the Emperor sent for me. He asked
me whether I was able to travel, and on my replying in the
affirmative, he said, 'Go then, and give an account of the battle of
Austerlitz to Marmont, and vex him for not having been at it.' I set
off, and in conformity with the instructions I had received from the
Emperor I proceeded to Gratz, where I found Marmont, who was indeed
deeply mortified at not having had a share in the great battle.
I told him, as the Emperor had directed me, that the negotiations
were commenced, but that nothing was yet concluded, and that
therefore, at all events, he must hold himself in readiness. I
ascertained the situation of his army in Styria, and the amount of
the enemy's force before him: The Emperor wished him to send a
number of spies into Hungary, and to transmit to him a detailed
report from their communications. I next proceeded to Laybach,
where I found Massena at the head of the eighth corps, and I
informed him that the Emperor wished him to march in all haste upon
Vienna, in case he should hear of the rupture of the negotiations.
I continued the itinerary marked out for me until I reached Venice,
and thence till I met the troops of Carra St. Cyr, who had received
orders to march back upon Naples as soon as the Emperor heard of the
treachery of the King of Naples and the landing of the English and
Russians. Having fulfilled these different missions I proceeded to
Klagenfurth, where I saw Marshal Ney, and I afterwards rejoined the
Emperor at Munich. There I had the pleasure of finding our friends
assembled, and among them Josephine, still as affable and amiable as
ever. How delighted I was when, an my arrival, I learned that the
Emperor had adopted Eugène. I was present at his marriage with the
Princess Augusta of Bavaria. As to me, you know I am not very fond
of fetes, and the Emperor might have dispensed with my performing
the duties of Chamberlain; Eugène had no idea of what was going on
when the Emperor sent to desire his presence at Munich with all
possible speed. He, too, remains unchanged; he is still our old
comrade. At first he was not much pleased with the idea of a
political marriage; but when he saw his bride he was quite
enchanted; and no wonder, for I assure you she is a very charming
woman."
CHAPTER IV.
1805.
Depreciation of the Bank paper--Ouvrard--His great discretion--
Bonaparte's opinion of the rich--Ouvrard's imprisonment--His
partnership with the King of Spain--His connection with Waalenberghe
and Desprez--Bonaparte's return to Paris after the campaign of
Vienna--Hasty dismissal of M. Barbe Marbois.
At the moment when the Emperor had reason to hope that the news of his
extraordinary success would animate public spirit he was informed that
considerable disquietude prevailed, and that the Bank of France was
assailed by demands for the payment of its paper, which had fallen, more
than 5 per cent. I was not ignorant of the cause of this decline. I
had been made acquainted, through the commercial correspondence between
Hamburg and Paris, with a great financial operation, planned by M.
Ouvrard, in consequence of which he was to obtain piastres from Spanish
America at a price much below the real value; and I had learned that
he was obliged to support this enterprise by the funds which he and
his partners previously employed in victualling the forces. A fresh
investment of capital was therefore necessary for this service, which,
when on a large scale, requires extensive advances, and the tardy
payment of the Treasury at that period was well known.
I was well acquainted with M. Ouvrard, and in what I am about to say I
do not think there will be found anything offensive or disagreeable to
him. I observed the greater number of the facts to which I shall refer
in their origin, and the rest I learned from M. Ouvrard himself, who,
when he visited Hamburg in 1808, communicated to me a variety of details
respecting his immense transaction with the King of Spain. Among other
things I recollect he told me that before the 18th Brumaire he was
possessed of 60,000,000, without owing a franc to any person.
This celebrated financier has been the object of great public attention.
The prodigious variations of fortune which he has experienced, the
activity of his life, the immense commercial operations in which he has
been engaged; the extent and the boldness of his enterprises, render it
necessary, in forming a judgment of M. Ouvrard, to examine his conduct
with due care and deliberation. The son of a stationer, who was able
merely through his own resources to play so remarkable a part, could be
no ordinary man. It may be said of M. Ouvrard what Beaumarchais said of
himself, that his life was really a combat. I have known him long, and
I saw much of him in his relations with Josephine. He always appeared
to me to possess great knowledge of the world, accompanied by honourable
principles, and a high degree of generosity, which added greatly to the
value of his prudence and discretion. No human power, no consideration,
not even the ingratitude of those whom he had obliged, could induce him
to disclose any sacrifice which he had made at the time when, under the
Directory, the public revenue may be said to have been always at the
disposal of the highest bidder, and when no business could be brought
to a conclusion except by him who set about it with his hands full of
money. To this security, with which M. Ouvrard impressed all official
persons who rendered him services, I attribute the facility with which
he obtained the direction of the numerous enterprises in which he
engaged, and which produced so many changes in his fortune. The
discretion of M. Ouvrard was not quite agreeable to the First Consul,
who found it impossible to extract from him the information he wanted.
He tried every method to obtain from him the names of persons to whom
he had given those kind of subsidies which in vulgar language are called
sops in the pan, and by ladies pin money. Often have I seen Bonaparte
resort to every possible contrivance to gain his object. He would
sometimes endeavour to alarm M. Ouvrard by menaces, and at other times
to flatter him by promises, but he was in no instance successful.
While we were at the Luxembourg, on, as I recollect, the 25th of January
1800, Bonaparte said to me during breakfast, "Bourrienne, my resolution
is taken. I shall have Ouvrard arrested."--"General, have you proofs
against him?"--"Proofs, indeed! He is a money-dealer, a monopoliser; we
must make him disgorge. All the contractors, the provision agents,
are rogues. How have they made their fortunes? At the expense of
the country, to be sure. I will not suffer such doings. They possess
millions, they roll in an insolent luxury, while my soldiers have
neither bread nor shoes! I will have no more of that! I intend to speak
on the business to-day in the Council, and we shall see what can be
done."
I waited with impatience for his return from the Council to know what
had passed. "Well, General?" said I "The order is given." On hearing
this I became anxious about the fate of M. Ouvrard, who was thus to
be treated more like a subject of the Grand Turk than a citizen of
the Republic; but I soon learned that the order had not been executed
because he could not be found.
Next day I learned that a person, whom I shall not name, who was present
at the Council, and who probably was under obligations to Ouvrard, wrote
him a note in pencil to inform him of the vote for his arrest carried
by the First Consul. This individual stepped out for a moment and
despatched his servant with the note to Ouvrard. Having thus escaped the
writ of arrest, Ouvrard, after a few days had passed over, reappeared,
and surrendered himself prisoner. Bonaparte was at first furious on
learning that he had got out of the way; but on hearing that Ouvrard had
surrendered himself he said to me, "The fool! he does not know what is
awaiting him! He wishes to make the public believe that he has nothing
to fear; that his hands are clean. But he is playing a bad game; he will
gain nothing in that way with me. All talking is nonsense. You may be
sure, Bourrienne, that when a man has so much money he cannot have
got it honestly, and then all those fellows are dangerous with their
fortunes. In times of revolution no man ought to have more than
3,000,000 francs, and that is a great deal too much."
Before going to prison Ouvrard took care to secure against all the
searches of the police any of his papers which might have committed
persons with whom he had dealings; and I believe that there were
individuals connected with the police itself who had good reason for
not regretting the opportunity which M. Ouvrard had taken for exercising
this precaution. Seals, however, were put upon his papers; but on
examining them none of the information Bonaparte so much desired to
obtain was found. Nevertheless on one point his curiosity was satisfied,
for on looking over the documents he found from some of them that Madame
Bonaparte had been borrowing money from Ouvrard.
As Ouvrard had a great number of friends they bestirred themselves to
get some person of influence to speak to the First Consul in his favour.
But this was a commission no one was willing to undertake; because,
prejudiced as Bonaparte was, the least hint of the kind would have
appeared to him to be dictated by private interest. Berthier was very
earnestly urged to interfere, but he replied, "That is impossible. He
would say that it was underhand work to get money for Madame Visconti."
I do not recollect to what circumstance Ouvrard was indebted for
his liberty, but it is certain that his captivity did not last
long. Sometime after he had left his prison Bonaparte asked him for
12,000,000, which M. Ouvrard refused.
On his accession to the Consulate Bonaparte found M. Ouvrard contractor
for supplying the Spanish fleet under the command of Admiral Massaredo.
This business introduced him to a correspondence with the famous Godoy,
Prince of the Peace. The contract lasted three years, and M. Ouvrard
gained by it a net profit of 15,000,000. The money was payable in
piastres, at the rate of 3 francs and some centimes each, though the
piastre was really worth 5 francs 40 centimes. But to recover it at this
value it was necessary for M. Ouvrard to go and get the money in Mexico.
This he was much inclined to do, but he apprehended some obstacle on the
part of the First Consul, and, notwithstanding his habitual shrewdness,
he became the victim of his over-precaution. On his application M. de
Talleyrand undertook to ask the First Consul for authority to give him a
passport. I was in the cabinet at the time, and I think I still hear
the dry and decided "No," which was all the answer M. de Talleyrand
obtained. When we were alone the First Consul said to me, "Do you
not see, Bourrienne, this Ouvrard must have made a good thing of his
business with the Prince of the Peace? But the fool! Why did he get
Talleyrand to ask me for a passport? That is the very thing that raised
my suspicion. Why did he not apply for a passport as every one else
does? Have I the giving of them? He is an ass; so much the worse for
him."
I was sorry for Ouvrard's disappointment, and I own none the less so
because he had intimated his willingness to give me a share in the
business he was to transact its Spain; and which was likely to be very
profitable. His brother went to Mexico in his stead.
In 1802 a dreadful scarcity afflicted France. M. Ouvrard took upon
himself, in concert with Wanlerberghe, the task of importing foreign
grain to prevent the troubles which might otherwise have been expected.
In payment of the grain the foreign houses who sent it drew upon
Ouvrard and Wanlerberghe for 26,000,000 francs in Treasury bills, which,
according to the agreement with the Government, were to be paid. But
when the bills of the foreign houses became due there was no money in
the Treasury, and payment was refused. After six months had elapsed
payment was offered, but on condition that the Government should
retain half the profit of the commission! This Ouvrard and Wanlerberghe
refused, upon which the Treasury thought it most economical to
pay nothing, and the debt remained unsettled. Notwithstanding this
transaction Ouvrard and Wanlerberghe engaged to victual the navy, which
they supplied for six years and three months. After the completion of
these different services the debt due to them amounted to 68,000,000.
In consequence of the long delay of, payment by the Treasury the
disbursements for supplies of grain amounted at least to more than
40,000,000; and the difficulties which arose had a serious effect on the
credit of the principal dealers with those persons who supplied
them. The discredit spread and gradually reached the Treasury, the
embarrassments of which augmented with the general alarm. Ouvrard,
Wanlerberghe, and Seguin were the persons whose capital and credit
rendered them most capable of relieving the Treasury, and they agreed
to advance for that purpose 102,000,000, in return for which they were
allowed bonds of the Receivers-General to the amount of 150,000,000. M.
Desprez undertook to be the medium through which the 102,000,000 were to
be paid into the Treasury, and the three partners transferred the bands
to him.
Spain had concluded a treaty with France, by which she was bound to pay
a subsidy of 72,000,000 francs, and 32,000,000 had become due without
any payment being made: It was thought advisable that Ouvrard should
be sent to Madrid to obtain a settlement, but he was afraid that his
business in Paris would suffer during his absence, and especially the
transaction in which he was engaged with Desprez. The Treasury satisfied
him on this point by agreeing to sanction the bargain with Desprez, and
Ouvrard proceeded to Madrid. It was on this occasion he entered into the
immense speculation for trading with Spanish America.
Spain wished to pay the 32,000,000 which were due to France as soon
as possible, but her coffers were empty, and goodwill does not ensure
ability; besides, in addition to the distress of the Government, there
was a dreadful famine in Spain. In this state of things Ouvrard proposed
to the Spanish Government to pay the debt due to France, to import
a supply of corn, and to advance funds for the relief of the Spanish
Treasury. For this he required two conditions. (1.) The exclusive right
of trading with America. (2.) The right of bringing from America on his
own account all the specie belonging to the Crown, with the power of
making loans guaranteed and payable by the Spanish Treasuries.
About the end of July 1805 the embarrassment which sometime before had
begun to be felt in the finances of Europe was alarmingly augmented.
Under these circumstances it was obviously the interest of Ouvrard
to procure payment as soon as possible of the 32,000,000 which he had
advanced for Spain to the French Treasury. He therefore redoubled his
efforts to bring his negotiation to a favourable issue, and at last
succeeded in getting a deed of partnership between himself and Charles
IV. which contained the following stipulation:--"Ouvrard and Company are
authorised to introduce into the ports of the New World every kind
of merchandise and production necessary for the consumption of
those countries, and to export from the Spanish Colonies, during the
continuance of the war with England; all the productions and all specie
derivable from them." This treaty was only to be in force during the war
with England, and it was stipulated that the profits arising from the
transactions of the Company should be equally divided between Charles
IV. and the rest of the Company; that is to say, one-half to the King
and the other half to his partners.
The consequences of this extraordinary partnership between a King and
a private individual remain to be stated. On the signing of the deed
Ouvrard received drafts from the Treasury of Madrid to the extent of
52,500,000 piastres; making 262,500,000 francs; but the piastres were to
be brought from America, while the terms of the treaty required that the
urgent wants of the Spanish Government should be immediately supplied,
and, above all, the progress of the famine checked. To accomplish this
object fresh advances to an enormous amount were necessary, for M.
Ouvrard had to begin by furnishing 2,000,000 of quintals of grain at the
rate of 26 francs the quintal. Besides all this, before he could realise
a profit and be reimbursed for the advances he had made to the Treasury
of Paris, he had to get the piastres conveyed from America to Europe.
After some difficulty the English Government consented to facilitate
the execution of the transaction by furnishing four frigates for the
conveyance of the piastres.
Ouvrard had scarcely completed the outline of his extraordinary
enterprise when the Emperor suddenly broke up his camp at Boulogne to
march to Germany. It will readily be conceived that Ouvrard's interests
then imperatively required his presence at Madrid; but he was recalled
to Paris by the Minister of the Treasury, who wished to adjust his
accounts. The Emperor wanted money for the war on which he was entering,
and to procure it for the Treasury Ouvrard was sent to Amsterdam to
negotiate with the House of Hope. He succeeded, and Mr. David Parish
became the Company's agent.
Having concluded this business Ouvrard returned in all haste to
Madrid; but in the midst of the most flattering hopes and most gigantic
enterprises he suddenly found himself threatened with a dreadful
crisis. M. Desprez, as has been stated, had, with the concurrence of the
Treasury, been allowed to take upon himself all the risk of executing
the treaty, by which 150,000,000 were to be advanced for the year 1804,
and 400,000,000 for the year 1805. Under the circumstances which had
arisen the Minister of the Treasury considered himself entitled to call
upon Ouvrard to place at his disposal 10,000,000 of the piastres which
he had received from Spain. The Minister at the same time informed him
that he had made arrangements on the faith of this advance, which he
thought could not be refused at so urgent a moment.
The embarrassment of the Treasury, and the well-known integrity of the
Minister, M. de Barbe Marbois, induced Ouvrard to remit the 10,000,000
piastres. But a few days after he had forwarded the money a Commissioner
of the Treasury arrived at Madrid with a ministerial despatch, in which
Ouvrard was requested to deliver to the Commissioner all the assets he
could command, and to return immediately to Paris.
The Treasury was then in the greatest difficulty, and a general alarm
prevailed. This serious financial distress was occasioned by the
following circumstances. The Treasury had, by a circular, notified to
the Receivers-General that Desprez was the holder of their bonds. They
were also authorised to transmit to him all their disposable funds, to
be placed to their credit in an account current. Perhaps the giving
of this authority was a great error; but, be that as it may,
Desprez, encouraged by the complaisance of the Treasury, desired the
Receivers-General to transmit to him all the sums they could procure for
payment of interest under 8 per cent., promising to allow them a higher
rate of interest. As the credit of the house of Desprez stood high, it
may be easily conceived that on such conditions the Receivers-General,
who were besides secured by the authority of the Treasury, would enter
eagerly into the proposed plan. In short, the Receivers-General soon
transmitted very considerable sums. Chests of money arrived daily from
every point of France. Intoxicated by this success, Desprez engaged in
speculations which in his situation were extremely imprudent. He lent
more than 50,000,000 to the merchants of Paris, which left him no
command of specie. Being obliged to raise money, he deposited with the
Bank the bonds of the Receivers-General which had been consigned to
him, but which were already discharged by the sums transmitted to their
credit in the account current. The Bank, wishing to be reimbursed for
the money advanced to Desprez, applied to the Receivers-General whose
bonds were held an security. This proceeding had become necessary on the
part of the Bank, as Desprez, instead of making his payments in specie,
sent in his acceptances. The Directors of the Bank, who conducted that
establishment with great integrity and discretion, began to be alarmed,
and required Desprez to explain the state of his affairs. The suspicions
of the Directors became daily stronger, and were soon shared by the
public. At last the Bank was obliged to stop payment, and its notes were
soon at a discount of 12 per cent.
The Minister of the Treasury, dismayed, as well may be supposed, at such
a state of things during the Emperor's absence, convoked a Council, at
which Joseph Bonaparte presided, and to which Desprez and Wanlerberghe
were summoned. Ouvrard being informed of this financial convulsion
made all possible haste from Madrid, and on his arrival at Paris sought
assistance from Amsterdam. Hope's house offered to take 15,000,000
piastres at the rate of 3 francs 75 centimes each. Ouvrard having
engaged to pay the Spanish Government only 3 francs, would very
willingly have parted with them at that rate, but his hasty departure
from Madrid, and the financial events at Paris, affected his relations
with the Spanish Treasury, and rendered it impossible for him to afford
any support to the Treasury of France; thus the alarm continued, until
the news of the battle of Austerlitz and the consequent hope of peace
tranquillised the public mind. The bankruptcy of Desprez was dreadful;
it was followed by the failure of many houses, the credit of which was
previously undoubted.
To temper the exultation which victory was calculated to excite, the
news of the desperate situation of the Treasury and the Bank reached the
Emperor on the day after the battle of Austerlitz. The alarming accounts
which he received hastened his return to France; and on the very evening
on which he arrived in Paris he pronounced, while ascending the stairs
of the Tuileries, the dismissal of M. de Barbs Marbois. This Minister
had made numerous enemies by the strict discharge of his duty, and
yet, notwithstanding his rigid probity, he sunk under the accusation of
having endangered the safety of the State by weakness of character. At
this period even Madame de Stael said, in a party where the firmness of
M. Barbs Marbois was the topic of conversation--"What, he inflexible? He
is only a reed bronzed!" But whatever may be the opinion entertained
of the character of this Minister, it is certain that Napoleon's rage
against him was unbounded. Such was the financial catastrophe which
occurred during the campaign of Vienna; but all was not over with
Ouvrard, and in so great a confusion of affairs it was not to be
expected that the Imperial hand, which was not always the hand of
justice, should not make itself somewhere felt.
In the course of the month of February 1806 the Emperor issued two
decrees, in which he declared Ouvrard, Wanlerberghe, and Michel,
contractors for the service of 1804, and Desprez their agent, debtors
to the amount of 87,000,000, which they had misapplied in private
speculations, and in transactions with Spain "for their personal
interests." Who would not suppose from this phrase that Napoleon had
taken no part whatever in the great financial operation between Spain
and South America? He was, however, intimately acquainted with it,
and was himself really and personally interested. But whenever any
enterprise was unsuccessful he always wished to deny all connection with
it. Possessed of title-deeds made up by himself--that is to say, his
own decrees--the Emperor seized all the piastres and other property
belonging to the Company, and derived from the transaction great
pecuniary advantage,--though such advantage never could be regarded by
a sovereign as any compensation for the dreadful state into which the
public credit had been brought.
CHAPTER V
1805-1806.
Declaration of Louis XVIII.--Dumouriez watched--News of a spy--
Remarkable trait of courage and presence of mind--Necessity of
vigilance at Hamburg--The King of Sweden--His bulletins--Doctor Gall
--Prussia covets Hamburg--Projects on Holland--Negotiations for
peace--Mr. Fox at the head of the British Cabinet--Intended
assassination of Napoleon--Propositions made through Lord Yarmouth
--Proposed protection of the Hanse towns--Their state--
Aggrandisement of the Imperial family--Neither peace nor war--
Sebastiani's mission to Constantinople--Lord Lauderdale at Paris,
and failure of the negotiations--Austria despoiled--Emigrant
pensions--Dumouriez's intrigues--Prince of Mecklenburg-Schwerin--
Loizeau.
I have been somewhat diffuse respecting the vast enterprises of M.
Ouvrard, and on the disastrous state of the finances during the campaign
of Vienna. Now, if I may so express myself, I shall return to the
Minister Plenipotentiary's cabinet, where several curious transactions
occurred. The facts will not always be given in a connected series,
because there was no more relation between the reports which I received
on a great variety of subjects than there is in the pleading of the
barristers who succeed each other in a court of justice.
On the 2d of January 1806 I learned that many houses in Hamburg had
received by post packets, each containing four copies of a declaration
of Louis XVIII. Dumouriez had his carriage filled with copies of this
declaration when he passed through Brunswick; and in that small town
alone more than 3000 were distributed. The size of this declaration
rendered its transmission by post very easy, even in France.
All my letters from the Minister recommended that I should keep a strict
watch over the motions of Dumouriez; but his name was now as seldom
mentioned as if he had ceased to exist. The part he acted seemed to be
limited to disseminating pamphlets more or less insignificant.
It is difficult to conceive the great courage and presence of mind
sometimes found in men so degraded as are the wretches who fill the
office of spies. I had an agent amongst the Swedo-Russians, named
Chefneux, whom I had always found extremely clever and correct.
Having for a long time received no intelligence from him I became very
anxious,--an anxiety which was not without foundation. He had, in fact,
been arrested at Lauenburg, and conducted, bound, tied hand and foot,
by some Cossacks to Luneburg. There was found on him a bulletin which he
was about to transmit to me, and he only escaped certain death by having
in his possession a letter of recommendation from a Hamburg merchant
well known to M. Alopaeus, the Russian Minister in that city. This
precaution, which I had taken before he set out, saved his life.
M. Alopaeus replied to the merchant that, in consequence of his
recommendation the spy should be sent back safe and sound, but that
another time neither the recommended nor the recommender should escape
so easily. Notwithstanding this, Chefneux would certainly have paid with
his head for the dangerous business in which he was embarked but for the
inconceivable coolness he displayed under the most trying circumstances.
Though the bulletin which was found upon him was addressed to M.
Schramm, merchant, they strongly suspected that it was intended for me.
They demanded of the prisoner whether he knew me; to which he boldly
replied that he had never seen me. They endeavoured, by every possible
means, to extort a confession from him, but without success. His
repeated denials, joined to the name of M. Schramm, created doubts in
the minds of his interrogators; they hesitated lest they should condemn
an innocent man. They, however, resolved to make a last effort to
discover the truth, and Chefneux, condemned to be shot, was conducted to
the plain of Luneburg. His eyes were bandaged, and he heard the command
of preparation given to the platoon, which was to fire upon him; at
that moment a man approaching him whispered in his ear, in a tone
of friendship and compassion, "They are going to fire; but I am your
friend; only acknowledge that you know M. de Bourrienne and you are
safe."--"No," replied Chefneux in a firm tone; "if I said so I should
tell a falsehood." Immediately the bandage was removed from his
eyes, and he was set at liberty. It would be difficult to cite a more
extraordinary instance of presence of mind.
Much as I execrate the system of espionage I am nevertheless compelled
to admit that the Emperor was under the necessity of maintaining the
most unremitting vigilance amidst the intrigues which were going forward
in the neighbourhood of Hamburg, especially when the English, Swedes,
and Russians were in arms, and there were the strongest grounds for
suspecting the sincerity of Prussia.
On the 5th of January 1806 the King of Sweden arrived before the gates
of Hamburg. The Senate of that city, surrounded on all sides by
English, Swedish, and Russian troops, determined to send a deputation to
congratulate the Swedish monarch, who, however, hesitated so long about
receiving this homage that fears were entertained lest his refusal
should be followed by some act of aggression. At length, however, the
deputies were admitted, and they returned sufficiently well satisfied
with their reception.
The King of Sweden then officially declared, "That all the arrangements
entered into with relation to Hanover had no reference to hint, as the
Swedish army was under the immediate command of its august sovereign."
The King, with his 6000 men, seemed inclined to play the part of the
restorer of Germany, and to make himself the Don Quixote of the treaty
of Westphalia. He threatened the Senate of Hamburg with the whole weight
of his anger, because on my application the colours which used to be
suspended over the door of the house for receiving Austrian recruits had
been removed. The poor Senate of Hamburg was kept in constant alarm by
so dangerous a neighbour.
The King of Sweden had his headquarters at Boetzenburg, on the northern
bank of the Elbe. In order to amuse himself he sent for Dr. Gall, who
was at Hamburg, where he delivered lectures on his system of phrenology,
which was rejected in the beginning by false science and prejudice,
and afterwards adopted in consequence of arguments, in my opinion,
unanswerable. I had the pleasure of living some time with Dr. Gall, and
I owe to the intimacy which subsisted between us the honour he conferred
on me by the dedication of one of his works. I said to him, when he
departed for the headquarters of the King of Sweden, "My dear doctor,
you will certainly discover the bump of vanity." The truth is, that had
the doctor at that period been permitted to examine the heads of the
sovereigns of Europe they would have afforded very curious craniological
studies.
It was not the King of Sweden alone who gave uneasiness to Hamburg; the
King of Prussia threatened to seize upon that city, and his Minister
publicly declared that it would very soon belong to his master. The
Hamburgers were deeply afflicted at this threat; in fact, next to the
loss of their independence, their greatest misfortune would have been
to fall under the dominion of Prussia, as the niggardly fiscal system
of the Prussian Government at that time would have proved extremely
detrimental to a commercial city. Hanover, being evacuated by the French
troops, had become a kind of recruiting mart for the British army, where
every man who presented himself was enrolled, to complete the Hanoverian
legion which was then about to be embodied. The English scattered gold
by handfuls. One hundred and fifty carriages, each with six horses,
were employed in this service, which confirmed me in the belief I had
previously entertained, that the English were to join with the Russians
in an expedition against Holland. The aim of the Anglo-Russians was
to make a diversion which might disconcert the movements of the French
armies in Germany, the allies being at that time unacquainted with the
peace concluded at Presburg. Not a moment was therefore to be lost in
uniting the whole of our disposable force for the defence of Holland;
but it is not of this expedition that I mean to speak at present. I only
mention it to afford some idea of our situation at Hamburg, surrounded,
as we then were, by Swedish, English, and Russian troops. At this period
the Russian Minister at Hamburg, M. Forshmann, became completely insane;
his conduct had been more injurious than advantageous to his Government.
He was replaced by M. Alopcous, the Russian Minister at Berlin; and
they could not have exchanged a fool for a more judicious and able
diplomatist.
I often received from the Minister of Marine letters said packets to
transmit to the Isle of France,(Mauritius) of which the Emperor was
extremely anxious to retain possession; and I had much trouble in
finding any vessels prepared for that colony by which I could forward
the Minister's communications. The death of Pitt and the appointment
of Fox as his successor had created a hope of peace. It was universally
known that Mr. Fox, in succeeding to his office, did not inherit the
furious hatred of the deceased Minister against France and her Emperor.
There moreover existed between Napoleon and Mr. Fox a reciprocal
esteem, and the latter had shown himself really disposed to treat. The
possibility of concluding a peace had always been maintained by that
statesman when he was in opposition to Mr. Pitt; and Bonaparte himself
might have been induced, from the high esteem he felt for Mr. Fox, to
make concessions from which he would before have recoiled. But there
were two obstacles, I may say almost insurmountable ones. The first was
the conviction on the part of England that any peace which might be
made would only be a truce, and that Bonaparte would never seriously
relinquish his desire of universal dominion. On the other side, it was
believed that Napoleon had formed the design of invading England. Had he
been able to do so it would have been less with the view of striking
a blow at her commerce and destroying her maritime power, than of
annihilating the liberty of the press, which he had extinguished in his
own dominions. The spectacle of a free people, separated only by six
leagues of sea, was, according to him, a seductive example to the
French, especially to those among them who bent unwillingly under his
yoke.
At an early period of Mr. Fox's ministry a Frenchman made the
proposition to him of assassinating the Emperor, of which information
was immediately transmitted to M. de Talleyrand. In this despatch the
Minister said that, though the laws of England did not authorise the
permanent detention of any individual not convicted of a crime, he had
on this occasion taken it on himself to secure the miscreant till such
time as the French Government could be put on its guard against his
attempts. Mr. Fox said in his letter that he had at first done
this individual "the honour to take him for a spy," a phrase which
sufficiently indicated the disgust with which the British Minister
viewed him.
This information was the key which opened the door to new negotiations.
M. de Talleyrand was ordered to express, in reply to the communication
of Mr. Fox, that the Emperor was sensibly affected at the index it
afforded of the principles by which the British Cabinet was actuated.
Napoleon did not limit himself to this diplomatic courtesy; he deemed
it a favourable occasion to create a belief that he was actuated by a
sincere love of peace. He summoned to Paris Lord Yarmouth, one of the
most distinguished amongst the English who had been so unjustly detained
prisoners at Verdun on the rupture of the peace of Amiens. He gave his
lordship instructions to propose to the British Government a new form of
negotiations, offering to guarantee to England the Cape of Good Hope
and Malta. Some have been inclined from this concession to praise the
moderation of Bonaparte; others to blame him for offering to resign
these two places, as if the Cape and Malta could be put in competition
with the title of Emperor, the foundation of the Kingdom of Italy, the
acquisition of Genoa and of all the Venetian States, the dethronement of
the King of Naples and the gift of his kingdom to Joseph, and finally,
the new partition of Germany. These transactions, of which Bonaparte
said not a word, and from which he certainly had no intention of
departing, were all long after the treaty of Amiens.
Every day brought with it fresh proofs of insatiable ambition. In fact,
Napoleon longed to obtain possession of the Hanse Towns. I was, however,
in the first place, merely charged to make overtures to the Senates of
each of these towns, and to point out the advantages they would derive
from the protection of Napoleon in exchange for the small sacrifice
of 6,000,000 francs in his favour. I had on this subject numerous
conferences with the magistrates: they thought the sum too great,
representing, to me that the city was not so rich as formerly, because
their commerce had been much curtailed by the war; in short, the Senate
declared that, with the utmost goodwill, their circumstances would not
permit them to accept the "generous proposal" of the Emperor.
I was myself, indeed, at a loss to conceive how the absurdity of
employing me to make such a proposition was overlooked, for I had,
really no advantage to offer in return to the Hanse Towns. Against
whom did Bonaparte propose to protect them? The truth is, Napoleon then
wished to seize these towns by direct aggression, which, however, he was
not able to accomplish until four years afterwards.
During five years I witnessed the commercial importance of these cities,
and especially of Hamburg. Its geographical situation, on a great river
navigable by large vessels to the city, thirty leagues from the mouth
of the Elbe; the complete independence it enjoyed; its municipal
regulations and paternal government, were a few amongst the many causes
which had raised Hamburg to its enviable height of prosperity. What, in
fact, was the population of these remnants of the grand Hanseatic League
of the Middle Ages? The population of Hamburg when I was there amounted
to 90,000, and that of its small surrounding territory to 25,000. Bremen
had 36,000 inhabitants, and 9000 in its territory; the city of Lübeck,
which is smaller and its territory a little more extensive than that of
Bremen, contained a population of 24,000 souls within and 16,000 without
the walls. Thus the total population of the Hanse Towns amounted to only
200,000 individuals; and yet this handful of men carried on an extensive
commerce, and their ships ploughed every sea, from the shores of India
to the frozen regions of Greenland.
The Emperor arrived at Paris towards the end of January 1806. Having
created kings in Germany he deemed the moment favourable for surrounding
his throne with new princes. It was at this period that he created
Murat, Grand Duke of Cleves and Berg; Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte-Corvo;
M. de Talleyrand, Duke of Benevento; and his two former colleagues,
Cambacérès and Lebrun, Dukes of Parma and Piacenza. He also gave to his
sister Pauline, a short time after her second marriage with the Prince
Borghese, the title of Duchess of Guastalla. Strange events! who could
then have foreseen that the duchy of Cambacérès would become the refuge
of a Princess of Austria, the widowed wife of Napoleon Bonaparte? In the
midst of the prosperity of the Imperial family, when the eldest of the
Emperor's brothers had ascended the throne of Naples, when Holland
was on the eve of being offered to Louis, and Jerome had exchanged his
legitimate wife for the illegitimate throne of Westphalia, the Imperial
pillow was still far from being free from anxiety. Hostilities did not
actually exist with the Continental powers; but this momentary state of
repose lacked the tranquillity of peace. France was at war with
Russia and England, and the aspect of the Continent presented great
uncertainty, while the treaty of Vienna had only been executed in part.
In the meantime Napoleon turned his eyes towards the East. General
Sebastiani was sent to Constantinople. The measures be pursued and his
judicious conduct justified the choice of the Emperor. He was adroit and
conciliating, and peace with Turkey was the result of his mission. The
negotiations with England did not terminate so happily, although, after
the first overtures made to Lord Yarmouth, the Earl of Lauderdale
had been sent to Paris by Mr. Fox. In fact, these negotiations wholly
failed. The Emperor had drawn enormous sums from Austria, without
counting the vases, statues, and pictures. With which he decorated the
Louvre, and the bronze with which he clothed the column of the Place
Vendome,--in my opinion the finest monument of his reign and the most
beautiful one in Paris. As Austria was exhausted all the contributions
imposed on her could not be paid in cash, and they gave the Emperor
bills in payment. I received one for about 7,000,000 on Hamburg on
account of the stipulations of the treaty of Presburg.
The affairs of the Bourbon Princes became more and more unfavourable,
and their finances, as well as their chances of success, were so much
diminished that about this period it was notified to the emigrants in
Brunswick that the pretender (Louis XVIII.) had no longer the means of
continuing their pensions. This produced great consternation amongst
those emigrants, many of whom had no other means of existence; and
notwithstanding their devotion to the cause of royalty they found a
pension very useful in strengthening their zeal.
--[When Louis XVIII. returned to France, and Fouché was his Minister
of Police, the King asked Fouché whether during his (the King's)
exile, had not set spies over him, and who they were. Fouché
hesitated to reply, but the King insisting he said: "If your Majesty
presses for an answer, it was the Duc de Blacas to whom this matter
was confided."--"And how much did you pay him?" said the King.
"Deux cents mille livres de rents, Sire."--"Ah, so!" said the King,
"then he has played fair; we went halves."--Henry Greville's Diary,
p. 430.]--
Amongst those emigrants was one whose name will occupy a certain place
in history; I mean Dumouriez, of whom I have already spoken, and who had
for some time employed himself in distributing pamphlets. He was then at
Stralsund; and it was believed that the King of Sweden would give him
a command. The vagrant life of this general, who ran everywhere hegging
employment from the enemies of his country without being able to obtain
it, subjected him to general ridicule; in fact, he was everywhere
despised.
To determine the difficulties which had arisen with regard to Holland,
which Dumouriez dreamed of conquering with an imaginary army, and being
discontented besides with the Dutch for not rigorously excluding English
vessels from their ports, the Emperor constituted the Batavian territory
a kingdom under his brother Louis. When I notified to the States of the
circle of Lower Saxony the accession of Louis Bonaparte to the throne of
Holland, and the nomination of Cardinal Fesch as coadjutor and successor
of the Arch-chancellor of the Germanic Empire, along with their official
communications, the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was the only member of
the circle who forebore to reply, and I understood he had applied to the
Court of Russia to know "whether" and "how" he should reply. At the
same time he made known to the Emperor the marriage of his daughter,
the Princess Charlotte Frederica, with Prince Christian Frederick of
Denmark.
At this period it would have been difficult to foresee the way in which
this union would terminate. The Prince was young and handsome, and of an
amiable disposition, which seemed to indicate that he would prove a good
husband. As for the Princess, she was as beautiful as love; but she was
heedless and giddy; in fact, she was a spoiled child. She adored her
husband, and during several years their union proved happy. I had the
honour of knowing them at the period when the Duke of Mecklenburg,
with his family, sought refuge at Altona. Before leaving that town the
Duchess of Mecklenburg, a Princess of Saxony, paid a visit to Madame de
Bourrienne and loaded her with civilities. This Princess was perfectly
amiable, and was therefore generally regretted when, two years
afterwards, death snatched her from her family. Before leaving Altona
the Duke of Mecklenburg gave some parties by way of bidding adieu to
Holstein, where he had been so kindly received; and I can never forget
the distinguished reception and many kindnesses Madame de Bourrienne and
myself received from that illustrious family.
It consisted of the hereditary Prince, so distinguished by his talents
and acquirements (he was at that time the widower of a Grand Duchess
of Russia, a sister of the Emperor Alexander), of Prince Gustavus, so
amiable and graceful, and of Princess Charlotte and her husband, the
Prince Royal of Denmark.
This happy couple were far from foreseeing that in two years they
would be separated for ever. The Princess was at this period in all the
splendour of her beauty; several fetes were given on her account on
the banks of the Elbe, at which the Prince always opened the ball
with Madame de Bourrienne. Notwithstanding her amiability the Princess
Charlotte was no favourite at the Danish Court. Intrigues were formed
against her. I know not whether any foundation existed for the calumnies
spread to her disadvantage, but the Court dames accused her of great
levity of conduct, which, true or false, obliged her husband to separate
from her; and at the commencement of 1809 he sent her to Altona,
attended by a chamberlain and a maid of honour. On her arrival she was
in despair; hers was not a silent grief, for she related her story to
every one. This unfortunate woman really attracted pity, as she shed
tears for her son, three years of age, whom she was doomed never again
to behold. But her natural levity returned; she did not always maintain
the reserve suitable to her rank, and some months afterwards was sent
into Jutland, where I believe she still lives.
The enemies of the French Government did not confine themselves to
writing and publishing invectives against it. More than one wretch was
ready to employ daggers against the Emperor. Among this number was a
man named Louis Loizeau, recently arrived from London. He repaired to
Altona, there to enjoy the singular privilege which that city afforded
of sheltering all the ruffians, thieves, and bankrupts who fled from the
justice of their own Governments. On the 17th of July Loizeau presented
himself to Comte de Gimel, who resided at Altona, as the agent of
the Comte de Lille. He offered to repair to Paris and assassinate the
Emperor. Comte de Gimel rejected the proposal with indignation; and
replied, that if he had no other means of serving the Bourbons than
cowardly assassination he might go elsewhere and find confederates.
This fact, which was communicated to me by a friend of M. de Gimel,
determined me to arrest Loizeau. Not being warranted, however, to take
this step at Altona, I employed a trusty agent to keep watch, and draw
him into a quarrel the moment he should appear on the Hamburg side of a
public walk which divides that city from Altona, and deliver him up
to the nearest Hamburg guard-house. Loizeau fell into the snare; but
finding that he was about to be conducted from the guardhouse to the
prison of Hamburg, and that it was at my request he had been arrested,
he hastily unloosed his cravat, and tore with his teeth the papers it
contained, part of which he swallowed. He also endeavoured to tear some
other papers which were concealed under his arm, but was prevented by
the guard. Furious at this disappointment, he violently resisted the
five soldiers who had him in custody, and was not secured until he had
been slightly wounded. His first exclamation on entering prison was, "I
am undone!" Loizeau was removed to Paris, and, though I am ignorant of
the ultimate fate of this wretch, I am pretty certain that Fouché would
take effectual means to prevent him from doing any further mischief.
CHAPTER VI.
1806.
Menaces of Prussia--Offer for restoring Hanover to England--Insolent
ultimatum--Commencement of hostilities between France and Prussia--
Battle of Auerstadt--Death of the Duke of Brunswick--Bernadotte in
Hamburg--Davonet and Bernadotte--The Swedes at Lübeck--Major Amiel--
Service rendered to the English Minister at Hamburg--My appointment
of Minister for the King of Naples--New regulation of the German
post-office--The Confederation of the North--Devices of the Hanse
Towns--Occupation of Hamburg in the name of the Emperor--Decree of
Berlin--The military governors of Hamburg--Brune, Michaud, and
Bernadotte.
The moment now approached when war was about to be renewed in Germany,
and in proportion as the hopes of peace diminished Prussia redoubled
her threats, which were inspired by the recollection of the deeds of the
great Frederick. The idea of peace was hateful to Prussia. Her measures,
which till now had been sufficiently moderate, suddenly assumed a
menacing aspect on learning that the Minister of the King of England had
declared in Parliament that France had consented to the restitution of
Hanover. The French Ministry intimated to the Prussian Government that
this was a preliminary step towards a general peace, and that a large
indemnity would be granted in return. But the King of Prussia, who was
well informed, and convinced that the House of Hanover clung to this
ancient domain, which gave to England a certain preponderance in
Germany, considered himself trifled with, and determined on war.
Under these circumstances Lord Lauderdale was recalled from Paris by his
Government. War continued with England, and was about to commence with
Prussia. The Cabinet of Berlin sent an ultimatum which could scarcely
be regarded in any other light than a defiance, and from the well-known
character of Napoleon we may judge of his irritation at this ultimatum.
--[The severity with which Bonaparte treated the press may be
inferred from the case of Palm the publisher. In 1808 Johann
Phillip Palm, of Nuremberg, was shot by Napoleon's order for issuing
a pamphlet against the rule of the French in Germany.]--
The Emperor, after his stay of eight months in Paris passed in abortive
negotiations for peace, set out on the 25th of September for the Rhine.
Hostilities commenced on the 10th of October 1806 between France and
Prussia, and I demanded of the Senate that a stop should be put to the
Prussians recruiting. The news of a great victory gained by the Emperor
over the Prussians on the 14th of October reached Hamburg on the 19th,
brought by some fugitives, who gave such exaggerated accounts of
the loss of the French army that it was not until the arrival of the
official despatches on the 28th of October that we knew whether to mourn
or to rejoice at the victory of Jena.
The Duke of Brunswick, who was dangerously wounded at the battle of
Auerstadt, arrived on the 29th of October at Altona.--[This Prince
was in the seventy-second year of his age, and extremely infirm.]--His
entrance into that city afforded a striking example of the vicissitudes
of fortune. That Prince entered Altona on a wretched litter, borne by
ten men, without officers, without domestics, followed by a troop of
vagabonds and children, who were drawn together by curiosity. He was
lodged in a wretched inn, and so much worn out by fatigue and the pain
of his eyes that on the day after his arrival a report of his death very
generally prevailed. Doctor Unzer was immediately sent for to attend the
unfortunate Duke, who, during the few days that he survived his wounds,
saw no one else except his wife, who arrived on the 1st of November. He
expired on the 10th of the same month.
--[For the mistimed but rather pathetic belief of the old dying Duke
in the courtesy with which he and his States would be treated by the
French, see Beugnot, tome 1. p. 80: "I feel sure that there is a
courier of the Emperor's on the road to know how I am."]--
At this juncture Bernadotte returned to Hamburg. I asked him how I
was to account for his conduct while he was with Davoust, who had left
Nuremberg to attack the Prussian army; and whether it was true that he
had refused to march with that general, and afterwards to aid him when
he attacked the Prussians on the Weimar road. "The letters I received,"
observed I, "state that you took no part in the battle of Auerstadt;
that I did not believe, but I suppose you saw the bulletin which I
received a little after the battle, and which stated that Bonaparte said
at Nuremberg, in the presence of several officers, 'Were I to bring
him before a court-martial he would be shot. I shall say nothing to
him about it, but I will take care he shall know what I think of his
behaviour. He has too keen a sense of honour not to be aware that he
acted disgracefully."--"I think him very likely," rejoined Bernadotte,
"to have made these observations. He hates me because he knows I do not
like him; but let him speak to me and he shall have his answer. If I
am a Gascon, he is a greater one. I might have felt piqued at receiving
something like orders from Davoust, but I did my duty."
--[The complaints of Bernadotte's conduct on the 14th of October
1806. when he gave no assistance to Davoust in repulsing the main
body of the Prussians at Aneratadt, are well known. Jomini says
that Davoust proposed to Bernadotte to march with him, and even
offered him the command of the two corps. Bernadotte refused, and
marched away to Dornburg, where he was of no use, "his obstinacy,
difficult to explain, nearly compromised both Davoust and the
success of the battle;" See also Thiers (tome vii. p. 172), who
attributes Bernadotte's conduct to a profound aversion for Davoust
conceived on the most frivolous grounds. Bernadotte had frequently
given cause of complaint to Napoleon in the two campaigns of 1806
and 1806. In the movement on Vienna Napoleon considered he showed
want of activity and of zeal. These complaints seem to have been
made in good faith, for in a letter to Bernadotte's brother-in-law,
Joseph, Napoleon suggests that health may have been the causes (Du
Cases, tome i. p. 322). Bernadotte was equally unfortunate in
putting in his appearance too late at Eylan (see Duc de Rovigo's
Memoirs, tome ii. p. 48), and also incurred the displeasure of
Napoleon at Wagram (see later on).]--
In the beginning of November the Swedes entered Lübeck; but on the 8th
of that month the town was taken by assault, and the Swedes, as well as
the rest of the corps which had escaped from Jena, were made prisoners.
A troop of Prussians had advanced within four leagues of Hamburg, and
that town had already prepared for a vigorous resistance, in case
they should attempt an entrance, when Major Amiel attacked them at
Zollenspieker and made some prisoners. Hamburg was, however, threatened
with another danger, for Major Amiel expressed his intention of entering
with all his prisoners, notwithstanding the acknowledged neutrality of
the town. Amiel was a partisan leader in the true sense of the word; he
fought rather on his own account than with the intention of contributing
to the success of the operations of the army. His troop did not consist
of more than forty men, but that was more than sufficient to spread
terror and devastation in the surrounding villages. He was a bold
fellow, and when, with his handful of men, he threw himself upon
Hamburg, the worthy inhabitants thought he had 20,000 troops with him.
He had pillaged every place through which he passed, and brought with
him 300 prisoners, and a great many horses he had taken on his road. It
was night when he presented himself at the gates of the city, which he
entered alone, having left his men and booty at the last village. He
proceeded to the French Embassy. I was not there at the time, but I
was sent for, and about seven o'clock in the evening I had my first
interview with the Major. He was the very, beau ideal of a bandit,
and would have been an admirable model for a painter. I was not at
all surprised to hear that on his arrival his wild appearance and huge
mustachios had excited some degree of terror among those who were in the
salon. He described his exploits on the march, and did not disguise his
intention of bringing his troops into Hamburg next day. He talked of the
Bank and of pillage. I tried for some time to divert him from this idea,
but without effect, and at length said to him, "Sir, you know that this
is not the way the Emperor wishes to be served. During the seven years
that I have been about him, I have invariably heard him express his
indignation against those who aggravate the misery which war naturally
brings in her train. It is the express wish of the Emperor that
no damage, no violence whatever, shall be committed on the city or
territory of Hamburg." These few words produced a stronger effect than
any entreaties I could have used, for the mere name of the Emperor made
even the boldest tremble, and Major Amiel next thought of selling his
booty. The Senate were so frightened at the prospect of having Amiel
quartered upon them that to get rid of him they determined to purchase
his booty at once, and even furnished him with guards for his prisoners.
I did not learn till some time afterwards that among the horses Major
Amiel had seized upon the road were those of the Countess Walmoden. Had
I known this fact at the time I should certainly have taken care to have
had them restored to her. Madame Walmoden was then a refugee at Hamburg,
and between her and my family a close intimacy existed. On the very
day, I believe, of the Major's departure the Senate wrote me a letter of
thanks for the protection I afforded the town.
Before the commencement of the Prussian campaign, while anxiety was
entertained respecting the designs of the Cabinet of Berlin, my task
was not an easy one. I exerted all my efforts to acquaint the French
Government with what was passing on the Spree. I announced the first
intelligence of an unexpected movement which had taken place among the
Prussian troops cantoned in the neighbourhood of Hamburg. They suddenly
evacuated Lauenburg, Platzburg, Haarburg, Stade, Twisenfelth, and
Cuxhaven. This extraordinary movement gave rise to a multitude of
surmises. I was not wrong when I informed the French Government that,
according to every probability, Prussia was about to declare hostilities
against France, and to enter into an alliance with England.
I much regretted that my situation did not allow me more frequent
opportunities of meeting Mr. Thornton, the English Minister to the
circle of Lower Saxony. However; I saw him sometimes, and had on two
different occasions the opportunity of rendering him some service. Mr.
Thornton had requested me to execute a little private business for
him, the success of which depended on the Emperor. I made the necessary
communication to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, adding in my letter
that Mr. Thornton's conduct towards the French who had come in any way
in contact with him had ever been just and liberal, and that I should
receive great pleasure in being able to announce to him the success of
his application. His request was granted.
On another occasion Mr. Thornton applied to me for my services, and I
had once more the pleasure of rendering them. He wished to procure
some information respecting an Englishman named Baker, who had gone to
Terracina, in the Campagna di Roma, for the benefit of sea-bathing.
He was there arrested, without any cause assigned, by order of the
commandant of the French troops in Terracina. The family of Mr. Baker,
not having heard from him for some months, became very uneasy respecting
him, for they had not the least idea of his arrest. His relations
applied to Mr. Thornton, and that gentleman, notwithstanding the
circumstances which, as I have stated, prevented our frequent
intercourse, hesitated not a moment in requesting me to furnish him with
some information respecting his countryman. I lost no time in writing
to M. Alquier, our Ambassador at Rome, and soon enabled Mr. Thornton to
ease the apprehension of Mr. Baker's friends.
I had every opportunity of knowing what was passing in Italy, for I
had just been invested with a new dignity. As the new King of Naples,
Joseph, had no Minister in Lower Saxony, he wished that I should
discharge the function of Minister Plenipotentiary for Naples. His
Ministers accordingly received orders to correspond with me upon all
business connected with his government and his subjects. The relations
between Hamburg and Naples were nearly nil, and my new office made no
great addition to my labours.
I experienced, however, a little more difficulty in combining all the
post-offices of Hamburg in the office of the Grand Duchy of Berg, thus
detaching them from the offices of Latour and Taxis, so named after the
German family who for a length of time had had the possession of them,
and who were devoted to Austria.
After some days of negotiation I obtained the suppression of these
offices, and their union with the postoffice of the Grand Duc de Berg
(Murat), who thus received letters from Italy, Hungary, Germany, Poland,
part of Russia, and the letters from England for these countries.
The affair of the post-offices gained for me the approbation of
Napoleon. He expressed his satisfaction through the medium of a letter
I received from Duroc, who at the same time recommended me to continue
informing the Emperor of all that was doing in Germany with relation to
the plans of the Confederation of the North. I therefore despatched
to the Minister for Foreign Affairs a detailed letter, announcing that
Baron Grote, the Prussian Minister at Hamburg, had set off on a visit to
Bremen and Lübeck. Among those who accompanied him on this excursion was
a person wholly devoted to me; and I knew that Baron Grote's object was
to offer to these towns verbal propositions for their union with the
Confederation of the North, which the King of Prussia wished to form
as a counterpoise to the Confederation of the Rhine, just created
by Napoleon. Baron Grote observed the strictest secrecy in all his
movements. He showed, in confidence, to those to whom he addressed
himself, a letter from M. Haugwitz, the Minister of the King of Prussia,
--[In July 1806, after Austerlitz, Napoleon had formed the
"Confederation du Rhin." to include the smaller States of Germany,
who threw off all connection with the German Empire, and formed a
Confederation furnishing a considerable army. ]--
--[The Emperor of Germany, Francis IL, had already in 1804, on
Napoleon taking the title of Emperor, declared himself Hereditary
Emperor of Austria. After the formation of the Rhenish
Confederation and Napoleon's refusal to acknowledge the German
Empire any longer, he released the States of the Holy Roman Empire
from their allegiance, declared the Empire dissolved, and contented
himself with the title of Emperor of Austria, as Francis I.]--
who endeavoured to point out to the Hanse Towns how much the
Confederation of the North would turn to their advantage, it being the
only means of preserving their liberty, by establishing a formidable
power. However, to the first communication only an evasive answer was
returned. M. Van Sienen, the Syndic of Hamburg, was commissioned by
the Senate to inform the Prussian Minister that the affair required the
concurrence of the burghers, and that before he could submit it to them
it would be necessary to know its basis and conditions. Meanwhile the
Syndic Doormann proceeded to Lübeck, where there was also a deputy
from Bremen. The project of the Confederation, however, never came to
anything.
I scrupulously discharged the duties of my functions, but I confess I
often found it difficult to execute the orders I received, and more than
once I took it upon myself to modify their severity. I loved the frank
and generous character of the Hamburgers, and I could not help pity the
fate of the Hanse Towns, heretofore so happy, and from which Bonaparte
had exacted such immense sacrifices.
On the principal gate of the Hanse Towns is inscribed the following
motto, well expressing the pacific spirit of the people: 'Da nobis
pacem, Domine, in diebus nostris'. The paternal and elected government,
which did everything to secure the happiness of these towns, was led to
believe that the sacrifices imposed on them would be recompensed by the
preservation of their neutrality. No distrust was entertained, and hope
was kept alive by the assurances given by Napoleon. He published in the
Moniteur that the Hanse Towns could not be included in any particular
Confederation. He thus strangled in its birth the Confederation of the
North, to which those feeble States would otherwise have been obliged
to consent. When in 1806 Napoleon marched against Prussia, he detached
Marshal Mortier from the Grand Army when it had passed the Rhine, and
directed him to invade the Electorate of Hesse, and march on Hamburg. On
the 19th of November the latter town was occupied by the French army in
the name of the Emperor, amidst the utmost order and tranquillity.
I must acknowledge that I was under much apprehension as to this event.
At the intelligence of the approach of the French army consternation
was great and universal in Hamburg, which was anxious to maintain its
neutrality unimpaired. At the urgent request of the magistrates of
the city I assumed functions more than diplomatic, and became, in some
respects, the first magistrate of the town. I went to meet Marshal
Mortier to endeavour to dissuade him from entering. I thought I should
by this means better serve the interests of France than by favouring
the occupation of a neutral town by our troops. But all my remonstrances
were useless. Marshal Mortier had received formal orders from the
Emperor.
No preparations having been made at Hamburg for the reception of Marshal
Mortier, he quartered himself and his whole staff upon me. The few
troops he had with him were disposed of in my courtyard, so that
the residence of a Minister of peace was all at once converted into
headquarters. This state of things continued until a house was got ready
for the Marshal.
Marshal Mortier had to make very rigorous exactions, but my
representations suspended for a while Napoleon's orders for taking
possession of the Bank of Hamburg. I am here bound to bear testimony
to the Marshal's honourable principles and integrity of character. The
representations which I had sent to Marshal Mortier were transmitted
by the latter to the Emperor at Berlin; and Mortier stated that he had
suspended the execution of the orders until he should receive others.
The Emperor approved of this. It was, indeed, a happy event for France
and for Europe, even more so than for Hamburg. Those who suggested to
the Emperor the idea of pillaging that fine establishment must have
been profoundly ignorant of its importance. They thought only of the
90,000,000 of marks banco deposited in its cellars.
By the famous decree of Berlin, dated 21st November 1806, Mortier was
compelled to order the seizure of all English merchandise in the
Hanse Towns, but he enforced the decree only so far as to preserve the
appearance of having obeyed his orders.
Mortier, on leaving Hamburg for Mecklenburg, was succeeded by General
Michaud, who in his turn was succeeded by Marshal Brune in the beginning
of 1807. I am very glad to take the present opportunity of correcting
the misconceptions which arose through the execution of certain acts of
Imperial tyranny. The truth is, Marshal Brune, during his government,
constantly endeavoured to moderate, as far as he could, the severity of
the orders he received. Bernadotte became Governor of Hamburg when the
battle of Jena rendered Napoleon master of Prussia and the north of
Germany.
The Prince of Ponte-Corvo lightened, as far as possible, the unjust
burdens and vexations to which that unfortunate town was subject. He
never refused his assistance to any measures which I adopted to oppose
a system of ruin and persecution. He often protected Hamburg against
exorbitant exactions, The Hanse Towns revived a little under his
government, which continued longer than that of Mortier, Michaud, and
Brune. The memory of Bernadotte will always be dear to the Hamburgers;
and his name will never be pronounced without gratitude. His attention
was especially directed to moderate the rigour of the custom-houses; and
perhaps the effect which his conduct produced on public opinion may be
considered as having, in some measure, led to the decision which, four
years after, made him Hereditary Prince of Sweden.
CHAPTER VII.
1806.
Ukase of the Emperor of Russia--Duroc's mission to Weimar--
Napoleon's views defeated--Triumphs of the French armies--Letters
from Murat--False report respecting Murat--Resemblance between
Moreau and M. Billand--Generous conduct of Napoleon--His interview
with Madame Hatzfeld at Berlin--Letter from Bonaparte to Josephine--
Blücher my prisoner--His character--His confidence in the future
fate of Germany--Prince Paul of Wurtemberg taken prisoner--His wish
to enter the French service--Distinguished emigrants at Altona--
Deputation of the Senate to the Emperor at Berlin--The German
Princes at Altona--Fauche-Boiel and the Comte de Gimel.
In September 1806 it became very manifest that, as soon as war should
break out between France and Prussia, Russia would not be slow in
forming an alliance with the latter power. Peace had, however, been
reestablished between Napoleon and Alexander by virtue of a treaty just
signed at Paris. By that treaty Russia was to evacuate the Bouches du
Cattaro,--[The Bouches do Cattaro, on the eastern coast of the Adriatic,
had formed part of the Dalmatian possessions of Venice.]--a condition
with which she was in no hurry to comply. I received a number of the
Court Gazette of St. Petersburg, containing a ukase of the Emperor of
Russia, in which Alexander pointed out the danger which again menaced
Europe, showed the necessity of adopting precautions for general
tranquillity and the security of his own Empire, and declared his
determination of not only completing but augmenting his army. He
therefore ordered a levy of four men out of every 500 inhabitants.
Before the commencement of hostilities Duroc was sent to the King of
Prussia with the view of discovering whether there was any possibility
of renewing negotiations; but affairs were already too much embarrassed.
All Duroc's endeavours were in vain, and perhaps it was no longer in the
power of the King of Prussia to avoid war with France. Besides, he had
just grounds of offence against the Emperor. Although the latter
had given him Hanover in exchange for the two Margravates, he had,
nevertheless, offered to England the restoration of that province as one
of the terms of the negotiations commenced with Mr. Fox. This underhand
work was not unknown to the Berlin Cabinet, and Napoleon's duplicity
rendered Duroc's mission useless. At this time the King of Prussia was
at Weimar.
Victory everywhere favoured the French arms. Prince Hohenlohe, who
commanded a corps of the Prussian army, was forced to capitulate at
Prentzlau. After this capitulation General Blücher took the command of
the remains of the corps, to which he joined the troops whose absence
from Prentzlau exempted them from the capitulation. These corps, added
to those which Blücher had at Auerstadt, were then almost the only
ramparts of the Prussian monarchy. Soult and Bernadotte received orders
from Murat to pursue Blücher, who was using all his efforts to draw
from Berlin the forces of those two generals. Blücher marched in the
direction of Lübeck.
General Murat pursued the wreck of the Prussian army which had escaped
from Saxony by Magdeburg. Blücher was driven upon Lübeck. It was very
important to the army at Berlin that this numerous corps should be
destroyed, commanded as it was by a skillful and brave general, who drew
from the centre of the military operations numerous troops, with which
he might throw himself into Hanover, or Hesse, or even Holland, and by
joining the English troops harass the rear of the Grand Army. The Grand
Duke of Berg explained to me his plans and expectations, and soon after
announced their fulfilment in several letters which contained, among
other things, the particulars of the taking of Lübeck.
In two of these letters Murat, who was probably deceived by his agents,
or by some intriguer, informed me that General Moreau had passed through
Paris on the 12th of October, and had arrived in Hamburg on the 28th
of October. The proof which Murat possessed of this circumstance was a
letter of Fauche-Borel, which he had intercepted. I recollect a curious
circumstance which serves to show the necessity of mistrusting the vague
intelligence furnished to persons in authority. A fortnight before I
received Murat's first letter a person informed me that General Moreau
was in Hamburg. I gave no credit to this intelligence, yet I endeavoured
to ascertain whether it had any foundation, but without effect. Two days
later I was assured that an individual had met General Moreau, that
he had spoken to him, that he knew him well from having served under
him--together with various other circumstances, the truth of which there
appeared no reason to doubt. I immediately sent for the individual in
question, who told me that he knew Moreau, that he had met him, that the
General had inquired of him the way to the Jungfersteige (a promenade at
Hamburg), that he had pointed it out to him, and then said, "Have I not
the honour to speak to General Moreau?" upon which the General answered,
"Yes, but say nothing about having seen me; I am here incognito." All
this appeared to me so absurd that, pretending not to know Moreau, I
asked the person to describe him to me. He described a person bearing
little resemblance to Moreau, and added that he wore a braided French
coat and the national cockade in his hat. I instantly perceived the
whole was a mere scheme for getting a little money. I sent the fellow
about his business. In a quarter of an hour after I had got rid of him
M. la Chevardiere called on me, and introduced M. Billaud, the French
Consul at Stettin. This gentleman wore a braided coat and the national
cockade in his hat. He was the hero of the story I had heard from the
informer. A slight personal resemblance between the Consul and the
General had caused several persons to mistake them for each other.
During the Prussian campaign nothing was talked of throughout Germany
but Napoleon's generous conduct with respect to Prince Hatzfeld. I was
fortunate enough to obtain a copy of a letter which the Emperor wrote
to Josephine on the subject, and which I shall presently lay before the
reader. In conformity with the inquisitorial system which too frequently
characterised the Emperor's government, and which he extended to every
country of which he had military possession, the first thing done on
entering a town was to take possession of the post-office, and
then, Heaven knows how little respect was shown to the privacy of
correspondence. Among the letters thus seized at Berlin and delivered
to Napoleon was one addressed to the King of Prussia by Prince Hatzfeld,
who had imprudently remained in the Prussian capital. In this letter the
Prince gave his Sovereign an account of all that had occurred in Berlin
since he had been compelled to quit at; and at the same time he informed
him of the force and situation of the corps of the French army. The
Emperor, after reading this letter, ordered that the Prince should be
arrested, and tried by a court-martial on the charge of being a spy.
The Court was summoned, and little doubt could be entertained as to its
decision when Madame Hatzfeld repaired to Duroc, who on such occasions
was always happy when he could facilitate communication with the
Emperor. On that day Napoleon had been at a review. Duroc knew Madame
Hatzfeld, whom he had several times seen on his visits to Berlin. When
Napoleon returned from the review he was astonished to see Duroc at the
palace at that hour, and inquired whether he had brought any news. Duroc
answered in the affirmative, and followed the Emperor into his Cabinet,
where he soon introduced Madame Hatzfeld. The remainder of the scene
is described in Napoleon's letter. It may easily be perceived that this
letter is an answer to one from Josephine reproaching him for the manner
in which he spoke of women, and very probably of the beautiful and
unfortunate Queen of Prussia, respecting whom he had expressed himself
with too little respect in one of his bulletins. The following is
Napoleon's letter:--
I have received your letter, in which you seem to reproach me for
speaking ill of women. It is true that I dislike female intriguers
above all things. I am used to kind, gentle, and conciliatory
women. I love them, and if they have spoiled me it is not my fault,
but yours. However, you will see that I have done an act of
kindness to one deserving woman. I allude to Madame de Hatzfeld.
When I showed her her husband's letter she stood weeping, and in a
tone of mingled grief and ingenuousness said, "It is indeed his
writing!" This went to my heart, and I said, "Well, madame, throw
the letter into the fire, and then I shall have no proof against
your husband." She burned the letter, and was restored to
happiness. Her husband now is safe: two hours later, and he would
have been lost. You see, therefore, that I like women who are
simple, gentle, and amiable; because they alone resemble you.
November 6, 1806, 9 o'clock P.M.
When Marshal Bernadotte had driven Blücher into Lübeck and made him
prisoner, he sent to inform me of the circumstance; but I was far
from, expecting that the prisoner would be confided to my charge. Such,
however, was the case. After his capitulation he was sent to Hamburg,
where he had the whole city for his prison.
I was curious to become acquainted with this celebrated man, and I
saw him very frequently. I found that he was an enthusiastic Prussian
patriot--a brave man, enterprising even to rashness, of limited
education, and almost to an incredible degree devoted to pleasure, of
which he took an ample share while he remained in Hamburg. He sat an
enormous time at table, and, notwithstanding his exclusive patriotism,
he rendered full justice to the wines of France. His passion for women
was unbounded, and one of his most favourite sources of amusement was
the gaming-table, at which he spent a considerable portion of his time.
Blücher was of an extremely gay disposition; and considered merely as a
companion he was very agreeable. The original style of his conversation
pleased me much. His confidence in the deliverance of Germany remained
unshaken in spite of the disasters of the Prussian army. He often said
to me, "I place great reliance on the public spirit of Germany--on the
enthusiasm which prevails in our universities. The events of war are
daily changing, and even defeats con tribute to nourish in a people
sentiments of honour and national glory. You may depend upon it that
when a whole nation is determined to shake off a humiliating yoke it
will succeed. There is no doubt but we shall end by having a landwehr
very different from any militia to which the subdued spirit of the
French people could give birth. England will always lend us the support
of her navy and her subsidies, and we will renew alliances with Russia
and Austria. I can pledge myself to the truth of a fact of which I have
certain knowledge, and you may rely upon it; namely, that none of the
allied powers engaged in the present war entertain views of territorial
aggrandisement. All they unanimously desire is to put an end to the
system of aggrandisement which your Emperor has established and acts
upon with such alarming rapidity. In our first war against France, at
the commencement of your Revolution, we fought for questions respecting
the rights of sovereigns, for which, I assure you, I care very little;
but now the case is altered, the whole population of Prussia makes
common cause with its Government. The people fight in defence of their
homes, and reverses destroy our armies without changing the spirit of
the nation. I rely confidently on the future because I foresee that
fortune will not always favour your Emperor. It is impossible; but the
time will come when all Europe, humbled by his exactions, and impatient
of his depredations, will rise up against him. The more he enslaves
nations, the more terrible will be the reaction when they break their
chains. It cannot be denied that he is tormented with an insatiable
desire of acquiring new territories. To the war of 1805 against Austria
and Russia the present war has almost immediately succeeded. We have
fallen. Prussia is occupied; but Russia still remains undefeated. I
cannot foresee what will be the termination of the war; but, admitting
that the issue should be favourable to you, it will end only to break
out again speedily. If we continue firm, France, exhausted by her
conquests, must in the end fall. You may be certain of it. You wish for
peace. Recommend it! By so doing You will give strong proofs of love for
your country."
In this strain Blücher constantly spoke to me; and as I never thought it
right to play the part of the public functionary in the drawing-room I
replied to him with the reserve necessary in my situation. I could not
tell him how much my anticipations frequently coincided with his; but I
never hesitated to express to him how much I wished to see a reasonable
peace concluded.
Blücher's arrival at Hamburg was preceded by that of Prince Paul of
Wutrtemberg, the second son of one of the two kings created by Napoleon,
whose crowns were not yet a year old. This young Prince, who was imbued
with the ideas of liberty and independence which then prevailed in
Germany, had taken a headlong step. He had quitted Stuttgart to serve
in the Prussian campaign without having asked his father's permission,
which inconsiderate proceeding might have drawn Napoleon's anger upon
the King of Wurtemberg. The King of Prussia advanced Prince Paul to the
rank of general, but he was taken prisoner at the very commencement
of hostilities. Prince Paul was not, as has been erroneously stated,
conducted to Stuttgart by a captain of gendarmerie. He came to Hamburg,
where I received many visits from him. He did not yet possess very
definite ideas as to what he wished; for after he was made prisoner he
expressed to me his strong desire to enter the French service, and often
asked me to solicit for him an interview with the Emperor. He obtained
this interview, and remained for a long time in Paris, where I know he
has frequently resided since the Restoration.
The individuals whom I had to observe in Hamburg gave me much less
trouble than our neighbours at Altona. The number of the latter had
considerably augmented, since the events of the war had compelled a
great number of emigrants who had taken refuge at Munster to leave
that town. They all proceeded to Altona. Conquered countries became
as dangerous to them as the land which they had forsaken. The most
distinguished amongst the individuals assembled at Altona were Vicomte
de Sesmaisons, the Bailly d'Hautefeuille, the Duchess of Luxembourg, the
Marquis de Bonnard, the Duc d'Aumont (then Duc de Villequier), the wife
of Marshal de Brogue and her daughter, Cardinal de Montmorency, Madame
de Cosse, her two daughters and her son (and a priest), and the Bishop
of Boulogne.
Bonaparte stayed long enough at Berlin to permit of the arrival of
a deputation from the French Senate to congratulate him on his first
triumphs. I learned that in this instance the Senatorial deputation,
departing from its accustomed complaisance, ventured not to confine
itself to compliments and felicitations, but went so far as to interfere
with the Emperor's plan of the campaign, to speak of the danger that
might be incurred and finally to express a desire to in passing the
Oder, see peace concluded. Napoleon received this communication with
a very bad grace. He thought the Senators very bold to meddle with his
affairs, treated the conscript fathers of France as if they had been
inconsiderate youths, protested, according to custom, his sincere love
of peace, and told the deputation that it was Prussia, backed by Russia,
and not he, who wished for war!
All the German Princes who had taken part against Napoleon fled to
Altona after the battle of Jena with as much precipitation as the
emigrants themselves. The Hereditary Prince of Weimar, the Duchess of
Holstein, Prince Belmonte-Pignatelli, and a multitude of other persons
distinguished for rank and fortune, arrived there almost simultaneously.
Among the persons who took refuge in Altona were some intriguers, of
whom Fauche-Borel was one. I remember receiving a report respecting a
violent altercation which Fauche had the audacity to enter into with
Comte de Gimel because he could not extort money from the Count in
payment of his intrigues. Comte de Gimel had only funds for the payment
of pensions, and, besides, he had too much sense to suppose there was
any utility in the stupid pamphlets of Fauche-Borel, and therefore he
dismissed him with a refusal. Fauche was insolent, which compelled
Comte de Gimel to send him about his business as he deserved. This
circumstance, which was first communicated to me in a report, has since
been confirmed by a person who witnessed the scene. Fauche-Borel merely
passed through Hamburg, and embarked for London on board the same ship
which took Lord Morpeth back to England.
--[Louis Fauche-Borel (1762-1829), a Swiss who devoted himself to
the cause of the Royalists. As Louis stepped on the shore of France
in 1814, Fauche-Borel was ready to assist him from the boat, and was
met with the gracious remark that he was always at hand when a
service was required. His services were however left unrewarded]--
CHAPTER VIII.
1806.
Alarm of the city of Hamburg--The French at Bergdorf--Favourable
orders issued by Bernadotte--Extortions in Prussia--False
endorsements--Exactions of the Dutch--Napoleon's concern for his
wounded troops--Duroc's mission to the King of Prussia--Rejection of
the Emperor's demands--My negotiations at Hamburg--Displeasure of
the King of Sweden--M. Netzel and M. Wetteratedt.
At this critical moment Hamburg was menaced on all sides; the French
even occupied a portion of its territory. The French troops, fortunately
for the country, were attached to the corps commanded by the Prince de
Ponte-Corvo. This military occupation alarmed the town of Hamburg, to
which, indeed, it proved very injurious. I wrote to Marshal Bernadotte
on the subject. The grounds on which the Senate appealed for the
evacuation of their territory were such that Bernadotte could not but
acknowledge their justice. The prolonged stay of the French troops
in the bailiwick of Bergdorf, which had all the appearance of an
occupation, might have led to the confiscation of all Hamburg property
in England, to the laying an embargo on the vessels of the Republic,
and consequently to the ruin of a great part of the trade of France and
Holland, which was carried on under the flag of Hamburg. There was no
longer any motive for occupying the bailiwick of Bergdorf when there
were no Prussians in that quarter. It would have been an absurd
misfortune that eighty men stationed in that bailiwick should, for the
sake of a few louis and a few ells of English cloth, have occasioned
the confiscation of Hamburg, French, and Dutch property to the amount of
80,000,000 francs.
Marshal Bernadotte replied to me on the 16th of November, and said, "I
hasten to inform you that I have given orders for the evacuation of the
bailiwick of Bergdorf and all the Hamburg territory. If you could obtain
from the Senate of Hamburg, by the 19th of this month, two or three
thousand pairs of shoes, you would oblige me greatly. They shall be paid
for in goods or in money."
I obtained what Bernadotte required from the Senate, who knew his
integrity, while they were aware that that quality was not the
characteristic of all who commanded the French armies! What extortions
took place during the occupation of Prussia! I will mention one of the
means which, amongst others, was employed at Berlin to procure money.
Bills of exchange were drawn, on which endorsements were forged, and
these bills were presented to the bankers on whom they were purported
to be drawn. One day some of these forged bills to a large amount were
presented to Messrs. Mathiesen and Silleine of Hamburg, who, knowing
the endorsement to be forged, refused to cash them. The persons who
presented the bills carried their impudence so far as to send for the
gendarmes, but the bankers persisted in their refusal. I was informed of
this almost incredible scene, which had drawn together a great number
of people. Indignant at such audacious robbery, I instantly proceeded to
the spot and sent away the gendarmes, telling them it was not their duty
to protect robbers, and that it was my business to listen to any just
claims which might be advanced. Under Clarke's government at Berlin
the inhabitants were subjected to all kinds of oppression and exaction.
Amidst these exactions and infamous proceedings, which are not the
indispensable consequences of war, the Dutch generals distinguished
themselves by a degree of rapacity which brought to mind the period of
the French Republican peculations in Italy. It certainly was not their
new King who set the example of this conduct. His moderation was well
known, and it was as much the result of his disposition as of his
honest principles. Louis Bonaparte, who was a King in spite of himself,
afforded an example of all that a good man could suffer upon a usurped
throne.
When the King of Prussia found himself defeated at every point he
bitterly repented having undertaken a war which had delivered his States
into Napoleon's power in less time than that in which Austria had fallen
the preceding year. He wrote to the Emperor, soliciting a suspension
of hostilities. Rapp was present when Napoleon received the King of
Prussia's letter. "It is too late," said he; "but, no matter, I wish to
stop the effusion of blood; I am ready to agree to anything which is
not prejudicial to the honour or interests of the nation." Then calling
Duroc, he gave him orders to visit the wounded, and see that they wanted
for nothing. He added, "Visit every man on my behalf; give them all the
consolation of which they stand in need; afterwards find the King of
Prussia, and if he offers reasonable proposals let me know them."
Negotiations were commenced, but Napoleon's conditions were of a nature
which was considered inadmissible. Prussia still hoped for assistance
from the Russian forces. Besides, the Emperor's demands extended to
England, who at that moment had no reason to accede to the pretensions
of France. The Emperor wished England to restore to France the colonies
which she had captured since the commencement of the war, that Russia
should restore to the Porte Moldavia and Wallachia, which she then
occupied; in short, he acted upon the advice which some tragedy-king
gives to his ambassador: "Demand everything, that you may obtain
nothing." The Emperor's demands were, in fact, so extravagant that it
was scarcely possible he himself could entertain the hope of their being
accepted. Negotiations, alternately resumed and abandoned, were carried
on with coldness on both sides until the moment when England prevailed
on Russia to join Prussia against France; they then altogether ceased:
and it was for the sake of appearing to wish for their renewal, on bases
still more favourable to France, that Napoleon sent Duroc to the King
of Prussia. Duroc found the King at Osterode, on the other side of the
Vistula. The only answer he received from His Majesty was, "The time
is passed;" which was very much like Napoleon's observation; "It is too
late."
Whilst Duroc was on his mission to the King of Prussia I was myself
negotiating at Hamburg. Bonaparte was very anxious to detach Sweden from
the coalition, and to terminate the war with her by a separate treaty.
Sweden, indeed, was likely to be very useful to him if Prussia, Russia,
and England should collect a considerable mass of troops in the north.
Denmark was already with us, and by gaining over Sweden also the union
of those two powers might create a diversion, and give serious alarm to
the coalition, which would be obliged to concentrate its principal force
to oppose the attack of the grand army in Poland. The opinions of M.
Peyron, the Swedish Minister at Hamburg, were decidedly opposed to the
war in which his sovereign was engaged with France. I was sorry that
this gentleman left Hamburg upon leave of absence for a year just at the
moment I received my instructions from the Emperor upon this subject.
M. Peyron was succeeded by M. Netzel, and I soon had the pleasure of
perceiving that his opinions corresponded in every respect with those of
his predecessor.
As soon as he arrived M. Netzel sought an interview to speak to me on
the subject of the Swedes, who had been taken prisoners on the Drave. He
entreated me to allow the officers to return to Sweden on their parole.
I was anxious to get Netzel's demand acceded to, and availed myself
of that opportunity to lead him gradually to the subject of my
instructions. I had good reason to be satisfied with the manner in which
he received my first overtures. I said nothing to him of the justice
of which he was not previously convinced. I saw he understood that his
sovereign would have everything to gain by a reconciliation with France,
and he told me that all Sweden demanded peace. Thus encouraged, I told
him frankly that I was instructed to treat with him. M. Netzel assured
me that M. de Wetterstedt, the King of Sweden's private secretary, with
whom he was intimate, and from whom he showed me several letters, was
of the same opinion on the subject as himself. He added, that he had
permission to correspond with the King, and that he would; write the
same evening to his sovereign and M.. de Wetterstedt to acquaint them
with our conversation.
It will be perceived, from what I have stated, that no negotiation was
ever commenced under more favourable auspices; but who could foresee
what turn the King of Sweden would take? That unlucky Prince took M.
Netzel's letter in very ill part, and M. de Wetterstedt himself received
peremptory orders to acquaint M. Netzel with his sovereign's displeasure
at his having presumed to visit a French Minster, and, above all, to
enter into a political conversation with him, although it was nothing
more than conversation. The King did not confine himself to reproaches;
M. Netzel came in great distress to inform me he had received orders
to quit Hamburg immediately, without even awaiting the arrival of his
successor. He regarded his disgrace as complete. I had the pleasure of
seeing M. Netzel again in 1809 at Hamburg, where he was on a mission
from King Charles XIII.
CHAPTER IX.
1806
The Continental system--General indignation excited by it--Sale of
licences by the French Government--Custom-house system at Hamburg--
My letter to the Emperor--Cause of the rupture with Russia--
Bernadotte's visit to me--Trial by court-martial for the purchase of
a sugar-loaf--Davoust and the captain "rapporteur"--Influence of the
Continental system on Napoleon's fall.
I have a few remarks to make on the famous Continental system, which
was a subject of such engrossing interest. I had, perhaps, better
opportunities than any other person of observing the fraud and
estimating the fatal consequences of this system. It took its rise
during the war in 1806, and was brought into existence by a decree;
dated from Berlin. The project was conceived by weak counsellors, who;
perceiving the Emperor's just indignation at the duplicity of England,
her repugnance to enter, into negotiations with him, and her constant
endeavours to raise enemies against France, prevailed upon him to issue
the decree, which I could only regard as an act of madness and tyranny.
It was not a decree, but fleets, that were wanting. Without a navy it
was ridiculous to declare the British Isles in a state of blockade,
whilst the English fleets were in fact blockading all the French ports.
This declaration was, however, made in the Berlin Decree. This is what
was called the Continental system! which, in plain terms, was nothing
but a system of fraud and pillage.
One can now scarcely conceive how Europe could for a single day endure
that fiscal tyranny which extorted exorbitant prices for articles which
the habits of three centuries had rendered indispensable to the poor as
well as to the rich. So little of truth is there in the pretence that
this system had for its sole and exclusive object to prevent the sale of
English goods, that licences for their disposal were procured at a high
price by whoever was rich enough to pay for them. The number and quality
of the articles exported from France were extravagantly exaggerated. It
was, indeed, necessary to take out some of the articles is compliance
with the Emperor's wishes, but they were only thrown into the sea. And
yet no one had the honesty to tell the Emperor that England sold on the
continent but bought scarcely anything. The speculation in licences was
carried to a scandalous extent only to enrich a few, and to satisfy the
short-sighted views of the contrivers of the system.
This system proves what is written in the annals of the human heart and
mind, that the cupidity of the one is insatiable, and the errors of the
other incorrigible. Of this I will cite an example, though it refers to
a period posterior to the origin of the Continental system. In Hamburg,
in 1811, under Davoust's government, a poor man had well-nigh been shot
for having introduced into the department of the Elbe a small loaf of
sugar for the use of his family, while at the same moment Napoleon
was perhaps signing a licence for the importation of a million of
sugar-loaves.
--[In this same year (1811) Murat, as King of Naples, not only
winked at the infringement of the Continental system, but almost
openly broke the law himself. His troops in Calabria and all round
his immense line sea coast, carried on an active trade with Sicilian
and English smugglers. This was so much the case that an officer
never set out from Naples to join, without, being, requested by his
wife, his relations or friends, to bring them some English muslins,
some sugar and coffee, together with a few needles, pen-knives, and
razors. Some of the Neapolitan officers embarked in really large
commercial operations, going shares with the custom house people who
were there to enforce the law, and making their soldiers load and
unload the contraband vessels. The Comte de -----, a French officer
on Murat's staff, was very noble, but very poor, and excessively
extravagant. After making several vain efforts to set him up in the
world, the King told him one day he would give him the command of
the troops round the Gulf of Salerno; adding that the devil was in
it if he could not make a fortune in such a capital smuggling
district, in a couple of years.--The Count took the hint, and did
make a fortune.--Editor 1836 edition.]--
Smuggling on a small scale was punished with death, whilst the
Government themselves carried it on extensively. The same cause filled
the Treasury with money, and the prisons with victims:
The custom-house laws of this period, which waged open war against
rhubarb, and armed the coasts of the Continent against the introduction
of senna, did not save the Continental system from destruction. Ridicule
attended the installation of the odious prevotal courts. The president
of the Prevotal Court at Hamburg, who was a Frenchman, delivered an
address, in which he endeavoured to prove that in the time of the
Ptolemies there had existed extraordinary fiscal tribunals, and that it
was to those Egypt owed her prosperity. Terror was thus introduced by
the most absurd folly. The ordinary customhouse officers, formerly so
much abhorred in Hamburg, declared with reason that they would soon be
regretted, and than the difference between them and the prevotal courts
would soon be felt. Bonaparte's counsellors led him to commit the folly
of requiring that a ship which had obtained a licence should export
merchandise equivalent to that of the colonial produce to be imported
under the authority of the licence. What was the consequence? The
speculators bought at a low price old stores of silk-which change of
fashion had made completely unsaleable, and as those articles were
prohibited in England they were thrown into the sea without their loss
being felt. The profits of the speculation made ample amends for
the sacrifice. The Continental system was worthy only of the ages of
ignorance and barbarism, and had it been admissible in theory, was
impracticable in application.
--[Sydney Smith was struck with the, ridiculous side of the war of
tariffs: "We are told that the Continent is to be reconquered by the
want of rhubarb and plums." (Essays of Sydney Smith, p. 533, edition
of 1861).]--
It cannot be sufficiently stigmatised. They were not the friends of the
Emperor who recommended a system calculated to rouse the indignation of
Europe, and which could not fail to create reaction. To tyrannize over
the human species, and to exact uniform admiration and submission, is to
require an impossibility. It would seem that fate, which had still some
splendid triumphs in store for Bonaparte, intended to prepare beforehand
the causes which were to deprive him of all his triumphs at once, and
plunge him into reverses even greater than the good fortune which had
favoured his elevation.
The prohibition of trade, the habitual severity in the execution of this
odious system, made it operate like a Continental impost. I will give
a proof of this, and I state nothing but what came under my own
observation. The fiscal regulations were very rigidly enforced at
Hamburg, and along the two lines of Cuxhaven and Travemunde. M. Eudel,
the director of that department, performed his duty with zeal and
disinterestedness. I feel gratified in rendering him this tribute.
Enormous quantities of English merchandise and colonial produce were
accumulated at Holstein, where they almost all arrived by way of Kiel
and Hudsum, and were smuggled over the line at the expense of a premium
of 33 and 40 per cent. Convinced of this fact by a thousand proofs, and
weary of the vexations of the preventive system, I took upon myself
to lay my opinions on the subject before the Emperor. He had given me
permission to write to him personally, without any intermediate agency,
upon everything that I might consider essential to his service. I sent
an extraordinary courier to Fontainebleau, where he then was, and in
my despatch I informed him that, notwithstanding his preventive guard,
every prohibited article was smuggled in because the profits on the sale
in Germany, Poland, Italy, and even France, into which the contrabrand
goods found their way, were too considerable not to induce persons to
incur all risks to obtain them. I advised him, at the very time he
was about to unite the Hanse Towns to the French Empire, to permit
merchandise to be imported subject to a duty of 33 per cent., which
was about equal to the amount of the premium for insurance. The Emperor
adopted my advice without hesitation, and in 1811 the regulation
produced a revenue of upwards of 60,000,000 francs in Hamburg alone.
This system, however, embroiled us with Sweden and Russia, who could not
endure that Napoleon should enact a strict blockade from them, whilst he
was himself distributing licences in abundance. Bernadotte, on his way
to Sweden, passed through Hamburg in October 1810. He stayed with me
three days, during which time he scarcely saw any person but myself. He
asked my opinion as to what he should do in regard to the Continental
system. I did not hesitate to declare to him, not as a French Minister,
but as a private individual to his friend, that in his place, at the
head of a poor nation, which could only subsist by the exchange of its
territorial productions with England, I would open my ports, and give
the Swedes gratuitously that general licence which Bonaparte sold in
detail to intrigue and cupidity.
The Berlin decree could not fail to cause a reaction against the
Emperor's fortune by raising up whole nations against him. The hurling
of twenty kings from their thrones would have excited less hatred than
this contempt for the wants of nations. This profound ignorance of the
maxims of political economy caused general privation and misery, which
in their turn occasioned general hostility. The system could only
succeed in the impossible event of all the powers of Europe honestly
endeavouring to carry it into effect. A single free port would have
destroyed it. In order to ensure its complete success it was necessary
to conquer and occupy all countries, and never to evacuate them. As a
means of ruining England it was contemptible. It was necessary that
all Europe should be compelled by force of arms to join this absurd
coalition, and that the same force should be constantly employed
to maintain it. Was this possible? The captain "rapporteur" of a
court-martial allowed a poor peasant to escape the punishment due to
the offence of having bought a loaf of sugar beyond the custom-house
barrier. This officer was some time afterwards at a dinner given by
Marshal Davoust; the latter said to him, "You have a very scrupulous
conscience, sir; go to headquarters and you will find an order there for
you." This order sent him eighty leagues from Hamburg. It is necessary
to have witnessed, as I have, the numberless vexations and miseries
occasioned by the unfortunate Continental system to understand
the mischief its authors did in Europe, and how much that mischief
contributed to Napoleon's fall.
--[The so-called Continental system was framed by Napoleon in
revenge for the English very extended system of blockades, after
Trafalgar had put it out of his power to attempt to keep the seas.
By these decrees all ports occupied by the French were closed to the
English, and all English goods were to be destroyed wherever found
in any country occupied by the French. All States under French
influence had to adopt this system. It must be remembered that
Napoleon eventually held or enforced his system on all the
coastlines of Europe, except that of Spain and Turkey; but as
Bourrienne shows the plan of giving licences to break his own system
was too lucrative to be resisted by him, or, still more, by his
officers. For the working of the system in the occupied lands,
Laffite the banker told Savary it was a grand idea, but
impracticable (Savary, tome v. p. 110). The Emperor Alexander is
reported to have said, after visiting England in 1814, that he
believed the system would have reduced England if it had lasted
another year. The English, who claimed the right of blockading any
coast with but little regard to the effectiveness of the blockade,
retaliated by orders in Council, the chief of which are dated 7th
January 1807, and 11th November 1807, by which no ships of any power
were allowed to trade between any French ports, or the ports of any
country closed to England. Whatever the real merits of the system,
and although it was the cause of war between the United States and
England, its execution did most to damage France and Napoleon, and
to band all Europe against it. It is curious that even in 1831 a
treaty had to be made to settle the claims of the United States on
France for unjust seizures under these decrees.]--
CHAPTER X.
1806-1807.
New system of war--Winter quarters--The Emperor's Proclamation--
Necessity of marching to meet the Russians--Distress in the Hanse
Towns--Order for 50,000 cloaks--Seizure of Russian corn and timber--
Murat's entrance into Warsaw--Re-establishment of Poland--Duroc's
accident--M. de Talleyrand's carriage stopped by the mud--Napoleon's
power of rousing the spirit of his troops--His mode of dictating--
The Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin--His visits to Hamburg--The Duke of
Weimar--His letter and present--Journey of the Hereditary Prince of
Denmark to Paris--Batter, the English spy--Traveling clerks--Louis
Bonaparte and the Berlin decree--Creation of the Kingdom of Saxony--
Veneration of Germany for the King of Saxony--The Emperor's
uncertainty respecting Poland--Fetes and reviews at Warsaw--The
French Government at the Emperor's head quarters--Ministerial
portfolios sent to Warsaw.--Military preparations during the month
of January--Difference of our situation daring the campaigns of
Vienna and Prussia--News received and sent--Conduct of the Cabinet
of Austria similar to that of the Cabinet of Berlin--Battle of
Eylau--Unjust accusation against Bernadotte--Death of General
d'Hautpoult--Te Deum chanted by the Russians--Gardanne's mission to
Persia
Bonaparte was not only beyond all comparison the greatest captain of
modern times, but he may be said to have wrought a complete change in
the art of war. Before his time the most able generals regulated the
fighting season by the almanac. It was customary in Europe to brave the
cannon's mouth only from the first fine days of spring to the last fine
days of autumn; and the months of rain, snow, and frost were passed
in what were called winter quarters. Pichegru, in Holland, had set the
example of indifference to temperature. At Austerlitz, too, Bonaparte
had braved the severity of winter; this answered his purpose well, and
he adopted the same course in 1806. His military genius and activity
seemed to increase, and, proud of his troops, he determined to commence
a winter campaign in a climate more rigorous than any in which he had
yet fought. The men, chained to his destiny, were now required to brave
the northern blast, as they had formerly braved the vertical sun of
Egypt. Napoleon, who, above all generals, was remarkable for the choice
of his fields of battle, did not wish to wait tranquilly until the
Russian army, which was advancing towards Germany, should come to
measure its strength with him in the plains of conquered Prussia; he
resolved to march to meet it, and to reach it before it should arose the
Vistula; but before he left Berlin to explore and conqueror, Poland and
the confines of Russia; he addressed a proclamation to his troops, in
which he stated all that had hitherto been achieved by the French army,
and at the same time announced his future intentions. It was especially
advisable that he should march forward, for, had he waited until the
Russians had passed the Vistula, there could probably have been no
winter campaign, and he would have been obliged either to take up
miserable winter quarters between the Vistula and the Oder, or to
recross the Oder to combat the enemy in Prussia. Napoleon's military
genius and indefatigable activity served him admirably on this occasion,
and the proclamation just alluded to, which was dated from Berlin
before his departure from Charlottenburg; proves that he did not act
fortuitously, as he frequently did, but that his calculations were
well-made.
--[Before leaving the capital of Prussia Bonaparte stole from the
monument, of Frederick the Great his sword and military orders. He
also plundered the galleries of Berlin and Potsdam of their best
pictures and statues, thus continuing the system he had began is
Italy. All those things he sent to Paris as trophies of victory and
glory.--Editor of as 1836 edition.]
A rapid and immense impulse given to great masses of men by the will of
a single individual may produce transient lustre and dazzle the eyes
of the multitude; but when, at a distance from the theatre of glory, we
flee only the melancholy results which have been produced. The genius of
conquest can only be regarded as the genius of destruction. What a sad
picture was often presented to my eyes! I was continually doomed to
hear complaints of the general distress, and to execute orders which
augmented the immense sacrifices already made by the city of Hamburg.
Thus, for example, the Emperor desired me to furnish him with 50,000
cloaks which I immediately did. I felt the importance of such an order
with the approach of winter, and in a climate--the rigour of which
our troops had not yet encountered. I also received orders to seize at
Lübeck (Which town, as I have already stated, had been alternately taken
and retaken try Blücher and Bernadotte) 400,000 lasts of corn,--[A
last weighs 2000 kilogrammes]--and to send them to Magdeburg. This corn
belonged to Russia. Marshal Mortier, too, had seized some timber for
building, which also belonged to Russia; and which was estimated at
1,400,000 francs.
Meanwhile our troops continued to advance with such rapidity that before
the end of November Murat arrived at Warsaw, at the head of the advanced
guard of the Grand Army, of which, he had the command. The Emperor's
headquarters, were then at Posen, and, he received deputations from all
parts soliciting the re-establishment and independence of the Kingdom of
Poland.
Rapp informed me that after receiving the deputation from Warsaw the
Emperor said to him, "I love the Poles; their enthusiastic character
pleases me; I should like to make them independent, but that is a
difficult matter. Austria, Russia, and Prussia have all had a slice
of the cake; when the match is once kindled who knows where, the
conflagration may stop? My first duty, is towards France, which I must
not sacrifice to Poland; we must refer this matter to the sovereign
of all things--Time, he will presently show us what we must do." Had
Sulkowsky lived Napoleon might have recollected what he had said to him
in Egypt, and, in all probability he would have raised up a power, the
dismemberment of which; towards the close of the last century, began to
overturn the political equilibrium which had subsisted in Europe since
the peace of Westphalia in 1648.
It was at the headquarters at Posen that Duroc rejoined the Emperor
after his mission to the King of Prussia. His carriage overturned on the
way, and he had the misfortune to break his collar-bone. All the letters
I received were nothing but a succession of complaints on the bad state
of the roads. Our troops were absolutely fighting in mud, and it was
with extreme difficulty that the artillery and caissons of the army
could be moved along. M. de Talleyrand had been summoned to headquarters
by the Emperor, in the expectation of treating for peace, and I was
informed that his carriage stuck in the mud and he was detained on his
journey for twelve hours. A soldier having asked one of the persons in
M. de Talleyrand's suite who the traveller was, was informed that he was
the Minister for Foreign Affairs. "Ah! bah!" said the soldier, "why does
he come with his diplomacy to such a devil of a country as this?"
The Emperor entered Warsaw on the 1st of January 1807. Most of the
reports which he had received previous to his entrance had concurred in
describing the dissatisfaction of the troops, who for some time had had
to contend with bad roads, bad weather, and all aorta of privations.'
Bonaparte said to the generals who informed him that the enthusiasm of
his troops had been succeeded by dejection and discontent, "Does their
spirit fail them when they come in sight of the enemy?"--"No, Sire."--
"I knew it; my troops are always the same." Then turning to Rapp he
said, "I must rouse them;" and he dictated the following proclamation:
SOLDIERS--It is a year this very hour since you were on the field of
Austerlitz, where the Russian battalions fled in disorder, or
surrendered up their arms to their conquerors. Next day proposals,
of peace were talked of; but they were deceptive. No sooner had the
Russians escaped, by perhaps, blamable generosity from the disasters
of the third coalition than they contrived a fourth. But the ally
on whose tactics they founded their principal hope was no more. His
capital, his fortresses; his magazines; his arsenals, 280 flags, and
700 field-pieces have fallen into our power. The Oder, the Wartha,
the deserts of Poland, and the inclemency of the season have not for
a moment retarded your progress. You have braved all; surmounted
all; every obstacle has fled at your approach. The Russians have in
vain endeavoured to defend the capital of ancient and illustrious
Poland. The French eagle hovers over the Vistula. The brave and
unfortunate Poles, on beholding you, fancied they saw the legions of
Sobieski, returning from their memorable expedition.
Soldiers, we will not lay down our arms until a general peace has
secured the power of our allies and restored to us our colonies and
our freedom of trade. We have gained on the Elbe and the Oder,
Pondicherry, our Indian establishments, the Cape of Good Hope, and
the Spanish colonies. Why should the Russians have the right of
opposing destiny and thwarting our just designs? They and we are
still the soldiers who fought at Austerlitz.
Rapp thus describes the entrance of the French into Warsaw, and adds a
few anecdotes connected with that event:
"At length we entered the Polish capital. The King of Naples had
preceded us, and had driven the Russians from the city. Napoleon
was received with enthusiasm. The Poles thought that the moment of
their regeneration had arrived, and that their wishes were
fulfilled. It would be difficult to describe the joy thus evinced,
and the respect with which they treated us. The French troops,
however, were not quite so well pleased; they manifested the
greatest repugnance to crossing the Vistula. The idea of want and
bad weather had inspired them with the greatest aversion to Poland,
and they were inexhaustible, in their jokes on the country."
When Bonaparte dictated his proclamations--and how many have I not
written from his dictation!--he was for the moment inspired, and
he evinced all the excitement which distinguishes the Italian
improvisatori. To follow him it was necessary to write with
inconceivable rapidity. When I have read over to him what he has
dictated I have often known him to smile triumphantly at the effect
which he expected any particular phrase would produce. In general his
proclamations turned on three distinct points--(1) Praising his soldiers
for what they had done; (2) pointing out to them what they had yet to
do; and (3) abusing his enemies. The proclamation to which I have
just now alluded was circulated profusely through Germany, and it is
impossible to conceive the effect it produced. on the whole army. The
corps stationed in the rear burned too pass, by forced marches, the
space which still separated them from headquarters; and those who were
nearer the Emperor forgot their fatigues and privations and were only
anxious to encounter the enemy. They frequently could not understand
what Napoleon said in these proclamations; but no matter for that, they
would have followed him cheerfully barefooted and without provisions.
Such was the enthusiasm, or rather the fanaticism, which Napoleon could
inspire among his troops when he thought proper to rouse them, as he
termed it.
When, on a former occasion, I spoke of the Duke of, Mecklenburg-Schwerin
and his family, I forgot a circumstance respecting my intercourse with
him which now occurs to my memory. When, on his expulsion from
his States, after the battle of Jena, he took refuge in Altona, he
requested, through the medium of his Minister at Hamburg, Count von
Plessen, that I would give him permission occasionally to visit that
city. This permission I granted without hesitation; but the Duke
observed no precaution in his visits, and I made some friendly
observations to him on the subject. I knew the object of his visits.
It was a secret connection in Hamburg; but in consequence of my
observations he removed the lady to Altona, and assured me that he
adopted that determination to avoid committing me. He afterwards came
very seldom to Hamburg; but as we were on the best understanding with
Denmark I frequently saw his daughter, and son-in-law, who used to visit
me at a house I had in Holstein, near Altona.
There I likewise saw, almost every day, the Duke of Weimar, an excellent
old man. I had the advantage of being on such terms of intimacy with him
that my house was in some measure his. He also had lost his States. I
was so happy as to contribute to their restitution, for my situation
enabled me to exercise some influence on the political indulgences or
severities of the Government. I entertained a sincere regard for the
Duke of Weimar, and I greatly regretted his departure. No sooner had
he arrived in Berlin than he wrote me a letter of, thanks, to which he
added the present of a diamond, in token of his grateful remembrance of
me. The Duke of Mecklenburg was not so fortunate as the Duke of Weimar,
in spite of his alliance with the reigning family of Denmark. He was
obliged to remain at Altona until the July following, for his States
were restored only by the Treaty of Tilsit. As soon as it was known that
the Emperor had returns to Paris the Duke's son, the Hereditary Prince,
visited me in Hamburg, and asked me whether I thought he could present
himself to the Emperor, for the purpose of expressing his own and his
father's gratitude. He was a very well-educated young man. He set
out, accompanied by M. Oertzen and Baron von Brandstaten. Some time
afterwards I saw his name in the Moniteur, in one of the lists of
presentations to Napoleon, the collection of which, during the Empire,
might be regarded as a general register of the nobility of Europe.
It is commonly said that we may accustom ourselves to anything, but
to me this remark is subject to an exception; for, in spite of the
necessity to which I was reduced of employing spies, I never could
surmount the disgust I felt at them, especially when I saw men destined
to fill a respectable rank in society degrade themselves to that
infamous profession. It is impossible to conceive the artifices to
which these men resort to gain the confidence of those whom they wish to
betray. Of this the following example just now occurs to my mind.
One of those wretches who are employed in certain circumstances, and by
all parties, came to offer his services to me. His name was Butler, and
he had been sent from England to the Continent as a spy upon the French
Government. He immediately came to me, complaining of pretended enemies
and unjust treatment. He told me he had the greatest wish to serve the
Emperor, and that he would make any sacrifice to prove his fidelity.
The real motive of his change of party was, as it is with all such men,
merely the hope of a higher reward. Most extraordinary were the schemes
he adopted to prevent his old employers from suspecting that he was
serving new ones. To me he continually repeated how happy he was to be
revenged on his enemies in London. He asked me to allow him to go to
Paris to be examined by the Minister of Police. The better to keep up
the deception he requested that on his arrival in Paris he might be
confined in the Temple, and that there might be inserted in the French
journals an announcement in the following terms:
"John Butler, commonly called Count Butler, has just been arrested
and sent to Paris under a good escort by the French Minister at
Hamburg."
At the expiration of a few weeks Butler, having received his
instruction's, set out for London, but by way of precaution he said it
would be well to publish in the journals another announcement; which was
as follows:
"John Butler, who has been arrested in Hamburg as an English agent,
and conveyed to Paris, is ordered to quit France and the territories
occupied by the French armies and their allies, and not to appear
there again until the general peace."
In England Butler enjoyed the honours of French prosecution. He was
regarded as a victim who deserved all the confidence of the enemies of
France. He furnished Fouché with a considerable amount of information,
and he was fortunate enough to escape being hanged.
Notwithstanding the pretended necessity of employing secret agents,
Bonaparte was unwilling that, even under that pretext, too many
communications should be established between France and England: Fouché,
nevertheless, actively directed the evolutions of his secret army. Ever
ready to seize on anything that could give importance to the police and
encourage the suspicions of the Emperor, Fouché wrote to me that
the government had received certain--information that many Frenchmen
traveling for commercial houses in France were at Manchester purchasing
articles of English manufacture. This was true; but how was it to be
prevented? These traveling clerks passed through Holland, where they
easily procured a passage to England.
Louis Bonaparte, conceiving that the King of Holland ought to sacrifice
the interests of his new subjects to the wishes of his brother, was at
first very lenient as to the disastrous Continental system. But at this
Napoleon soon manifested his displeasure, and about the end of the
year 1806 Louis was reduced to the necessity of ordering the strict
observance of the blockade. The facility with which the travelers of
French commercial houses passed from Holland to England gave rise to
other alarms on the part of the French Government. It was said that
since Frenchmen could so easily pass from the Continent to Great
Britain, the agents of the English Cabinet might, by the same means,
find their way to the Continent. Accordingly the consuls were directed
to keep a watchful eye, not only upon individuals who evidently came
from England, but upon those who might by any possibility come from
that country. This plan was all very well, but how was it to be put
into execution? . . . The Continent was, nevertheless, inundated with
articles of English manufacture, for this simple reason, that, however
powerful may be the will of a sovereign, it is still less powerful and
less lasting than the wants of a people. The Continental system reminded
me of the law created by an ancient legislator, who, for a crime which
he conceived could not possibly be committed, condemned the person who
should be guilty of it to throw a bull over Mount Taurus.
It is not my present design to trace a picture of the state of Europe at
the close of 1806. I will merely throw together a few facts which came
to my knowledge at the time, and which I find in my correspondence. I
have already mentioned that the Emperor arrived at Warsaw on the 1st
of January. During his stay at Posen he had, by virtue of a treaty
concluded with the Elector of Saxony, founded a new kingdom, and
consequently extended his power in Germany, by the annexation of the
new Kingdom of Saxony to the Confederation of the Rhine. By the terms of
this treaty Saxony, so justly famed for her cavalry, was to furnish the
Emperor with a contingent of 20,000 men and horses.
It was quite a new spectacle to the Princes of Germany, all accustomed
to old habits of etiquette, to see an upstart sovereign treat them as
subjects, and even oblige them to consider themselves as such. Those
famous Saxons, who had made Charlemagne tremble, threw themselves on the
protection of the Emperor; and the alliance of the head of the House of
Saxony was not a matter of indifference to Napoleon, for the new King
was, on account of his age, his tastes, and his character, more revered
than any other German Prince.
From the moment of Napoleon's arrival at Warsaw until the commencement
of hostilities against the Russians he was continually solicited
to reestablish the throne of Poland, and to restore its chivalrous
independence to the ancient empire of the Jagellons. A person who was
at that time in Warsaw told me that the Emperor was in the greatest
uncertainty as to what he should do respecting Poland. He was entreated
to reestablish that ancient and heroic kingdom; but he came to no
decision, preferring, according to custom, to submit to events, that he
might appear to command them. At Warsaw, indeed, the Emperor passed a
great part of his time in fetes and reviews, which, however, did not
prevent him from watching, with his eagle eye, every department of
the public service, both interior and exterior. He himself was in the
capital of Poland, but his vast influence was present everywhere. I
heard Duroc say, when we were conversing together about the campaign
of Tilsit, that Napoleon's activity and intelligence were never more
conspicuously developed.
One very remarkable feature of the imperial wars was, that, with the
exception of the interior police, of which Fouché was the soul, the
whole government of France was at the headquarters of the Emperor. At
Warsaw Napoleon's attention was not only occupied with the affairs of
his army, but he directed the whole machinery of the French Government
just the same as if he had been in Paris. Daily estafettes, and
frequently the useless auditors of the Council of State, brought
him reports more or less correct, and curious disclosures which were
frequently the invention of the police. The portfolios of the Ministers
arrived every week, with the exception of those of the Minister for
Foreign Affairs and the Minister of the War Department; the former had
first stopped at Mayence with the Empress, but had been called on to
Warsaw; and the latter, Clarke, was, for the misfortune of Berlin,
governor of that city. This state of things lasted during the ten months
of the Emperor's absence from Paris. Louis XIV. said, "I am myself the
State." Napoleon did not say this; but, in fact, under his reign the
Government of France was always at his headquarters. This circumstance
had well-nigh proved fatal to him, on the occasion of the extraordinary
conspiracy of Malet, with some points of which I alone, perhaps, am
thoroughly acquainted. The Emperor employed the month of January in
military preparations for the approaching attack of the Russians, but at
the same time he did not neglect the business of the cabinet: with him
nothing was suffered to linger in arrear.
While Napoleon was at Warsaw a battle was not the only thing to be
thought about; affairs were much more complicated than during the
campaign of Vienna. It was necessary, on the one hand, to observe
Prussia, which was occupied; and on the other to anticipate the
Russians, whose movements indicated that they were inclined to strike
the first blow. In the preceding campaign Austria, before the taking of
Vienna, was engaged alone. The case was different now: Austria had had
only soldiers; and Prussia, as Blücher declared to me, was beginning to
have citizens. There was no difficulty in returning from Vienna, but a
great deal in returning from Warsaw, in case of failure, notwithstanding
the creation of the Kingdom of Saxony, and the provisional government
given to Prussia, and to the other States of Germany which we had
conquered. None of these considerations escaped the penetration of
Napoleon: nothing was omitted in the notes, letters, and official
correspondence which came to me from all quarters. Receiving, as I did,
accurate information from my own correspondents of all that was passing
in Germany, it often happened that I transmitted to the Government the
same news which it transmitted to me, not supposing that I previously
knew it. Thus, for example, I thought I was apprising the Government of
the arming of Austria, of which I received information from headquarters
a few days after.
During the Prussian campaign Austria played precisely the same waiting
game which Prussia had played clueing the campaign of Austria. As
Prussia had, before the battle of Austerlitz, awaited the success or
defeat of the French to decide whether she should remain neutral or
declare herself against France, so Austria, doubtless supposing that
Russia would be more fortunate as the ally of Prussia than she had been
as her ally, assembled a corps of 40,000 men in Bohemia. That corps
was called an army of observation; but the nature of these armies
of observation is well known; they belong to the class of armed
neutralities, like the ingenious invention of sanitary cordons. The fact
is, that the 40,000 men assembled in Bohemia were destined to aid and
assist the Russians in case they should be successful (and who can blame
the Austrian Government for wishing to wash away the shame of the Treaty
of Presburg?). Napoleon had not a moment to lose, but this activity
required no spur; he had hastened the battle of Austerlitz to anticipate
Prussia, and he now found it necessary to anticipate Russia in order to
keep Austria in a state of indecision.
The Emperor, therefore, left Warsaw about the end of January, and
immediately gave orders for engaging the Russian army in the beginning
of February; but, in spite of his desire of commencing the attack, he
was anticipated. On the 8th of February, at seven in the morning, he was
attacked by the Russians, who advanced during a terrible storm of snow,
which fell in large flakes. They approached Preussich-Eylau, where the
Emperor was, and the Imperial Guard stopped the Russian column. Nearly
the whole French army was engaged in that battle-one of the most
sanguinary ever fought in Europe. The corps commanded by Bernadotte
was not engaged, in the contest; it had been stationed on the left at
Mohrungen, whence it menaced Dantzic. The issue of the battle would have
been very different had the four, divisions of infantry and the two of
cavalry composing Bernadotte's corps arrived in time; but unfortunately
the officer instructed to convey orders to Bernadotte to march without
delay on Preussich-Eylau was taken by a body of Cossacks; Bernadotte,
therefore, did not arrive. Bonaparte, who always liked to throw blame on
some one if things did not turn out exactly as he wished, attributed the
doubtful success of the day to the absence of Bernadotte; in this he was
right; but to make his absence a reproach to that Marshal was a gross
injustice. Bernadotte was accused of not having been willing to march
on Preussich-Eylau, though, as it was alleged, General d'Hautpoult had
informed him of the necessity of his presence. But how can that fact be
ascertained, since General d'Hautpoult was killed on that same day? Who
can assure us that that General had been able to communicate with the
Marshal?
Those who knew Bonaparte, his cunning, and the artful advantage he would
sometimes take of words which he attributed to the dead, will easily
solve the enigma. The battle of Eylau was terrible. Night came
on--Bernadotte's corps was instantly, but in vain, expected; and after
a great loss the French army had the melancholy honour of passing the
night on the field of battle. Bernadotte at length arrived, but too
late. He met the enemy, who were retreating without the fear of being
molested towards Konigsberg, the only capital remaining to Prussia. The
King of Prussia was then at Memel, a small port on the Baltic, thirty
leagues from Konigsberg.
After the battle of Eylau both sides remained stationary, and several
days elapsed without anything remarkable taking place. The offers of
peace made by the Emperor, with very little earnestness it is true, were
disdainfully rejected, as if a victory disputed with Napoleon was to be
regarded as a triumph. The battle of Eylau seemed to turn the heads of
the Russians, who chanted Te Deum on the occasion. But while the Emperor
was making preparations to advance, his diplomacy was taking effect in
a distant quarter, and raising up against Russia an old and formidable
enemy. Turkey declared war against her. This was a powerful diversion,
and obliged Russia to strip her western frontiers to secure a line of
defence on the south.
Some time after General Gardanne set out on the famous embassy to
Persia; for which the way had been paved by the success of the mission
of my friend, Amedee Jaubert. This embassy was not merely one of those
pompous legations such as Charlemagne, Louis XIV., and Louis XVI.
received from the Empress Irene, the King of Siam, and Tippoo Saib. It
was connected with ideas which Bonaparte had conceived at the very dawn
of his power. It was, indeed, the light from the East which fast enabled
him to see his greatness in perspective; and that light never ceased
to fix his attention and dazzle his imagination. I know well that
Gardanne's embassy was at first conceived on a much grander scale than
that on which it was executed. Napoleon had resolved to send to the Shah
of Persia 4000 infantry, commanded by chosen and experienced officers,
10,000 muskets, and 50 pieces, of cannon; and I also know that orders
were given for the execution of this design. The avowed object of the
Emperor was to enable the Shah of Persia to make an important diversion,
with 80,000 men, in, the eastern provinces of Russia. But there
was likewise another, an old and constant object, which was always,
uppermost in Napoleon's mind, namely the wish to strike at England in
the very heart of her Asiatic possessions. Such was the principal motive
of Gardanne's mission, but circumstances did not permit the Emperor,
to, give, it, all the importance he desired. He contented himself with
sending a few officers of engineers and artillery, to Persia, who,
on their arrival, were astonished at the number of English they found
there.
CHAPTER XI.
1807
Abuse of military power--Defence of diplomatic rights--Marshal Brune
--Army supplies--English cloth and leather--Arrest on a charge of
libel--Dispatch from M. Talleyrand--A page of Napoleon's glory--
Interview between the two Emperors at Tilsit,--Silesia restored to
the Queen of Prussia--Unfortunate situation in Prussia--
Impossibility of reestablishing Poland in 1807--Foundation of the
Kingdom of Westphalia--The Duchy of Warsaw and the King of Saxony.
Meanwhile the internal affairs of the towns over which my diplomatic
jurisdiction extended soon gave me more employment than ever. The
greatest misfortune of the Empire was, perhaps, the abuse of the
right arrogated by the wearers of epaulettes. My situation gave me
an opportunity of observing all the odious character of a military
government. Another in my place could not have done all that I did. I
say this confidently, for my situation was a distinct and independent
one, as Bonaparte had told me: Being authorised to correspond directly
with the Emperor; the military chiefs feared, if they did not yield
to my just representations, that I would made private reports; this
apprehension was wonderfully useful in enabling me to maintain the
rights of the towns, which had adopted me as their first citizen.
A circumstance occurred in which I had to defend the rights of the
diplomatic and commercial agents against the pretensions of military
power. Marshal Brune during his government at Hamburg, went to Bremman.
to watch the strict execution of the illusive blockade against England.
The Marshal acting no doubt, in conformity with the instructions of
Clarke, then Minister of War and Governor of Berlin, wished to arrogate
the right of deciding on the captures made by our cruisers.
He attempted to prevent the Consul Lagau from selling the confiscated
ships in order to sell them himself. Of this M. Lagau complained to
me. The more I observed a disposition to encroach on the part of the
military authorities, the more I conceived it necessary to maintain the
rights of the consuls, and to favour their influence, without which they
would have lost their consideration. To the complaints of M. Lagau I
replied, "That to him alone belonged the right of deciding, in the first
instance, on the fate of the ships; that he could not be deprived
of that right without changing the law; that he was free to sell the
confiscated Prussian ships; that Marshall Brune was at Bremen only for
the execution of the decree respecting the blockade of England, and that
he ought not to interfere in business unconnected with that decree."
Lagau showed this letter to Brune, who then allowed him to do as he
wished; but it was an affair of profit, and the Marshal for a long time
owed me a grudge.
Bernadotte was exceedingly disinterested, but he loved to be talked
about. The more the Emperor endeavoured to throw accusations upon him,
the more he was anxious to give publicity to all his actions. He sent to
me an account of the brilliant affair of Braunsburg, in which a division
of the first corps had been particularly distinguished. Along with this
narrative he sent me a note in the following terms:--"I send you,
my dear. Minister, an account of the affair of Braunsburg. You will,
perhaps, think proper to publish it. In that case I shall be obliged
by your getting it inserted in the Hamburg journals," I did so.
The injustice of the Emperor, and the bad way in which he spoke of
Bernadotte, obliged the latter,--for the sake of his own credit, to make
the truth known to the world.
I have already mentioned that I received an order from the Emperor to
supply 50,000 cloaks for the army. With this order, which was not the
only one I received of the same kind, some circumstances were connected
which I may take the present opportunity of explaining.
The Emperor gave me so many orders for army clothing that all that could
be supplied by the cities of Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck would have been
insufficient for executing the commissions. I entered into a treaty with
a house in Hamburg, which I authorised, in spite of the Berlin decree,
to bring cloth and leather from England. Thus I procured these articles
in a sure and cheap way. Our troops might have perished of cold had the
Continental system and the absurd mass of inexecutable decrees relative
to English merchandise been observed.
The Director of the Customs at Hamburg got angry, but I held firm: my
cloths and my leather arrived; cloaks, coats; boots, all were promptly
made, and our soldiers thus were sheltered from the severity of the
season. To preserve peace with the Imperial Custom-house I wrote to M.
Collie, then Director-General, that M. Eudel having wished to put in
execution the law of the 10th Brumaire and complaints had been made on
every side. Marshal Brune asked for my opinion on this matter, and I
gave it to him. I declared to M. Collie that the full execution of the
decree of 31st October 1796 was impracticable, injurious to France, and
to the Hanseatic Towns, without doing harm to England. Indeed, what
said article 5 of this law? "All goods imported from foreign countries,
whatever may be their origin, are to be considered as coming from
English manufacturers." According to this article France was a foreign
country for the Hanseatic Towns, and none of the objects enumerated in
this article ought to enter Hamburg! But the town received from England
a large quantity of fine cloths, buttons; ironmongery, toys, china; and
from France only clocks, bronzes, jewellery, ribbons, bonnets, gauzes
and gloves. "Let," said I to M. Eudel, "the Paris Duane be asked what
that town alone exports in matters of this sort and it will be seen how
important it is not to stop a trade all the more profitable to France,
as the workmanship forms the greatest part of the price of the goods
which make up this trade. What would happen if the importation of these
goods were absolutely prohibited in Hamburg? The consignments would
cease, and one of the most productive sources of trade for France, and
especially for Paris would be cut off."
At this time neither Hamburg nor its territory had any manufacture of
cloth. All woollen stuffs were prohibited, according to M. Eudel, and
still my duty was to furnish, and I had furnished, 50,000 cloaks for the
Grand Army. In compliance with a recent Imperial decree I had to have
made without delay 16,000 coats, 37,000 waistcoats, and the Emperor
required of me 200,000 pairs of boots, besides the 40,000 pairs I had
sent in. Yet M. Eudel said that tanned and worked leather ought not to
enter Hamburg! If such a ridiculous application of the law of 1796 had
been made it would have turned the decree of 21st November 1796 against
France, without fulfilling its object.
These reflections, to which I added other details, made the Government
conclude that I was right, and I traded with England to the great
advantage of the armies, which were well clothed and shod. What in the
world can be more ridiculous than commercial laws carried out to one's
own detriment?
At the beginning of 1807 my occupations at Hamburg were divided between
the furnishing of supplies for the army and the inspection of the
emigrants, whom Fouché pretended to dread in order to give greater
importance to his office.
I never let slip an opportunity of mitigating the rigour of Fouché's
orders, which, indeed, were sometimes so absurd that I did not attempt
to execute them. Of this an instance occurs to my recollection. A
printer at Hamburg had been arrested on the charge of having printed a
libel in the German language. The man was detained in prison because,
very much to his honour, he would not disclose the name of the writer of
the pamphlet. I sent for him and questioned him. He told me, with every
appearance of sincerity, that he had never but once seen the man who
had brought him the manuscript. I was convinced of the truth of what he
said, and I gave an order for his liberation. To avoid irritating the
susceptibility of the Minister of Police I wrote to him the following
few lines:--"The libel is the most miserable rhapsody imaginable. The
author, probably with the view of selling his pamphlet in Holstein,
predicts that Denmark will conquer every other nation and become the
greatest kingdom in the world. This alone will suffice to prove to
you how little clanger there is in rubbish written in the style of the
Apocalypse."
After the battle of Eylau I received a despatch from M. de Talleyrand,
to which was added an account in French of that memorable battle, which
was more fatal to the conqueror than to the other party,--I cannot say
the conquered in speaking of the Russians, the more especially when I
recollect the precautions which were then taken throughout Germany
to make known the French before the Russian version. The Emperor was
exceedingly anxious that every one should view that event as he himself
viewed it. Other accounts than his might have produced an unfavourable
impression in the north. I therefore had orders to publish that account.
I caused 2000 copies of it to be issued, which were more than sufficient
for circulation in the Hanse Towns and their territories.
The reader will perhaps complain that I have been almost silent with
respect to the grand manoeuvres of the French army from the battle
of Eylau to that of Friedland, where, at all events, our success was
indisputable. There was no necessity for printing favourable versions of
that event, and, besides, its immense results were soon felt throughout
Europe. The interview at Tilsit is one of the culminating points of
modern history, and the waters of the Niemen reflected the image of
Napoleon at the height of his glory. The interview between the two
Emperors at Tilsit, and the melancholy situation of the King of Prussia,
are generally known. I was made acquainted with but few secret details
relative to those events, for Rapp had gone to Dantzic, and it was he
who most readily communicated to me all that the Emperor said and did,
and all that was passing around him.--
--[Savory gives the following account of the interview between
Napoleon and Alexander at Tilsit.
"The Emperor Napoleon, whose courtesy was manifest in all his
actions, ordered a large raft to be floated in the middle of the
river, upon which was constructed a room well covered in and
elegantly decorated having two doors on opposite aides, each of
which opened into an antechamber. The work could not have been
better executed in Paris. The roof was surmounted by two
weathercocks: one displaying the eagle of Russia, and the other the
eagle of France. The two outer doors were also surmounted by the
eagles of the two countries.
"The raft was precisely in the middle of the river, with the two
doors of the salon facing the two opposite banks.
"The two sovereigns appeared on the banks of the river, and embarked
at the same moment But the Emperor Napoleon having a good boat,
manned by marines of the Guard, arrived first on the raft, entered
the room, and went to the opposite door, which he opened, and then
stationed himself on the edge of the raft to receive the Emperor
Alexander, who had not yet arrived, not having each good rowers as
the Emperor Napoleon.
"The two Emperors met in the most amicable way, et least to all
appearance. They remained together for a considerable time, and
then took leave of each other with as friendly an air as that with
which they had met.
"Next day the Emperor of Russia established himself at Tilsit with a
battalion of his Guard. Orders were given for evacuating that part
of the town where he and his battalion were to be quartered; and,
though we were very much pressed for room, no encroachment on the
space allotted to the Russians was thought of.
"On the day the Emperor Alexander, entered Tilsit the whole army was
under arms. The Imperial Guard was drawn out in two lines of three
deep from the landing-place to the Emperor Napoleon's quarters, and
from thence to the quarters of the Emperor of Russia. A salute of
100 guns was fired the moment Alexander stepped ashore on the spot
where the Emperor Napoleon was waiting to receive him. The latter
carried his attention to his visitor so far as to send from his
quarters the furniture for Alexander's bedchamber. Among the
articles sent was a camp-bed belonging to the Emperor, which he
presented to Alexander, who appeared much pleased with the gift.
"This meeting; the first which history records of the same kind and
of equal importance, attracted visitors to Tilsit from 100 leagues
round. M. de Talleyrand arrived, and after the observance of the
usual ceremonies business began to be discussed." (Memoirs of the
Duc de Rovigo, tome iii. p. 117).
"When," said Napoleon, "I was at Tilsit with the Emperor Alexander
and the King of Prussia, I was the most ignorant of the three in
military affairs. These two sovereigns, especially the King of
Prussia, were completely 'au fait' as to the number of buttons there
ought to be in front of a jacket, how many behind, and the manner in
which the skirts ought to be cut. Not a tailor in the army knew
better than King Frederick how many measures of cloth it took to
make a jacket. In fact," continued he laughing, "I was nobody in
comparison with them. They continually tormented me about matters
belonging to tailors, of which I was entirely ignorant, although, in
order not to affront them, I answered just as gravely as if the fate
of an army depended upon the cut of a jacket. When I went to see
the King of Prussia, instead of a library, I found that he had a
large room, like an arsenal, furnished with shelves and pegs; on
which were hung fifty or sixty jackets of different patterns. Every
day he changed his fashion and put on a different one. He attached
more importance to this than was necessary for the salvation of a
kingdom." (O'Meara's Napoleon in Exile.)]--
I, however, learned one circumstance peculiarly worthy of remark
which occurred in the Emperor's apartments at Tilsit the first time he
received a visit from the King of Prussia. That unfortunate monarch, who
was accompanied by Queen Louisa, had taken refuge in a mill beyond the
town. This was his sole habitation, whilst the Emperors occupied the
two portions of the town, which is divided by the Niemen. The fact I am
about to relate reached me indirectly through the medium of an offices
of the Imperial Guard, who was on duty in Napoleon's apartments and was
an eye-witness of it. When the Emperor Alexander visited Napoleon they
continued for a long time in conversation on a balcony below, where as
immense crowd hailed their meeting with enthusiastic shouts. Napoleon
commenced the conversation, as he did the year preceding with the
Emperor of Austria, by speaking of the uncertain fate of war. Whilst
they were conversing the King of Prussia was announced. The King's
emotion was visible, and may easily be imagined; for as hostilities were
suspended, and his territory in possession of the French, his only hope
was in the generosity of the conqueror. Napoleon himself, it is said,
appeared moved by his situation, and invited him, together with the
Queen, to dinner. On sitting down to table Napoleon with great gallantry
told the beautiful Queen that he would restore to her Silesia, a
province which she earnestly wished should be retained in the new
arrangements which were necessarily about to take place.
--[Las Cases mentions that at the time of the treaty of Tilsit
Napoleon wrote to the Empress Josephine as follows:
"'The Queen of Prussia is really a charming woman. She is fond of
coquetting with me; but do not be jealous: I am like oilcloth, along
which everything of this sort elides without penetrating. It would
cost me too dear to play the gallant'
"On this subject an anecdote was related in the salon of Josephine.
It was said that the Queen of Prussia one day had a beautiful rose
in her hand, which the Emperor asked her to give him. The Queen
hesitated for a few moments, and then presented it to him, saying,
'Why should I so readily grant what you request, while you remain
deaf to all my entreaties?' (She alluded to the fortress of
Magdeburg, which she had earnestly solicited)." (Memorial de St.
Helene).]--
The treaty of peace concluded at Tilsit between France and Russia, on
the 7th of July, and ratified two days after, produced no less striking
a change in the geographical division of Europe than had been effected
the year preceding by the Treaty of Presburg. The treaty contained
no stipulation dishonourable to Russia, whose territory was preserved
inviolate; but how was Prussia treated? Some historians, for the vain
pleasure of flattering by posthumous praises the pretended moderation of
Napoleon, have almost reproached him for having suffered some
remnants of the monarchy of the great Frederick to survive. There is,
nevertheless, a point on which Napoleon has been wrongfully condemned,
at least with reference to the campaign of 1807. It has been said that
he should at that period have re-established the kingdom of Poland; and
certainly there is every reason to regret, for the interests of France
and Europe, that it was not re-established. But when a desire, even
founded on reason, is not carried into effect, should we conclude that
the wished-for object ought to be achieved in defiance of all
obstacles? At that time, that is to say, during the campaign of Tilsit,
insurmountable obstacles existed.
If, however, by the Treaty of Tilsit, the throne of Poland was not
restored to serve as a barrier between old Europe and the Empire of the
Czars, Napoleon founded a Kingdom of Westphalia, which he gave to the
young 'ensigne de vaisseau' whom he had scolded as a schoolboy, and whom
he now made a King, that he might have another crowned prefect under
his control. The Kingdom of Westphalia was composed of the States of
Hesse-Cassel, of a part of the provinces taken from Prussia by the
moderation of the Emperor, and of the States of Paderborn, Fulda,
Brunswick, and a part of the Electorate of Hanover. Napoleon, at the
same time, though he did not like to do things by halves, to avoid
touching the Russian and Austrian provinces of old Poland, planted on
the banks of the Vistula the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, which he gave to
the King of Saxony, with the intention of increasing or destroying it
afterwards as he might find convenient. Thus he allowed the Poles to
hope better things for the future, and ensured to himself partisans in
the north should the chances of fortune call him thither. Alexander, who
was cajoled even more than his father had been by what I may call the
political coquetry of Napoleon, consented to all these arrangements,
acknowledged 'in globo' all the kings crowned by the Emperor, and
accepted some provinces which had belonged to his despoiled ally, the
King of Prussia, doubtless by way of consolation for not having been
able to get more restored to Prussia. The two Emperors parted the best
friends in the world; but the Continental system was still in existence.
CHAPTER XII.
1807.
Effect produced at Altona by the Treaty of Tilsit--The Duke of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin's departure from Hamburg--English squadron in
the Sound--Bombardment of Copenhagen--Perfidy of England--Remark of
Bonaparte to M. Lemercier--Prussia erased from the map--Napoleon's
return to Paris--Suppression of the Tribunate--Confiscation of
English merchandise--Nine millions gained to France--M. Caulaincourt
Ambassador to Russia--Repugnance of England to the intervention of
Russia--Affairs of Portugal--Junot appointed to command the army--
The Prince Regent's departure for the Brazils--The Code Napoleon--
Introduction of the French laws into Germany--Leniency of Hamburg
Juries--The stolen cloak and the Syndic Doormann.
The Treaty of Tilsit, as soon as it was known at Altona, spread
consternation amongst the emigrants. As to the German Princes, who were
awaiting the issue of events either at Altolna or Hamburg, when they
learned that a definitive treaty of peace had been signed between France
and Russia, and that two days after the Treaty of Tilsit the Prussian
monarchy was placed at the mercy of Napoleon, every courier that arrived
threw them into indescribable agitation. It depended on the Emperor's
will whether they were to be or not to be. The Duke of Mecklenburg-
Schwerin had not succeeded in getting himself re-established in his
states, by an exceptional decision, like the Duke of Weimar; but at
length he obtained the restitution of his territory at the request of
the Emperor Alexander, and on the 28th of July he quitted Hamburg to
return to his Duchy.
The Danish charge d'affaires communicated to me about the same time
an official report from his Government. This report announced that on
Monday, the 3d of August, a squadron consisting of twelve ships of the
line and twelve frigates, commanded by Admiral Gambier, had passed the
Sound. The rest of the squadron was seen in the Categat. At the
same time the English troops which were in the island of Rugen had
reembarked. We could not then conceive what enterprise this considerable
force had been sent upon. But our uncertainty was soon at an end. M.
Didelot, the French Ambassador at Copenhagen, arrived at Hamburg, at
nine o'clock in the evening of the 12th of August. He had been fortunate
enough to pass through the Great Belt, though in sight of the
English, without being stopped. I forwarded his report to Paris by an
extraordinary courier.
The English had sent 20,000 men and twenty-seven vessels into the
Baltic; Lord Cathcart commanded the troops. The coast of Zealand was
blockaded by ninety vessels. Mr. Jackson, who had been sent by England
to negotiate with Denmark, which she feared would be invaded by the
French troops, supported the propositions he was charged to offer to
Denmark by a reference to this powerful British force. Mr. Jackson's
proposals had for their object nothing less than to induce the King of
Denmark to place in the custody of England the whole of his ships and
naval stores. They were, it is true, to be kept in deposit, but the
condition contained the words, "until the conclusion of a general
peace," which rendered the period of their restoration uncertain.
They were to be detained until such precautions should be no longer
necessary. A menace and its execution followed close upon this demand.
After a noble but useless resistance, and a terrific bombardment,
Copenhagen surrendered, and the Danish fleet was destroyed. It would be
difficult to find in history a more infamous and revolting instance of
the abuse of power against weakness.
Sometime after this event a pamphlet entitled "Germania" appeared, which
I translated and sent to the Emperor. It was eloquently written, and
expressed the indignation which the conduct of England had excited in
the author as in every one else.
--["That expedition," said Napoleon at St. Helena, "showed great
energy on the part of your Ministers: but setting aside the
violation of the laws of, nations which you committed--for in fact
it was nothing but a robbery--I think that it was; injurious to your
interests, as it made the Danish nation irreconcilable enemies to
you, and in fact shut you out of the north for three years. When I
heard of it I said, I am glad of it, as it will embroil England
irrecoverably with the Northern Powers. The Danes being able to
join me with sixteen sail of the line was of but little consequence.
I had plenty of ships, and only wanted seamen, whom you did not
take, and whom I obtained afterwards, while by the expedition your
Ministers established their characters as faithless, and as persons
with whom no engagements, no laws were binding." (Voice from St.
Helena.)]--
I have stated what were the principal consequences of the Treaty of
Tilsit; it is more than probable that if the bombardment of Copenhagen
had preceded the treaty the Emperor would have used Prussia even worse
than he did. He might have erased her from the list of nations; but he
did not do so, out of regard to the Emperor Alexander. The destruction
of Prussia was no new project with Bonaparte. I remember an observation
of his to M. Lemercier upon that subject when we first went to reside at
Malmaison. M. Lemercier had been reading to the First Consul some poem
in which Frederick the Great was spoken of. "You seem to admire him
greatly," said Bonaparte to M. Lemercier; "what do you find in him
so astonishing? He is not equal to Turenne."--"General," replied M.
Lemercier, "it is not merely the warrior that I esteem in Frederick; it
is impossible to refrain from admiring a man who was a philosopher even
on the throne." To this the First Consul replied, in a half ill-humoured
tone, "Certainly, Lemercier; but Frederick's philosophy shall not
prevent me from erasing his kingdom from the map of Europe." The kingdom
of Frederick the Great was not, however, obliterated from the map,
because the Emperor of Russia would not basely abandon a faithful ally
who had incurred with him the chances of fortune. Prussia then bitterly
had to lament the tergiversations which had prevented her from declaring
herself against France during the campaign of Austerlitz.
Napoleon returned to Paris about the end of July after an absence of ten
months, the longest he had yet made since he had been at the head of
the French Government, whether as Consul or Emperor. The interview
at Tilsit, the Emperor Alexander's friendship, which was spoken of
everywhere in terms of exaggeration, and the peace established on the
Continent, conferred on Napoleon a moral influence in public opinion
which he had not possessed since his coronation. Constant in his hatred
of deliberative assemblies, which he had often termed collections of
babblers, ideologists, and phrasemongers, Napoleon, on his return to
Paris, suppressed the Tribunate, which had been an annoyance to him ever
since the first day of his elevation. The Emperor, who was 'skillful
above all men in speculating on the favourable disposition of opinion,
availed himself at this conjuncture of the enthusiasm produced by his
interview on the Niemen. He therefore discarded from the fundamental
institutions of the government that which still retained the shadow of a
popular character. But it was necessary that he should possess a Senate
merely to vote men; a mute Legislative Body to vote money; that there
should be no opposition in the one and no criticism in the other; no
control over him of any description; the power of arbitrarily doing
whatever he pleased; an enslaved press;--this was what Napoleon wished,
and this he obtained. But the month of March 1814 resolved the question
of absolute power!
In the midst of these great affairs, and while Napoleon was dreaming of
universal monarchy, I beheld in a less extensive sphere the inevitable
consequences of the ambition of a single man. Pillage and robbery were
carried on in all parts over which my diplomatic jurisdiction extended.
Rapine seemed to be legally authorised, and was perpetrated with such
fury, and at the same time with such ignorance, that the agents were
frequently unacquainted with the value of the articles which they
seized. Thus, for example, the Emperor ordered the seizure at Hamburg,
Bremen, and Lübeck of all English merchandise, whatever might be its
nature or origin. The Prince of Neufchatel (Berthier) wrote to me from
the Emperor that I must procure 10,000,000 francs from the Hanse Towns.
M. Daru, the Intendant-General, whose business it was to collect this
sort of levy, which Napoleon had learned to make in Egypt, wrote to urge
me to obtain a prompt and favourable decision. The unfortunate towns
which I was thus enjoined to oppress had already suffered sufficiently.
I had obtained, by means of negotiation, more than was demanded for the
ransom of the English merchandise, which had been seized according
to order. Before I received the letters of M. Darn and the Prince of
Neufchatel I had obtained from Hamburg 16,000,000 instead of 10,000,000,
besides nearly 3,000,000 from Bremen and Lübeck. Thus I furnished the
Government with 9,000,000 more than had been required, and yet I had so
managed that those enormous sacrifices were not overoppressive to those
who made them. I fixed the value of the English merchandise because I
knew that the high price at which it sold on the Continent would not
only cover the proposed ransom but also leave a considerable profit.
Such was the singular effect of the Continental system that when
merchandise was confiscated, and when afterwards the permission to sell
it freely was given, the price fetched at the sale was so large that the
loss was covered, and even great advantage gained.
Peace being concluded with Russia it was necessary to make choice of
an Ambassador, not only to maintain the new relations of amity
between Napoleon and Alexander, but likewise to urge on the promised
intervention of Russia with England,--to bring about reconciliation and
peace between the Cabinets of Paris and London. The Emperor confided
this mission to Caulaincourt, with respect to whom there existed an
unfounded prejudice relating to some circumstances which preceded the
death of the Duc d'Enghien. This unfortunate and unjust impression had
preceded Caulaincourt to St. Petersburg, and it was feared that he would
not experience the reception due to the French Ambassador and to his own
personal qualities. I knew at the time, from positive information,
that after a short explanation with Alexander that monarch retained
no suspicion unfavourable to our Ambassador, for whom he conceived and
maintained great esteem and friendship.
Caulaincourt's mission was not, in all respects, easy of fulfilment,
for the invincible repugnance and reiterated refusal of England to enter
into negotiations with France through the medium of Russia was one of
the remarkable circumstances of the period of which I am speaking. I
knew positively that England was determined never to allow Napoleon
to possess himself of the whole of the Continent,--a project which he
indicated too undisguisedly to admit of any doubt respecting it. For
two years he had indeed advanced with rapid strides; but England was not
discouraged. She was too well aware of the irritation of the sovereigns
and the discontent of the people not be certain that when she desired
it, her lever of gold would again raise up and arm the Continent against
the encroaching power of Napoleon. He, on his part, perceiving that
all his attempts were fruitless, and that England would listen to
no proposals, devised fresh plans for raising up new enemies against
England.
It probably is not forgotten that in 1801 France compelled Portugal
to make common cause with her against England. In 1807 the Emperor did
again what the First Consul had done. By an inexplicable fatality Junot
obtained the command of the troops which were marching against Portugal.
I say against Portugal, for that was the fact, though France represented
herself as a protector to deliver Portugal from the influence of
England. Be that as it may, the choice which the Emperor made of a
commander astonished everybody. Was Junot, a compound of vanity and
mediocrity, the fit man to be entrusted with the command of an army in
a distant country, and under circumstances in which great political
and military talents were requisite? For my own part, knowing Junot's
incapacity, I must acknowledge that his appointment astonished me. I
remember one day, when I was speaking on the subject to Bernadotte, he
showed me a letter he had received from Paris, in which it was said that
the Emperor had sent Junot to Portugal only for the sake of depriving
him of the government of Paris. Junot annoyed Napoleon by his bad
conduct, his folly, and his incredible extravagance. He was alike devoid
of dignity--either in feeling or conduct. Thus Portugal was twice the
place of exile selected by Consular and Imperial caprice: first, when
the First Consul wished to get rid of the familiarity of Lannes; and
next, when the Emperor grew weary of the misconduct of a favourite.
The invasion of Portugal presented no difficulty. It was an armed
promenade and not a war; but how many events were connected with the
occupation of that country! The Prince Regent of Portugal, unwilling to
act dishonourably to England, to which he was allied by treaties; and
unable to oppose the whole power of Napoleon, embarked for Brazil,
declaring that all defence was useless. At the same time he recommended
his subjects to receive the French troops in a friendly manner, and said
that he consigned to Providence the consequences of an invasion which
was without a motive. He was answered in the Emperor's name that,
Portugal being the ally of England, we were only carrying on hostilities
against, the latter country by invading his dominions.
It was in the month of November that the code of French jurisprudence,
upon which the most learned legislators had indefatigably laboured,
was established as the law of the State, under the title of the Code
Napoleon. Doubtless this legislative monument will redound to Napoleon's
honour in history; but was it to be supposed that the same laws would be
equally applicable throughout so vast an extent as that comprised within
the French Empire? Impossible as this was, as soon as the Code Napoleon
way promulgated I received orders to establish it in the Hanse Towns.
--[This great code of Civil Law was drawn up under Napoleon's orders
and personal superintendence. Much had been prepared under the
Convention, and the chief merits of it were due to the labours of
such men as Tronchet; Partatis, Bigot de Preameneu, Maleville,
Cambacérès, etc. But it was debated under and by Napoleon, who took
a lively interest in it. It was first called the "Code Civil," but
is 1807 was named "Code Napoleon," or eventually "Les Cinq Codes de
Napoleon." When completed in 1810 it included five Codes--the Code
Civil, decreed March 1803; Code de Procedure Civile, decreed April
1806; Code de Commerce, decreed September 1807; Code d'Instruction
Criminelle, decreed November 1808; and the Code Penal, decreed
February 1810. It had to be retained by the Bourbons, and its
principles have worked and are slowly working their way into the law
of every nation. Napoleon was justly proud of this work. The
Introduction of the Code into the conquered countries was, as
Bourrienne says, made too quickly. Puymaigre, who was employed in
the administration of Hamburg after Bourrienne left, says, "I shall
always remember the astonishment of the Hamburgers when they were
invaded by this cloud of French officials, who, under every form,
made researches is their houses, and who came to apply the
multiplied demands of the fiscal system. Like Proteus, the
administration could take any shape. To only speak of my
department, which certainly was not the least odious one, for it was
opposed to the habits of the Hamburgers and annoyed all the
industries, no idea can be formed of the despair of the inhabitants,
subjected to perpetual visits, and exposed to be charged with
contraventions of the law, of which they knew nothing.
"Remembering their former laws, they used to offer to meet a charge
of fraud by the proof of their oath, and could not imagine that such
a guarantee could be repulsed. When they were independent they paid
almost nothing, and such was the national spirit, that in urgent
cases when money was wanted the senate taxed every citizen a certain
proportion of his income, the tenth or twentieth. A donator
presided over the recovery of this tax, which was done in a very
strange manner. A box, covered with a carpet, received the offering
of every citizen, without any person verifying the sum, and only on
the simple moral guarantee of the honesty of the debtor, who himself
judged the sum he ought to pay. When the receipt was finished the
senate always obtained more than it had calculated on." (Puymaigre,
pp, 181.)]--
The long and frequent conversations I had on this subject with the
Senators and the most able lawyers of the country soon convinced me of
the immense difficulty I should have to encounter, and the danger of
suddenly altering habits and customs which had been firmly established
by time.
The jury system gave tolerable satisfaction; but the severe punishments
assigned to certain offences by the Code were disapproved of. Hence
resulted the frequent and serious abuse of men being acquitted whose
guilt was evident to the jury, who pronounced them not guilty rather
than condemn them to a punishment which was thought too severe. Besides,
their leniency had another ground, which was, that the people being
ignorant of the new law were not aware of the penalties attached to
particular offences. I remember that a man who was accused of stealing
a cloak at Hamburg justified himself on the ground that he committed
the offence in a fit of intoxication. M. Von Einingen, one of the jury,
insisted that the prisoner was not guilty, because, as he said, the
Syndic Doormann, when dining with him one day, having drunk more wine
than usual, took away his cloak. This defence per Baccho was completely
successful. An argument founded on the similarity between the conduct of
the Syndic and the accused, could not but triumph, otherwise the little
debauch of the former would have been condemned in the person of the
latter. This trial, which terminated so whimsically, nevertheless
proves that the best and the gravest institutions may become objects of
ridicule when suddenly introduced into a country whose habits are not
prepared to receive them.
The Romans very wisely reserved in the Capitol a place for the gods of
the nations they conquered. They wished to annex provinces and kingdoms
to their empire. Napoleon, on the contrary, wished to make his empire
encroach upon other states, and to realise the impossible Utopia of ten
different nations, all having different customs and languages, united
into a single State. Could justice, that safeguard of human rights, be
duly administered in the Hanse Towns when those towns were converted
into French departments? In these new departments many judges had
been appointed who did not understand a word of German, and who had no
knowledge of law. The presidents of the tribunals of Lilbeck, Stade,
Bremerlehe, and Minden were so utterly ignorant of the German language
that it was necessary to explain to them all the pleadings in the
council-chamber. Was it not absurd to establish such a judicial system,
and above all, to appoint such men in a country so important to France
as Hamburg and the Hanse Towns? Add to this the impertinence of
some favourites who were sent from Paris to serve official and legal
apprenticeships in the conquered provinces, and it may be easily
conceived what was the attachment of the people to Napoleon the Great.
CHAPTER XIII.
1807-1808.
Disturbed state of Spain--Godoy, Prince of the Peace--Reciprocal
accusations between the King of Spain and his son--False promise of
Napoleon--Dissatisfaction occasioned by the presence of the French
troops--Abdication of Charles IV.--The Prince of the Peace made
prisoner--Murat at Madrid--Important news transmitted by a
commercial letter--Murat's ambition--His protection of Godoy--
Charles IV, denies his voluntary abdication--The crown of Spain
destined for Joseph--General disapprobation of Napoleon's conduct--
The Bourbon cause apparently lost--Louis XVIII. after his departure
from France--As Comte de Provence at Coblentz--He seeks refuge in
Turin and Verona--Death of Louis XVII--Louis XVIII. refused an
asylum in Austria, Saxony, and Prussia--His residence at Mittan and
Warsaw--Alexander and Louis XVIII--The King's departure from Milan
and arrival at Yarmouth--Determination of the King of England--M.
Lemercier's prophecy to Bonaparte--Fouché's inquiries respecting
Comte de Rechteren--Note from Josephine--New demands on the Hanse
Towns--Order to raise 3000 sailors in Hamburg.
The disorders of Spain, which commenced about the close of the year
1807, in a short time assumed a most complicated aspect. Though far
from the theatre of events I obtained an intimate knowledge of all the
important facts connected with the extraordinary transactions in
the Peninsula. However, as this point of history is one of the most
generally, though I cannot say the best, known, I shall omit in my notes
and memoranda many things which would be but repetitions to the reading
portion of the public. It is a remarkable fact that Bonaparte, who by
turns cast his eyes on all the States of Europe, never directed his
attention to Spain as long as his greatness was confined to mere
projects. Whenever he spoke of his future destiny he alluded to Italy,
Germany, the East, and the destruction of the English power; but never
to Spain. Consequently, when he heard of the first symptoms of disorder
in the Peninsula he paid but little attention to the business, and some
time elapsed before he took any part in events which subsequently had so
great an influence on his fate.
Godoy reigned in Spain under the name of the imbecile Charles IV. He
was an object of execration to all who were not his creatures; and even
those whose fate depended upon him viewed him with the most profound
contempt. The hatred of a people is almost always the just reward of
favourites. What sentiments, therefore, must have been inspired by a man
who, to the knowledge of all Spain, owed the favour of the king only to
the favours of the queen!
--[Manuel Godoy, originally a private in the guards, became the
paramour of Charles IV.'s Queen; then a grandee; and then the
supreme ruler of the State.--Editor of 1836 edition.]--
Godoy's ascendancy over the royal family was boundless; his power was
absolute: the treasures, of America were at his command, and he made the
most infamous use of them. In short, he had made the Court of Madrid
one of those places to which the indignant muse of Juvenal conducts
the mother of Britanicus. There is no doubt that Godoy was one of the
principal causes of all the misfortunes which have overwhelmed Spain
under so many various forms.
The hatred of the Spaniards against the Prince of the Peace was
general. This hatred was shared by the Prince the Asturias,--[Afterwards
Ferdinand VII.]--who openly declared himself the enemy of Godoy.
The latter allied himself with France, from which he hoped to obtain
powerful protection against his enemies. This alliance gave rise to
great dissatisfaction in Spain, and caused France to be regarded with
an unfavourable eye. The Prince of the Asturias was encouraged and
supported by the complaints of the Spaniards, who wished to see the
overthrow of Godoy's power. Charles IV., on his part, regarded all
opposition to the Prince of the Peace as directed against himself, and
in November 1807 he accused his son of wishing to dethrone him.
The King of Spain did not confine himself to verbal complaints. He, or
rather the Prince of the Peace, acting in his name, arrested the warmest
partisans of the Prince of the Asturias. The latter, understanding the
sentiments of his father, wrote to Napoleon, soliciting his support.
Thus the father and son, at open war, were appealing one against another
for the support of him who wished only to get rid of them both, and to
put one of his brothers in their place, that he might have one junior
more in the college of European kings: but, as I have already mentioned,
this new ambition was not premeditated; and if he gave the throne of
Spain to his brother Joseph it was only on the refusal of his brother
Louis (King of Holland) to accept it.
The Emperor had promised to support Charles IV against his son; and, not
wishing to take part in these family quarrels, he had not answered
the first letters of the Prince of the Asturias. But finding that
the intrigues of Madrid were taking a serious turn, he commenced
provisionally by sending troops to Spain. This gave offence to the
people, who were averse to the interference of France. In the provinces
through which the French troops passed it was asked what was the object:
of the invasion. Some attributed it to the Prince of the Peace, others
to the Prince of the Asturias; but it excited general indignation, and
troubles broke out at Madrid accompanied by all the violence peculiar to
the Spanish character.
In these fearful circumstances Godoy proposed that Charles IV. should
remove to Seville, where he would be the better enabled to visit the
factious with punishment. A proposition from Godoy to his master was,
in fact, a command, and Charles IV. accordingly resolved to depart. The
people now looked upon Godoy as a traitor. An insurrection broke out,
the palace was surrounded, and the Prince of the Peace was on the point
of being massacred in an upper apartment, where he had taken refuge.
--[French troops had appeared in again some months before, on their
way to Portugal, the conquest of which country by Junot was to be
aided by Godoy and a Spanish force of 27,000 men, according to a
treaty (more disgraceful to the Court of Spain than to Bonaparte)
which had been ratified at Fontainebleau on the 27th of October
1807. Charles IV. was little better than an idiot, and Godoy and
the French made him believe that Bonaparte world give part, or the
whole of Portugal, to Spain. At the time of Junot's march on Lisbon
a reserve of 40,000 French troops were assembled at Bayonne--
a pretty clear indication, though the factious infatuated Court of
Madrid would not see it, that Bonaparte intended to seize the whole
of the Peninsula.--Editor of 1838 edition.]--
One of the mob had the presence of mind to invoke in his favour the name
of the Prince of the Asturias: this saved his life.
Charles IV. did not preserve his crown; he was easily intimidated, and
advantage was taken of a moment of alarm to demand that abdication which
he had not spirit to refuse. He surrendered up his rights to his son,
and thus was overthrown the insolent power of the Prince of the Peace;
the favourite was made prisoner, and the Spaniards, who, like all
ignorant people, are easily excited, manifested their joy on the
occasion with barbarous enthusiasm. Meanwhile the unfortunate King,
who had escaped from imaginary rather than real dangers, and who was at
first content with having exchanged the right of reigning for the right
of living, no sooner found himself in safety than he changed, his mind.
He wrote to the Emperor protesting against his abdication, and appealed.
to him as the arbiter of his future fate.
During these internal dissensions the French army was continuing its
march towards the Pyrenees. Those barriers were speedily crossed, and
Murat entered Madrid in the beginning of April 1808. Before I received
any despatch from our Government I learned that Murat's presence
in Madrid, far from producing a good effect, had only increased the
disorder. I obtained this information from a merchant of Lübeck who
came to Hamburg on purpose to show me a letter he had received from
his correspondent in Madrid. In this letter Spain was said to be a prey
which Murat wished to appropriate to himself; and all that afterwards
came to my knowledge served only to prove the accuracy of the writer's
information. It was perfectly true that Murat wished to conquer Spain
for himself, and it is not astonishing that the inhabitants of Madrid
should have understood his designs, for he carried his indiscretion so
far as openly to express his wish to become King of Spain. The Emperor
was informed of this, and gave him to understand, in very significant
terms, that the throne of Spain was not destined for him, but that he
should not be forgotten in the disposal of other crowns.
However, Napoleon's remonstrances were not sufficient to restrain the
imprudence of Murat; and if he did not gain the crown of Spain for
himself he powerfully contributed to make Charles IV. lose it. That
monarch, whom old habits attached to the Prince of the Peace, solicited
the Emperor to liberate his favourite, alleging that he and his family
would be content to live in any place of security provided Godoy were
with them. The unfortunate Charles seemed to be thoroughly disgusted
with greatness.
Both the King and Queen so earnestly implored Godoy's liberation that
Murat, whose vanity was flattered by these royal solicitations, took
the Prince of the Peace under his protection; but he at the same time
declared that, in spite of the abdication of Charles IV., he would
acknowledge none but that Prince as King of Spain until he should
receive contrary orders from the Emperor. This declaration placed Murat
in formal opposition to the Spanish people, who, through their hatred
of Godoy, embraced the cause of the heir of the throne; in whose favour
Charles IV. had abdicated.
It has been remarked that Napoleon stood in a perplexing situation in
this conflict between the King and his son. This is not correct. King
Charles, though he afterwards said that his abdication had been forced
from him by violence and threats, had nevertheless tendered it. By this
act Ferdinand was King, but Charles declared it was done against his
will, and he retracted. The Emperor's recognition was wanting, and he,
could give or withhold it as he pleased.
In this state of things Napoleon arrived at Bayonne. Thither Ferdinand
was also invited to go, under pretence of arranging with the Emperor the
differences between his father and himself. It was some time before
he could form his determination, but at length his ill-advised friends
prevailed on him to set off, and he was caught in the snare. What
happened to him, as well as to his father, who repaired to Bayonne with
his inseparable friend the Prince of the Peace is well known. Napoleon,
who had undertaken to be arbiter between the father and son, thought the
best way of settling the difference was to give the disputed throne to
his brother Joseph, thus verifying the fable of the "Two Lawyers and
the Oyster." The insurrection in Madrid on the 2d of May accelerated the
fate of Ferdinand, who was accused of being the author of it; at least
this suspicion fell on his friends and adherents.
Charles IV., it was said, would not return to Spain, and solicited an
asylum in France. He signed a renunciation of his rights to the crown of
Spain, which renunciation was also signed by the Infantas.
Napoleon now issued a decree, appointing "his dearly beloved brother
Joseph Napoleon, King of Naples and Sicily, to the crowns of Spain and
the Indies." By a subsequent decree, 15th of July, he appointed "his
dearly-beloved cousin, Joachim Murat, Grand Duke of Berg, to the throne
of Naples and Sicily, which remained vacant by the accession of Joseph
Napoleon to the kingdoms of Spain and the Indies." Both these documents
are signed Napoleon, and countersigned by the Minister Secretary of
State, Maret.
The Prince Royal of Sweden, who was at Hamburg at this time, and the
Ministers of all the European power, loudly condemned the conduct
of Napoleon with respect to Spain. I cannot say whether or not M. de
Talleyrand advised the Emperor not to attempt the overthrow of a
branch of the house of Bourbon; his good sense and elevated views might
certainly have suggested that advice. But the general opinion was that,
had he retained the portfolio of foreign affairs, the Spanish revolution
would have terminated with more decorum and good faith than was
exhibited in the tragi-comedy acted at Madrid and Bayonne.
After the Treaty of Tilsit and the bonds of friendship which seemed
likely to produce a permanent union between the Emperors of France
and Russia, the cause of the Bourbons must have been considered
irretrievably lost. Indeed, their only hope consisted in the imprudence
and folly of him who had usurped their throne, and that hope they
cherished. I will here relate what I had the opportunity of learning
respecting the conduct of Louis XVIII. after his departure from France;
this will naturally bring me to the end of November 1807, at which time
I read in the Abeille du Nord published on the 9th of the same month,
that the Comte de Lille and the Duc d'Angouleme had set off for England.
The Comte de Provence, as Louis' title then went, left Paris on the 21st
of June 1791. He constantly expressed his wish of keeping as near as
possible to the frontiers of France. He at first took up his abode at
Coblentz, and I knew from good authority that all the emigrants did
not regard him with a favourable eye. They could not pardon the wise.
principles he had professed at a period when there was yet time to
prevent, by reasonable concession, the misfortunes which imprudent
irritation brought upon France. When the emigrants, after the campaign
of 1792, passed the Rhine, the Comte de Provence resided in the little
town of Ham on the Lippe, where he remained until he was persuaded that
the people of Toulon had called him to Provence. As he could not, of
course, pass through France, Monsieur repaired to the Court of his
father-in-law, the King of Sardinia, hoping to embark at Genoa, and from
thence to reach the coast of Provence. But the evacuation of Toulon,
where the name of Bonaparte was for the first time sounded by the breath
of fame, having taken place before he was able to leave Turin, Monsieur
remained there four months, at the expiration of which time his
father-in-law intimated to him the impossibility of his remaining
longer in the Sardinian States. He was afterwards permitted to reside at
Verona, where he heard of Louis XVI.'s death. After remaining two years
in that city the Senate of Venice forbade his presence in the Venetian
States. Thus forced to quit Italy the Comte repaired to the army of
Condé.
The cold and timid policy of the Austrian Cabinet afforded no asylum to
the Comte de Provence, and he was obliged to pass through Germany;
yet, as Louis XVIII. repeated over and over again, ever since the
Restoration, "He never intended to shed French blood in Germany for
the sake of serving foreign interests." Monsieur had, indeed, too much
penetration not to see that his cause was a mere pretext for the powers
at war with France. They felt but little for the misfortunes of the
Prince, and merely wished to veil their ambition and their hatred of
France under the false pretence of zeal for the House of Bourbon.
When the Dauphin died, Louis XVIII. took the title of King of France,
and went to Prussia, where he obtained an asylum.
--[His brother, Charles X., the youngest of the three grandsons of
Louis XV. (Louis XVI., Louis XVIII. Charles X.), the Comte
d'Artois, afterwards Charles X. emigrated in 1789, and went to
Turin and Mantas for 1789 and 1790. In 1791 and 1792 he lived at
Coblenta, Worms, Brussels, Vienna, and at Turin. From 1792 to 1812
he lived at Ham on the Lippe at Westphalia at London, and for most
of the time at Holyrood, Edinburgh. During this time he visited
Russia and Germany, and showed himself on the coast of France. In
1818 he went to Germany, and in 1814 entered France in rear of the
allies. In risking his person in the daring schemes of the
followers who were giving their lives for the cause of his family he
displayed a circumspection which was characterised by them with
natural warmth.
"Sire, the cowardice of your brother has ruined all;" so Charette is
said to have written to Louis XVIII.]--
But the pretender to the crown of France had not yet drained his cup of
misfortune. After the 18th Fructidor the Directory required the King of
Prussia to send away Louis XVIII., and the Cabinet of Berlin, it must
be granted, was not in a situation to oppose the desire of the French
Government, whose wishes were commands. In vain Louis XVIII. sought an
asylum in the King of Saxony's States. There only remained Russia that
durst offer a last refuge to the descendant of Louis XIV. Paul I.,
who was always in extremes, and who at that time entertained a violent
feeling of hatred towards France, earnestly offered Louis XVIII., a
residence at Mittau. He treated him with the honours of a sovereign, and
loaded him with marks of attention and respect. Three years had scarcely
passed when Paul was seized with mad enthusiasm for the man who twelve
years later, ravaged his ancient capital, and Louis XVIII. found himself
expelled from that Prince's territory with a harshness equal to the
kindness with which he had at first been received.
It was during, his three, years' residence at Mittau that Louis XVIII.,
who was then known by the title of Comte de Lille, wrote to the First
Consul those letters which have been referred to in these Memoirs.
Prussia, being again solicited, at length consented that Louis XVIII.
should reside at Warsaw; but on the accession of Napoleon to the Empire
the Prince quitted that residence in order to consult respecting his
new situation with the only sovereign who had not deserted him in his
misfortune, viz. the King of Sweden. They met at Colmar, and from that
city was dated the protest which I have already noticed. Louis XVIII.
did not stay long in the States of the King of Sweden. Russia was now on
the point of joining her eagles with those of Austria to oppose the new
eagles of imperial France. Alexander offered to the Comte de Lille the
asylum which Paul had granted to him and afterwards withdrawn. Louis
XVIII. accepted the offer, but after the peace of Tilsit, fearing lest
Alexander might imitate the second act of his father as well as the
first, he plainly saw that he must give up all intention of residing on
the Continent; and it was then that I read in the 'Abeille du Nord' the
article before alluded to. There is, however, one fact upon which I must
insist, because I know it to be true, viz. that it was of his own
free will that Louis XVIII. quitted Mittau; and if he was afraid that
Alexander would imitate his father's conduct that fear was without
foundation. The truth is, that Alexander was ignorant even of the King's
intention to go away until he heard from Baron von Driesen, Governor of
Mittau, that he had actually departed. Having now stated the truth on
this point I have to correct another error, if indeed it be only an
error, into which some writers have fallen. It has been falsely alleged
that the King left Mittau for the purpose of fomenting fresh troubles
in France. The friends of Louis XVIII., who advised him to leave Mittau,
had great hopes from the last war. They cherished still greater hopes
from the new wars which Bonaparte's ambition could not fail to excite,
but they were not so ill-informed respecting the internal condition
of France as to expect that disturbances would arise there, or even to
believe in the possibility of fomenting them. The pear was not yet ripe
for Louis XVIII.
On the 29th of November the contents of a letter which had arrived from
London by way of Sweden were communicated to me. This letter was dated
the 3d of November, and contained some particulars respecting the Comte
de Lille's arrival in England. That Prince had arrived at Yarmouth on
the 31st of October 1807, and it was stated that the King was obliged
to wait some time in the port until certain difficulties respecting
his landing and the continuance of his journey should be removed. It
moreover appeared from this letter that the King of England thought
proper to refuse the Comte de Lille permission to go to London or its
neighbourhood. The palace of Holyrood in Edinburgh was assigned as his
place of residence; and Mr. Ross, secretary to Mr. Canning, conveyed the
determination of the King of England to Louis XVIII., at Yarmouth.
The precaution of the English Ministry in not permitting the refugee
King to go near London appeared to me remarkable, considering the
relative position of the Governments of France and England, and I
regarded it as a corroboration of what the Prince Wittgenstein had told
me respecting Mr. Canning's inclination for an amicable arrangement. But
the moment was approaching when the affairs of Spain were to raise an
invincible obstacle to peace, to complicate more than ever the interests
of the powers of Europe, and open to Napoleon that vast career of
ambition which proved his ruin. He did not allow the hopes of the
emigrants to remain chimerical, and the year 1814 witnessed the
realization of the prophetic remark made by M. Lemereier, in a
conversation with Bonaparte a few days before the foundation of the
Empire: "If you get into the bed of the Bourbons, General, you will
not lie in it ten year." Napoleon occupied it for nine years and nine
months.
Fouché, the grand investigator of the secrets of Europe, did not
fail, on the first report of the agitations in Spain, to address to
me question on question respecting the Comte de Rechteren, the Spanish
Minister at Hamburg, who, however, had left that city, with the
permission of his Court, four months after I had entered on my
functions. This was going back very far to seek information respecting
the affairs of the day. At the very moment when I transmitted a reply
to Fouché which was not calculated to please him, because it afforded
no ground for suspicion as to the personal conduct of M. de Rechteren,
I received from the amiable Josephine a new mark of her remembrance. She
sent me the following note:
"M. Milon, who is now in Hamburg, wishes me, my dear Bourrienne, to
request that you will use your interest in his favour. I feel the more
pleasure in making this request as it affords me an opportunity of
renewing the assurance of my regard for you."
Josephine's letter was dated from Fontainebleau, whither the Emperor
used to make journeys in imitation of the old Court of France. During
these excursions he sometimes partook of the pleasures of the chase, but
merely for the sake of reviving an old custom, for in that exercise he
found as little amusement as Montaigne did in the game of chess.
At Fontainebleau, as everywhere else, his mind was engaged with the
means of augmenting his greatness, but, unfortunately, the exactions he
imposed on distant countries were calculated to alienate the affections
of the people. Thus, for example, I received an order emanating from
him, and transmitted to me by M. Daru, the Intendant-General of the
army, that the pay of all the French troops stationed in the Hanse Towns
should be defrayed by these towns. I lamented the necessity of making
such a communication to the Senates of Bremen, Lübeck, and Hamburg; but
my duty compelled me to do so, and I had long been accustomed to fulfil
duties even more painful than this. I tried every possible means with
the three States, not collectively but separately, to induce them to
comply with the measure, in the hope that the assent of one would help
me to obtain that of the two others. But, as if they, had been all
agreed, I only received evasive expressions of regret.
Knowing as I did, and I may say better than any one else, the hopes and
designs of Bonaparte respecting the north of Germany, it was not without
pain, nor even without alarm, that I saw him doing everything calculated
to convert into enemies the inhabitants of a country which would
always have remained quiet had it only been permitted to preserve its
neutrality. Among the orders I received were often many which could only
have been the result of the profoundest ignorance. For example, I was
one day directed to press 3000 seamen in the Hanse Towns. Three thousand
seamen out of a population of 200,000! It was as absurd as to think of
raising 500,000 sailors in France. This project being impossible, it
was of course not executed; but I had some difficulty in persuading the
Emperor that a sixth of the number demanded was the utmost the Hanse
Towns could supply. Five hundred seamen were accordingly furnished, but
to make up that number it was necessary to include many men who were
totally unfit for war service.
CHAPTER--XIV.
1808.
Departure of the Prince of Ponte-Corvo--Prediction and superstition
--Stoppage of letters addressed to the Spanish troops--La Romana and
Romanillos--Illegible notifications--Eagerness of the German Princes
to join the Confederation of the Rhine--Attack upon me on account of
M. Hue--Bernadotte's successor in Hamburg--Exactions and tyrannical
conduct of General Dupas--Disturbance in Hamburg--Plates broken in a
fit of rage--My letter to Bernadotte--His reply--Bernadotte's return
to Hamburg, and departure of Dupas for Lübeck--Noble conduct of the
'aide de camp' Barrel.
In the spring of 1808 a circumstance occurred which gave, me much
uneasiness; it was the departure of Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte-Corvo,
who received orders to repair to Copenhagen. He left Hamburg on the 8th
of March, as he was to reach his destination on the 14th of the same
month. The Danish charge d'affaires also received orders to join the
Prince, and discharge the functions of King's commissary. It was during
his government at Hamburg and his stay in Jutland that Bernadotte
unconsciously paved his way to the throne of Sweden. I recollect that he
had also his presages and his predestinations. In short, he believed in
astrology, and I shall never forget the serious tone in which he one day
said to me, "Would you believe, my dear friend, that it was predicted at
Paris that I should be a King, but that I must cross the sea to reach
my throne?" I could not help smiling with him at this weakness of mind,
from which Bonaparte was not far removed. It certainly was not any
supernatural influence which elevated Bernadotte to sovereign rank. That
elevation was solely due to his excellent character. He had no other
talisman than the wisdom of his government, and the promptitude which
he always, showed to oppose unjust measures. This it was that united all
opinions in his favour.
The bad state of the roads in the north prolonged Bernadotte's journey
one day. He set out on the 8th of March; he was expected to arrive
at Copenhagen on the 14th, but did not reach there till the 15th. He
arrived precisely two hours before the death of Christian, King of
Denmark, an event with which he made me acquainted by letter written two
days after his arrival.
On the 6th of April following I received a second letter from
Bernadotte, in which he desired me to order the Grand Ducal postmaster
to keep back all letters addressed to the Spanish troops, who had been
placed under his command, and of which the corps of Romana formed part.
The postmaster was ordered to keep the letters until he received orders
to forward them to their destinations. Bernadotte considered this step
indispensable, to prevent the intrigues which he feared might be set on
foot in order to shake the fidelity of the Spaniards he commanded. I
saw from his despatch that he feared the plotting of Romanillos, who,
however, was not a person to cause much apprehension. Romanillos was as
commonplace a man as could well be conceived; and his speeches, as well
as his writings, were too innocent to create any influence on public
opinion.
In addition to the functions with which the Emperor at first invested
me, I had to discharge the duties of French Consul-General at Hamburg,
and in that character I was obliged to present to the Minister for
Foreign Affairs a very singular request, viz. that the judicial
notifications, which as Consul-General I had to make known to the people
of Hamburg, might be written in a more legible hand. Many of these
notifications had been disregarded on account of the impossibility of
reading them: With respect to one of them it was declared that it
was impossible to discover whether the writing was German, French, or
Chinese.
I shall not record all the acts of spoliation committed by second-rate
ambitious aspirants who hoped to come in for their share in the division
of the Continent: The Emperor's lieutenants regarded Europe as a
twelfthcake, but none of them ventured to dispute the best bit with
Napoleon. Long would be the litany were I to enregister all the fraud
and treachery which they committed, either to augment their fortunes
or to win the favour of the chief who wished to have kings for his
subjects. The fact is, that all the Princes of Germany displayed the
greatest eagerness to range themselves under the protection of Napoleon,
by, joining the Confederation of the Rhine. I received from those
Princes several letters which served to prove at once the influence of
Napoleon in Germany and the facility with which men bend beneath the
yoke of a new power. I must say that among the emigrants who remained
faithful to their cause there were some who evinced more firmness of
character than the foreign Princes. I may mention, for example, M. Hue,
the 'valet de chambre' of Louis XVI. I do not intend to deny the high
regard I entertained for that faithful servant of the martyred King;
but the attentions which I congratulate myself on having shown to an
excellent man should not have subjected me to false imputations.
I have read the following statement in a publication:
"M. Hue retired to Hamburg, where he passed nine, months in perfect
obscurity. He afterwards went to Holland, provided with a passport
from Bourrienne, who was Napoleon's Minister, though in disgrace,
and who, foreseeing what was to happen, sought to ingratiate himself
in the favour of the Bourbons."
The above passage contains a falsehood in almost every line. M. Hue
wished to reside in Hamburg, but he did not wish to conceal himself. I
invited him to visit me, and assured him that he might remain in Hamburg
without apprehension, provided he acted prudently. He wished to go to
Holland, and I took upon myself to give him a passport. I left M. Hue
in the free management of his business, the nature of which I knew very
well, and which was very honourable; he was deputed to pay the pensions
which Louis XVIII. granted to the emigrants. As for myself, I had
tendered my resignation of private secretary to Bonaparte; and even
admitting I was in disgrace in that character, I was not so as Minister
and Consul-General at Hamburg. My situation, which was of little
consequence at the time I was appointed to it, was later on rendered
exceedingly important by circumstances. It was, in fact, a sort of
watch-tower of the Government, whence all the movements of northern
Germany were observed; and during my residence in the Hanse Towns I
continually experienced the truth of what Bonaparte said to me at my
farewell audience--"Yours is a place independent and apart."
It is absurd to say that the kindness I showed to M. Hue was an attempt
to ingratiate myself with the Bourbons. My attentions to him were
dictated solely by humanity, unaccompanied by any afterthought. Napoleon
had given me his confidence, and by mitigating the verity of his orders
I served him better than they who executed them in a way which could
not fail to render the French Government odious. If I am accused of
extending every possible indulgence to the unfortunate emigrants, I
plead guilty; and, far from wishing to defend myself against the charge,
I consider it honourable to me. But I defy any one of them to say that I
betrayed in their favour the interests with which I was entrusted. They
who urged Bonaparte to usurp the crown of France served, though perhaps
unconsciously, the cause of the Bourbons. I, on the contrary, used all
my endeavours to dissuade him from that measure, which I clearly saw
must, in the end, lead to the restoration, though I do not pretend that
I was sufficiently clear-sighted to guess that Napoleon's fall was so
near at hand. The kindness I showed to M. Hue and his companions in
misfortune was prompted by humanity, and not by mean speculation. As
well might it be said that Bernadotte, who, like myself, neglected no
opportunity of softening the rigour of the orders he was deputed to
execute, was by this means working his way to the throne of Sweden.
Bernadotte had proceeded to Denmark to take the command of the Spanish
and French troops who had been removed from the Hanse Towns to occupy
that kingdom, which was then threatened by the English. His departure
was a great loss to me, for we had always agreed respecting the measures
to be adopted, and I felt his absence the more sensibly when I was
enabled to make a comparison between him and his successor. It is
painful to me to detail the misconduct of those who injured the French
name in Germany, but in fulfilment of the task I have undertaken, I am
bound to tell the truth.
In April 1808 General Dupas came to take the command of Hamburg, but
only under the orders of Bernadotte, who retained the supreme command
of the French troops in the Hanse Towns. By the appointment of
General Dupas the Emperor cruelly thwarted the wishes and hopes of the
inhabitants of Lower Saxony. That General said of the people of Hamburg,
"As long as I see those . . . driving in their carriages I can get
money from them." It is, however, only just to add, that his dreadful
exactions were not made on his own account, but for the benefit of
another man to whom he owed his all, and to whom he had in some measure
devoted his existence.
I will state some particulars respecting the way in which the generals
who commanded the French troops at Hamburg were maintained. The Senate
of Hamburg granted to the Marshals thirty friederichs a day for the
expenses of their table exclusive of the hotel in which they were lodged
by the city. The generals of division had only twenty friederichs.
General Dupas wished to be provided for on the same footing as the
Marshals. The Senate having, with reason, rejected this demand, Dupas
required that he should be daily served with a breakfast and a dinner of
thirty covers. This was an inconceivable burden, and Dupas cost the city
more than any of his predecessors.
I saw an account of his expenses, which during the twenty-one weeks he
remained at Hamburg amounted to 122,000 marks, or about 183,000 francs.
None but the most exquisite wines were drunk at the table of Dupas. Even
his servants were treated with champagne, and the choicest fruits
were brought from the fine hothouses of Berlin. The inhabitants were
irritated at this extravagance, and Dupas accordingly experienced the
resistance of the Senate.
Among other vexations there was one to which the people could not
readily submit. In Hamburg, which had formerly been a fortified town,
the custom was preserved of closing the gates at nightfall. On Sundays
they were closed three-quarters of an hour later, to avoid interrupting
the amusements of the people.
While General Dupas was Governor of Hamburg an event occurred which
occasioned considerable irritation in the public mind, and might have
been attended by fatal consequences. From some whim or other the General
ordered the gates to be closed at seven in the evening, and consequently
while it was broad daylight, for it was in the middle of spring; no
exception was made in favour of Sunday, and on that day a great number
of the inhabitants who had been walking in the outskirts of the city
presented themselves at the gate of Altona for admittance. To
their surprise they found the gate closed, though it was a greater
thoroughfare than any other gate in Hamburg. The number of persons,
requiring admittance increased, and a considerable crowd soon collected.
After useless entreaties had been addressed to the chief officer of the
post the people were determined to send to the Commandant for the keys.
The Commandant arrived, accompanied by the General. When they appeared
it was supposed they had come for the purpose of opening the gates, and
they were accordingly saluted with a general hurrah! which throughout
almost all the north is the usual cry for expressing popular
satisfaction. General Dupas not understanding the meaning of this
hurrah! supposed it to be a signal for sedition, and instead of ordering
the gates to be opened he commanded the military to fire upon the
peaceful citizens, who only wanted to return to their homes. Several
persons were killed, and others more or less seriously wounded.
Fortunately, after this first discharge the fury of Dupas was appeased;
but still he persisted in keeping the gates closed at night. Next day
an order was posted about the city prohibiting the cry of hurrah! under
pain of a severe punishment. It was also forbidden that more than three
persona should collect together in the streets. Thus it was that certain
persons imposed the French yoke upon towns and provinces which were
previously happy.
Dupas was as much execrated in the Hanse Towns as Clarke had been in
Berlin when he was governor of that capital during the campaign of 1807.
Clarke had burdened the people of Berlin with every kind of oppression
and exaction. He, as well as many others, manifested a ready obedience
in executing the Imperial orders, however tyrannical they might be; and
Heaven knows what epithets invariably accompanied the name of Clarke
when pronounced by the lips of a Prussian.
Dupas seemed to have taken Clarke as his model. An artillery officer,
who was in Hamburg at the time of the disturbance I have just mentioned,
told me that it was he who was directed to place two pieces of
light-artillery before the gate of Altona. Having executed this order,
he went to General Dupas, whom he found in a furious fit of passion,
breaking and destroying everything within his reach. In the presence of
the officer he broke more than two dozen plates which were on the table
before him: these plates, of course, had cost him very little!
On the day after the disturbance which had so fatal a termination I
wrote to inform the Prince of Porte-Corvo of what had taken place; and
in my letter I solicited the suppression of an extraordinary tribunal
which had been created by General Dupas. He returned me an immediate
answer, complying with my request. His letter was as follows:
I have received your letter, my dear Minister: it forcibly conveys
the expression of your right feeling, which revolts against
oppression, severity, and the abase of power. I entirely concur in
your view of the subject, and I am distressed whenever I see such
acts of injustice committed. On an examination of the events which
took place on the 19th it is impossible to deny that the officer who
ordered the gates to be closed so soon was in the wrong; and next,
it may be asked, why were not the gates opened instead of the
military being ordered to fire on the people? But, on the other
hand, did not the people evince decided obstinacy and
insubordination? were they not to blame in throwing stones at the
guard, forcing the palisades, and even refusing to listen to the
voice of the magistrates? It is melancholy that they should have
fallen into these excesses, from which, doubtless, they would have
refrained had they listened to the civil chiefs, who ought to be
their first directors. Finally, my dear Minister, the Senator who
distributed money at the gate of Altona to appease the multitude
would have done better had he advised them to wait patiently until
the gates were opened; and he might, I think, have gone to the
Commandant or the General to solicit that concession.
Whenever an irritated mob resorts to violence there is no safety for
any one. The protecting power mast then exert its utmost authority
to stop mischief. The Senate of ancient Rome, so jealous of its
prerogatives, assigned to a Dictator, in times of trouble, the power
of life and death, and that magistrate knew no other code than his
own will and the axe of his lictors. The ordinary laws did not
resume their course until the people returned to submission.
The event which took place in Hamburg produced a feeling of
agitation of which evil-disposed persons might take advantage to
stir up open insurrection. That feeling could only be repressed by
a severe tribunal, which, however, is no longer necessary. General
Dupas has, accordingly, received orders to dissolve it, and justice
will resume her usual course.
J. BERNADOTTE
DENSEL, 4th May, 1808.
When Bernadotte returned to Hamburg he sent. Dupas to Lübeck. That city,
which was poorer than Hamburg, suffered cruelly from the visitation of
such a guest.
Dupas levied all his exactions in kind, and indignantly spurned every
offer of accepting money, the very idea of which, he said, shocked his
delicacy of feeling. But his demands became so extravagant that the city
of Lübeck was utterly unable to satisfy them. Besides his table, which
was provided in the same style of profusion as at Hamburg, he required
to be furnished with plate, linen, wood, and candles; in short, with the
most trivial articles of household consumption.
The Senate deputed to the incorruptible General Dupas M. Nolting, a
venerable old man, who mildly represented to him the abuses which were
everywhere committed in his name, and entreated that he would vouchsafe
to accept twenty Louis a day to defray the expenses of his table alone.
At this proposition General Dupes flew into a rage. To offer him money
was an insult not to be endured! He furiously drove the terrified
Senator out of the house, and at once ordered his 'aide de camp' Barrel
to imprison him. M. de Barrel, startled at this extraordinary order,
ventured to remonstrate with the General, but in vain; and, though
against his heart, he was obliged to obey. The aide de camp accordingly
waited upon the Senator Notting, and overcome by that feeling of respect
which gray hairs involuntarily inspire in youth, instead of arresting
him, he besought the old man not to leave his house until he should
prevail on the General to retract his orders. It was not till the
following day that M. de Barrel succeeded in getting these orders
revoked--that is to say, he obtained M. Notting's release from
confinement; for Dupas would not be satisfied until he heard that the
Senator had suffered at least the commencement of the punishment to
which his capricious fury had doomed him.
In spite of his parade of disinterestedness General Dupas yielded so far
as to accept the twenty Louis a day for the expense of his table which
M. Notting had offered him on the part of the Senate of Lübeck; but it
was not without murmurings, complaints, and menaces that he made this
generous concession; and he exclaimed more than once, "These fellows
have portioned out my allowance for me." Lübeck was not released from
the presence of General Dupes until the month of March 1809, when he
was summoned to command a division in the Emperor's new campaign against
Austria. Strange as it may appear, it is nevertheless the fact, that,
oppressive as had been his presence at Lübeck, the Hanse Towns soon had
reason to regret him.
CHAPTER XV.
1808.
Promulgation of the Code of Commerce--Conquests by Status-consulte--
Three events in one day--Recollections--Application of a line of
Voltaire--Creation of the Imperial nobility--Restoration of the
university--Aggrandisement of the kingdom of Italy at the expense of
Rome--Cardinal Caprara'a departure from Paris--The interview at
Erfurt.
The year 1808 was fertile in remarkable events. Occupied as I was with
my own duties, I yet employed my leisure hours in observing the course
of those great acts by which Bonaparte seemed determined to mark every
day of his life. At the commencement of 1808 I received one of the first
copies of the Code of Commerce, promulgated on the 1st of January by the
Emperor's order. This code appeared to me an act of mockery; at least
it was extraordinary to publish a code respecting a subject which it
was the effect of all the Imperial decrees to destroy. What trade could
possibly exist under the Continental system, and the ruinous severity
of the customs? The line was already extended widely enough when, by a
'Senatus-consulte', it was still further widened. The Emperor, to whom
all the Continent submitted, had recourse to no other formality for
the purpose of annexing to the Empire the towns of Kehl, Cassel near
Mayence, Wesel, and Flushing, with the territories depending on them.
--[A resolution of the senate, or a "Senatus-consulte" was the means
invented by Napoleon for altering the imperial Constitutions, and
even the extent of the Empire. By one of these, dated 21st January
1808, the towns of Kehl, Cassel, and Wesel, with Flushing, all
already seized, were definitely united to France. The loss of
Wesel, which helonged to Murat's Grand Duchy of Berg, was a very
sore point with Murat.]--
These conquests, gained by decrees and senatorial decisions, had at
least the advantage of being effected without bloodshed. All these
things were carefully communicated to me by the Ministers with whom I
corresponded, for my situation at Hamburg had acquired such importance
that it was necessary I should know everything.
At this period I observed among the news which I received from different
places a singular coincidence of dates, worthy of being noted by the
authors of ephemrides. On the same day-namely, the 1st of February
Paris, Lisbon, and Rome were the scenes of events of different kinds,
but, as they all happened on one day, affording a striking example of
the rapidity of movement which marked the reign of Bonaparte. At Paris
the niece of Josephine, Mademoiselle de Tascher, whom Napoleon had
lately exalted to the rank of Princess, was married to the reigning
Prince of Ahremberg, while at the same time Junot declared to Portugal
that the house of Braganza had ceased to reign, and French troops were,
under the command of General Miollis, occupying Rome. This occupation
was the commencement of prolonged struggles, during which Pins VII.
expiated the condescension he had shown in going to Paris to crown
Napoleon.
Looking over my notes, I see it was the day after these three events
occurred that Bonaparte gave to his brother-in-law, Prince Borghese,
the Governorship-General of the departments beyond the Alps which he
had just founded; and of which he made the eighth Grand Dignitary of the
Empire. General Menou, whom I had not seen since Egypt, was obliged
by this appointment to leave Turin, where he had always remained.
Bonaparte, not wishing to permit him to come to Paris, sent Menou to
preside over the Junta of Tuscany, of which he soon afterwards made
another General-Governorship, which he entrusted to the care of his
sister Elisa.
--[Prince Camille Philippe Louis Borghese (1755-1832), an Italian,
had married, 6th November 1808, Pauline Bonaparte, the sister of
Napoleon, and the widow of General Leclerc. He had been made Prince
and Duke of Guastalla when that duchy was given to his wife, 30th
Marsh 1806. He separated from his wife after a few years. Indeed
Pauline was impossible as a wife if half of the stories about her
are true. It was she who, finding that a lady was surprised at her
having sat naked while a statue of her was being modelled for
Canova, believed she had satisfactorily explained matters by saying,
"but there was a fire in the room."]--
My correspondence relative to what passed in the south of France and of
Europe presented to me, if I may so express myself, merely an anecdotal
interest. Not so the news which came from the north. At Hamburg I was
like the sentinel of an advanced post, always on the alert. I frequently
informed the Government of what would take place before the event
actually happened. I was one of the first to hear of the plans of Russia
relative to Sweden. The courier whom I sent to Paris arrived there at
the very moment when Russia made the declaration of war. About the end
of February the Russian troops entered Swedish Finland, and occupied
also the capital of that province, which had at all times been coveted
by the Russian Government. It has been said that at the interview
at Erfurt Bonaparte consented to the usurpation of that province by
Alexander in return for the complaisance of the latter in acknowledging
Joseph as King of Spain and the Indies.
The removal of Joseph from the throne of Naples to the throne of Madrid
belongs, indeed, to that period respecting which I am now throwing
together a few recollections. Murat had succeeded Joseph at Naples, and
this accession of the brother-in-law of Napoleon to one of the thrones
of the House of Bourbon gave Bonaparte another junior in the college
of kings, of which he would have infallibly become the senior if he had
gone on as he began.
I will relate a little circumstance which now occurs to me respecting
the kings manufactured by Napoleon. I recollect that during the King of
Etruria's stay in Paris--the First Consul went with that Prince to the
Comedie Francaise, where Voltaire's 'OEdipus' was performed. This piece,
I may observe, Bonaparte liked better than anything Voltaire ever wrote.
I was in the theatre, but not in the First Consul's box, and I observed,
as all present must have done, the eagerness with which the audience
applied to Napoleon and the King of Etruria the line in which
Philoctetes says--
"J'ai fait des souverains et n'ai pas voulu l'etre."
["I have made sovereigns, but have not wished to be one myself."]
The application was so marked that it could not fail to become the
subject of conversation between the First Consul and me. "You remarked
it, Bourrienne?" . . . "Yes, General." . . "The fools! . . . They shall
see! They shall see!" We did indeed see. Not content with making kings,
Bonaparte, when his brow was encircled by a double crown, after creating
princes at length realised the object he had long contemplated, namely,
to found a new nobility endowed with hereditary rights. It was at the
commencement of March 1808 that he accomplished this project; and I saw
in the 'Moniteur' a long list of princes, dukes, counts, barons, and
knights of the Empire; there were wanting only viscounts and marquises.
At the same time that Bonaparte was founding a new nobility he
determined to raise up the old edifice of the university, but on a new
foundation. The education of youth had always been one of his ruling
ideas, and I had an opportunity of observing how he was changed by the
exercise of sovereign power when I received at Hamburg the statutes of
the new elder daughter of the Emperor of the French, and compared them
with the ideas which Bonaparte, when General and First Consul, had often
expressed to me respecting the education which ought to be given youth.
Though the sworn enemy of everything like liberty, Bonaparte had at
first conceived a vast system of education, comprising above all the
study of history, and those positive sciences, such as geology and
astronomy, which give the utmost degree of development to the human
mind. The Sovereign, however, shrunk from the first ideas of the man of
genius, and his university, confided to the elegant suppleness of M. de
Fontaines, was merely a school capable of producing educated subjects
but not enlightened men.
Before taking complete possession of Rome, and making it the second
city of the Empire, the vaunted moderation of Bonaparte was confined
to dismembering from it the legations of Ancona, Urbino, Macerata, and
Camerino, which were divided into three departments; and added to the
Kingdom of Italy. The patience of the Holy See could no longer hold out
against this act of violence, and Cardinal Caprara, who had remained
in Paris since the coronation, at last left that capital. Shortly
afterwards the Grand Duchies of Parma and Piacenza were united to the
French Empire, and annexed to the government of the departments beyond
the Alps. These transactions were coincident with the events in Spain
and Bayonne before mentioned.
After the snare laid at Bayonne the Emperor entered Paris on the 14th of
August, the eve of his birthday. Scarcely had he arrived in the capital
when he experienced fresh anxiety in consequence of the conduct of
Russia, which, as I have stated, had declared open war with Sweden,
and did not conceal the intention of seizing Finland. But Bonaparte,
desirous of actively carrying on the war in Spain, felt the necessity of
removing his troops from Prussia to the Pyrenees. He then hastened the
interview at Erfurt, where the two Emperors of France and Russia
had agreed to meet. He hoped that this interview would insure the
tranquillity of the Continent, while he should complete the subjection
of Spain to the sceptre of Joseph. That Prince had been proclaimed on
the 8th of June; and on the 21st of the same month he made his entry
into Madrid, but having received, ten days after, information of the
disaster at Baylen, he was obliged to leave the Spanish capital.
--[The important battle of Daylen, where the French, under General
Dupont, were beaten by the Spaniards, was fought on the 19th of July
1808.]--
Bonaparte's wishes must at this time have been limited to the
tranquillity of the Continent, for the struggle between him and England
was more desperate than ever. England had just sent troops to Portugal
under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley. There was no longer any hope
of a reconciliation with Great Britain: The interview at Erfurt having
been determined on, the Emperor, who had returned from Bayonne to Paris,
again left the capital about the end of September, and arrived at Metz
without stopping, except for the purpose of reviewing the regiments
which were echeloned on his route, and which were on their march from
the Grand Army to Spain.
I had heard some time previously of the interview which was about to
take place, and which was so memorable in the life of Napoleon. It
excited so much interest in Germany that the roads were covered with
the equipages of the Princes who were going to Erfurt to witness the
meeting. The French Emperor arrived there before Alexander, and went
forward three leagues to meet him. Napoleon was on horseback, Alexander
in a carriage. They embraced, it is said, in a manner expressive of the
most cordial friendship. This interview was witnessed by most of the
sovereign Princes of Germany. However, neither the King of Prussia nor
the Emperor of Austria was present. The latter sovereign sent a letter
to Napoleon, of which I obtained a copy. It was as follows:
SIRE, MY BROTHER,--My Ambassador in Paris informs me that your
Majesty is about to proceed to Erfurt to meet the Emperor Alexander.
I eagerly seize the opportunity of your approach to my frontier to
renew those testimonials of friendship and esteem which I have
pledged to you; and I send my Lieutenant-General, Baron Vincent, to
convey to you the assurance of my unalterable sentiments. If the
false accounts that have been circulated respecting the internal
institutions which I have established in my monarchy should for a
moment have excited your Majesty's doubts as to my intentions, I
fatter myself that the explanations given on that subject by Count
Metternich to your Minister will have entirely removed them. Baron
Vincent is enabled to confirm to your Majesty all that has been said
by Count Metternich on the subject, and to add any further
explanations, you may wish for. I beg that your Majesty will grant
him the same gracious reception he experienced at Paris and at
Warsaw. The renewed marks of favour you may bestow on him will be
an unequivocal pledge of the reciprocity of your sentiments, and
will seal that confidence which will render our satisfaction mutual.
Deign to accept the assurance of the unalterable affection and
respect with which I am, Sire, my Brother, Your imperial and royal
Majesty's faithful brother and friend,
(Signed) FRANCIS.
PRESBURG, 8th September 1808.
This letter appears to be a model of ambiguity, by which it is
impossible Napoleon could have been imposed upon. However, as yet he
had no suspicion of the hostility of Austria, which speedily became
manifest; his grand object then was the Spanish business, and, as I have
before observed, one of the secrets of Napoleon's genius was, that he
did not apply himself to more than one thing at a time.
At Erfurt Bonaparte attained the principal object he had promised
himself by the meeting. Alexander recognized Joseph in his new character
of King of Spain and the Indies. It has been said that as the price of
this recognition Napoleon consented that Alexander should have Swedish
Finland; but for the truth of this I cannot vouch. However, I remember
that when, after the interview at Erfurt, Alexander had given-orders
to his ambassador to Charles IV. to continue his functions under
King Joseph, the Swedish charge d'affaires at Hamburg told me that
confidential letters received by him from Erfurt led him to fear that
the Emperor Alexander had communicated to Napoleon his designs on
Finland, and that Napoleon had given his consent to the occupation. Be
this as it may, as soon as the interview was over Napoleon returned
to Paris, where he presided with much splendour at the opening of the
Legislative Body, and set out in the month of November for Spain.
CHAPTER XVI.
1808.
The Spanish troops in Hamburg--Romana's siesta--His departure for
Funen--Celebration of Napoleon's birthday--Romana's defection--
English agents and the Dutch troops--Facility of communication
between England and the Continent--Delay of couriers from Russia--
Alarm and complaints--The people of Hamburg--Montesquieu and the
Minister of the Grand Duke of Tuscany--Invitations at six months--
Napoleon's journey to Italy--Adoption of Eugène--Lucien's daughter
and the Prince of the Asturias--M. Auguste de Stael's interview with
Napoleon.
Previous to the interview at Erfurt an event took place which created
a strong interest in Hamburg and throughout Europe, an event which
was planned and executed with inconceivable secrecy. I allude to
the defection of the Marquis de la Romans, which I have not hitherto
noticed, in order that I might not separate the different facts which
came to my knowledge respecting that defection and the circumstances
which accompanied it.
The Marquis de la Romans had come to the Hanse Towns at the head of an
army corps of 18,000 men, which the Emperor in the preceding campaign
claimed in virtue of treaties previously concluded with the Spanish
Government. The Spanish troops at first met with a good reception in
the Hanse Towns. The difference of language, indeed, occasionally caused
discord, but when better acquainted the inhabitants and their visitors
became good friends. The Marquis de la Romans was a little swarthy
man, of unprepossessing and rather common appearance; but he had a
considerable share of talent and information. He had travelled in almost
every part of Europe, and as he had been a close observer of all he saw
his conversation was exceedingly agreeable and instructive.
During his stay at Hamburg General Romans spent almost every evening
at my house, and invariably fell asleep over a game at whist. Madame
de Bourrienne was usually his partner, and I recollect he perpetually
offered apologies for his involuntary breach of good manners. This,
however, did not hinder him from being guilty of the same offence the
next evening. I will presently explain the cause of this regular siesta.
On the King of Spain's birthday the Marquis de la Romans gave a
magnificent entertainment. The decorations of the ballroom consisted of
military emblems. The Marquis did the honours with infinite grace, and
paid particular attention to the French generals. He always spoke of the
Emperor in very respectful terms, without any appearance of affectation,
so that it was impossible to suspect him of harbouring disaffection. He
played his part to the last with the utmost address. At Hamburg we had
already received intelligence of the fatal result of the battle of the
Sierra Morena, and of the capitulation of Dupont, which disgraced him
at the very moment when the whole army marked him out as the man most
likely next to receive the baton of Marshal of France.
Meanwhile the Marquis de la Romans departed for the Danish island
of Funen, in compliance with the order which Marshal Bernadotte had
transmitted to him. There, as at Hamburg, the Spaniards were well liked,
for their general obliged them to observe the strictest discipline.
Great preparations were made in Hamburg on the approach of Saint
Napoleon's day, which was then celebrated with much solemnity in every
town in which France had representatives. The Prince de Ponte-Corvo was
at Travemunde, a small seaport near Lübeck, but that did not prevent
him from giving directions for the festival of the 15th of August. The
Marquis de la Romana, the better to deceive the Marshal, despatched a
courier, requesting permission to visit Hamburg on the day of the fete
in order to join his prayers to those of the French, and to receive, on
the day of the fete, from the hands of the Prince, the grand order of
the Legion of Honour, which he had solicited, and which Napoleon had
granted him. Three days after Bernadotte received intelligence of the
defection of de la Romana. The Marquis had contrived to assemble a
great number of English vessels on the coast, and to escape with all
his troops except a depot of 600 men left at Altona. We afterwards heard
that he experienced no interruption on his passage, and that he
landed with his troops at Corunna. I now knew to what to attribute the
drowsiness which always overcame the Marquis de la Romana when he sat
down to take a hand at whist. The fact was, he sat up all night making
preparations for the escape which he had long meditated, while to lull
suspicion he showed himself everywhere during the day, as usual.
On the defection of the Spanish troops I received letters from
Government requiring me to augment my vigilance, and to seek out those
persons who might be supposed to have been in the confidence of the
Marquis de la Romans. I was informed that English agents, dispersed
through the Hanse Towns, were endeavouring to foment discord and
dissatisfaction among the King of Holland's troops. These manoeuvres
were connected with the treason of the Spaniards and the arrival of
Danican in Denmark. Insubordination had already broken out, but it was
promptly repressed. Two Dutch soldiers were shot for striking their
officers, but notwithstanding this severity desertion among the troops
increased to an alarming degree. Indefatigable agents in the pay of the
English Government laboured incessantly to seduce the soldiers of King
Louis (of Holland) from their duty. Some of these agents being denounced
to me were taken almost in the act, and positive proof being adduced of
their guilt they were condemned to death.
These indispensable examples of severity did not check the manoeuvres of
England, though they served to cool the zeal of her agents. I used every
endeavour to second the Prince of Ponte-Corvo in tracing out the persons
employed by England. It was chiefly from the small island of Heligoland
that they found their way to the Continent. This communication was
facilitated by the numerous vessels scattered about the small islands
which lie along that coast. Five or six pieces of gold defrayed the
expense of the passage to or from Heligoland. Thus the Spanish news,
which was printed and often fabricated at London, was profusely
circulated in the north of Germany. Packets of papers addressed to
merchants and well-known persons in the German towns were put into the
post-offices of Embden, Kuipphausen, Varel, Oldenburg, Delmenhorst, and
Bremen. Generally speaking, this part of the coast was not sufficiently
well watched to prevent espionage and smuggling; with regard to
smuggling, indeed, no power could have entirely prevented it. The
Continental system had made it a necessity, so that a great part of the
population depended on it for subsistence.
In the beginning of December 1808 we remarked that the Russian courier
who passed through Konigsberg and Berlin, was regularly detained four,
five, and even six hours on his way to Hamburg. The trading portion of
the population, always suspicious, became alarmed at this chance in the
courier's hours, into which they inquired and soon discovered the cause.
It was ascertained that two agents had been stationed by the postmaster
of the Grand Duchy of Berg at Hamburg, in a village called Eschburg
belonging to the province of Lauenburg. There the courier from Berlin
was stopped, and his packets and letters opened. As soon as these
facts were known in Hamburg there was a general consternation among the
trading class-that is to say, the influential population of the city.
Important and well-grounded complaints were made. Some letters had
been suppressed, enclosures had been taken from one letter and put into
another, and several bills of exchange had gone astray. The intelligence
soon reached the ears of the Prince of Ponte-Corvo, and was confirmed
by the official report of the commissioner for the Imperial and
Royal Post-office, who complained of the delay of the courier, of the
confusion of the packets, and of want of confidence in the Imperial
Post-office. It was impolitic to place such agents in a village where
there was not even a post-office, and where the letters were opened
in an inn without any supervision. This examination of the letters,
sometimes, perhaps, necessary, but often dangerous, and always extremely
delicate, created additional alarm, on account of the persons to whom
the business was entrusted. If the Emperor wished to be made acquainted
with the correspondence of certain persons in the north it would have
been natural to entrust the business to his agents and his commissioner
at Hamburg, and not to two unknown individuals--another inconvenience
attending black cabinets. At my suggestion the Prince of Ponte-Corvo
gave orders for putting a stop to the clandestine business at Eschburg.
The two agents were taken to Hamburg and their conduct inquired into.
They were severely punished. They deserved this, however, less than
those who had entrusted them with such an honourable mission; but
leaders never make much scruple about abandoning their accomplices in
the lower ranks.
But for the pain of witnessing vexations of this sort, which I had
not always power to prevent, especially after Bernadotte's removal, my
residence at Hamburg would have been delightful. Those who have visited
that town know the advantages it possesses from its charming situation
on the Elbe, and above all, the delightful country which surrounds it
like a garden, and extends to the distance of more than a league along
the banks of the Eyder. The manners and customs of the inhabitants bear
the stamp of peculiarity; they are fond of pursuing their occupations
in the open air. The old men are often seen sitting round tables placed
before their doors sipping tea, while the children play before them, and
the young people are at their work. These groups have a very picturesque
effect, and convey a gratifying idea of the happiness of the people.
On seeing the worthy citizens of Hamburg assembled round their doors I
could not help thinking of a beautiful remark of Montesquieu. When he
went to Florence with a letter of recommendation to the Prime Minister
of the Grand Duke of Tuscany he found him sitting at the threshold of
his door, inhaling the fresh air and conversing with some friends. "I
see," said Montesquieu, "that I am arrived among a happy people, since
their Prime Minister can enjoy his leisure moments thus."
A sort of patriarchal simplicity characterises the manners of the
inhabitants of Hamburg. They do not visit each other much, and only
by invitation; but on such occasions they display great luxury
beneath their simple exterior. They are methodical and punctual to an
extraordinary degree. Of this I recollect a curious instance. I was
very intimate with Baron Woght, a man of talent and information, and
exceedingly amiable manners. One day he called to make us a farewell
visit as he intended to set out on the following day for Paris. On
Madame de Bourrienne expressing a hope that he would not protract his
absence beyond six months, the period he had fixed upon, he replied, "Be
assured, madame, nothing shall prevent me getting home on the day I have
appointed, for I have invited a party of friends to dine with me on the
day after my return." The Baron returned at the appointed time, and none
of his guests required to be reminded of his invitation at six months'
date.
Napoleon so well knew the effect which his presence produced that after
a conquest he loved to show himself to the people whose territories he
added to the Empire. Duroc, who always accompanied him when he was not
engaged on missions, gave me a curious account of Napoleon's journey in
1807 to Venice and the other Italian provinces, which, conformably with
the treaty of Presburg, were annexed to the Kingdom of Italy.
In this journey to the Kingdom of Italy Napoleon had several important
objects in view. He was planning great alliances; and he loaded Eugène
with favours for the purpose of sounding him and preparing him for his
mother's divorce. At the same time he intended to have an interview
with his brother Lucien, because, wishing to dispose of the hand of his
brother's daughter, he thought of making her marry the Prince of
the Asturias (Ferdinand), who before the Spanish war, when the first
dissensions between father and son had become manifest, had solicited an
alliance with the Emperor in the hope of getting his support. This was
shortly after the eldest son of Louis had died in Holland of croup. It
has been wrongly believed that Napoleon had an affection for this child
beyond that of an uncle for a nephew. I have already said the truth
about this.
However this may be, it is certain that Napoleon now seriously
contemplated a divorce from Josephine. If there had been no other proof
of this I, who from long habit knew how to read Napoleon's thoughts by
his acts, found a sufficient one in the decree issued at Milan by which
Napoleon adopted Eugène as his son and successor to the crown of Italy,
in default of male and legitimate children directly descended from him.
Lucien went to Mantua on his brother's invitation, and this was the last
interview they had before the Cent Jours. Lucien consented to give his
daughter to the Prince of the Asturias, but this marriage did not
take place. I learned from Duroc to what a height the enmity of Lucien
towards the Beauharnais family, an enmity which I have often had
occasion to speak of, had been renewed on this occasion. Lucien could
not pardon Josephine for the rebuff of the counsels which he had given
her, and which she had rejected with such proper indignation. Lucien had
besides another special reason for giving his daughter to the Prince
of the Asturias. He particularly wished to prevent that Prince marrying
Mademoiselle de Tascher, the niece of Josephine, a marriage for which
M. de Beauharnais, then Ambassador of France at Madrid, was working with
all his might. Lucien also, with his Republican stolidity, submitted
without too much scruple to the idea of having a Bourbon King as
son-in-law. It was also during this journey of Napoleon that he annexed
Tuscany to the Empire.
Bonaparte returned to Paris on the 1st of January 1808. On his way he
stopped for a short time at Chambery, where a young man had been waiting
for him several days. This was Madame de Stael's son, who was then not
more than seventeen years of age. M. Auguste de Stael lodged at the
house of the postmaster of Chambery, and as the Emperor was expected in
the course of the night, he gave orders that he should be called up on
the arrival of the first courier. The couriers, who had been delayed
on the road, did not arrive until six in the morning, and were almost
immediately followed by the Emperor himself, so that M, de Stael was
awakened by the cries of Vive l'Empereur! He had just time to dress
himself hastily, and fly to meet Napoleon, to whom he delivered a
letter, which he had prepared beforehand for the purpose of soliciting
an audience. Lauriston, the aide de camp on duty, took the letter, it
being his business to receive all the letters and petitions which were
presented to Napoleon on his way. Before breakfast the Emperor opened
the letters which Lauriston had laid on the table; he merely looked
at the signatures, and then laid them aside. On opening M. de Stael's
letter he said, "Ah! ah! what have we here? a letter from M. de Stael!
. . . He wishes to see me: . . . What can he want? . . . Can there be
anything in common between me and the refugees of Geneva?"-- "Sire,"
observed Lauriston, "he is a very young man; and, as well as I
could judge from the little I saw of him, there is something very
prepossessing in his appearance."--"A very young man, say you? . . .
Oh, then I will see him. . . . Rustan, tell him to come in." M. de Stael
presented himself to Napoleon with modesty, but without any unbecoming
timidity. When he had respectfully saluted the Emperor a conversation
ensued between them, which Duroc described to me in nearly the following
manner.
As M. de Stael advanced towards the Emperor the latter said, "Whence
do you come?"--"From Geneva, Sire."--"Where is your mother?"--"She is
either in Vienna or will soon be there."--"At Vienna! . . . Well, that
is where she ought to be; and I suppose she is happy. . . . She will now
have a good opportunity of learning German."--"Sire, how can you imagine
my mother is happy when she is absent from her country and her friends?
If I were permitted to lay before your Majesty my mother's confidential
letter you would see how unhappy she is in her exile."-- "Ah, bah!
your mother unhappy, indeed! . . . However, I do not mean to say she is
altogether a bad woman. . . . She has talent--perhaps too much; and
hers is an unbridled talent. She was educated amidst the chaos of the
subverted monarchy and the Revolution; and out of these events she makes
an amalgamation of her own! All this might become very dangerous. Her
enthusiasm is likely to make proselytes. I must keep watch upon her. She
does not like me; and for the interests of those whom she would endanger
I must prohibit her coming to Paris."
Young De Stael stated that his object in seeking the interview with
the Emperor was to petition for his mother's return to Paris. Napoleon
having listened without impatience to the reasons he urged in support of
his request, said, "But supposing I were to permit your mother to return
to Pairs, six months would not elapse before I should be obliged to
send her to the Bicetre or to the Temple. This I should be sorry to do,
because the affair would make a noise, and injure me in public opinion.
Tell your mother that my determination is formed, that my decision is
irrevocable. She shall never set foot in Paris as long as I live."--
"Sire, I cannot believe that you would arbitrarily imprison my mother if
she gave you no reason for such severity."--"She would give me a dozen!
. . . I know her well."--"Sire, permit me to say that I am certain
my mother would live in Paris in a way that would afford no ground of
reproach; she would live retired, and would see only a very few friends.
In spite of your Majesty's refusal I venture to entreat that you will
give her a trial, were it only for six weeks or a month. Permit her,
Sire, to pass that time in Paris, and I conjure you to come to no final
decision beforehand."--"Do you think I am to be deceived by these fair
promises? . . . I tell you it cannot be. She would serve as a rallying
point for the Faubourg St. Germain. She see nobody, indeed! Could she
make that sacrifice? She would visit and receive company. She would be
guilty of a thousand follies. She would be saying things which she
may consider as very good jokes, but which I should take seriously. My
government is no joke: I wish this to be well known by everybody."--
"Sire, will your Majesty permit me to repeat that my mother has no wish
whatever to mingle in society? She would confine herself to the circle
of a few friends, a list of whom she would give to your Majesty. You,
Sire, who love France so well, may form some idea of the misery my
mother suffers in her banishment. I conjure your Majesty to yield to
my entreaties, and let us be included in the number of your faithful
subjects."--"You!"--"Yes, Sire; or if your Majesty persist in your
refusal, permit a son to inquire what can have raised your displeasure
against his mother. Some say that it was my grandfather's last work; but
I can assure your Majesty that my mother had nothing to do with that."--
"Yes, certainly," added Napoleon, with more ill-humour than he had
hitherto manifested. "Yes, certainly, that work is very objectionable.
Your grandfather was an ideologist, a fool, an old lunatic. At sixty
years of age to think of forming plans to overthrow my constitution!
States would be well governed, truly, under such theorists, who judge
of men from books and the world from the map."--"Sire, since my
grandfather's plans are, in your Majesty's eyes, nothing but vain
theories, I cannot conceive why they should so highly excite your
displeasure. There is no political economist who has not traced out
plans of constitutions."--"Oh! as to political economists, they are
mere-visionaries, who are dreaming of plans of finance while they are
unfit to fulfil the duties of a schoolmaster in the most insignificant
village in the Empire. Your grandfather's work is that of an obstinate
old man who died abusing all governments."--"Sire, may I presume to
suppose, from the way in which you speak of it, that your Majesty judges
from the report of malignant persons, and that you have not yourself
read it."
"That is a mistake. I have read it myself from beginning to end."--
"Then your Majesty must have seen how my grandfather renders justice to
your genius."--"Fine justice, truly! . . . He calls me the indispensable
man, but, judging from his arguments, the best thing that could be done
would be to cut my throat! Yes, I was indeed indispensable to repair the
follies of your grandfather, and the mischief he did to France. It
was he who overturned the monarchy and led Louis XVI. to the
scaffold."--"Sire, you seem to forget that my grandfather's property was
confiscated because he defended the King."--"Defended the King! A fine
defence, truly! You might as well say that if I give a man poison and
present him with an antidote when he is in the agonies of death I
wish to save him! Yet that is the way your grandfather defended Louis
XVI..... As to the confiscation you speak of, what does that prove?
Nothing. Why, the property of Robespierre was confiscated! And let
me tell you that Robespierre himself, Marat, and Danton did much less
mischief to France than M. Necker. It was he who brought about the
Revolution. You, Monsieur de Stael, did not see this; but I did. I
witnessed all that passed in those days of terror and public calamity.
But as long as I live those days shall never return. Your speculators
trace their Utopian schemes upon paper; fools read and believe them. All
are babbling about general happiness, and presently the people have not
bread to eat; then comes a revolution. Such is usually the fruit of all
these fine theories! Your grandfather was the cause of the saturnalia
which desolated France. He is responsible for all the blood shed in the
Revolution!"
Duroc informed me that the Emperor uttered these last words in a tone of
fury which made all present tremble for young De Stael. Fortunately the
young man did not lose his self-possession in the conflict, while the
agitated expression of his countenance evidently showed what was passing
in his mind. He was sufficiently master of himself to reply to the
Emperor in a calm though rather faltering voice: "Sire, permit me to
hope that posterity will judge of my grandfather more favourably than
your Majesty does. During his administration he was ranked by the side
of Sully and Colbert; and let me repeat again that I trust posterity
will render him justice."--"Posterity will, probably, say little about
him."-- "I venture to hope the contrary, Sire."
Then, added Duroc, the Emperor turning to us said with a smile, "After
all, gentlemen, it is not for me to say too much against the Revolution
since I have gained a throne by it." Then again turning to M. de Stael
he said, "The reign of anarchy is at au end. I must have subordination.
Respect the sovereign authority, since it comes from God. You are young,
and well educated, therefore; follow a better course, and avoid those
bad principles which endanger the welfare of society."--"Sire, since
your Majesty does me the honour to think me well educated, you ought not
to condemn the principles of my grandfather and my mother, for it is in
those principles that I have been brought up."--"Well, I advise you to
keep right in politics, for I will not pardon any offences of the Necker
kind. Every one should keep right in politics."
This conversation, Duroc informed me, had continued the whole time of
breakfast, and the Emperor rose just as he pronounced these last words:
"Every one should keep right in politics." At that moment young De Stael
again renewed his solicitations for his mother's recall from exile.
Bonaparte then stepped up to him and pinched his ear with that air of
familiarity which was customary to him when he was in good humour or
wished to appear so.
"You are young," said he; "if you had my age and experience you would
judge of things more correctly. I am far from being displeased with your
frankness. I like to see a son plead his mother's cause. Your mother has
given you a difficult commission, and you have executed it cleverly. I
am glad I have had this opportunity of conversing with you. I love to
talk with young people when they are unassuming and not too fond of
arguing. But in spite of that I will not hold out false hopes to you.
Murat has already spoken to me on the subject, and I have told him, as I
now tell you, that my will is irrevocable. If your mother were in prison
I should not hesitate to liberate her, but nothing shall induce me to
recall her from exile."--"But, Sire, is she not as unhappy in being
banished from her country and her friends as if she were in prison?"--
"Oh! these are your mother's romantic ideas. She is exceedingly unhappy,
and much to be pitied, no doubt! . . . With the exception of Paris
she has all Europe for her prison."--"But, Sire, her friends are in
Paris."--"With her talents she may make friends anywhere. After all,
I cannot understand why she should be so anxious to come to Paris. Why
should she wish to place herself immediately within the reach of my
tyranny? Can she not go to Rome, to Berlin, to Vienna, to Milan, or to
London? Yes, let her go to London; that is the place for her. There she
may libel me as much as she pleases. In short, she has my full liberty
to be anywhere but in Paris. You see, Monsieur de Stael, that is the
place of my residence, and there I will have only those who are attached
to me. I know from experience that if I were to allow your mother to
come to Paris she would spoil everybody about me. She would finish the
spoiling of Garat. It was she who ruined the Tribunate. I know she
would promise wonders; but she cannot refrain from meddling with
politics."--"I can assure your Majesty that my mother does not now
concern herself about politics. She devotes herself exclusively to the
society of her friends and to literature."--"Ah, there it is! . . .
Literature! Do you think I am to be imposed upon by that word? While
discoursing on literature, morals, the fine arts, and such matters, it
is easy to dabble in politics. Let women mind their knitting. If your
mother were in Paris I should hear all sorts of reports about her.
Things might, indeed, be falsely attributed to her; but, be that as it
may, I will have nothing of the kind going on in the capital in which I
reside. All things considered, advise your mother to go to London. That
is the best place for her. As for your grandfather, I have not spoken
too severely of him. M. Necker knew nothing of the art of government.
I have learned something of the matter during the last twenty
years."--"All the world, Sire, renders justice to your Majesty's genius,
and there is no one but acknowledges that the finances of France are now
more prosperous than ever they were before your reign. But permit me to
observe that your Majesty must, doubtless, have seen some merit in the
financial regulations of my grandfather, since you have adopted some
of them in the admirable system you have established."--"That proves
nothing; for two or three good ideas do not constitute a good system. Be
that as it may, I say again, I will never allow your mother to return to
Paris."--"But, Sire, if sacred interests should absolutely require her
presence there for a few days would not--"--"How! Sacred interests! What
do you mean?"--"Yes, Sire, if you do not allow her to return I shall
be obliged to go there, unaided by her advice, in order to recover from
your Majesty's Government the payment of a sacred debt."--"Ah! bah!
Sacred! Are not all the debts of the State sacred?"--"Doubtless,
Sire; but ours is attended with circumstances which give it a peculiar
character."--"A peculiar character! Nonsense! Does not every State
creditor say the same of his debt? Besides, I know nothing of your
claim. It does not concern me, and I will not meddle with it. If you
have the law on your side so much the better; but if you want favour I
tell you I will not interfere. If I did, I should be rather against you
than otherwise."--"Sire, my brother and myself had intended to settle in
France, but how can we live in a country where our mother cannot visit
us?"--"I do not care for that. I do not advise you to come here. Go
to England. The English like wrangling politicians. Go there, for in
France, I tell you candidly, that I should be rather against you than
for you."
"After this conversation," added Duroc, "the Emperor got into the
carriage with me without stopping to look to the other petitions which
had been presented to him. He preserved unbroken silence until he got
nearly opposite the cascade, on the left of the road, a few leagues from
Chambery. He appeared to be absorbed in reflection. At length he said,
'I fear I have been somewhat too harsh with this young man. . . . But
no matter, it will prevent others from troubling me. These people
calumniate everything I do. They do not understand me, Duroc; their
place is not in France. How can Necker's family be for the Bourbons,
whose first duty, if ever they returned to France, would be to hang them
all.'"
This conversation, related to me by Duroc, interested me so much that I
noted it down on paper immediately after my interview.
CHAPTER XVII.
1808.
The Republic of Batavia--The crown of Holland offered to Louis--
Offer and refusal of the crown of Spain--Napoleon's attempt to get
possession of Brabant--Napoleon before and after Erfart--
A remarkable letter to Louis--Louis summoned to Paris--His honesty
and courage--His bold language--Louis' return to Holland, and his
letter to Napoleon--Harsh letter from Napoleon to Louis--Affray at
Amsterdam--Napoleon's displeasure and last letter to his brother--
Louis' abdication in favour of his son--Union of Holland to the
French Empire--Protest of Louis against that measure--Letter from M.
Otto to Louis.
When Bonaparte was the chief of the French Republic he had no objection
to the existence of a Batavian Republic in the north of France, and he
equally tolerated the Cisalpine Republic in the south. But after the
coronation all the Republics, which were grouped like satellites round
the grand Republic, were converted into kingdoms subject to the
Empire, if not avowedly, at least in fact. In this respect there was
no difference between the Batavian and Cisalpine Republics. The latter
having been metamorphosed into the Kingdom of Italy, it was necessary
to find some pretext for transforming the former into the Kingdom of
Holland. The government of the Republic of Batavia had been for some
time past merely the shadow of a government, but still it preserved,
even in its submission to France, those internal forms of freedom which
console a nation for the loss of independence. The Emperor kept up
such an extensive agency in Holland that he easily got up a deputation
soliciting him to choose a king for the Batavian Republic. This
submissive deputation came to Paris in 1806 to solicit the Emperor, as
a favour, to place Prince Louis on the throne of Holland. The address of
the deputation, the answer of Napoleon, and the speech of Louis on being
raised to the sovereign dignity, have all been published.
Louis became King of Holland much against his inclination, for he
opposed the proposition as much as he dared, alleging as an objection
the state of his health, to which certainly the climate of Holland was
not favourable; but Bonaparte sternly replied to his remonstrance, "It
is better to die a king than live a prince." He was then obliged to
accept the crown. He went to Holland accompanied by Hortense, who,
however, did mot stay long there. The new King wanted to make himself
beloved by his subjects, and as they were an entirely commercial people
the best way to win their affections was not to adopt Napoleon's rigid
laws against commercial intercourse with England. Hence the first
coolness between the two brothers, which ended in the abdication of
Louis.
I know not whether Napoleon recollected the motive assigned by Louis
for at first refusing the crown of Holland, namely, the climate of the
country, or whether he calculated upon greater submission in another of
his brothers; but this is certain, that Joseph was not called from
the throne of Naples to the throne of Spain until after the refusal
of Louis. I have in my possession a copy of a letter written to him by
Napoleon on the subject. It is without date of time or place, but its
contents prove it to have been written in March or April 1808. It is as
follows:--
BROTHER:--The King of Spain, Charles IV., has just abdicated. The
Spanish people loudly appeal to me. Certain of obtaining no solid
peace with England unless I cause a great movement on the Continent,
I have determined to place a French King on the throne of Spain.
The climate of Holland does not agree with you; besides, Holland
cannot rise from her rains. In the whirlwind of events, whether we
have peace or not, there is no possibility of her maintaining
herself. In this state of things I have thought of the throne of
Spain for you. Give me your opinions categorically on this measure.
If I were to name you King of Spain would you accept the offer? May
I count on you? Answer me these two questions. Say, "I have
received your letter of such a day, I answer Yes," and then I shall
count on your doing what I wish; or say "No" if you decline my
proposal. Let no one enter into your confidence, and mention to no
one the object of this letter. The thing must be done before we
confess having thought about it.
(signed) NAPOLEON.
Before finally seizing Holland Napoleon formed the project of separating
Brabant and Zealand from it in exchange for other provinces, the
possession of which was doubtful, but Louis successfully resisted this
first act of usurpation. Bonaparte was, too intent on the great business
in Spain to risk any commotion in the north, where the declaration of
Russia against Sweden already sufficiently occupied him. He therefore
did not insist upon, and even affected indifference to, the proposed
augmentation of the territory of the Empire. This at least may be
collected from another letter, dated St. Cloud, 17th August, written
upon hearing from M. Alexandre de la Rochefoucauld, his Ambassador in
Holland, and from his brother himself, the opposition of Louis to his
project.
The letter was as follows:--
BROTHER--I have received your letter relating to that of the Sieur
de la Rochefoucauld. He was only authorised to make the proposals
indirectly. Since the exchange does not please you, let us think no
more about it. It was useless to make a parade of principles,
though I never said that you ought not to consult the nation. The
well-informed part of the Dutch people had already acknowledged
their indifference to the loss of Brabant, which is connected with
France rather than with Holland, and interspersed with expensive
fortresses; it might have been advantageously exchanged for the
northern provinces. But, once for all, since you do not like this
arrangement, let no more be said about it. It was useless even to
mention it to me, for the Sieur de la Rochefoucauld was instructed
merely to hint the matter.
Though ill-humour here evidently peeps out beneath affected
condescension, yet the tone of this letter is singularly moderate,--I
may even say kind, in comparison with other letters which Napoleon
addressed to Louis. This letter, it is true, was written previously to
the interview at Erfurt, when Napoleon, to avoid alarming Russia, made
his ambition appear to slumber. But when he got his brother Joseph
recognised, and when he had himself struck an important blow in the
Peninsula, he began to change his tone to Louis. On the 20th of December
he wrote a very remarkable letter, which exhibits the unreserved
expression of that tyranny which he wished to exercise over all his
family in order to make them the instruments of his despotism. He
reproached Louis for not following his system of policy, telling him
that he had forgotten he was a Frenchman, and that he wished to become a
Dutchman. Among other things he said:
Your Majesty has done more: you took advantage of the moment when I
was involved in the affairs of the Continent to renew the relations
between Holland and England--to violate the laws of the blockade,
which are the only means of effectually destroying the latter power.
I expressed my dissatisfaction by forbidding you to come to France,
and I have made you feel that even without the assistance of my
armies, by merely closing the Rhine, the Weser, the Scheldt, and the
Meuse against Holland, I should have placed her in a situation more
critical than if I had declared war against her. Your Majesty
implored my generosity, appealed to my feelings as brother, and
promised to alter your conduct. I thought this warning would be
sufficient. I raised my custom-house prohibitions, but your Majesty
has returned to your old system.
Your Majesty received all the American ships that presented
themselves in the ports of Holland after having been expelled from
those of France. I have been obliged a second time to prohibit
trade with Holland. In this state of things we may consider
ourselves really at war. In my speech to the Legislative Body I
manifested my displeasure; for I will not conceal from you that my
intention is to unite Holland with France. This will be the most
severe blow I can aim against England, and will deliver me from the
perpetual insults which the plotters of your Cabinet are constantly
directing against me. The mouths of the Rhine and of the Meuse
ought, indeed, to belong to me. The principle that the 'Thalweg'
(towing-path) of the Rhine is the boundary of France is a
fundamental principle. Your Majesty writes to me on the 17th that
you are sure of being able to prevent all trade between Holland and
England. I am of opinion that your Majesty promises more than
you can fulfil. I shall, however, remove my custom-house
prohibitions whenever the existing treaties may be executed. The
following are my conditions:--First, The interdiction of all trade
and communication with England. Second, The supply of a fleet of
fourteen sail-of the line, seven frigates and seven brigs or
corvettes, armed and manned. Third, An army of 25,000 men. Fourth,
The suppression of the rank of marshals. Fifth, The abolition of
all the privileges of nobility which are contrary to the
constitution which I have given and guaranteed. Your Majesty may
negotiate on these bases with the Duc de Cadore, through the medium
of your Minister; but be assured that on the entrance of the first
packetboat into Holland I will restore my prohibitions, and that the
first Dutch officer who may presume to insult my flag shall be
seized, and hanged at the mainyard. Your Majesty will find in me a
brother if you prove yourself a Frenchman; but if you forget the
sentiments which attach you to our common country you cannot think
it extraordinary that I should lose sight of those which nature
created between us. In short, the union of Holland and France will
be of all things, most useful to France, to Holland, and the whole
Continent, because it will be most injurious to England. This union
must be effected willingly or by force. Holland has given me
sufficient reason to declare war against her. However, I shall not
scruple to consent to an arrangement which will secure to me the
limit of the Rhine, and by which Holland will pledge herself to
fulfil the conditions stipulated above.
--[Much of the manner in which Napoleon treated occupied
countries such as Holland is explained by the spirit of his
answer when Beugnot complained to him of the harm done to the
Grand Duchy of Berg by the monopoly of tobacco. "It is
extraordinary that you should not have discovered the motive
that makes me persist in the establishment of the monopoly of
tobacco in the Grand Duchy. The question is not about your
Grand Duchy but about France. I am very well aware that it is
not to your benefit, and that you very possibly lose by it, but
what does that signify if it be for the good of France? I tell
you, then, that in every country where there is a monopoly of
tobacco, but which is contiguous to one where the sale is free,
a regular smuggling infiltration must be reckoned on, supplying
the consumption for twenty or twenty-five miles into the
country subject to the duty. That is what I intend to preserve
France from. You must protect yourselves as well as you can
from this infiltration. It is enough for me to drive it back
more than twenty or twenty-five miles from my frontier."
(Beugnot, vol. ii. p. 26).]--
Here the correspondence between the two brothers was suspended for a
time; but Louis still continued exposed to new vexations on the part of
Napoleon. About the end of 1809 the Emperor summoned all the sovereigns
who might be called his vassals to Paris. Among the number was Louis,
who, however, did not show himself very willing to quit his States.
He called a council of his Ministers, who were of opinion that for the
interest of Holland he ought to make this new sacrifice. He did so with
resignation. Indeed, every day passed on the throne was a sacrifice made
by Louis.
He lived very quietly in Paris, and was closely watched by the police,
for it was supposed that as he had come against his will he would not
protract his stay so long as Napoleon wished. The system of espionage
under which he found himself placed, added to the other circumstances of
his situation, inspired him with a degree of energy of which he was not
believed to be capable; and amidst the general silence of the servants
of the Empire, and even of the Kings and Princes assembled in the
capital, he ventured to say, "I have been deceived by promises which
were never intended to be kept. Holland is tired of being the sport
of France." The Emperor, who was unused to such language as this, was
highly incensed at it. Louis had now no alternative but to yield to the
incessant exactions of Napoleon or to see Holland united to France. He
chose the latter, though not before he had exerted all his feeble power
in behalf of the subjects whom Napoleon had consigned to him; but he
would not be the accomplice of the man who had resolved to make those
subjects the victims of his hatred against England. Who, indeed, could
be so blind as not to see that the ruin of the Continent would be the
triumph of British commerce?
Louis was, however, permitted to return to his States to contemplate the
stagnating effect of the Continental blockade on every branch of trade
and industry formerly so active in Holland. Distressed at witnessing
evils to which he could apply no remedy, he endeavoured by some
prudent remonstrances to avert the utter, ruin with which Holland was
threatened. On the 23d of March 1810 he wrote the following letter to
Napoleon:--
If you wish to consolidate the present state of France, to obtain
maritime peace, or to attack England with advantage, those objects
are not to be obtained by measures like the blockading system, the
destruction of a kingdom raised by yourself, or the enfeebling of
your allies, and setting at defiance their most sacred rights and
the first principles of the law of nations. You should, on the
contrary, win their affections for France, and consolidate and
reinforce your allies, making them like your brothers, in whom you
may place confidence. The destruction of Holland, far from being
the means of assailing England, will serve only to increase her
strength, by all the industry and wealth which will fly to her for
refuge. There are, in reality, only three ways of assailing
England, namely, by detaching Ireland, getting possession of the
East Indies, or by invasion. These two latter modes, which would be
the most effectual, cannot be executed without naval force. But I
am astonished that the first should have been so easily
relinquished. That is a more secure mode of obtaining peace on good
conditions than the system of injuring ourselves for the sake of
committing a greater injury upon the enemy.
(Signed) LOUIS.
Written remonstrances were no more to Napoleon's taste than verbal ones
at a time when, as I was informed by my friends whom fortune chained to
his destiny, no one presumed to address a word to him except in answer
to his questions. Cambacérès, who alone had retained that privilege in
public as his old colleague in the Consulate, lost it after Napoleon's
marriage with the daughter of Imperial Austria. His brother's letter
highly roused his displeasure. Two months after he received it, being on
a journey in the north, he replied from Ostend by a letter which cannot
be read without a feeling of pain, since it serves to show how weak are
the most sacred ties of blood in comparison with the interests of an
insatiable policy. This letter was as follows:
BROTHER--In the situation in which we are placed it is best to speak
candidly. I know your secret sentiments, and all that you can say
to the contrary can avail nothing. Holland is certainly in a
melancholy situation. I believe you are anxious to extricate her
from her difficulties: it is you; and you alone, who can do this.
When you conduct yourself in such a way as to induce the people of
Holland to believe that you act under my influence, that all your
measures and all your sentiments are conformable with mine, then you
will be loved, you will be esteemed, and you will acquire the power
requisite for re-establishing Holland: when to be my friend, and the
friend of France, shall become a title of favour at your court,
Holland will be in her natural situation. Since your return from
Paris you have done nothing to effect this object. What will be the
result of your conduct? Your subjects, bandied about between France
and England, will throw themselves into the arms of France, and will
demand to be united to her. You know my character, which is to
pursue my object unimpeded by any consideration. What, therefore,
do you expect me to do? I can dispense with Holland, but Holland
cannot dispense with my protection. If, under the dominion of one
of my brothers, but looking to me alone for her welfare, she does
not find in her sovereign my image, all confidence in your
government is at an end; your sceptre is broken. Love France, love
my glory--that is the only way to serve Holland: if you had acted as
you ought to have done that country, having becoming a part of my
Empire, would have been the more dear to me since I had given her a
sovereign whom I almost regarded as my son. In placing you on the
throne of Holland I thought I had placed a French citizen there.
You have followed a course diametrically opposite to what I
expected. I have been forced to prohibit you from coming to France,
and to take possession of a part of your territory. In proving
yourself a bad Frenchman you are less to the Dutch than a Prince of
Orange, to whose family they owe their rank as a nation, and a long
succession of prosperity and glory. By your banishment from France
the Dutch are convinced that they have lost what they would not have
lost under a Schimmelpenninek or a Prince of Orange. Prove yourself
a Frenchman, and the brother of the Emperor, and be assured that
thereby you will serve the interests of Holland. But you seem to be
incorrigible, for you would drive away the few Frenchmen who remain
with you. You must be dealt with, not by affectionate advice, but
by threats and compulsion. What mean the prayers and mysterious
fasts you have ordered? Louis, you will not reign long. Your
actions disclose better than your confidential letters the
sentiments of your mind. Return to the right course. Be a
Frenchman in heart, or your people will banish you, and you will
leave Holland an object of ridicule.
--[It was, on the contrary, became Louis made himself a
Dutchman that his people did not banish him, and that he
carried away with him the regret of all that portion of his
subjects who could appreciate his excellent qualities and
possessed good sense enough to perceive that he was not to
blame for the evils that weighed upon Holland.--Bourrienne.
The conduct of Bonaparte to Murat was almost a counterpart to
this. When Murat attempted to consult the interests of Naples
he was called a traitor to France.--Editor of 1836 edition.]--
States must be governed by reason and policy, and not by the
weakness produced by acrid and vitiated humours.
(Signed) NAPOLEON.
A few days after this letter was despatched to Louis, Napoleon heard of
a paltry affray which had taken place at Amsterdam, and to which Comte
de la Rochefoucauld gave a temporary diplomatic importance, being aware
that he could not better please his master than by affording him an
excuse for being angry. It appeared that the honour of the Count's
coachman had been put in jeopardy by the insult of a citizen of
Amsterdam, and a quarrel had ensued, which, but for the interference
of the guard of the palace, might have terminated seriously since it
assumed the character of a party affair between the French and the
Dutch. M. de la Rochefoucauld immediately despatched to the Emperor, who
was then at Lille, a full report of his coachman's quarrel, in which he
expressed himself with as much earnestness as the illustrious author of
the "Maxims" evinced when he waged war against kings. The consequence
was that Napoleon instantly fulminated the following letter against his
brother Louis:
BROTHER--At the very moment when you were making the fairest
protestations I learn that the servants of my Ambassador have been
ill-treated at Amsterdam. I insist that those who were guilty of
this outrage be delivered up to me, in order that their punishment
may serve as an example to others. The Sieur Serrurier has informed
me how you conducted yourself at the diplomatic audiences. I have,
consequently, determined that the Dutch Ambassador shall not remain
in Paris; and Admiral Yerhuell has received orders to depart within
twenty-four hours. I want no more phrases and protestations. It is
time I should know whether you intend to ruin Holland by your
follies. I do not choose that you should again send a Minister to
Austria, or that you should dismiss the French who are in your
service. I have recalled my Ambassador as I intend only to have a
charge d'affaires in Holland. The Sieur Serrurier, who remains
there in that capacity, will communicate my intentions. My
Ambassador shall no longer be exposed to your insults. Write to me
no more of those set phrases which you have been repeating for the
last three years, and the falsehood of which is proved every day.
This is the last letter I will ever write to you as long as I live.
(Signed) NAPOLEON.
Thus reduced to the cruel alternative of crushing Holland with his own
hands, or leaving that task to the Emperor, Louis did not hesitate to
lay down his sceptre. Having formed this resolution, he addressed a
message to the Legislative Body of the Kingdom of Holland explaining the
motives of his abdication. The French troops entered Holland under the
command of the Duke of Reggio, and that marshal, who was more a king
than the King himself, threatened to occupy Amsterdam. Louis then
descended from his throne, and four years after Napoleon was hurled from
his.
In his act of abdication Louis declared that he had been driven to that
step by the unhappy state of his Kingdom, which he attributed to his
brother's unfavourable feelings towards him. He added that he had
made every effort and sacrifice to put an end to that painful state
of things, and that, finally, he regarded himself as the cause of the
continual misunderstanding between the French Empire and Holland. It
is curious that Louis thought he could abdicate the crown of Holland in
favour of his son, as Napoleon only four years after wished to abdicate
his crown in favour of the King of Rome.
Louis bade farewell to the people of Holland in a proclamation, after
the publication of which he repaired to the waters at Toeplitz. There he
was living in tranquil retirement when he learned that his brother had
united Holland to the Empire. He then published a protest, of which I
obtained a copy, though its circulation was strictly prohibited by the
police. In this protest Louis said:
The constitution of the state guaranteed by the Emperor, my brother,
gave me the right of abdicating in favour of my children. That
abdication was made in the form and terms prescribed by the
constitution. The Emperor had no right to declare war against
Holland, and he has not done so.
There is no act, no dissent, no demand of the Dutch nation that can
authorise the pretended union.
My abdication does not leave the throne vacant. I have abdicated
only in favour of my children.
As that abdication left Holland for twelve years under a regency,
that is to say, under the direct influence of the Emperor, according
to the terms of the constitution, there was no need of that union
for executing every measure he might have in view against trade and
against England, since his will was supreme in Holland.
But I ascended the throne without any other conditions except those
imposed upon me by my conscience, my duty, and the interest and
welfare of my subjects. I therefore declare before God and the
independent sovereigns to whom I address myself--
First, That the treaty of the 16th of March 1810, which occasioned
the separation of the province of Zealand and Brabant from Holland,
was accepted by compulsion, and ratified conditionally by me in
Paris, where I was detained against my will; and that, moreover, the
treaty was never executed by the Emperor my brother. Instead of
6000 French troops which I was to maintain, according to the terms
of the treaty, that number has been more than doubled; instead of
occupying only the mouths of the rivers and the coasts, the French
custom-horses have encroached into the interior of the country;
instead of the interference of France being confined to the measures
connected with the blockade of England, Dutch magazines have been
seized and Dutch subjects arbitrarily imprisoned; finally, none of
the verbal promises have been kept which were made in the Emperor's
name by the Duc de Cadore to grant indemnities for the countries
ceded by the said treaty and to mitigate its execution, if the King
would refer entirely to the Emperor, etc. I declare, in my name, in
the name of the nation and my son, the treaty of the 16th of March
1810 to be null and void.
Second, I declare that my abdication was forced by the Emperor, my
brother, that it was made only as the last extremity, and on this
one condition--that I should maintain the rights of Holland and my
children. My abdication could only be made in their favour.
Third, In my name, in the name of the King my son, who is as yet a
minor, and in the name of the Dutch nation, I declare the pretended
union of Holland to France, mentioned in the decree of the Emperor,
my brother, dated the 9th of July last, to be null, void, illegal,
unjust, and arbitrary in the eyes of God and man, and that the
nation and the minor King will assert their just rights when
circumstances permit them.
(Signed)LOUIS.
August 1, 1810.
Thus there seemed to be an end of all intercourse between these two
brothers, who were so opposite in character and disposition. But
Napoleon, who was enraged that Louis should have presumed to protest,
and that in energetic terms, against the union of his Kingdom with the
Empire, ordered him to return to France, whither he was summoned in his
character of Constable and French Prince. Louis, however, did not think
proper to obey this summons, and Napoleon, mindful of his promise of
never writing to him again, ordered the following letter to be addressed
to him by M. Otto, who had been Ambassador from France to Vienna since
the then recent marriage of the Emperor with Maria Louisa--
SIRE:--The Emperor directs me to write to your Majesty as follows:--
"It is the duty of every French Prince, and every member of the
Imperial family, to reside in France, whence they cannot absent
themselves without the permission of the Emperor. Before the union
of Holland to the Empire the Emperor permitted the King to reside at
Toeplitz, is Bohemia. His health appeared to require the use of the
waters, but now the Emperor requires that Prince Louis shall return,
at the latest by the 1st of December next, under pain of being
considered as disobeying the constitution of the Empire and the head
of his family, and being treated accordingly."
I fulfil, Sire, word for word the mission with which I have been
entrusted, and I send the chief secretary of the embassy to be
assured that this letter is rightly delivered. I beg your Majesty
to accept the homage of my respect, etc.
(Signed)OTTO.
--[The eldest son of Louis, one of the fruits of his unhappy
marriage with Hortense Beauharnais, the daughter of Josephine,
the wife of his brother Napoleon, was little more than six
years of age when his father abdicated the crown of Holland in
his favour. In 1830-31 this imprudent young man joined the
ill-combined mad insurrection in the States of the Pope. He
was present in one or two petty skirmishes, and was, we
believe, wounded; but it was a malaria fever caught in the
unhealthy Campagna of Rome that carried him to the grave in the
twenty-seventh year of his age.--Editor of 1836 edition.--
The first child of Louis and of Hortense had died in 1807.
The second son, Napoleon Louis (1804-1831) in whose favour he
abdicated had been created Grand Duc de Berg et de Cleves by
Napoleon in 1809. He married to 1826 Charlotte, the daughter
of Joseph Bonaparte, and died in 1831, while engaged in a
revolutionary movement in Italy. On his death his younger
brother Charles Louis Napoleon, the future Napoleon III., first
came forward as an aspirant.]--
What a letter was this to be addressed by a subject to a prince and a
sovereign. When I afterwards saw M. Otto in Paris, and conversed with
him on the subject, he assured me how much he had been distressed at the
necessity of writing such a letter to the brother of the Emperor. He had
employed the expressions dictated by Napoleon in that irritation which
he could never command when his will was opposed.
--[With regard to Louis and his conduct in Holland Napoleon thus
spoke at St. Helena:
"Louis is not devoid of intelligence, and has a good heart, but even
with these qualifications a man may commit many errors, and do a
great deal of mischief. Louis is naturally inclined to be
capricious and fantastical, and the works of Jean Jacques Rousseau
have contributed to increase this disposition. Seeking to obtain a
reputation for sensibility and beneficence, incapable by himself of
enlarged views, and, at most, competent to local details, Louis
acted like a prefect rather than a King.
"No sooner had he arrived in Holland than, fancying that nothing
could be finer than to have it said that he was thenceforth a true
Dutchman, he attached himself entirely to the party favourable to
the English, promoted smuggling, and than connived with our enemies.
It became necessary from that moment watch over him, and even
threaten to wage war against him. Louis then seeking a refuge
against the weakness of his disposition in the most stubborn
obstinacy, and mistaking a public scandal for an act of glory, fled
from his throne, declaiming against me and against my insatiable
ambition, my intolerable tyranny, etc. What then remained for me to
do? Was I to abandon Holland to our enemies? Ought I to have given
it another King? But is that case could I have expected more from
him than from my own brother? Did not all the Kings that I created
act nearly in the same manner? I therefore united Holland to the
Empire, and this act produced a most unfavourable impression in
Europe, and contributed not a little to lay the foundation of our
misfortunes" (Memorial de Sainte Helene)]--
CHAPTER XVIII.
1809.
Demands for contingents from some of the small States of Germany--
M. Metternich--Position of Russia with respect to France--Union of
Austria and Russia--Return of the English to Spain--Soult King of
Portugal, and Murat successor to the Emperor--First levy of the
landwehr in Austria--Agents of the Hamburg 'Correspondent'--
Declaration of Prince Charles--Napoleon's march to Germany--His
proclamation--Bernadotte's departure for the army--Napoleon's
dislike of Bernadotte--Prince Charles' plan of campaign--The English
at Cuxhaven--Fruitlessness of the plots of England--Napoleon
wounded--Napoleon's prediction realised--Major Schill--Hamburg
threatened and saved--Schill in Lübeck--His death, and destruction
of his band--Schill imitated by the Duke of Brunswick-Oels--
Departure of the English from Cuxhaven.
Bonaparte, the foundations of whose Empire were his sword and his.
victories, and who was anxiously looking forward to the time when the
sovereigns of Continental Europe should be his juniors, applied for
contingents of troops from the States to which I was accredited. The
Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was to furnish a regiment of 1800 men,
and the other little States, such as Oldenburg and Mecklenburg-Strelitz,
were to furnish regiments of less amount. All Europe was required to
rise in arms to second the gigantic projects of the new sovereign.
This demand for contingents, and the positive way in which the Emperor
insisted upon them, gave rise to an immense correspondence, which,
however, was unattended by any result. The notes and orders remained in
the portfolios, and the contingents stayed at home.
M. Metternich, whose talent has since been so conspicuously displayed,
had been for upwards of a year Ambassador from Austria to Paris. Even
then he excelled in the art of guiding men's minds, and of turning
to the advantage of his policy his external graces and the favour he
acquired in the drawing-room. His father, a clever man, brought up in
the old diplomatic school of Thugut and Kaunitz, had early accustomed
him to the task of making other Governments believe, by means of agents,
what might lead them into error and tend to the advantage of his own
Government. His manoeuvres tended to make Austria assume a discontented
and haughty tone; and wishing, as she said, to secure her independence,
she publicly declared her intention of protecting herself against any
enterprise similar to those of which she had so often been the victim.
This language, encouraged by the complete evacuation of Germany, and the
war in Spain, the unfortunate issue of which was generally foreseen, was
used--in time of peace between the two empires, and when France was not
threatening war to Austria.
--[Metternich arrived in Paris as Ambassador on 4th August 1806,
after Austria had been vanquished at Austerlitz. It does not seem
probable, either from his views or his correspondence, that he
advised the rash attempt of Austria to attack Napoleon by herself;
compare Metternich tome 1. p. 69, on the mistake of Prussia in 1805
and 1806; see also tome ii. p. 221, "To provoke a war with France
would be madness" (1st July 1808). On the other hand, the tone of
his correspondence in 1808 seams calculated to make Austria believe
that war was inevitable, and that her forces, "so inferior to those
of France before the insurrection in Spain, will at least be equal
to them immediately after that event" (tome ii. p. 808). What is
curious is that Metternich's conduct towards Napoleon while
Ambassador had led even such men as Duke Dalberg to believe that he
was really so well disposed towards Napoleon as to serve his cause
more than that of Austria.
M. Metternich, who had instructions from his Court, gave no satisfactory
explanation of those circumstances to Napoleon, who immediately raised a
conscription, and brought soldiers from Spain into Germany.
It was necessary, also, to come to an understanding with Russia, who,
being engaged with her war in Finland and Turkey, appeared desirous
neither to enter into alliance with Austria nor to afford her support.
What, in fact, was the Emperor Alexander's situation with respect to
France? He had signed a treaty of peace at Tilsit which he felt had been
forced upon him, and he knew that time alone would render it possible
for him to take part in a contest which it was evident would again be
renewed either with Prussia or Austria.
Every person of common sense must have perceived that Austria, in taking
up arms, reckoned, if not on the assistance, at least on the neutrality
of Russia. Russia was then engaged with two enemies, the Swedes and the
Turks, over whom she hoped to triumph. She therefore rejoiced to see
France again engage in a struggle with Austria, and there was no doubt
that she would take advantage of any chances favourable to the latter
power to join her in opposing the encroachments of France. I never could
conceive how, under those circumstances, Napoleon could be so blind as
to expect assistance from Russia in his quarrel with Austria. He must,
indeed, have been greatly deceived as to the footing on which the two
Courts stood with reference to each other--their friendly footing and
their mutual agreement to oppose the overgrowing ambition of their
common enemy.
The English, who had been compelled to quit Spain, now returned there.
They landed in Portugal, which might be almost regarded as their own
colony, and marched against Marshal Soult, who left Spain to meet them.
Any other man than Soult would perhaps have been embarrassed by the
obstacles which he had to surmount. A great deal has been said about
his wish to make himself King of Portugal. Bernadotte told me, when he
passed through Hamburg, that the matter had been the subject of much
conversation at headquarters after the battle of Wagram. Bernadotte
placed no faith in the report, and I am pretty sure that Napoleon also
disbelieved it. However, this matter is still involved in the obscurity
from which it will only be drawn when some person acquainted with the
intrigue shall give a full explanation of it.
Since I have, with reference to Soult, touched upon the subject of
his supposed ambition, I will mention here what I know of Murat's
expectation of succeeding the Emperor. When Romanzow returned from his
useless mission of mediation to London the Emperor proceeded to Bayonne.
Bernadotte, who had an agent in Paris whom he paid highly, told me one
day that he had received a despatch informing him that Murat entertained
the idea of one day succeeding the Emperor. Sycophants, expecting to
derive advantage from it, encouraged Murat in this chimerical hope. I
know not whether Napoleon was acquainted with this circumstance, nor
what he said of it, but Bernadotte spoke of it to me as a certain fact.
It would, however, have been very wrong to attach great importance to an
expression which, perhaps, escaped Murat in a moment of ardour, for his
natural temperament sometimes betrayed him into acts of imprudence, the
result of which, with a man like Napoleon, was always to be dreaded.
It was in the midst of the operations of the Spanish war, which Napoleon
directed in person, that he learned Austria had for the first time
raised the landwehr. I obtained some very curious documents respecting
the armaments of Austria from the Editor of the Hamburg 'Correspondent'.
This paper, the circulation of which amounted to not less than 60,000,
paid considerable sums to persons in different parts of Europe who were
able and willing to furnish the current news. The Correspondent paid
6000 francs a year to a clerk in the war department at Vienna, and it
was this clerk who supplied the intelligence that Austria was preparing
for war, and that orders had been issued in all directions to collect
and put in motion all the resources of that powerful monarchy. I
communicated these particulars to the French Government, and suggested
the necessity of increased vigilance and measures of defence. Preceding
aggressions, especially that of 1805, were not to be forgotten. Similar
information probably reached the French Government from many quarters.
Be that as it may, the Emperor consigned the military operations in
Spain to his generals, and departed for Paris, where he arrived at the
end of January 1809. He had been in Spain only since the beginning of
November 1808,' and his presence there had again rendered our banners
victorious. But though the insurgent troops were beaten the inhabitants
showed themselves more and more unfavourable to Joseph's cause; and it
did not appear very probable that he could ever seat himself tranquilly
on the throne of Madrid.
--[The successes obtained by Napoleon during his stay of about three
months in Spain were certainly very great, and mainly resulted from
his own masterly genius and lightning-like rapidity. The Spanish
armies, as yet unsupported by British troops, were defeated at
Gomenal, Espinosa, Reynosa, Tudela, and at the pass of the Somo
sierra Mountains, and at an early hour of the morning of the 4th
December Madrid surrendered. On the 20th of December Bonaparte
marched with far superior forces against the unfortunate Sir John
Moore, who had been sent to advance into Spain both by the wrong
route and at a wrong time. On the 29th, from the heights of
Benevento, his eyes were delighted by seeing the English in full
retreat. But a blow struck him from another quarter, and leaving
Soult to follow up Moore he took the road to Paris.]--
The Emperor Francis, notwithstanding his counsellors, hesitated about
taking the first step; but at length, yielding to the solicitations of
England and the secret intrigues of Russia, and, above all, seduced by
the subsidies of Great Britain, Austria declared hostilities, not at
first against France, but against her allies of the Confederation of
the Rhine. On the 9th of April Prince Charles, who was appointed
commander-in-chief of the Austrian troops, addressed a note to the
commander-in-chief of the French army in Bavaria, apprising him of the
declaration of war.
A courier carried the news of this declaration to Strasburg with the
utmost expedition, from whence it was transmitted by telegraph to
Paris. The Emperor, surprised but not disconcerted by this intelligence,
received it at St. Cloud on the 11th of April, and two hours after he
was on the road to Germany. The complexity of affairs in which he was
then involved seemed to give a new impulse to his activity. When he
reached the army neither his troops nor his Guard had been able to come
up, and under those circumstances he placed himself at the head of the
Bavarian troops, and, as it were, adopted the soldiers of Maximilian.
Six days after his departure from Paris the army of Prince Charles,
which had passed the Inn, was threatened. The Emperor's headquarters
were at Donauwerth, and from thence he addressed to his soldiers one
of those energetic and concise proclamations which made them perform so
many prodigies, and which was soon circulated in every language by the
public journals. This complication of events could not but be fatal to
Europe and France, whatever might be its result, but it presented an
opportunity favourable to the development of the Emperor's genius. Like
his favourite poet Ossian, who loved best to touch his lyre midst the
howlings of the tempest, Napoleon required political tempests for the
display of his abilities.
During the campaign of 1809, and particularly at its commencement,
Napoleon's course was even more rapid than it had been in the campaign
of 1805. Every courier who arrived at Hamburg brought us news, or rather
prodigies. As soon as the Emperor was informed of the attack made by the
Austrians upon Bavaria orders were despatched to all the generals having
troops under their command to proceed with all speed to the theatre of
the war. The Prince of Ponte-Corvo was summoned to join the Grand Army
with the Saxon troops under his command and for the time he resigned the
government of the Hanse Towns. Colonel Damas succeeded him at Hamburg
during that period, but merely as commandant of the fortress; and he
never gave rise to any murmur or complaint. Bernadotte was not satisfied
with his situation, and indeed the Emperor, who was never much
disposed to bring him forward, because he could not forgive him for his
opposition on the 18th Brumaire, always appointed him to posts in
which but little glory was to be acquired, and placed as few troops as
possible under his command.
It required all the promptitude of the Emperor's march upon Vienna to
defeat the plots which were brewing against his government, for in the
event of his arms being unsuccessful, the blow was ready to be struck.
The English force in the north of Germany amounted to about 10,000 men:
The Archduke Charles had formed the project of concentrating in the
middle of Germany a large body of troops, consisting of the corps of
General Am Eude, of General Radizwowitz, and of the English, with whom
were to be joined the people who were expected to revolt. The English
would have wished the Austrian troops to advance a little farther. The
English agent made some representations on this subject to Stadion,
the Austrian Minister; but the Archduke preferred making a diversion
to committing the safety of the monarchy by departing from his present
inactivity and risking the passage of the Danube, in the face of an
enemy who never suffered himself to be surprised, and who had calculated
every possible event: In concerting his plan the Archduke expected that
the Czar would either detach a strong force to assist his allies, or
that he would abandon them to their own defence. In the first case the
Archduke would have had a great superiority, and in the second, all was
prepared in Hesse and in Hanover to rise on the approach of the Austrian
and English armies.
At the commencement of July the English advanced upon Cuxhaven with a
dozen small ships of war. They landed 400 or 600 sailors and about 50
marines, and planted a standard on one of the outworks. The day after
this landing at Cuxhaven the English, who were in Denmark evacuated
Copenhagen, after destroying a battery which they had erected there.
All the schemes of England were fruitless on the Continent, for with
the Emperor's new system of war, which consisted in making a push on
the capitals, he soon obtained negotiations for peace. He was master of
Vienna before England had even organised the expedition to which I have
just alluded. He left Paris on the 11th of April, was at Donauwerth on
the 17th, and on the 23d he was master of Ratisbon. In the engagement
which preceded his entrance into that town Napoleon received a slight
wound in the heel. He nevertheless remained on the field of battle.
It was also between Donauwerth and Ratisbon that Davoust, by a bold
manoeuvre, gained and merited the title of Prince of Eckmuhl.
--[The great battle of Eckmuhl, where 100,000 Austrians were driven
from all their positions, was fought on the 22d of April.-Editor of
1836 edition.]--
At this period fortune was not only bent on favouring Napoleon's
arms, but she seemed to take pleasure in realising even his boasting
predictions; for the French troops entered Vienna within a month after
a proclamation issued by Napoleon at Ratisbon, in which he said he would
be master of the Austrian capital in that time.
But while he was thus marching from triumph to triumph the people of
Hamburg and the neighbouring countries had a neighbour who did not leave
them altogether without inquietude. The famous Prussian partisan, Major
Schill, after pursuing his system of plunder in Westphalia, came
and threw himself into Mecklenburg, whence, I understood, it was his
intention to surprise Hamburg. At the head of 600 well-mounted hussars
and between 1500 and 2000 infantry badly armed, he took possession of
the little fort of Domitz, in Mecklenburg, on the 15th of May, from
whence he despatched parties who levied contributions on both banks of
the Elbe. Schill inspired terror wherever he went. On the 19th of May a
detachment of 30 men belonging to Schill's corps entered Wismar. It
was commanded by Count Moleke, who had formerly been in the Prussian
service, and who had retired to his estate in Mecklenburg, where the
Duke had kindly given him an appointment. Forgetting his duty to his
benefactor, he sent to summon the Duke to surrender Stralsund.
Alarmed at the progress of the partisan Schill, the Duke of Mecklenburg
and his Court quitted Ludwigsburg, their regular residence, and retired
to Doberan, on the seacoast. On quitting Mecklenburg Schill advanced to
Bergdorf, four leagues from Hamburg. The alarm then increased in that
city. A few of the inhabitants talked of making a compromise with Schill
and sending him money to get him away. But the firmness of the majority
imposed silence on this timid council. I consulted with the commandant
of the town, and we determined to adopt measures of precaution. The
custom-house chest, in which there was more than a million of gold,
was sent to Holstein under a strong escort. At the same time I sent to
Schill a clever spy, who gave him a most alarming account of the means
of defence which Hamburg possessed. Schill accordingly gave up his
designs on that city, and leaving it on his left, entered Lübeck, which
was undefended.
Meanwhile Lieutenant-General Gratien, who had left Berlin by order
of the Prince de Neufchatel, with 2500 Dutch and 3000 Swedish troops,
actively pursued Schill, and tranquillity was soon restored throughout
all the neighbouring country, which had been greatly agitated by his
bold enterprise. Schill, after wandering for some days on the shores of
the Baltic, was overtaken by General Gratien at Stralsund, whence he was
about to embark for Sweden. He made a desperate defence, and was killed
after a conflict of two hours. His band was destroyed. Three hundred of
his hussars and 200 infantry, who had effected their escape, asked leave
to return to Prussia, and they were conducted to the Prussian general
commanding a neighbouring town. A war of plunder like that carried on by
Schill could not be honourably acknowledged by a power having, any
claim to respect. Yet the English Government sent Schill a colonel's
commission, and the full uniform of his new rank, with the assurance
that all his troops should thenceforth be paid by England.
Schill soon had an imitator of exalted rank. In August 1809 the Duke
of Brunswick-OEls sought the dangerous honour of succeeding that famous
partisan. At the head of at most 2000 men he for some days disturbed the
left bank of the Elbe, and on the 5th entered Bremen. On his approach
the French Vice-Consul retired to Osterhulz. One of the Duke's officers
presented himself at the hones of the Vice-Consul and demanded 200
Louis. The agent of the Vice-Consul, alarmed at the threat of the
place being given up to pillage, capitulated with the officer, and with
considerable difficulty got rid of him at the sacrifice of 80 Louis, for
which a receipt was presented to him in the name of the Duke. The Duke,
who now went by the name of "the new Schill," did not remain long in
Bremen.
Wishing to repair with all possible speed to Holland he left Bremen on
the evening of the 6th, and proceeded to Dehnenhorst, where his advanced
guard had already arrived. The Westphalian troops, commanded by Rewbell,
entered Bremen on the 7th, and not finding the Duke of Brunswick,
immediately marched in pursuit of him. The Danish troops, who occupied
Cuxhaven, received orders to proceed to Bremerlehe, to favour the
operations of the Westphalians and the Dutch. Meanwhile the English
approached Cuxhaven, where they landed 3000 or 4000 men. The persons in
charge of the custom-house establishment, and the few sailors who
were in Cuxhaven, fell back upon Hamburg. The Duke of Brunswick, still
pursued crossed Germany from the frontiers of Bohemia to Elsfleth, a
little port on the left bank of the Weser, where he arrived on the 7th,
being one day in advance of his pursuers. He immediately took possession
of all the transports at Elsfleth, and embarked for Heligoland.
The landing which the English effected at Cuxhaven while the Danes, who
garrisoned that port, were occupied in pursuing the Duke of Brunswick,
was attended by no result. After the escape of the Duke the Danes
returned to their post which the English immediately evacuated.
CHAPTER XIX.
1809.
The castle of Diernstein--Richard Coeur de Lion and Marshal Lannes,
--The Emperor at the gates of Vienna--The Archduchess Maria Louisa--
Facility of correspondence with England--Smuggling in Hamburg--Brown
sugar and sand--Hearses filled with sugar and coffee--Embargo on the
publication of news--Supervision of the 'Hamburg Correspondant'--
Festival of Saint Napoleon--Ecclesiastical adulation--The King of
Westphalia's journey through his States--Attempt to raise a loan--
Jerome's present to me--The present returned--Bonaparte's unfounded
suspicions.
Rapp, who during the campaign of Vienna had resumed his duties as aide
de camp, related to me one of those observations of Napoleon which,
when his words are compared with the events that followed them, seem
to indicate a foresight into his future destiny. When within some days'
march of Vienna the Emperor procured a guide to explain to him every
village and ruin which he observed on the road. The guide pointed to
an eminence on which were a few decayed vestiges of an old fortified
castle. "Those," said the guide, "are the ruins of the castle of
Diernstein." Napoleon suddenly stopped, and stood for some time silently
contemplating the ruins, then turning to Lannes, who was with him, he
raid, "See! yonder is the prison of Richard Coeur de Lion. He, like us,
went to Syria and Palestine. But, my brave Lannes, the Coeur de Lion was
not braver than you. He was more fortunate than I at St. Jean d'Acre. A
Duke of Austria sold him to an Emperor of Germany, who imprisoned him
in that castle. Those were the days of barbarism. How different from the
civilisation of modern times! Europe has seen how I treated the Emperor
of Austria, whom I might have made prisoner--and I would treat him so
again. I claim no credit for this. In the present age crowned heads must
be respected. A conqueror imprisoned!"
A few days after the Emperor was at the gates of Vienna, but on this
occasion his access to the Austrian capital was not so easy as it had
been rendered in 1805 by the ingenuity and courage of Lannes and Murat.
The Archduke Maximilian, who was shut up in the capital, wished to
defend it, although the French army already occupied the principal
suburbs. In vain were flags of truce sent one after the other to
the Archduke. They were not only dismissed unheard, but were even
ill-treated, and one of them was almost killed by the populace. The city
was then bombarded, and would speedily have been destroyed but that the
Emperor, being informed that one of the Archduchesses remained in Vienna
on account of ill-health, ordered the firing to cease. By a singular
caprice of Napoleon's destiny this Archduchess was no other than Maria
Louisa. Vienna at length opened her gates to Napoleon, who for some days
took up his residence at Schoenbrunn.
The Emperor was engaged in so many projects at once that they could not
all succeed. Thus, while he was triumphant in the Hereditary States
his Continental system was experiencing severe checks. The trade with
England on the coast of Oldenburg was carped on as uninterruptedly as
if in time of peace. English letters and newspapers arrived on the
Continent, and those of the Continent found their way into Great
Britain, as if France and England had been united by ties of the firmest
friendship. In short, things were just in the same state as if the
decree for the blockade of the British Isles had not existed. When the
custom-house officers succeeded in seizing contraband goods they were
again taken from them by main force. On the 2d of July a serious contest
took place at Brinskham between the custom-house officers and a party of
peasantry, in which the latter remained masters of eighteen wagons laden
with English goods: many were wounded on both sides.
If, however, trade with England was carried on freely along a vast
extent of coast, it was different in the city of Hamburg, where English
goods were introduced only by fraud; and I verily believe that the art
of smuggling and the schemes of smugglers were never before carried to
such perfection. Above 6000 persons of the lower orders went backwards
and forwards, about twenty times a day, from Altona to Hamburg, and they
carried on their contraband, trade by many ingenious stratagems, two of
which were so curious that they are worth mentioning here.
On the left of the road leading from Hamburg to Altona there was a piece
of ground where pits were dug for the purpose of procuring sand used
for building and for laying down in the streets. At this time it was
proposed to repair the great street of Hamburg leading to the gate of
Altona. The smugglers overnight filled the sandpit with brown sugar,
and the little carts which usually conveyed the sand into Hamburg were
filled with the sugar, care being taken to cover it with a layer of sand
about an inch thick. This trick was carried on for a length of time, but
no progress was made in repairing the street. I complained greatly of
the delay, even before I was aware of its cause, for the street led to
a country-house I had near Altona, whither I went daily. The officers of
the customs at length perceived that the work did not proceed, and one
fine morning the sugar-carts were stopped and seized. Another expedient
was then to be devised.
Between Hamburg and Altona there was a little suburb situated on the
right bank of the Elbe. This suburb was inhabited, by sailors, labourers
of the port, and landowners. The inhabitants were interred in the
cemetery of Hamburg. It was observed that funeral processions passed
this way more frequently than usual. The customhouse officers, amazed
at the sudden mortality of the worthy inhabitants of the little suburb,
insisted on searching one of the vehicles, and on opening the hearse it
was found to be filled with sugar, coffee, vanilla, indigo, etc. It was
necessary to abandon this expedient, but others were soon discovered.
Bonaparte was sensitive, in an extraordinary degree, to all that was
said and thought of him, and Heaven knows how many despatches I received
from headquarters during the campaign of Vienna directing me not only
to watch the vigilant execution of the custom-house laws, but to lay
an embargo on a thing which alarmed him more than the introduction of
British merchandise, viz. the publication of news. In conformity with
these reiterated instructions I directed especial attention to the
management of the 'Correspondant'. The importance of this journal, with
its 60,000 readers, may easily be perceived. I procured the insertion of
everything I thought desirable: all the bulletins, proclamations, acts
of the French Government, notes of the 'Moniteur', and the semi-official
articles of the French journals: these were all given 'in extenso'.
On the other hand, I often suppressed adverse news, which, though well
known, would have received additional weight from its insertion in so
widely circulated a paper. If by chance there crept in some Austrian
bulletin, extracted from the other German papers published in the States
of the Confederation of the Rhine, there was always given with it a
suitable antidote to destroy, or at least to mitigate, its ill effect.
But this was not all. The King of Wurtemberg having reproached the
'Correspondant', in a letter to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, with
publishing whatever Austria wished should be made known, and being
conducted in a spirit hostile to the good cause, I answered these unjust
reproaches by making the Syndic censor prohibit the Hamburg papers from
inserting any Austrian order of the day, any Archduke's bulletins, any
letter from Prague; in short, anything which should be copied from the
other German journals unless those articles had been inserted in the
French journals.
My recollections of the year 1809 at Hamburg carry me back to the
celebration of Napoleon's fete, which was on the 15th of August, for he
had interpolated his patron saint in the Imperial calendar at the date
of his birth. The coincidence of this festival with the Assumption gave
rise to adulatory rodomontades of the most absurd description.
Certainly the Episcopal circulars under the Empire would form a curious
collection.
--[It will perhaps scarcely be believed that the following words
were actually delivered from the pulpit: "God in his mercy has
chosen Napoleon to be his representative on earth. The Queen of
Heaven has marked, by the most magnificent of presents, the
anniversary of the day which witnessed his glorious entrance into
her domains. Heavenly Virgin! as a special testimony of your love
for the French, and your all-powerful influence with your son, you
have connected the first of your solemnities with the birth of the
great Napoleon. Heaven ordained that the hero should spring from
your sepulchre."--Bourrienne.]--
Could anything be more revolting than the sycophancy of those Churchmen
who declared that "God chose Napoleon for his representative upon
earth, and that God created Bonaparte, and then rested; that he was more
fortunate than Augustus, more virtuous than Trajan; that he deserved
altars and temples to be raised to him!" etc.
Some time after the Festival of St. Napoleon the King of Westphalia made
a journey through his States. Of all Napoleon's brothers the King of
Westphalia was the one with whom I was least acquainted, and he, it
is pretty well known, was the most worthless of the family. His
correspondence with me is limited to two letters, one of which he wrote
while he commanded the 'Epervier', and another seven years after, dated
6th September 1809. In this latter he said:
"I shall be in Hannover on the 10th. If you can make it convenient
to come there and spend a day with me it will give me great
pleasure. I shall then be able to smooth all obstacles to the loan
I wish to contract in the Hanse Town. I flatter myself you will do
all in your power to forward that object, which at the present
crisis is very important to my States. More than ample security is
offered, but the money will be of no use to me if I cannot have it
at least for two years."
Jerome wanted to contract at Hamburg a loan of 3,000,000 francs.
However, the people did not seem to think like his Westphalian Majesty,
that the contract presented more than ample security. No one was found
willing to draw his purse-strings, and the loan was never raised.
Though I would not, without the Emperor's authority, exert the influence
of my situation to further the success of Jerome's negotiation, yet I
did my best to assist him. I succeeded in prevailing on the Senate to
advance one loan of 100,000 francs to pay a portion of the arrears due
to his troops, and a second of 200,000 francs to provide clothing for
his army, etc. This scanty supply will cease to be wondered at when it
is considered to what a state of desolation the whole of Germany was
reduced at the time, as much in the allied States as in those of the
enemies of France. I learnt at the time that the King of Bavaria said to
an officer of the Emperor's household in whom he had great confidence,
"If this continues we shall have to give up, and put the key under the
door." These were his very words.
As for Jerome, he returned to Cassel quite disheartened at the
unsuccessful issue of his loan. Some days after his return to his
capital I received from him a snuffbox with his portrait set in
diamonds, accompanied by a letter of thanks for the service I had
rendered him. I never imagined that a token of remembrance from a
crowned head could possibly be declined. Napoleon, however, thought
otherwise. I had not, it is true, written to acquaint our Government
with the King of Westphalia's loan, but in a letter, which I addressed
to the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the 22d of September, I mentioned
the present Jerome had sent me. Why Napoleon should have been offended
at this I know not, but I received orders to return Jerome's present
immediately, and these orders were accompanied with bitter reproaches
for my having accepted it without the Emperor's authority. I sent back
the diamonds, but kept the portrait. Knowing Bonaparte's distrustful
disposition, I thought he must have suspected that Jerome had employed
threats, or at any rate, that he had used some illegal influence to
facilitate the success of his loan. At last, after much correspondence,
Napoleon saw clearly that everything was perfectly regular; in a word,
that the business had been transacted as between two private persons. As
to the 300,000 francs which the Senate had lent to Jerome, the fact is,
that but little scruple was made about it, for this simple reason, that
it was the means of removing from Hamburg the Westphalian division,
whose presence occasioned a much greater expense than the loan.
CHAPTER XX.
1809.
Visit to the field of Wagram.--Marshal Macdonald--Union of the Papal
States with the Empire--The battle of Talavera--Sir Arthur
Wellesley--English expedition to Holland--Attempt to assassinate the
Emperor at Schoenbrunn--Staps Interrogated by Napoleon--Pardon
offered and rejected--Fanaticism and patriotism--Corvisart's
examination of Staps--Second interrogatory--Tirade against the
illuminati--Accusation of the Courts of Berlin and Weimar--Firmness
and resignation of Staps--Particulars respecting his death--
Influence of the attempt of Staps on the conclusion of peace--
M. de Champagny.
Napoleon went to inspect all the corps of his army and the field of
Wagram, which a short time before had been the scene of one of those
great battles in which victory was the more glorious in proportion as it
had been valiantly contested.
--[The great battle of Wagram was fought on the 6th of July 1809.
The Austrians, who committed a mistake in over-extending their line,
lost 20,000 men as prisoners, besides a large number in killed and
wounded. There was no day, perhaps, on which Napoleon showed more
military genius or more personal courage. He was in the hottest of
the fight, and for a long time exposed to showers of grapeshot.--
Editor of 1836 edition.]--
On that day [the type] of French honour, Macdonald, who, after achieving
a succession of prodigies, led the army of Italy into the heart of the
Austrian States, was made a marshal on the field of battle. Napoleon
said to him, "With us it is for life and for death." The general opinion
was that the elevation of Macdonald added less to the marshal's military
reputation than it redounded to the honour of the Emperor. Five days
after the bombardment of Vienna, namely, on the 17th of May, the Emperor
had published a decree, by virtue of which the Papal States were united
to the French Empire, and Rome was declared an Imperial City. I will not
stop to inquire whether this was good or bad in point of policy, but it
was a mean usurpation on the part of Napoleon, for the time was passed
when a Julius II. laid down the keys of St. Peter and took up the sword
of St. Paul. It was, besides, an injustice, and, considering the Pope's
condescension to Napoleon, an act of ingratitude. The decree of union
did not deprive the Pope of his residence, but he was only the First
Bishop of Christendom, with a revenue of 2,000,000.
Napoleon while at Vienna heard of the affair of Talavera de la Reyna. I
was informed, by a letter from headquarters, that he was much affected
at the news, and did not conceal his vexation. I verily believe that
he was bent on the conquest of Spain, precisely on account of the
difficulties he had to surmount. At Talavera commenced the celebrity of
a man who, perhaps, would not have been without some glory even if
pains had not been taken to build him up a great reputation. That battle
commenced the career of Sir Arthur Wellesley, whose after-success,
however, has been attended by such important consequences.
--[The battle of Talavera took place on the 28th of July, twenty-two
days after the fatal defeat of the Austrians at Wagram.]--
Whilst we experienced this check in Spain the English were attempting an
expedition to Holland, where they had already made themselves masters
of Walcheren. It is true they were obliged to evacuate it shortly after;
but as at that time the French and Austrian armies were in a state
of inaction, in consequence of the armistice concluded at Znaim, in
Moravia, the news unfavourable to Napoleon had the effect of raising the
hopes of the Austrian negotiators, who paused in the expectation that
fresh defeats would afford them better chances.
It was during these negotiations, the termination of which seemed every
day to be farther distant, that Napoleon was exposed to a more real
danger than the wound he had received at Ratisbon. Germany was suffering
under a degree of distress difficult to be described. Illuminism was
making great progress, and had filled some youthful minds with an
enthusiasm not less violent than the religious fanaticism to which
Henry IV. fell a victim. A young man formed the design of assassinating
Napoleon in order to rid Germany of one whom he considered her scourge.
Rapp and Berthier were with the Emperor when the assassin was arrested,
and in relating what I heard from them I feel assured that I am giving
the most faithful account of all the circumstances connected with the
event.
"We were at Schoenbrunn," said Rapp, "when the Emperor had just reviewed
the troops. I observed a young man at the extremity of one of the
columns just as the troops were about to defile. He advanced towards the
Emperor, who was then between Berthier and me. The Prince de Neufchatel,
thinking he wanted to present a petition, went forward to tell him that
I was the person to receive it as I was the aide de camp for the day.
The young man replied that he wished to speak with Napoleon himself, and
Berthier again told him that he must apply to me. He withdrew a little,
still repeating that he wanted to speak with Napoleon. He again advanced
and came very near the Emperor; I desired him to fall back, telling him
in German to wait till after the parade, when, if he had anything to
say, it would be attended to. I surveyed him attentively, for I began to
think his conduct suspicious. I observed that he kept his right hand in
the breast pocket of his coat; out of which a piece of paper appeared.
I know not how it was, but at that moment my eyes met his, and I was
struck with his peculiar look and air of fixed determination. Seeing
an officer of gendarmerie on the spot, I desired him to seize the young
man, but without treating him with any severity, and to convey him to
the castle until the parade was ended.
"All this passed in less time than I have taken to tell it, and as every
one's attention was fixed on the parade the scene passed unnoticed. I
was shortly afterwards told that a large carving-knife had been found on
the young man, whose name was Staps. I immediately went to find Duroc,
and we proceeded together to the apartment to which Staps had been
taken. We found him sitting on a bed, apparently in deep thought, but
betraying no symptoms of fear. He had beside him the portrait of a young
female, his pocket-book, and purse containing only two pieces of gold.
I asked him his name, but he replied that he would tell it to no one but
Napoleon. I then asked him what he intended to do with the knife which
had been found upon him? But he answered again, 'I shall tell only
Napoleon.'--'Did you mean to attempt his life?'--'Yes.'--'Why?'--'I can
tell no one but Napoleon.'
"This appeared to me so strange that I thought right to inform the
Emperor of it. When I told him what had passed he appeared a
little agitated, for you know how he was haunted with the idea of
assassination. He desired that the young man should be taken into his
cabinet; whither he was accordingly conducted by two gens d'armes.
Notwithstanding his criminal intention there was something exceedingly
prepossessing in his countenance. I wished that he would deny the
attempt; but how was it possible to save a man who was determined
to sacrifice himself? The Emperor asked Staps whether he could speak
French, and he answered that he could speak it very imperfectly, and as
you know (continued Rapp) that next to you I am the best German scholar
in Napoleon's Court, I was appointed interpreter on this occasion.
The Emperor put the following questions to Staps, which I translated,
together with the answers:
"'Where do you come from?'--'From Narremburgh.'--'What is
your father?'-- 'A Protestant minister.'--'How old are
you?'--'Eighteen.'--'What did you intend to do with your knife?'--'To
kill you.'--'You are mad, young man; you are one of the illuminati?'--'I
am not mad; I know not what is meant by the illuminati!'--'You are
ill, then?'--'I am not; I am very well.'--'Why did you wish to kill
me?'--'Because you have ruined my country.'--'Have I done you any
harm?'--'Yes, you have harmed me as well as all Germans.'--'By whom were
you sent? Who urged you to this crime?'-- 'No one; I was urged to it by
the sincere conviction that by killing you I should render the greatest
service to my country.'--'Is this the first time you have seen me?'--'I
saw you at Erfurt, at the time of your interview with the Emperor of
Russia.'--'Did you intend to kill me then?'--'No; I thought you
would not again wage war against Germany. I was one of your greatest
admirers.'--'How long have you been in Vienna?'-- 'Ten days.'--'Why
did you wait so long before you attempted the execution of your
project?'--'I came to Schoenbrunn a week ago with the intention of
killing you, but when I arrived the parade was just over; I therefore
deferred the execution of my design till today.'--'I tell you, young
man, you are either mad or in bad health.'
"The Emperor here ordered Corvisart to be sent for. Staps asked who
Corvisart was? I told him that he was a physician. He then said, 'I
have no need of him.' Nothing further was said until the arrival of the
doctor, and during this interval Steps evinced the utmost indifference.
When Corvisart arrived Napoleon directed him to feel the young man's
pulse, which he immediately did; and Staps then very coolly said, 'Am
I not well, sir?' Corvisart told the Emperor that nothing ailed him. 'I
told you so,' said Steps, pronouncing the words with an air of triumph.
"I was really astonished at the coolness and apathy of Staps, and
the Emperor seemed for a moment confounded by the young man's
behaviour.--After a few moments' pause the Emperor resumed the
interrogatory as follows:
"'Your brain is disordered. You will be the ruin of your family. I will
grant you your life if you ask pardon for the crime you meditated, and
for which you ought to be sorry.'--'I want no pardon. I only regret
having failed in my attempt.'--'Indeed! then a crime is nothing to
you?'-- 'To kill you is no crime: it is a duty.'--'Whose portrait is
that which was found on you?'--'It is the portrait of a young lady to
whom I am attached.'--'She will doubtless be much distressed at your
adventure?'-- 'She will only be sorry that I have not succeeded. She
abhors you as much as I do.'--'But if I were to pardon you would you be
grateful for my mercy?'--'I would nevertheless kill you if I could.'
"I never," continued Rapp, "saw Napoleon look so confounded. The replies
of Staps and his immovable resolution perfectly astonished him. He
ordered the prisoner to be removed; and when he was gone Napoleon said,
'This is the result of the secret societies which infest Germany. This
is the effect of fine principles and the light of reason. They make
young men assassins. But what can be done against illuminism? A sect
cannot be destroyed by cannon-balls.'
"This event, though pains were taken to keep it secret, became the
subject of conversation in the castle of Schoenbrunn. In the evening the
Emperor sent for me and said, 'Rapp, the affair of this morning is very
extraordinary. I cannot believe that this young man of himself conceived
the design of assassinating me. There is something under it. I shall
never be persuaded that the intriguers of Berlin and Weimar are
strangers to the affair.'--'Sire, allow me to say that your suspicions
appear unfounded. Staps has had no accomplice; his placid countenance,
and even his fanaticism, are easiest proofs of that.'--'I tell you that
he has been instigated by women: furies thirsting for revenge. If I
could only obtain proof of it I would have them seized in the midst of
their Court.'--'Ah, Sire, it is impossible that either man or woman
in the Courts of Berlin or Weimar could have conceived so atrocious a
design.'-- 'I am not sure of that. Did not those women excite Schill
against us while we were at peace with Prussia; but stay a little; we
shall see.'-- 'Schill's enterprise; Sire, bears no resemblance to this
attempt.' You know how the Emperor likes every one to yield to his
opinion when he has adopted one which he does not choose to give up; so
he said, rather changing his tone of good-humoured familiarity, 'All you
say is in vain, Monsieur le General: I am not liked either at Berlin or
Weimar.' There is no doubt of that, Sire; but because you are not liked
in these two Courts, is it to be inferred that they would assassinate
you?'--'I know the fury of those women; but patience. Write to General
Lauer: direct him to interrogate Staps. Tell him to bring him to a
confession.'
"I wrote conformably with the Emperor's orders, but no confession was
obtained from Staps. In his examination by General Lauer he repeated
nearly what he had said in the presence of Napoleon. His resignation and
firmness never forsook him for a moment; and he persisted in saying that
he was the sole author of the attempt, and that no one else was aware of
it. Staps' enterprise made a deep impression on the Emperor. On the day
when we left Schoenbrunn we happened to be alone, and he said to me, 'I
cannot get this unfortunate Staps out of my mind. The more I think on
the subject the more I am perplexed. I never can believe that a young
man of his age, a German, one who has received a good education, a
Protestant too, could have conceived and attempted such a crime. The
Italians are said to be a nation of assassins, but no Italian ever
attempted my life. This affair is beyond my comprehension. Inquire how
Staps died, and let me know.'
"I obtained from General Lauer the information which the Emperor
desired. I learned that Staps, whose attempt on the Emperor's life was
made on the 23d of October; was executed at seven o'clock in the morning
of the 27th, having refused to take any sustenance since the 24th. When
any food was brought to him he rejected it, saying, 'I shall be strong
enough to walk to the scaffold.' When he was told that peace was
concluded he evinced extreme sorrow, and was seized with trembling. On
reaching the place of execution he exclaimed loudly, 'Liberty for ever!
Germany for ever! Death to the tyrant!'"
Such are the notes which I committed to paper after conversing with
Rapp, as we were walking together in the garden of the former hotel of
Montmorin, in which Rapp resided. I recollect his showing me the knife
taken from Staps, which the Emperor had given him; it was merely a
common carving-knife, such as is used in kitchens. To these details may
be added a very remarkable circumstance, which I received from another
but not less authentic source. I have been assured that the attempt of
the German Mutius Scaevola had a marked influence on the concessions
which the Emperor made, because he feared that Staps, like him
who attempted the life of Porsenna, might have imitators among the
illuminati of Germany.
It is well known that after the battle of Wagram conferences were open
at Raab. Although peace was almost absolutely necessary for both powers,
and the two Emperors appeared to desire it equally, it was not, however,
concluded. It is worthy of remark that the delay was occasioned by
Bonaparte. Negotiations were therefore suspended, and M. de Champagny
had ceased for several days to see the Prince of Lichtenstein when the
affair of Staps took place. Immediately after Napoleon's examination of
the young fanatic he sent for M. de Champagny: "How are the negotiations
going on?" he inquired. The Minister having informed him, the Emperor
added, "I wish them to be resumed immediately: I wish for peace; do not
hesitate about a few millions more or less in the indemnity demanded
from Austria. Yield on that point. I wish to come to a conclusion: I
refer it all to you." The Minister lost no time in writing to the Prince
of Lichtenstein: on the same night the two negotiators met at Raab,
and the clauses of the treaty which had been suspended were discussed,
agreed upon, and signed that very night. Next morning M. de Champagny
attended the Emperor's levee with the treaty of peace as it had
been agreed on. Napoleon, after hastily examining it, expressed his
approbation of every particular, and highly complimented his Minister on
the speed with which the treaty had been brought to a conclusion.
--[This definitive treaty of peace, which is sometimes called the
Treaty of Vienna, Raab, or Schoenbrunn, contained the following
articles:
1. Austria ceded in favour of the Confederation of the Rhine (these
fell to Bavaria), Salzburg, Berchtolsgaden, and a part of Upper
Austria.
2. To France directly Austria ceded her only seaport, Trieste, and
all the countries of Carniola, Friuli, the circle of Vilach, with
parts of Croatia end Dalmatia. (By these cessions Austria was
excluded from the Adriatic Sea, and cut off from all communication
with the navy of Great Britain.) A small lordship, en enclave in
the territories of the Grieve League, was also gives up.
3. To the constant ally of Napoleon, to the King of Saxony, in that
character Austria ceded some Bohemian enclaves in Saxony end, in his
capacity of Grand Duke of Warsaw, she added to his Polish dominions
the ancient city of Cracow, and all Western Galicia.
4. Russia, who had entered with but a lukewarm zeal into the war as
an ally of France, had a very moderate share of the spoils of
Austria. A portion of Eastern Galicia, with a population of 400,000
souls, was allotted to her, but in this allotment the trading town
of Brody (almost the only thing worth having) was specially
excepted. This last circumstance gave no small degree of disgust to
the Emperor Alexander, whose admiration of Napoleon was not destined
to have a long duration.--Editor of 1836 edition.]--
CHAPTER XXI.
1809.
The Princess Royal of Denmark--Destruction of the German Empire--
Napoleons visit to the Courts of Bavaria and Wurtemberg--His return
to France--First mention of the divorce--Intelligence of Napoleon's
marriage with Maria Louisa--Napoleon's quarrel with Louis--Journey
of the Emperor and Empress into Holland--Refusal of the Hanse Towns
to pay the French troops--Decree for burning English merchandise--
M. de Vergennes--Plan for turning an inevitable evil to the best
account--Fall on the exchange of St Petersburg
About this time I had the pleasure of again seeing the son of the
reigning Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, whose arrival in the Hanse
Towns was speedily followed by that of his sister, Princess Frederica
Charlotte of Mecklenburg, married to the Prince Royal of Denmark,
Christian Frederick. In November the Princess arrived at Altana from
Copenhagen, the reports circulated respecting her having compelled her
husband to separate from her. The history of this Princess, who, though
perhaps blamable, was nevertheless much pitied, was the general subject
of conversation in the north of Germany at the time I was at Hamburg.
The King of Denmark, grieved at the publicity of the separation, wrote a
letter on the subject to the Duke of Mecklenburg. In this letter, which
I had an opportunity of seeing, the King expressed his regret at not
having been able to prevent the scandal; for, on his return from a
journey to Kiel, the affair had become so notorious that all attempts
at reconciliation were vain. In the meantime it was settled that the
Princess was to remain at Altona until something should be decided
respecting her future condition.
It was Baron Plessen, the Duke of Mecklenburg's Minister of State, who
favoured me with a sight of the King of Denmark's letters. M. Plessen
told me, likewise, at the time that the Duke had formed the irrevocable
determination of not receiving his daughter. A few days after her
arrival the Princess visited Madame de Bourrienne. She invited us to her
parties, which were very brilliant, and several times did us the honour
of being present at ours. But; unfortunately, the extravagance of her
conduct, which was very unsuitable to her situation, soon became the
subject of general animadversion.
I mentioned at the close of the last chapter how the promptitude of M.
de Champagny brought about the conclusion of the treaty known by the
name of the Treaty of Schoenbrunn. Under this the ancient edifice of the
German Empire was overthrown, and Francis II. of Germany became Francis
I., Emperor of Austria. He, however, could not say, like his namesake
of France, 'Tout est perdu fors l'honneur'; for honour was somewhat
committed, even had nothing else been lost. But the sacrifices Austria
was compelled, to make were great. The territories ceded to France were
immediately united into a new general government, under the collective
denomination of the Illyrian Provinces. Napoleon thus became master of
both sides of the Adriatic, by virtue of his twofold title of Emperor of
France and King of Italy. Austria, whose external commerce thus received
a check, had no longer any direct communication with the sea. The loss
of Fiume, Trieste, and the sea-coast appeared so vast a sacrifice that
it was impossible to look forward to the duration of a peace so dearly
purchased.
The affair of Staps, perhaps, made Napoleon anxious to hurry away from
Schoenbrunn, for he set off before he had ratified the preliminaries of
the peace, announcing that he would ratify them at Munich. He proceeded
in great haste to Nymphenburg, where he was expected on a visit to
the Court of Bavaria. He next visited the King of Wurtemberg, whom he
pronounced to be the cleverest sovereign in Europe, and at the end
of October he arrived at Fontainebleau. From thence he proceeded on
horseback to Paris, and he rode so rapidly that only a single chasseur
of his escort could keep up with him, and, attended by this one
guard, he entered the court of the Tuileries. While Napoleon was at
Fontainebleau, before his return to Paris, Josephine for the first time
heard the divorce mentioned; the idea had occurred to the Emperor's mind
while he was at Schoenbrunn. It was also while at Fontainebleau that
Napoleon appointed M. de Montalivet to be Minister of the Interior. The
letters which we received from Paris at this period brought intelligence
of the brilliant state of the capital during the winter of 1809, and
especially of the splendour of the Imperial Court, where the Emperor's
levees were attended by the Kings of Saxony, Bavaria, and Wurtemberg,
all eager to evince their gratitude to the hero who had raised them to
the sovereign rank.
I was the first person in Hamburg who received intelligence of
Napoleon's projected marriage with the Archduchess Maria Louisa. The
news was brought to me from Vienna by two estafettes. It is impossible
to describe the effect produced by the anticipation of this event
throughout the north of Germany.
--["Napoleon often reflected on the best mode of making this
communication to the Empress; still he was reluctant to speak to
her. He was apprehensive of the consequences of her susceptibility
of feeling; his heart was never proof against the shedding of tears.
Ho thought, however, that a favourable opportunity offered for
breaking the subject previously to his quitting Fontainebleau. He
hinted at it in a few words which he had addressed to the Empress,
but he did not explain himself until the arrival of the viceroy,
whom he had ordered to join him. He was the first person who spoke
openly to his mother and obtained her consent for that bitter
sacrifice. He acted on the occasion like a kind son and a man
grateful to his benefactor and devoted to his service, by sparing
him the necessity of unpleasant explanations towards a partner whose
removal was a sacrifice as painful to him as it was affecting: The
Emperor, having arranged whatever related to the future condition of
the Empress, upon whom he made a liberal settlement, urged the
moment of the dissolution of the marriage, no doubt because he felt
grieved at the condition of the Empress herself, who dined every day
and passed her evenings in the presence of persons who were
witnessing her descent from the throne. There existed between him
and the Empress Josephine no other bond than a civil act, according
to the custom which prevailed at the time of this marriage. Now the
law had foreseen the dissolution of such marriage oontracts. A
particular day having therefore been fixed upon, the Emperor brought
together into his apartments those persons whose ministry was
required in this case; amongst others, the Arch-Chancellor and M.
Regnault de St. Jean d'Angély. The Emperor then declared in a loud
voice his intention of annulling the marriage he had contracted with
Josephine, who was present; the Empress also made the same
declaration, which was interrupted by her repeated sobs. The Prince
Arch-Chancellor having caused the article of the law to be read, he
applied it to the cam before him, and declared the marriage to be
dissolved." (Memoirs of ad Duc de Rovigo).]--
From all parts the merchants received orders to buy Austrian stock, in
which an extraordinary rise immediately took place. Napoleon's marriage
with Maria Louisa was hailed with enthusiastic and general joy. The
event was regarded as the guarantee of a long peace, and it was hoped
there would be a lasting cessation of the disasters created by the
rivalry of France and Austria. The correspondence I received showed
that these sentiments were general in the interior of France, and in
different countries of Europe; and, in spite of the presentiments I had
always had of the return of the Bourbons to France, I now began to think
that event problematic, or at least very remote.
About the beginning of the year 1810 commenced the differences between
Napoleon and his brother Louis, which, as I have already stated, ended
in a complete rupture. Napoleon's object was to make himself master of
the navigation of the Scheldt which Louis wished should remain free, and
hence ensued the union of Holland with the French Empire. Holland was
the first province of the Grand Empire which Napoleon took the new
Empress to visit. This visit took place almost immediately after the
marriage. Napoleon first proceeded to Compiegne, where he remained a
week. He next set out for St. Quentin, and inspected the canal. The
Empress Maria Louisa then joined him, and they both proceeded to
Belgium. At Antwerp the Emperor inspected all the works which he had
ordered, and to the execution of which he attached great importance. He
returned by way of Ostend, Lille, and Normandy to St. Cloud, where he
arrived on the 1st of June 1810. He there learned from my correspondence
that the Hanse Towns-refused to advance money for the pay of the French
troops. The men were absolutely destitute. I declared that it was urgent
to put an end to this state of things. The Hanse towns had been reduced
from opulence to misery by taxation and exactions, and were no longer
able to provide the funds.
During this year Napoleon, in a fit of madness, issued a decree which I
cannot characterise by any other epithet than infernal. I allude to the
decree for burning all the English merchandise in France, Holland, the
Grand Duchy of Berg, the Hanse Towns; in short, in all places subject to
the disastrous dominion of Napoleon. In the interior of France no idea
could possibly be formed of the desolation caused by this measure in
countries which existed by commerce; and what a spectacle was it to the
destitute inhabitants of those countries to witness the destruction
of property which, had it been distributed, would have assuaged their
misery!
Among the emigrants whom I was ordered to watch was M. de Vergennes, who
had always remained at or near Hamburg Since April 1808. I informed the
Minister that M. de Vergennes had presented himself to me at this
time. I even remember that M. de Vergennes gave me a letter from M. de
Rémusat, the First Chamberlain of the Emperor. M. de Rémusat strongly
recommended to me his connection, who was called by matters of
importance to Hamburg. Residence in this town was, however, too
expensive, and he decided to live at Neumuhl, a little village on the
Elbe, rather to the west of Altona. There he lived quietly in retirement
with an opera dancer named Mademoiselle Ledoux, with whom he had become
acquainted in Paris, and whom he had brought with him. He seemed much
taken with her. His manner of living did not denote large means.
One duty with which I was entrusted, and to which great importance
was attached, was the application and execution of the disastrous
Continental system in the north. In my correspondence I did not
conceal the dissatisfaction which this ruinous measure excited, and the
Emperor's eyes were at length opened on the subject by the following
circumstance. In spite of the sincerity with which the Danish Government
professed to enforce the Continental system, Holstein contained a great
quantity of colonial produce; and, notwithstanding the measures of
severity, it was necessary that that merchandise should find a market
somewhere. The smugglers often succeeded in introducing it into Germany,
and the whole would probably soon have passed the custom-house limits.
All things considered, I thought it advisable to make the best of an
evil that could not be avoided. I therefore proposed that the colonial
produce then in Holstein, and which had been imported before the date of
the King's edict for its prohibition, should be allowed to enter Hamburg
on the payment of 30, and on some articles 40, per cent. This duty was
to be collected at the custom-house, and was to be confined entirely
to articles consumed in Germany. The colonial produce in Altona,
Glnckstadt, Husum, and other towns of Holstein, lead been estimated,
at about 30,000,000 francs, and the duty would amount to 10,000,000 or
12,000,000. The adoption of the plan I proposed would naturally put a
stop to smuggling; for it could not be doubted that the merchants would
give 30 or 33 per cent for the right of carrying on a lawful trade
rather than give 40 per cent. to the smugglers, with the chance of
seizure.
The Emperor immediately adopted my idea, for I transmitted my
suggestions to the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the 18th of
September, and on the 4th of October a decree was issued conformable
to the plan I proposed. Within six weeks after the decree came into
operation the custom-house Director received 1300 declarations from
persons holding colonial produce in Holstein. It now appeared that the
duties would amount to 40,000,000 francs, that is to say, 28,000,000 or
30,000,000 more than my estimate.
Bernadotte had just been nominated Prince Royal of Sweden. This
nomination, with all the circumstances connected with it, as well as
Bernadotte's residence in Hamburg, before he proceeded to Stockholm,
will be particularly noticed in the next chapter. I merely mention the
circumstance here to explain some events which took place in the north,
and which were, more or less, directly connected with it. For example,
in the month of September the course of exchange on St. Petersburg
suddenly fell. All the letters which arrived in Hamburg from the capital
of Russia and from Riga, attributed the fall to the election of the
Prince of Ponte-Corvo as Prince Royal of Sweden. Of thirty letters which
I received there was not one but described the consternation which the
event had created in St. Petersburg. This consternation, however, might
have been excited less by the choice of Sweden than by the fear that
that choice was influenced by the French Government.
CHAP XXII.
1809-1810.
Bernadotte elected Prince Royal of Sweden--Count Wrede's overtures
to Bernadotte--Bernadottes's three days' visit to Hamburg--
Particulars respecting the battle of Wagram--Secret Order of the
day--Last intercourse of the Prince Royal of Sweden with Napoleon--
My advice to Bernadotte respecting the Continental system.
I now come to one of the periods of my life to which I look back with
most satisfaction, the time when Bernadotte was with me in Hamburg. I
will briefly relate the series of events which led the opposer of the
18th Brumaire to the throne of Sweden.
On the 13th of march 1809 Gustavus Adolphus was arrested, and his uncle,
the Duke of Sudermania, provisionally took the reins of Government. A
few days afterwards Gustavus published his act of abdication, which
in the state of Sweden it was impossible for him to refuse. In May
following, the Swedish Diet having been convoked at Stockholm, the Duke
of Sudermania was elected King. Christian Augustus, the only son of that
monarch, of course became Prince Royal on the accession of his father to
the throne. He, however, died suddenly at the end of May 1810, and Count
Fersen (the same who at the Court of Marie Antoinette was distinguished
by the appellation of 'le beau Fersen'), was massacred by the populace,
who suspected, perhaps unjustly, that he had been accessory to the
Prince's death.
--[Count Fereen, alleged to have been one of the favoured lovers of
Marie Antoinette, and who was certainly deep in her confidence, had
arranged most of the details of the attempted flight to Varennes in
1791, and he himself drove the Royal family their first stage to the
gates of Paris.]--
On the 21st of August following Bernadotte was elected Prince Royal of
Sweden.
After the death of the Prince Royal the Duke of Sudermania's son, Count
Wrede, a Swede, made the first overtures to Bernadotte, and announced to
him the intention entertained at Stockholm of offering him the throne of
Sweden. Bernadotte was at that time in Paris, and immediately after his
first interview with Count Wrede he waited on the Emperor at St. Cloud;
Napoleon coolly replied that he could be of no service to him; that
events must take their course; that he might accept or refuse the offer
as he chose; that he (Bonaparte) would place no obstacles in his way,
but that he could give him no advice. It was very evident that the
choice of Sweden was not very agreeable to Bonaparte, and though
he afterwards disavowed any opposition to it, he made overtures to
Stockholm, proposing that the crown of Sweden should be added to that of
Denmark.
Bernadotte then went to the waters of Plombieres, and on his return to
Paris he sent me a letter announcing his elevation to the rank of Prince
Royal of Sweden.
On the 11th of October he arrived in Hamburg, where he stayed only
three days. He passed nearly the whole of that time with me, and he
communicated to me many curious facts connected with the secret history
of the times, and among other things some particulars respecting the
battle of Wagram. I was the first to mention to the new Prince Royal of
Sweden the reports of the doubtful manner in which the troops under his
command behaved. I reminded him of Bonaparte's dissatisfaction at these
troops; for there was no doubt of the Emperor being the author of the
complaints contained in the bulletins, especially as he had withdrawn
the troops from Bernadotte's command. Bernadotte assured me that
Napoleon's censure was unjust; during the battle he had complained of
the little spirit manifested by the soldiers. "He refused to see me,"
added Bernadotte, "and I was told, as a reason for his refusal, that
he was astonished and displeased to find that, notwithstanding his
complaints, of which I must have heard, I had boasted of having gained
the battle, and had publicly complimented the Saxons whom I commanded."
Bernadotte then showed me the bulletin he drew up after the battle of
Wagram. I remarked that I had never heard of a bulletin being made by
any other than the General who was Commander-in-Chief during a battle,
and asked how the affair ended. He then handed to me a copy of the
Order of the day, which Napoleon said he had sent only to the Marshals
commanding the different corps.
Bernadotte's bulletin was printed along with Bonaparte's Order of the
Day, a thing quite unparalleled.
Though I was much interested in this account of Bonaparte's conduct
after the battle of Wagram; yet I was more curious to hear the
particulars of Bernadotte's last communication with the Emperor. The
Prince informed me that on his return from Plombieres he attended the
levee, when the Emperor asked him, before every one present, whether he
had received any recent news from Sweden.
He replied in the affirmative. "What is it?" inquired Napoleon. "Sire,
I am informed that your Majesty's charge d'affaires at Stockholm opposes
my election. It is also reported to those who choose to believe it that
your Majesty gives the preference to the King of Denmark."--"At these
words," continued Bernadotte, "the Emperor affected surprise, which you
know he can do very artfully. He assured me it was impossible, and then
turned the conversation to another subject.
"I know not what to think of his conduct in this affair. I am aware
he does not like me;--but the interests of his policy may render him
favourable to Sweden. Considering the present greatness and power of
France, I conceived it to be my duty to make every personal sacrifice.
But I swear to Heaven that I will never commit the honour of Sweden.
He, however, expressed himself in the best possible terms in speaking of
Charles XIII. and me. He at first started no obstacle to my acceptance
of the succession to the throne of Sweden, and he ordered the official
announcement of my election to be immediately inserted in the Moniteur'.
Ten days elapsed without the Emperor's saying a word to me about my
departure. As I was anxious to be off, and all my preparations were
made, I determined to go and ask him for the letters patent to relieve
me from my oath of fidelity, which I had certainly kept faithfully in
spite of all his ill-treatment of me. He at first appeared somewhat
surprised at my request, and, after a little hesitation, he said, 'There
is a preliminary condition to be fulfilled; a question has been
raised by one of the members of the Privy Council.'--'What condition,
Sire?'--'You must pledge yourself not to bear arms against me.'--'Does
your Majesty suppose that I can bind myself by such an engagement?
My election by the Diet of Sweden, which has met with your Majesty's
assent, has made me a Swedish subject, and that character is
incompatible with the pledge proposed by a member of the Council. I am
sure it could never have emanated from your Majesty, and must proceed
from the Arch-Chancellor or the Grand Judge, who certainly could not
have been aware of the height to which the proposition would raise
me.'--'What do you mean?'--'If, Sire, you prevent me accepting a crown
unless I pledge myself not to bear arms against you, do you not really
place me on a level with you as a General?'
"When I declared positively that my election must make me consider
myself a Swedish subject he frowned, and seemed embarrassed. When I
had done speaking he said, in a low and faltering voice, 'Well, go.
Our destinies will soon be accomplished!' These words were uttered so
indistinctly that I was obliged to beg pardon for not having heard what
he said, and he repented, 'Go! our destinies will soon be accomplished!'
In the subsequent conversations which I had with the Emperor I tried
all possible means to remove the unfavourable sentiments he cherished
towards me. I revived my recollections of history. I spoke to him of
the great men who had excited the admiration of the world, of the
difficulties and obstacles which they had to surmount; and, above all,
I dwelt upon that solid glory which is founded on the establishment and
maintenance of public tranquillity and happiness. The Emperor listened
to me attentively, and frequently concurred in my opinion as to the
principles of the prosperity and stability of States. One day he took my
hand and pressed it affectionately, as if to assure me of his friendship
and protection. Though I knew him to be an adept in the art of
dissimulation, yet his affected kindness appeared so natural that I
thought all his unfavourable feeling towards me was at an end. I spoke
to persons by whom our two families were allied, requesting that they
would assure the Emperor of the reciprocity of my sentiments, and tell
him that I was ready to assist his great plans in any way not hostile to
the interests of Sweden.
"Would you believe, my dear friend, that the persons to whom I made
these candid protestations laughed at my credulity? They told me that
after the conversation in which the Emperor had so cordially pressed my
hand. I had scarcely taken leave of him when he was heard to say that I
had made a great display of my learning to him, and that he had humoured
me like a child. He wished to inspire me with full confidence so as to
put me off my guard; and I know for a certainty that he had the design
of arresting me.
"But," pursued Bernadotte, "in spite of the feeling of animosity which I
know the Emperor has cherished against me since the 18th Brumaire, I do
not think, when once I shall be in Sweden, that he will wish to have any
differences with the Swedish Government. I must tell you, also he
has given me 2,000,000 francs in exchange for my principality of
Ponte-Corvo. Half the sum has been already paid, which will be very
useful to me in defraying the expenses of my journey and installation.
When I was about to step into my carriage to set off, an individual,
whom you must excuse me naming, came to bid me farewell, and related to
me a little conversation which had just taken place at the Tuileries.
Napoleon said to the individual in question, 'Well, does not the Prince
regret leaving France?'--'Certainly, Sire.'--'As to me, I should have
been very glad if he had not accepted his election. But there is no help
for it. . . . He does not like me.'--'Sire, I must take the liberty of
saying that your Majesty labours under a mistake. I know the differences
which have existed between you and General Bernadotte for the last six
years. I know how he opposed the overthrow of the Directory; but I also
know that the Prince has long been sincerely attached to you.'--'Well, I
dare say you are right. But we have not understood each other. It is now
too late. He has his interests and his policy, and I have mine.'"
"Such," added the Prince, "were the Emperor's last observations
respecting me two hours before my departure. The individual to whom I
have just alluded, spoke truly, my dear Bourrienne. I am indeed sorry to
leave France; and I never should have left it but for the injustice of
Bonaparte. If ever I ascend the throne of Sweden I shall owe my crown to
his ill-treatment of me; for had he not persecuted me by his animosity
my condition would have sufficed for a soldier of fortune: but we must
follow our fate."
During the three days the Prince spent with me I had many other
conversations with him. He wished me to give him my advice as to the
course he should pursue with regard to the Continental system. "I advise
you," said I, "to reject the system without hesitation. It may be very
fine in theory, but it is utterly impossible to carry it into practice,
and it will, in the end, give the trade of the world to England. It
excites the dissatisfaction of our allies, who, in spite of themselves,
will again become our enemies. But no other country, except Russia, is
in the situation of Sweden. You want a number of objects of the first
necessity, which nature has withheld from you. You can only obtain them
by perfect freedom of navigation; and you can only pay for them with
those peculiar productions in which Sweden abounds. It would be out of
all reason to close your ports against a nation who rules the seas.
It is your navy that would be blockaded, not hers. What can France do
against you? She may invade you by land. But England and Russia
will exert all their efforts to oppose her. By sea it is still more
impossible that she should do anything. Then you have nothing to fear
but Russia and England, and it will be easy for you to keep up friendly
relations with these two powers. Take my advice; sell your iron, timber,
leather, and pitch; take in return salt, wines, brandy, and colonial
produce. This is the way to make yourself popular in Sweden. If, on
the contrary, you follow the Continental system, you will be obliged to
adopt laws against smuggling, which will draw upon you the detestation
of the people."
Such was the advice which I gave to Bernadotte when he was about to
commence his new and brilliant career. In spite of my situation as a
French Minister I could not have reconciled it to my conscience to
give him any other counsel, for if diplomacy has duties so also has
friendship. Bernadotte adopted my advice, and the King of Sweden had no
reason to regret having done so.
CHAPTER XXIII.
1810
Bernadotte's departure from Hamburg--The Duke of Holstein-
Augustenburg--Arrival of the Crown Prince in Sweden--
Misunderstandings between him and Napoleon--Letter from Bernadotte
to the Emperor--Plot for kidnapping the Prince Royal of Sweden--
Invasion of Swedish Pomerania--Forced alliance of Sweden with
England and Russia--Napoleon's overtures to Sweden--Bernadotte's
letters of explanation to the Emperor--The Princess Royal of Sweden
--My recall to Paris--Union of the Hanse Towns with France--
Dissatisfaction of Russia--Extraordinary demand made upon me by
Bonaparte--Fidelity of my old friends--Duroc and Rapp--Visit to
Malmaison, and conversation with Josephine.
While Bernadotte was preparing to fill the high station to which he had
been called by the wishes of the people of Sweden, Napoleon was involved
in his misunderstanding with the Pope,
--[It was about this time that, irritated at what he called the
captive Pope's unreasonable obstinacy, Bonaparte conceived, and
somewhat openly expressed, his notion of making France a Protestant
country, and changing the religion of 30,000,000 of people by an
Imperial decree. One or two of the good sayings of the witty,
accomplished, and chivalrous Comte Louis de Narbonne have already
been given in the course of these volumes. The following is another
of them:
"I tell you what I will do, Narbonne--I tell you how I will vent my
spite on this old fool of a Pope, and the dotards who may succeed
him said Napoleon one day at the Tuileries. "I will make a schism
as great as that of Luther--I will make France a Protestant
country!"
"O Sire," replied the Count, "I see difficulties in the way of this
project. In the south, in the Vendée, in nearly all the west, the
French are bigoted Catholics and even what little religion remains
among us in our cities and great towns is of the Roman Church."
"Never mind, Narbonne--never mind!--I shall at least carry a large
portion of the French people with me--I will make a division!" Sire,
replied Narbonne, "I am afraid that there is not enough religion in
all France to stand division!"-Editor of 1836 edition.]--
and in the affairs of Portugal, which were far from proceeding according
to his wishes. Bernadotte had scarcely quitted Hamburg for Sweden when
the Duke of Holstein-Augustenburg arrived. The Duke was the brother of
the last Prince Royal of Sweden, whom Bernadotte was called to succeed,
and he came to escort his sister from Altona to Denmark. His journey had
been retarded for some days on account of the presence of the Prince
of Ponte-Gorvo in Hamburg: the preference granted to Bernadotte had
mortified his ambition, and he was unwilling to come in contact with his
fortunate rival. The Duke was favoured, by the Emperor of Russia.
As soon as he arrived in Sweden Bernadotte directed his aide de camp,
General Lentil de St. Alphonse, to inform me of his safe passage.
Shortly after I received a letter from Bernadotte himself, recommending
one of his aides de camp, M. Villatte, who was the bearer of it. This
letter contained the same sentiments of friendship as those I used
to receive from General Bernadotte, and formed a contrast with the
correspondence of King Jerome, who when he wrote to me assumed the
regal character, and prayed that God would have me in his holy keeping.
However, the following is the Prince Royal's letter:
MY DEAR BOURRIENNE--I have directed M. Villatte to see you on his
way through Hamburg, and to bear my friendly remembrances to you.
Lentil has addressed his letter to you, which I suppose you have
already received. Adieu, care for me always, and believe in the
inalterable attachment of yours,
(Signed)CHARLES JOHN.
P.S.--I beg you will present my compliments to madame and all your
family. Embrace my little cousin for me.
The little cousin, so called by Bernadotte, was one of my daughters,
then a child, whom Bernadotte used to be very fond of while he was at
Hamburg.
Departing from the order of date, I will anticipate the future, and
relate all I know respecting the real causes of the misunderstanding
which arose between Bernadotte and Napoleon. Bonaparte viewed the choice
of the Swedes with great displeasure, because he was well aware that
Bernadotte had too much integrity and honour to serve him in the north
as a political puppet set in motion by means of springs which he might
pull at Paris or at his headquarters. His dissatisfaction upon
this point occasioned an interesting correspondence, part of which,
consisting of letters from Bernadotte to the Emperor, is in my
possession. The Emperor had allowed Bernadotte to retain in his service,
for a year at least, the French officers who were his aides de camp--but
that permission was soon revoked, end the Prince Royal of Sweden wrote
to Napoleon a letter of remonstrance.
Napoleon's dissatisfaction with the Prince Royal now changed to decided
resentment. He repented having acceded to his departure from France, and
he made no secret of his sentiments, for he said before his courtiers,
"That he would like to send Bernadotte to Vincennes to finish his study
of the Swedish language." Bernadotte was informed of this, but he
could not believe that the Emperor had ever entertained such a design.
However, a conspiracy was formed in Sweden against Bernadotte, whom a
party of foreign brigands were hired to kidnap in the neighbourhood of
Raga; but the plot was discovered, and the conspirators were compelled
to embark without their prey. The Emperor having at the same time seized
upon Swedish Pomerania, the Prince Royal wrote him a second letter in
these terms:
From the papers which have just arrived I learn that a division of
the army, under the command of the Prince of Eckmuhl, invaded
Swedish Pomerania on the night of the 26th of January; that the
division continued to advance, entered the capital of the Duchy, and
took possession of the island of Rugen. The King expects that your
Majesty will explain the reasons which have induced you to act in a
manner so contrary to the faith of existing treaties. My old
connection with your Majesty warrants me in requesting you to
declare your motives without delay, in order that I may give my
advice to the King as to the conduct which Sweden ought hereafter to
adopt. This gratuitous outrage against Sweden is felt deeply by the
nation, and still more, Sire, by me, to whom is entrusted the honour
of defending it. Though I have contributed to the triumphs of
France, though I have always desired to see her respected and happy;
yet I can never think of sacrificing the interests, honour, and
independence of the country which has adopted me. Your Majesty, who
has so ready a perception of what is just, must admit the propriety
of my resolution. Though I am not jealous of the glory and power
which surrounds you, I cannot submit to the dishonour of being
regarded as a vassal. Your Majesty governs the greatest part of
Europe, but your dominion does not extend to the nation which I have
been called to govern; my ambition is limited to the defence of
Sweden. The effect produced upon the people by the invasion of
which I complain may lead to consequences which it is impossible to
foresee; and although I am not a Coriolanus, and do not command the
Volsci, I have a sufficiently good opinion of the Swedes to assure
you that they dare undertake anything to avenge insults which they
have not provoked, and to preserve rights to which they are as much
attached as to their lives.
I was in Paris when the Emperor received Bernadotte's letter on the
occupation of Swedish Pomerania. When Bonaparte read it I was informed
that he flew into a violent rage, and even exclaimed, "You shall submit
to your degradation, or die sword in hand!" But his rage was impotent.
The unexpected occupation of Swedish Pomerania obliged the King of
Sweden to come to a decided rupture with France, and to seek other
allies, for Sweden was not strong enough in herself to maintain
neutrality in the midst of the general conflagration of Europe after the
disastrous campaign of Moscow. The Prince Royal, therefore, declared
to Russia and England that in consequence of the unjust invasion of
Pomerania Sweden was at war with France, and he despatched Comte de
Lowenhjelm, the King's aide de camp, with a letter explanatory of his
views. Napoleon sent many notes to Stockholm, where M. Alquier, his
Ambassador, according to his instructions, had maintained a haughty
and even insulting tone towards Sweden. Napoleon's overtures, after
the manifestations of his anger, and after the attempt to carry off the
Prince Royal, which could be attributed only to him, were considered by
the Prince Royal merely as a snare. But in the hope of reconciling the
duties he owed to both his old and his new country he addressed to the
Emperor a moderate letter:
This letter throws great light on the conduct of the Emperor with
respect to Bernadotte; for Napoleon was not the man whom any one
whatever would have ventured to remind of facts, the accuracy of which
was in the least degree questionable. Such then were the relations
between Napoleon and the Prince Royal of Sweden. When I shall bring to
light some curious secrets, which have hitherto been veiled beneath the
mysteries of the Restoration, it will be seen by what means Napoleon,
before his fall, again sought to wreak his vengeance upon Bernadotte.
Oh the 4th of December I had the honour to see the Princess Royal
of Sweden,--[Madame Bernadotte, afterwards Queen of Sweden, was
a Mademoiselle Clary, and younger sister to the wife of Joseph
Bonaparte]--who arrived that day at Hamburg. She merely passed through
the city on her way to Stockholm to join her husband, but she remained
but a short time in Sweden,--two months, I believe, at most, not being
able to reconcile herself to the ancient Scandinavia. As to the Prince
Royal, he soon became inured to the climate, having been for many years
employed in the north.
After this my stay at Hamburg was not of long duration. Bonaparte's
passion for territorial aggrandisement knew no bounds; and the turn of
the Hanse Towns now arrived. By taking possession of these towns and
territories he merely accomplished a design formed long previously.
I, however, was recalled with many compliments, and under the specious
pretext that the Emperor wished to hear my opinions respecting the
country in which. I had been residing. At the beginning of December I
received a letter from M. de Champagny stating that the Emperor wished
to see me in order to consult with me upon different things relating to
Hamburg. In this note I was told "that the information I had obtained
respecting Hamburg and the north of Germany might be useful to the
public interest, which must be the most gratifying reward of my
labours." The reception which awaited me will presently be seen. The
conclusion of the letter spoke in very flattering terms of the manner in
which I had discharged my duties. I received it on the 8th of December,
and next day I set out for Paris. When I arrived at Mayence I was
enabled to form a correct idea of the fine compliments which had been
paid me, and of the Emperor's anxiety to have my opinion respecting the
Hanse Towns. In Mayence I met the courier who was proceeding to announce
the union of the Hanse Towns with the French Empire. I confess that,
notwithstanding the experience I had acquired of Bonaparte's duplicity,
or rather, of the infinite multiplicity of his artifices, he completely
took me by surprise on that occasion.
On my arrival in Paris I did not see the Emperor, but the first
'Moniteur' I read contained the formula of a 'Senatus-consulte,' which
united the Hanse Towns, Lauenburg, etc., to the French Empire by the
right of the strongest. This new and important augmentation of territory
could not fail to give uneasiness to Russia. Alexander manifested his
dissatisfaction by prohibiting the importation of our agricultural
produce and manufactures into Russia. Finally, as the Continental
system had destroyed all trade by the ports of the Baltic, Russia
showed herself more favourable to the English, and gradually reciprocal
complaints of bad faith led to that war whose unfortunate issue was
styled by M. Talleyrand "the beginning of the end."
I have now to make the reader acquainted with an extraordinary demand
made upon me by the Emperor through the medium of M. de Champagny. In
one of my first interviews with that Minister after my return to Paris
he thus addressed me: "The Emperor has entrusted me with a commission to
you which I am obliged to execute: 'When you see Bourrienne,' said the
Emperor, 'tell him I wish him to pay 6,000,000 into your chest to defray
the expense of building the new Office for Foreign Affairs.'" I was so
astonished at this unfeeling and inconsiderate demand that I was utterly
unable to make airy reply. This then was my recompense for having
obtained money and supplies during my residence at Hamburg to the extent
of nearly 100,000,000, by which his treasury and army had profited in
moments of difficulty! M. de Champagny added that the Emperor did not
wish to receive me. He asked what answer he should bear to his Majesty.
I still remained silent, and the Minister again urged me to give an
answer. "Well, then," said I, "tell him he may go to the devil." The
Minister naturally wished to obtain some variation from this laconic
answer, but I would give no other; and I afterwards learned from Duroc
that M. de Champagny was compelled to communicate it to Napoleon.
"Well," asked the latter, "have you seen Bourrienne?"--"Yes,
Sire."--"Did you tell him I wished him to pay 6,000,000 into your
chest?"--"Yes, Sire."--"And what did he say?"--"Sire, I dare not inform
your Majesty."--"What did he say? I insist upon knowing."--"Since you
insist on my telling you, Sire, M. de Bourrienne said your Majesty might
go to the devil."--"Ah! ah! did he really say so?" The Emperor then
retired to the recess of a window, where he remained alone for seven
or eight minutes, biting his nails; in the fashion of Berthier, and
doubtless giving free scope to his projects of vengeance. He then turned
to the Minister and spoke to him of quite another subject: Bonaparte had
so nursed himself in the idea of making me pay the 6,000,000 that every
time he passed the Office for Foreign Affairs he said to those who
accompanied hint; "Bourrienne must pay for that after all."
--[This demand of money from Bourrienne is explained in Erreurs
(tome ii, p. 228) by the son of Davoust. Bourrienne had been
suspected by Napoleon of making large sums at Hamburg by allowing
breaches of the Continental system. In one letter to Davoust
Napoleon speaks of an "immense fortune," and in another, that
Bourrienne is reported to have gained seven or eight millions at
Hamburg in giving licences or making arbitrary seizures.]--
Though I was not admitted to the honour of sharing the splendour of the
Imperial Court; yet I had the satisfaction of finding that; in spite of
my disgrace, those of my old friends who were worth anything evinced the
same regard for me as heretofore. I often saw Duroc; who snatched some
moments from his more serious occupations to come and chat with me
respecting all that had occurred since my secession from Bonaparte's
cabinet. I shall not attempt to give a verbatim account of my
conversations with Duroc, as I have only my memory to guide me; but I
believe I shall not depart from the truth in describing them as follows:
On his return from the last Austrian campaign Napoleon; as I have
already stated, proceeded to Fontainebleau, where he was joined by
Josephine. Then, for the first time, the communication which had always
existed between the apartments of the husband and wife was closed.
Josephine was fully alive to the fatal prognostics which were to be
deduced from this conjugal separation. Duroc informed me that she sent
for him, and on entering her chamber, he found her bathed in tears.
"I am lost!" she exclaimed in a tone of voice the remembrance of which
seemed sensibly to affect Duroc even while relating the circumstance to
me: "I am utterly lost! all is over now! You, Duroc, I know, have always
been my friend, and so has Rapp. It is not you who have persuaded him to
part from me. This is the work of my enemies Savary and Junot! But they
are more his enemies than mine. And my poor Eugène I how will he be
distressed when he learns I am repudiated by an ungrateful man! Yes
Duroc, I may truly call him ungrateful, My God! my God! what will become
of us?" . . . Josephine sobbed bitterly while she thus addressed Duroc.
Before I was acquainted with the singular demand which M. de Champagny
was instructed to make to me I requested Duroc to inquire of the Emperor
his reason for not wishing to see me. The Grand Marshal faithfully
executed my commission, but he received only the following answer:
"Do you think I have nothing better to do than to give Bourrienne an
audience? that would indeed furnish gossip for Paris and Hamburg. He
has always sided with the emigrants; he would be talking to me of past
times; he was for Josephine! My wife, Duroc, is near her confinement;
I shall have a son, I am sure!... Bourrienne is not a man of the day; I
have made giant strides since he left France; in short, I do not want to
see him. He is a grumbler by nature; and you know, my dear Duroc, I do
not like men of that sort."
I had not been above a week in Paris when Duroc related this speech to
me. Rapp was not in France at the time, to my great regret. Much against
his inclination he had been appointed to some duties connected with the
Imperial marriage ceremonies, but shortly after, having given offence
to Napoleon by some observation relating to the Faubourg St. Germain, he
had received orders to repair to Dantzic, of which place he had already
been Governor.
The Emperor's refusal to see me made my situation in Paris extremely
delicate; and I was at first in doubt whether I might seek an interview
with Josephine. Duroc, however, having assured me that Napoleon would
have no objection to it, I wrote requesting permission to wait upon
her. I received an answer the same day, and on the morrow I repaired
to Malmaison. I was ushered into the tent drawing-room, where I found
Josephine and Hortense. When I entered Josephine stretched out her hand
to me, saying, "Ah! my friend!" These words she pronounced with deep
emotion, and tears prevented her from continuing. She threw herself on
the ottoman on the left of the fireplace, and beckoned me to sit down
beside her. Hortense stood by the fireplace, endeavouring to conceal her
tears. Josephine took my hand, which she pressed in both her own;
and, after a struggle to overcome her feelings, she said, "My dear
Bourrienne, I have drained my cup of misery. He has cast me off!
forsaken me! He conferred upon me the vain title of Empress only to
render my fall the more marked. Ah! we judged him rightly! I knew
the destiny that awaited me; for what would he not sacrifice to his
ambition!" As she finished these words one of Queen Hortense's ladies
entered with a message to her; Hortense stayed a few moments, apparently
to recover from the emotion under which she was labouring, and then
withdrew, so that I was left alone with Josephine. She seemed to wish
for the relief of disclosing her sorrows, which I was curious to hear
from her own lips; women have such a striking way of telling their
distresses. Josephine confirmed what Duroc had told me respecting
the two apartments at Fontainebleau; then, coming to the period when
Bonaparte had declared to her the necessity of a separation, she said,
"My dear Bourrienne; during all the years you were with us you know I
made you the confidant of my thoughts, and kept you acquainted with my
sad forebodings. They are now cruelly fulfilled. I acted the part of a
good wife to the very last. I have suffered all, and I am resigned! . .
. What fortitude did it require latterly to endure my situation, when,
though no longer his wife, I was obliged to seem so in the eyes of the
world! With what eyes do courtiers look upon a repudiated wife! I was in
a state of vague uncertainty worse than death until the fatal day when
he at length avowed to me what I had long before read in his looks! On
the 30th of November 1809 we were dining together as usual, I had not
uttered a word during that sad dinner, and he had broken silence only
to ask one of the servants what o'clock it was. As soon as Bonaparte had
taken his coffee he dismissed all the attendants, and I remained alone
with him. I saw in the expression of his countenance what was passing in
his mind, and I knew that my hour was come. He stepped up to me--he was
trembling, and I shuddered; he took my hand, pressed it to his heart,
and after gazing at me for a few moments in silence he uttered these
fatal words: 'Josephine! my dear Josephine! You know how I have loved
you! . . . To you, to you alone, I owe the only moments of happiness
I have tasted in this world. But, Josephine, my destiny is not to be
controlled by my will. My dearest affections must yield to the interests
of France.'--'Say no more,' I exclaimed, 'I understand you; I expected
this, but the blow is not the less mortal.' I could not say another
word," continued Josephine; "I know not what happened after I seemed to
lose my reason; I became insensible, and when I recovered I found myself
in my chamber. Your friend Corvisart and my poor daughter were with me.
Bonaparte came to see me in the evening; and oh! Bourrienne, how can I
describe to you what I felt at the sight of him; even the interest he
evinced for me seemed an additional cruelty. Alas! I had good reason to
fear ever becoming an Empress!"
I knew not what consolation to offer: to Josephine; and knowing as I did
the natural lightness of her character, I should have been surprised to
find her grief so acute, after the lapse of a year, had I not been aware
that there are certain chords which, when struck, do not speedily cease
to vibrate in the heart of a woman. I sincerely pitied Josephine, and
among all the things I said to assuage her sorrow, the consolation
to which she appeared most sensible was the reprobation which public
opinion had pronounced on Bonaparte's divorce, and on this subject
I said nothing but the truth, for Josephine was generally beloved. I
reminded her of a prediction I had made under happier circumstances,
viz. on the day that she came to visit us in our little house at Ruel.
"My dear friend," said she, "I have not forgotten it, and I have often
thought of all you then said. For my part, I knew he was lost from the
day he made himself Emperor. Adieu! Bourrienne, come and see me soon
again; come often, for we have a great deal to talk about; you know how
happy I always am to see you." Such was, to the best of my recollection,
what passed at my first interview with Josephine after my return from
Hamburg.
CHAPTER XXIV
1811
Arrest of La Sahla--My visit to him--His confinement at Vincennes--
Subsequent history of La Sahla--His second journey to France--
Detonating powder--Plot hatched against me by the Prince of Eckmuhl
--Friendly offices of the Duc de Rovigo--Bugbears of the police--
Savary, Minister of Police.
I had been in Paris about two months when a young man of the name of
La Sahla was arrested on the suspicion of having come from Saxony to
attempt the life of the Emperor. La Sahla informed the Duc de Rovigo,
then Minister of the Police, that he wished to see me, assigning as
a reason for this the reputation I had left behind me in Germany. The
Emperor, I presume, had no objection to the interview, for I received an
invitation to visit the prisoner. I accordingly repaired to the branch
office of the Minister of the Police, in the Rue des St. Peres, where
I was introduced to a young man between seventeen and eighteen years of
age.
My conversation with the young man, whose uncle was, I believe,
Minister to the King of Saxony, interested me greatly in his behalf; I
determined, if possible, to save La Sahla, and I succeeded. I proceeded
immediately to the Duc de Rovigo, and I convinced him that under the
circumstances of the case it was important to make it be believed that
the young man was insane. I observed that if he were brought before a
court he would repeat all that he had stated to me, and probably enter
into disclosures which might instigate fresh attempts at assassination.
Perhaps an avenger of La Sahla might rise up amongst the students of
Leipzig, at which university he had spent his youth. These reasons,
together with others, had the success I hoped for. The Emperor
afterwards acknowledged the prudent course which had been adopted
respecting La Sahla; when speaking at St. Helena of the conspiracies
against his life he said, "I carefully concealed all that I could."
In conformity with my advice La Sahla was sent to Vincennes, where he
remained until the end of March 1814, He was then removed to the castle
of Saumur, from which he was liberated at the beginning of April. I had
heard nothing of him for three years, when one day, shortly after the
Restoration, whilst sitting at breakfast with my family at my house in
the Rue Hauteville, I heard an extraordinary noise in the antechamber,
and before I had time to ascertain its cause I found myself in the arms.
of a young man, who embraced me with extraordinary ardour. It was La
Sahla. He was in a transport of gratitude and joy at his liberation, and
at the accomplishment of the events which he had wished to accelerate by
assassination. La Sahla returned to Saxony and I saw no more of him, but
while I was in Hamburg in 1815, whither I was seat by Louis XVIII., I
learned that on the 5th of June a violent explosion was heard in the
Chamber of Representatives at Paris, which was at first supposed to be
a clap of thunder, but was soon ascertained to have been occasioned by
a young Samson having fallen with a packet of detonating powder in his
pocket.
On receiving this intelligence I imagined, I know not why, that this
young Saxon was La Sahla, and that he had probably intended to blow up
Napoleon and even the Legislative Body; but I have since ascertained
that I was under a mistake as to his intentions. My knowledge of La
Sahla's candour induces me to believe the truth of his declarations
to the police; and if there be any inaccuracies in the report of these
declarations I do not hesitate to attribute them to the police itself,
of which Fouché was the head at the period in question.
It is the latter part of the report which induced me to observe above,
that if there were any inaccuracies in the statement they were more
likely to proceed from Fouché's police than the false representations
of young La Sahla. It is difficult to give credit without proof to such
accusations. However, I decide nothing; but I consider it my duty to
express doubts of the truth of these charges brought against the
two Prussian ministers, of whom the Prince of Wittgenstein, a man of
undoubted honour, has always spoken to me in the best of terms.
There is nothing to prove that La Sahla returned to France the second
time with the same intentions as before. This project, however, is a
mystery to me, and his detonating powder gives rise to many conjectures.
I had scarcely left Hamburg when the Prince of Eckmuhl (Marshal Davoust)
was appointed Governor-General of that place on the union of the Hanse
Towns with the Empire. From that period I was constantly occupied in
contending against the persecutions and denunciations which he
racked his imagination to invent. I cannot help attributing to those
persecutions the Emperor's coolness towards me on my arrival in Paris.
But as Davoust's calumnies were devoid of proof, he resorted to a scheme
by which a certain appearance of probability might supply the place
of truth. When I arrived in Paris, at the commencement of 1811, I was
informed by an excellent friend I had left at Hamburg, M. Bouvier, an
emigrant, and one of the hostages of Louis XVI., that in a few days
I would receive a letter which would commit me, and likewise M. de
Talleyrand and General Rapp. I had never had any connection on matters
of business, with either of these individuals, for whom I entertained
the most sincere attachment. They, like myself, were not in the
good graces of Marshal Davoust, who could not pardon the one for
his incontestable superiority of talent, and the other for his blunt
honesty. On the receipt of M. Bouvier's letter I carried it to the Duc
de Rovigo, whose situation made him perfectly aware of the intrigues
which had been carried on against me since I had left Hamburg by one
whose ambition aspired to the Viceroyalty of Poland. On that, as on
many other similar occasions, the Duc de Rovigo advocated my cause with
Napoleon. We agreed that it would be best to await the arrival of the
letter which M. Bouvier had announced. Three weeks elapsed, and the
letter did not appear. The Duc de Rovigo, therefore, told me that I must
have been misinformed. However, I was certain that M. Bouvier would not
have sent me the information on slight grounds, and I therefore
supposed that the project had only been delayed. I was not wrong in my
conjecture, for at length the letter arrived. To what a depth of infamy
men can descend! The letter was from a man whom I had known at Hamburg,
whom I had obliged, whom I had employed as a spy. His epistle was a
miracle of impudence. After relating some extraordinary transactions
which he said had taken place between us, and which all bore the stamp
of falsehood, he requested me to send him by return of post the sum of
60,000 francs on account of what I had promised him for some business he
executed in England by the direction of M. de Talleyrand, General Rapp,
and myself. Such miserable wretches are often caught in the snares they
spread for others. This was the case in the present instance, for the
fellow had committed, the blunder of fixing upon the year 1802 as the
period of this pretended business in England, that is to say, two years
before my appointment as Minister-Plenipotentiary to the Hanse Towns.
This anachronism was not the only one I discovered in the letter.
I took a copy of the letter, and immediately carried the original to
the Duc de Rovigo, as had been agreed between us. When I waited on the
Minister he was just preparing to go to the Emperor. He took with him
the letter which I brought, and also the letter which announced its
arrival. As the Duc de Rovigo entered the audience-chamber Napoleon
advanced to meet him, and apostrophised him thus: "Well, I have learned
fine things of your Bourrienne, whom you are always defending." The fact
was, the Emperor had already received a copy of the letter, which had
been opened at the Hamburg post-office. The Duc de Rovigo told the
Emperor that he had long known what his Majesty had communicated to him.
He then entered into a full explanation of the intrigue, of which it was
wished to render me the victim, and proved to him the more easily the
falsehood of my accusers by reminding him that in 1802 I was not in
Hamburg, but was still in his service at home.
It may be supposed that I was too much interested in knowing what had
passed at the Tuileries not to return to the Duc de Rovigo the same
day. I learned from him the particulars which I have already related. He
added that he had observed to the Emperor that there was no connection
between Rapp and M. Talleyrand which could warrant the suspicion of
their being concerned in the affair in question. "When Napoleon saw
the matter in its true light," said Savary, "when I proved to him the
palpable existence of the odious machination, he could not find terms
to express his indignation. 'What baseness, what horrible villainy!' he
exclaimed; and gave me orders to arrest and bring to Paris the infamous
writer of the letter; and you may rely upon it his orders shall be
promptly obeyed."
Savary, as he had said, instantly despatched orders for the arrest of
the writer, whom he directed to be sent to France. On his arrival he was
interrogated respecting the letter. He declared that he had written it
at the instigation and under the dictation of Marshal Davoust, for doing
which he received a small sum of money as a reward. He also confessed
that when the letter was put into the post the Prince of Eckmuhl ordered
the Director of the Post to open it, take a copy, then seal it again,
and send it to its address--that is to say, to me--and the copy to the
Emperor. The writer of the letter was banished to Marseilles, or to
the Island of Hyeres, but the individual who dictated it continued a
Marshal, a Prince, and a Governor-General, and still looked forward to
the Viceroyalty of Poland! Such was the discriminating justice of the
Empire; and Davoust continued his endeavours to revenge himself by other
calumnies for my not having considered him a man of talent. I must
do the Duc de Rovigo the justice to say that, though his fidelity to
Napoleon was as it always had been, boundless, yet whilst he executed
the Emperor's orders he endeavoured to make him acquainted with the
truth, as was proved by his conduct in the case I have just mentioned.
He was much distressed by the sort of terror which his appointment had
excited in the public, and he acknowledged to me that he intended to
restore confidence by a more mild system than that of his predecessor. I
had observed formerly that Savary did not coincide in the opinion I
had always entertained of Fouché, but when once the Duc de Rovigo
endeavoured to penetrate the labyrinth of police, counter-police,
inspections and hierarchies of espionage, he found they were all
bugbears which Fouché had created to alarm the Emperor, as gardeners put
up scarecrows among the fruit-trees to frighten away the sparrows. Thus,
thanks to the artifices of Fouché, the eagle was frightened as easily as
the sparrows, until the period when the Emperor, convinced that Fouché
was maintaining a correspondence with England through the agency of
Ouvrard, dismissed him.
I saw with pleasure that Savary, the Minister of Police, wished to
simplify the working of his administration, and to gradually diminish
whatever was annoying in it, but, whatever might be his intentions, he
was not always free to act. I acknowledge that when I read his Memoirs
I saw with great impatience that in many matters he had voluntarily
assumed responsibilities for acts which a word from him might have
attributed to their real author. However this may be, what much pleased
me in Savary was the wish he showed to learn the real truth in order to
tell it to Napoleon. He received from the Emperor more than one severe
rebuff. This came from the fact that since the immense aggrandisement
of the Empire the ostensible Ministers, instead of rising in credit,
had seen their functions diminish by degrees. Thus proposals for
appointments to the higher grades of the army came from the cabinet of
Berthier, and not from that of the Minister-of-War. Everything which
concerned any part of the government of the Interior or of the Exterior,
except for the administration of War and perhaps for that of Finance,
had its centre in the cabinet of M. Maret, certainly an honest man,
but whose facility in saying "All is right," so much helped to make all
wrong.
The home trade, manufactures, and particularly several of the Parisian
firms were in a state of distress the more hurtful as it contrasted so
singularly with the splendour of the Imperial Court since the marriage
of Napoleon with Maria Louisa. In this state of affairs a chorus of
complaints reached the ears of the Duc de Rovigo every day. I must say
that Savary was never kinder to me than since my disgrace; he nourished
my hope of getting Napoleon to overcome the prejudices against me with
which the spirit of vengeance had inspired him, and I know for certain
that Savary returned to the charge more than once to manage this. The
Emperor listened without anger, did not blame him for the closeness of
our intimacy, and even said to him some obliging but insignificant words
about me. This gave time for new machinations against me, and to fill
him with fresh doubts when he had almost overcome his former, ideas.
CHAPTER XXV.
M. Czernischeff--Dissimulation of Napoleon--Napoleon and Alexander--
Josephine's foresight respecting the affairs of Spain--My visits to
Malmaison--Grief of Josephine--Tears and the toilet--Vast extent of
the Empire--List of persons condemned to death and banishment in
Piedmont--Observation of Alfieri respecting the Spaniards--Success
in Spain--Check of Massena in Portugal--Money lavished by the
English--Bertrand sent to Illyria, and Marmont to Portugal--
Situation of the French army--Assembling of the Cortes--Europe
sacrificed to the Continental system--Conversation with Murat in the
Champs Elysees--New titles and old names--Napoleon's dislike of
literary men--Odes, etc., on the marriage of Napoleon--Chateaubriand
and Lemereier--Death of Chenier--Chateaubriand elected his successor
--His discourse read by Napoleon--Bonaparte compared to Nero--
Suppression of the 'Merceure'--M. de Chateaubriand ordered to leave
Paris--MM. Lemercier and Esmenard presented to the Emperor--Birth of
the King of Rome--France in 1811.
Since my return to France I had heard much of the intrigues of M.
Czernischeff, an aide de camp of the Emperor of Russia, who, under the
pretext of being frequently sent to compliment Napoleon on the part
of the Emperor Alexander, performed, in fact, the office of a spy. The
conduct of Napoleon with regard to M. Czernischeff at that period
struck me as singular, especially after the intelligence which before
my departure from Hamburg I had transmitted to him respecting the
dissatisfaction of Russia and her hostile inclinations. It is therefore
clear to me that Bonaparte was well aware of the real object of M.
Czernischeffs mission, and that if he appeared to give credit to the
increasing professions of his friendship it was only because he still
wished, as he formerly did; that Russia might so far commit herself as
to afford him a fair pretext for the commencement, of hostilities in the
north.
M. Czernischeff first arrived in Paris shortly after the interview at
Erfurt, and after that period was almost constantly on the road between
Paris and St. Petersburg; it has been computed that in the space of less
than four years he travelled more than 10,000 leagues. For a long time
his frequent journeyings excited no surmises, but while I was in Paris
Savary began to entertain suspicions, the correctness of which it
was not difficult to ascertain, so formidable was still the system of
espionage, notwithstanding the precaution taken by Fouché to conceal
from his successor the names of his most efficient spies. It was
known that M. Czernischeff was looking out for a professor of
mathematics,--doubtless to disguise the real motives for his stay in
Paris by veiling them under the desire of studying the sciences. The
confidant of Alexander had applied to a professor connected with a
public office; and from that time all the steps of M. Czerniseheff
were known to the police. It was discovered that he was less anxious
to question his instructor respecting the equations of a degree, or the
value of unknown quantities, than to gain all the information he could
about the different branches of the administration, and particularly the
department of war. It happened that the professor knew some individuals
employed in the public offices, who furnished him with intelligence,
which he in turn communicated to M. Czernischeff, but not without making
a report of it to the police; according to custom, instead of putting
an end to this intrigue at once it was suffered fully to develop itself.
Napoleon was informed of what was going on, and in this instance gave
a new proof of his being an adept in the art of dissimulation, for,
instead of testifying any displeasure against M. Czernischeff, he
continued to receive him with the same marks of favour which he had
shown to him during his former missions to Paris. Being, nevertheless,
desirous to get rid of him, without evincing a suspicion that his
clandestine proceedings had been discovered, he entrusted him with a
friendly letter to his brother of Russia, but Alexander was in such
haste to reply to the flattering missive of his brother of France that
M. Czernischeff was hurried back to Paris, having scarcely been suffered
to enter the gates of St. Petersburg. I believe I am correct in the
idea that Napoleon was not really displeased at the intrigues of M.
Czernischeff, from the supposition that they afforded an indication of
the hostile intentions of Russia towards France; for, whatever he might
say on this subject to his confidants, what reliance can we place on the
man who formed the camp of Boulogne without the most distant intention
of attempting a descent upon England, and who had deceived the whole
world respecting that important affair without taking any one into his
own confidence?
During the period of my stay in Paris the war with Spain and Portugal
occupied much of the public attention; and it proved in the end an
enterprise upon which the intuition of Josephine had not deceived her.
In general she intermeddled little with political affairs; in the first
place, because her doing so would have given offence to Napoleon; and
next, because her natural frivolity led her to give a preference to
lighter pursuits. But I may safely affirm that she was endowed with an
instinct so perfect as seldom to be deceived respecting the good or evil
tendency of any measure which Napoleon engaged in; and I remember she
told me that when informed of the intention of the Emperor to bestow
the throne of Spain on Joseph, she was seized with a feeling of
indescribable alarm. It would be difficult to define that instinctive
feeling which leads us to foresee the future; but it is a fact that
Josephine was endowed with this faculty in a more perfect decree than
any other person I have ever known, and to her it was a fatal gift, for
she suffered at the same time under the weight of present and of future
misfortunes.
I often visited her at Malmaison, as Duroc assured me that the Emperor
had no objection to my doing so; yet he must have been fully aware that
when Josephine and I were in confidential conversation he would not
always be mentioned in terms of unqualified eulogy; and in truth, his
first friend and his first wife might well be excused for sometimes
commingling their complaints.
Though more than a twelvemonth had elapsed since the divorce grief still
preyed on the heart of Josephine. "You cannot conceive, my friend,"
she often said to me, "all the torments that I have suffered since that
fatal day! I cannot imagine how I survived it. You cannot figure
to yourself the pain I endure on seeing descriptions of his fetes
everywhere. And the first time he came to visit me after his marriage,
what a meeting was that! How many tears I shed! The days on which he
comes are to me days of misery, for he spares me not. How cruel to speak
of his expected heir. Bourrienne, you cannot conceive how heart-rending
all this is to me! Better, far better to be exiled a thousand leagues
from hence! However," added Josephine, "a few friends still remain
faithful in my changed fortune, and that is now the only thing which
affords me even temporary consolation." The truth is that she was
extremely unhappy, and the most acceptable consolation her friends could
offer her was to weep with her. Yet such was still Josephine's passion
for dress, that after. having wept for a quarter of an hour she would
dry her tears to give audience to milliners and jewellers. The sight of
a new hat would call forth all Josephine's feminine love of finery.
One day I remember that, taking advantage of the momentary serenity
occasioned by an ample display of sparkling gewgaws, I congratulated her
upon the happy influence they exercised over her spirits, when she said,
"My dear friend, I ought, indeed, to be indifferent to all this; but it
is a habit." Josephine might have added that it was also an occupation,
for it would be no exaggeration to say that if the time she wasted in
tears and at her toilet had been subtracted from her life its duration
would have been considerably shortened.
The vast extent of the French Empire now presented a spectacle which
resembled rather the dominion of the Romans and the conquests of
Charlemagne than the usual form and political changes of modern Europe.
In fact, for nearly two centuries, until the period of the Revolution,
and particularly until the elevation of Napoleon, no remarkable changes
had taken place in the boundaries of European States, if we except the
partition of Poland, when two of the co-partitioners committed the
error of turning the tide of Russia towards the west! Under Napoleon
everything was overturned with astonishing rapidity: customs, manners,
laws, were superseded
--[The so-called "French" armies of the time, drawn from all parts
of the Empire and from the dependent States, represented the
extraordinary fusion attempted by Napoleon. Thus, at the battle of
Ocana there were at least troops of the following States, viz.
Warsaw, Holland, Baden, Nassau, Hesse-Darmstadt, Frankfort, besides
the Spaniards in Joseph's service. A Spanish division went to
Denmark, the regiment from Isembourg was sent to Naples, while the
Neapolitans crossed to Spain. Even the little Valais had to furnish
a battalion. Blacks from San Domingo served in Naples, while
sixteen nations, like so many chained dogs, advanced into Russia.
Such troops could not have the spirit of a homogeneous army.
Already, in 1808, Metternich had written from Paris to his Court,
"It is no longer the nation that fights: the present war (Spain) is
Napoleon's war; it is not even that of his army." But Napoleon
himself was aware of the danger of the Empire from its own extent.
In the silence of his cabinet his secretary Meneval sometimes heard
him murmur, "L'arc est trop longtemps tendu."]--
by new customs, new manners, and new laws, imposed by force, and forming
a heterogeneous whole, which could not fail to dissolve, as soon as the
influence of the power which had created it should cease to operate.
Such was the state of Italy that I have been informed by an individual
worthy of credit that if the army of Prince Eugène, instead of being
victorious, had been beaten on the Piava, a deeply-organised revolution
would have broken out in Piedmont, and even in the Kingdom of Italy,
where, nevertheless, the majority of the people fully appreciated the
excellent qualities of Eugène. I have been also credibly informed that
lists were in readiness designating those of the French who were to be
put to death, as well as those by whom the severe orders of the Imperial
Government had been mitigated, and who were only to be banished.
In fact, revolt was as natural to the Italians as submission to the
Germans, and as the fury of despair to the Spanish nation. On this
subject I may cite an observation contained in one of the works of
Alfieri, published fifteen years before the Spanish war. Taking
a cursory view of the different European nations he regarded--the
Spaniards as the only people possessed of "sufficient energy to struggle
against foreign usurpation." Had I still been near the person of
Napoleon I would most assuredly have resorted to an innocent artifice,
which I had several times employed, and placed the work of Alfieri on
his table open at the page I wished him to read. Alfieri's opinion of
the Spanish people was in the end fully verified; and I confess I cannot
think without shuddering of the torrents of blood which inundated the
Peninsula; and for what? To make Joseph Bonaparte a King!
The commencement of 1811 was sufficiently favourable to the French
arms in Spain, but towards the beginning of March the aspect of affairs
changed. The Duke of Belluno, notwithstanding the valour of his troops,
was unsuccessful at Chiclana; and from that day the French army could
not make head against the combined forces of England and Portugal. Even
Massena, notwithstanding the title of Prince of Eslingen (or Essling),
which he had won under the walls of Vienna, was no longer "the favourite
child of victory" as he had been at Zurich.
Having mentioned Massena I may observe that he did not favour the change
of the French Government on the foundation of the Empire. Massena loved
two things, glory and money; but as to what is termed honours, he
only valued those which resulted from the command of an army; and
his recollections all bound him to the Republic, because the Republic
recalled to his mind the most brilliant and glorious events of his
military career. He was, besides, among the number of the Marshals
who wished to see a limit put to the ambition of Bonaparte; and he
had assuredly done enough, since the commencement of the wars of the
Republic, to be permitted to enjoy some repose, which his health at that
period required. What could he achieve against the English in Portugal?
The combined forces of England and Portugal daily augmented, while ours
diminished. No efforts were spared by England to gain a superiority in
the great struggle in which she was engaged; as her money was lavished
profusely, her troops paid well wherever they went, and were abundantly
supplied with ammunition and provisions: the French army was compelled,
though far from possessing such ample means, to purchase at the same
high rate, in order to keep the natives from joining the English
party. But even this did not prevent numerous partial insurrections in
different places, which rendered all communication with France extremely
difficult. Armed bands continually carried off our dispersed soldiers;
and the presence of the British troops, supported by the money they
spent in the country, excited the inhabitants against us; for it is
impossible to suppose that, unsupported by the English, Portugal could
have held out a single moment against France. But battles, bad weather,
and even want, had so reduced the French force that it was absolutely
necessary our troops should repose when their enterprises could lead to
no results. In this state of things Massena was recalled, because his
health was so materially injured as to render it impossible for him to
exert sufficient activity to restore the army to a respectable footing.
Under these circumstances Bonaparte sent Bertrand into Illyria to take
the place of Marmont, who was ordered in his turn to relieve Massena
and take command of the French army in Portugal Marmont on assuming
the command found the troops in a deplorable state. The difficulty of
procuring provisions was extreme, and the means he was compelled to
employ for that purpose greatly heightened the evil, at the same time
insubordination and want of discipline prevailed to such an alarming
degree that it would be as difficult as painful to depict the situation
of our army at this period, Marmont, by his steady conduct, fortunately
succeeded in correcting the disorders which prevailed, and very soon
found himself at the head of a well-organised army, amounting to 30,000
infantry, with forty pieces of artillery, but he had only a very small
body of cavalry, and those ill-mounted.
Affairs in Spain at the commencement of 1811 exhibited an aspect not
very different from those of Portugal. At first we were uniformly
successful, but our advantages were so dearly purchased that the
ultimate issue of this struggle might easily have been foreseen, because
when a people fight for their homes and their liberties the invading
army must gradually diminish, while at the same time the armed
population, emboldened by success, increases in a still more marked
progression. Insurrection was now regarded by the Spaniards as a holy
and sacred duty, to which the recent meetings of the Cortes in the Isle
of Leon had given, as it were, a legitimate character, since Spain found
again, in the remembrance of her ancient privileges, at least the shadow
of a Government--a centre around which the defenders of the soil of the
Peninsula could rally.
--[Lord Wellington gave Massena a beating at Fuentes d'Onore on the
5th of May 1811. It was soon after this battle that Napoleon sent
Marmont to succeed Massena. Advancing on the southern frontier of
Portugal the skillful Soult contrived to take Badajoz from a
wavering Spanish garrison. About this time, however, General
Graham, with his British corps, sallied out of Cadiz, and beat the
French on the heights of Barrosa, which lie in front of Cadiz, which
city the French were then besieging. Encouraged by the successes of
our regular armies, the Spanish Guerillas became more and more
numerous and daring. By the end of 1811 Joseph Bonaparte found so
many thorns in his usurped crown that he implored his brother to put
it on some other head. Napoleon would not then listen to his
prayer. In the course of 1811 a plan was laid for liberating
Ferdinand from his prison in France and placing him at the head of
affairs in Spain, but was detected by the emissaries of Bonaparte's
police. Ferdinand's sister, the ex-Queen of Etruria, had also
planned an escape to England. Her agents were betrayed, tried by a
military commission, and shot--the Princess herself was condemned to
close confinement in a Roman convent.--Editor of 1836 edition.]--
The Continental system was the cause, if not of the eventual fall,
at least of the rapid fall of Napoleon. This cannot be doubted if we
consider for a moment the brilliant situation of the Empire in 1811,
and the effect simultaneously produced throughout Europe by that system,
which undermined the most powerful throne which ever existed. It was the
Continental system that Napoleon upheld in Spain, for he had persuaded
himself that this system, rigorously enforced, would strike a death
blow to the commerce of England; and Duroc besides informed me of a
circumstance which is of great weight in this question. Napoleon one
day said to him, "I am no longer anxious that Joseph should be King of
Spain; and he himself is indifferent about it. I would give the crown to
the first comer who would shut his ports against the English."
Murat had come to Paris on the occasion of the Empress' accouchement,
and I saw him several times during his stay, for we had always been
on the best terms; and I must do him the justice to say that he never
assumed the King but to his courtiers, and those who had known him only
as a monarch. Eight or ten days after the birth of the King of Rome,
as I was one morning walking in the Champs Elysees, I met Murat. He was
alone, and dressed in a long blue overcoat. We were exactly opposite the
gardens of his sister-in-law, the Princess Borghese. "Well, Bourrienne,"
said Murat, after we had exchanged the usual courtesies, "well, what are
you about now?" I informed him how I had been treated by Napoleon, who,
that I might not be in Hamburg when the decree of union arrived there,
had recalled me to Paris under a show of confidence. I think I still
see the handsome and expressive countenance of Joachim when, having
addressed him by the titles of Sire and Your Majesty, he said to me,
"Pshaw! Bourrienne, are we not old comrades? The Emperor has treated
you unjustly; and to whom has he not been unjust? His displeasure is
preferable to his favour, which costs so dear! He says that he made us
Kings; but did we not make him an Emperor? To you, my friend, whom I
have known long and intimately, I can make my profession of faith. My
sword, my blood, my life belong to the Emperor. When he calls me to the
field to combat his enemies and the enemies of France I am no longer a
King, I resume the rank of a Marshal of the Empire; but let him require
no more. At Naples I will be King of Naples, and I will not sacrifice to
his false calculations the life, the well-being, and the interests of
my subjects. Let him not imagine that he can treat me as he has treated
Louis! For I am ready to defend, even against him, if it must be so, the
rights of the people over whom he has appointed me to rule. Am I then
an advance-guard King?" These last words appeared to me peculiarly
appropriate in the mouth of Murat, who had always served in the
advance-guard of our armies, and I thought expressed in a very happy
manner the similarity of his situation as a king and a soldier.
I walked with Murat about half an hour. In the course of our
conversation he informed me that his greatest cause of complaint against
the Emperor was his having first put him forward and then abandoned him.
"Before I arrived in Naples," continued he, "it was intimated to me that
there was a design of assassinating me. What did I do? I entered that
city alone, in full daylight, in an open carriage, for I would rather
have been assassinated at once than have lived in the constant fear
of being so. I afterwards made a descent on the Isle of Capri, which
succeeded. I attempted one against Sicily, and am curtain it would have
also been successful had the Emperor fulfilled his promise of sending
the Toulon fleet to second my operations; but he issued contrary orders:
he enacted Mazarin, and unshed me to play the part of the adventurous
Duke of Guise. But I see through his designs. Now that he has a son,
on whom he has bestowed the title of King of Rome, he merely wishes the
crown of Naples to be considered as a deposit in my hands. He regards
Naples as a future annexation to the Kingdom of Rome, to which I foresee
it is his design to unite the whole of Italy. But let him not urge me
too far, for I will oppose him, and conquer, or perish in the attempt,
sword in hand."
I had the discretion not to inform Murat how correctly he had divined
the plans of the Emperor and his projects as to Italy, but in regard to
the Continental system, which, perhaps, the reader will be inclined to
call my great stalking-horse, I spoke of it as I had done to the Prince
of Sweden, and I perceived that he was fully disposed to follow my
advice, as experience has sufficiently proved. It was in fact the
Continental system which separated the interests of Murat from those
of the Emperor, and which compelled the new King of Naples to form
alliances amongst the Princes at war with France. Different opinions
have been entertained on this Subject; mine is, that the Marshal of the
Empire was wrong, but the King of Naples right.
The Princes and Dukes of the Empire must pardon me for so often
designating them by their Republican names. The Marshals set less value
on their titles of nobility than the Dukes and Counts selected from
among the civilians. Of all the sons of the Republic Regnault de St.
Jean d'Angély was the most gratified at being a Count, whilst, among the
fathers of the Revolution no one could regard with greater disdain than
Fouché his title of Duke of Otranto; he congratulated himself upon its
possession only once, and that was after the fall of the Empire.
I have expressed my dislike of Fouché; and the reason of that feeling
was, that I could not endure his system of making the police a
government within a government. He had left Paris before my return
thither, but I had frequent occasion to speak of that famous personage
to Savary, whom, for the reason above assigned, I do not always term Duc
de Rovigo. Savary knew better than any one the fallacious measures
of Fouché's administration, since he was his successor. Fouché, under
pretence of encouraging men of letters, though well aware that the
Emperor was hostile to them, intended only to bring them into contempt
by making them write verses at command. It was easily seen that Napoleon
nourished a profound dislike of literary men, though we must not
conclude that he wished the public to be aware of that dislike. Those,
besides, who devoted their pens to blazon his glory and his power were
sure to be received by him with distinction. On the other hand, as
Charlemagne and Louis XIV. owed a portion of the splendour of their
reigns to the lustre reflected on them by literature, he wished
to appear to patronise authors, provided that they never discussed
questions relating to philosophy, the independence of mankind, and
civil and political rights. With regard to men of science it was
wholly different; those he held in real estimation; but men of letters,
properly so called, were considered by him merely as a sprig in his
Imperial crown.
The marriage of the Emperor with an Archduchess of Austria had set all
the Court poets to work, and in this contest of praise and flattery it
must be confessed that the false gods were vanquished by the true God;
for, in spite of their fulsome verses, not one of the disciples of
Apollo could exceed the extravagance of the Bishops in their pastoral
letters. At a time when so many were striving to force themselves into
notice there still existed a feeling of esteem in the public mind for
men of superior talent who remained independent amidst the general
corruption; such was M. Lemercier, such was M. de Chateaubriand. I was
in Paris in the spring of 1811, at the period of Chenier's death, when
the numerous friends whom Chateaubriand possessed in the second class of
the Institute looked to him as the successor of Chenier. This was more
than a mere literary question, not only on account of the high
literary reputation M. de Chateaubriand already possessed, but of the
recollection of his noble conduct at the period of Duc d'Enghien's
death, which was yet fresh in the memory of every one; and, besides,
no person could be ignorant of the immeasurable difference of opinion
between Chenier and M. de Chateaubriand.
M. de Chateaubriand obtained a great majority of votes, and was elected
a Member of the Institute. This opened a wide field for conjecture
in Paris. Every one was anxious to see how the author of the Genie du
Christianisme, the faithful defender of the Bourbons, would bend his
eloquence to pronounce the eulogium of a regicide. The time for the
admission of the new Member of the Institute arrived, but in his
discourse, copies of which were circulated in Paris, he had ventured to
allude to the death of Louis XVI., and to raise his voice against the
regicides. This did not displease Napoleon; but M. de Chateaubriand also
made a profession of faith in favour of liberty, which, he said, found
refuge amongst men of letters when banished from the politic body.
This was great boldness for the time; for though Bonaparte was secretly
gratified at seeing the judges of Louis XVI. scourged by an heroic
pen, yet those men held the highest situations under the Government.
Cambacérès filled the second place in the Empire, although at a great
distance from the first; Merlin de Douai was also in power; and it
is known how much liberty was stifled and hidden beneath the dazzling
illusion of what is termed glory. A commission was named to examine the
discourse of Chateaubriand. MM. Suard, de Segur, de Fontanes, and two
or three other members of the same class of the Institute whose names I
cannot recollect, were of opinion that the discourse should be read; but
it was opposed by the majority.
When Napoleon was informed of what had passed he demanded a sight of the
address, which was presented to him by M. Daru. After having perused it
he exclaimed; "Had this discourse been delivered I would have shut the
gates of the Institute, and thrown M. de Chateaubriand into a dungeon
for life." The storm long raged; at length means of conciliation were
tried. The Emperor required M. de Chateaubriand to prepare another
discourse, which the latter refused to do, in spite of every menace.
Madame Gay applied to Madame Regnault de St. Jean d'Angély, who
interested her husband in favour of the author of the Genie du
Christianisme. M. de Montalivet and Savary also acted on this occasion
in the most praiseworthy manner, and succeeded in appeasing the
first transports of the Emperor's rage. But the name of Chateaubriand
constantly called to mind the circumstances which had occasioned him to
give in his resignation; and, besides, Napoleon had another complaint
against him. He had published in the 'Merceure' an article on a work
of M. Alexandre de Laborde. In that article, which was eagerly read in
Paris, and which caused the suppression of the 'Merceure', occurred the
famous phrase which has been since so often repeated: "In vain a Nero
triumphs: Tacitus is already born in his Empire." This quotation leads
me to repeat an observation, which, I believe, I have already made,
viz. that it is a manifest misconception to compare Bonaparte to Nero.
Napoleon's ambition might blind his vision to political crimes, but
in private life no man could evince less disposition to cruelty or
bloodshed. A proof that he bore little resemblance to Nero is that his
anger against the author of the article in question vented itself in
mere words. "What!" exclaimed he, "does Chateaubriand think I am a fool,
and that I do not know what he means? If he goes on this way I will
have him sabred on the steps of the Tuileries." This language is quite
characteristic of Bonaparte, but it was uttered in the first ebullition
of his wrath. Napoleon merely threatened, but Nero would have made good
his threat; and in such a case there is surely some difference between
words and deeds.
The discourse of M. de Chateaubriand revived Napoleon's former enmity
against him; he received an order to quit Paris: M. Daru returned to him
the manuscript of his discourse, which had been read by Bonaparte, who
cancelled some passages with a pencil. We can be sure that the phrase
about liberty was not one of those spared by the Imperial pencil.
However that may be, written copies were circulated with text altered
and abbreviated; and I have even been told that a printed edition
appeared, but I have never seen any copies; and as I do not find the
discourse in the works of M. de Chateaubriand I have reason to believe
that the author has not yet wished to publish it.
Such were the principal circumstances attending the nomination of
Chateaubriand to the Institute. I shall not relate some others which
occurred on a previous occasion, viz. on the election of an old and
worthy visitor at Malmaison, M. Lemercier, and which will serve to show
one of those strange inconsistencies so frequent in the character of
Napoleon.
After the foundation of the Empire M. Lemercier ceased to present
himself at the Tuileries, St. Cloud, or at Malmaison, though he was
often seen in the salons of Madame Bonaparte while she yet hoped not to
become a Queen. Two places were vacant at once in the second class of
the Institute, which still contained a party favourable to liberty.
This party, finding it impossible to influence the nomination of
both members, contented itself with naming one, it being the mutual
condition, in return for favouring the Government candidate, that the
Government party should not oppose the choice of the liberals. The
liberal party selected M. Lemercier, but as they knew his former
connection with Bonaparte had been broken off they wished first to
ascertain that he would do nothing to commit their choice. Chenier was
empowered to inquire whether M. Lemercier would refuse to accompany them
to the Tuileries when they repaired thither in a body, and whether, on
his election, he would comply with the usual ceremony of being presented
to the Emperor. M. Lemercier replied that he would do nothing contrary
to the customs and usages of the body to which he might belong: he was
accordingly elected. The Government candidate was M. Esmenard, who was
also elected. The two new members were presented to the Emperor on the
same day. On this occasion upwards of 400 persons were present in the
salon, from one of whom I received these details. When the Emperor saw
M. Lemercier, for whom he had long pretended great friendship, he
said to him in a kind tone, "Well, Lemercier, you are now installed."
Lemercier respectfully bowed to the Emperor; but without uttering a word
of reply. Napoleon was mortified at this silence, but without saying
anything more to Lemercier he turned to Esmenard, the member who should
have been most acceptable to him, and vented upon him the whole weight
of his indignation in a manner equally unfeeling and unjust. "Well,
Esmenard," said he, "do you still hold your place in the police?" These
words were spoken in so loud a tone as to be heard by all present; and
it was doubtless this cruel and ambiguous speech which furnished the
enemies of Esmenard with arms to attack his reputation as a man of
honour, and to give an appearance of disgrace to those functions which
he exercised with so much zeal and ability.
When, at the commencement of 1811, I left Paris I had ceased to delude
myself respecting the brilliant career which seemed opening before me
during the Consulate. I clearly perceived that since Bonaparte, instead
of receiving me as I expected, had refused to see me at all, the
calumnies of my enemies were triumphant, and that I had nothing to hope
for from an absolute ruler, whose past injustice rendered him the more
unjust. He now possessed what he had so long and ardently wished for,--a
son of his own, an inheritor of his name, his power, and his throne. I
must take this opportunity of stating that the malevolent and infamous
rumours spread abroad respecting the birth of the King of Rome were
wholly without foundation. My friend Corvisart, who did not for a single
instant leave Maria Louisa during her long and painful labour, removed
from my mind every doubt on the subject. It is as true that the young
Prince, for whom the Emperor of Austria stood sponsor at the font, was
the son of Napoleon and the Archduchess Maria Louisa as it is false that
Bonaparte was the father of the first child of Hortense. The birth of
the son of Napoleon was hailed with general enthusiasm. The Emperor was
at the height of his power from the period of the birth of his son until
the reverse he experienced after the battle of the Moskowa. The Empire,
including the States possessed by the Imperial family, contained nearly
57,000,000 of inhabitants; but the period was fast approaching when
this power, unparalleled in modern times, was to collapse under its own
weight.
--[The little King of Rome, Napoleon Francis Bonaparte, was born on
the 20th of March 1811. Editor of 1836 edition.]--
CHAPTER XXVI.
My return to Hamburg--Government Committee established there--
Anecdote of the Comte de Chaban--Napoleon's misunderstanding with
the Pope--Cardinal Fesch--Convention of a Council--Declaration
required from the Bishops--Spain in 1811--Certainty of war with
Russia--Lauriston supersedes Caulaincourt at St. Petersburg--The war
in Spain neglected--Troops of all nations at the disposal of
Bonaparte--Levy of the National Guard--Treaties with Prussia and
Austria--Capitulation renewed with Switzerland--Intrigues with
Czernischeff--Attacks of my enemies--Memorial to the Emperor--Ogier
de la Saussaye and the mysterious box--Removal of the Pope to
Fontainebleau--Anecdote of His Holiness and M. Denon--Departure of
Napoleon and Maria Louisa for Dresden--Situation of affairs in Spain
and Portugal--Rapp's account of the Emperor's journey to Dantzic--
Mutual wish for war on the part of Napoleon and Alexander--Sweden
and Turkey--Napoleon's vain attempt to detach Sweden from her
alliance with Russia.
As I took the most lively interest in all that concerned the Hanse
Towns, my first care on returning to Hamburg was to collect information
from the most respectable sources concerning the influential members
of the new Government. Davoust was at its head. On his arrival he had
established in the Duchy of Mecklenburg, in Swedish Pomerania, and
in Stralsund, the capital of that province, military posts and
custom-houses, and that in a time of profound peace with those
countries, and without any previous declaration. The omnipotence of
Napoleon, and the terror inspired by the name of Davoust, overcame all
obstacles which might have opposed those iniquitous usurpations. The
weak were forced to yield to the strong.
At Hamburg a Government Committee was formed, consisting of the Prince
of Eekmuhl as President, Comte de Chaban, Councillor of State, who
superintended the departments of the Interior and Finance, and of M.
Faure, Councillor of State, who was appointed to form and regulate the
Courts of Law. I had sometimes met M. de Chaban at Malmaison. He was
distantly related to Josephine, and had formerly been an officer in the
French Guards. He was compelled to emigrate, having been subjected to
every species of persecution during the Revolution.
M. de Chaban was among the first of the emigrants who returned to France
after the 18th Brumaire. He was at first made Sub-Prefect of Vendome,
but on the union of Tuscany with France Napoleon created him a member of
the Junta appointed to regulate the affairs of Tuscany. He next became
Prefect of Coblentz and Brussels, was made a Count by Bonaparte, and was
afterwards chosen a member of the Government Committee at Hamburg. M.
de Chaban was a man of upright principles, and he discharged his various
functions in a way that commanded esteem and attachment.
--[I recollect an anecdote which but too well depicts those
disastrous times. The Comte de Chaban, being obliged to cross
France during the Reign of Terror, was compelled to assume a
disguise. He accordingly provided himself with a smockfrock; a cart
and horses, and a load of corn. In this manner he journeyed from
place to place till he reached the frontiers. He stopped at
Rochambeau, in the Vendomais, where he was recognised by the Marshal
de Rochambeau, who to guard against exciting any suspicion among
his servants, treated him as if he had really been a carman and said
to him, "You may dine in the kitchen."--Bourrienne.]--
The Hanseatic Towns, united to the Grand Empire professedly for
their welfare, soon felt the blessings of the new organisation of
a regenerating Government. They were at once presented with; the
stamp-duty, registration, the lottery, the droits reunis, the tax on
cards, and the 'octroi'. This prodigality of presents caused, as we may
be sure, the most lively gratitude; a tax for military quarters and
for warlike supplies was imposed, but this did not relieve any one from
laving not only officers and soldiers; but even all the chiefs of the
administration and their officials billeted on them: The refineries,
breweries, and manufactures of all sorts were suppressed. The cash
chests of the Admiralty, of the charity houses, of the manufactures, of
the savings-banks, of the working classes, the funds of the prisons, the
relief meant for the infirm, the chests of the refuges, orphanages; and
of the hospitals, were all seized.
More than 200,000 men, Italian, Dutch, and French soldiers came in turn
to stay there, but only to be clothed and shod; and then they left newly
clothed from head to foot. To leave nothing to be wished for, Davoust,
from 1812, established military commissions in all the thirty-second.
military division, before he entered upon the Russian campaign. To
complete these oppressive measures he established at the same time the
High Prevotal Court of the Customs. It was at this time that M. Eudes,
the director of the ordinary customs, a strict but just man, said that
the rule of the ordinary customs would be regretted, "for till now you
have only been on roses.." The professed judgments of this court were
executed without appeal and without delay. From what I have just said
the situation and the misery of the north of Germany, and the consequent
discontent, can be judged.
During my stay in Hamburg, which on this occasion was not very long,
Napoleon's attention was particularly engaged by the campaign of
Portugal, and his discussions with the Pope. At this period the
thunderbolts of Rome were not very alarming. Yet precautions were
taken to keep secret the excommunication which Pius VII. had pronounced
against Napoleon. The event, however, got reported about, and a party
in favour of the Pope speedily rose up among the clergy, and more
particularly among the fanatics. Napoleon sent to Savona the Archbishops
of Nantes, Bourges, Treves, and Tours, to endeavour to bring about
a reconciliation with His Holiness. But all their endeavours were
unavailing, and after staying a month at Savona they returned to Paris
without having done anything. But Napoleon was not discouraged by
this first disappointment, and he shortly afterwards sent a second
deputation, which experienced the same fate as the first. Cardinal
Fesch, Napoleon's uncle, took part with the Pope. For this fact I can
vouch, though I cannot for an answer which he is said to have made
to the Emperor. I have been informed that when Napoleon was one day
speaking to his uncle about the Pope's obstinacy the Cardinal made some
observations to him on his (Bonaparte's) conduct to the Holy Father,
upon which Napoleon flew into a passion, and said that the Pope and he
were two old fools. "As for the Pope," said he, "he is too obstinate to
listen to anything. No, I am determined he shall never have Rome again.
. . . He will not remain at Savona, and where does he wish I should send
him?"--"To Heaven, perhaps," replied the Cardinal.
The truth is, the Emperor was violently irritated against Pius VII.
Observing with uneasiness the differences and difficulties to which all
these dissensions gave rise, he was anxious to put a stop to them. As
the Pope would not listen to any propositions that were made to him,
Napoleon convoked a Council, which assembled in Paris, and at which
several Italian Bishops were present. The Pope insisted that the
temporal and spiritual interests should be discussed together; and,
however disposed a certain number of prelates, particularly the
Italians, might be to separate these two points of discussion, yet the
influence of the Church and well-contrived intrigues gradually gave
preponderance to the wishes of the Pope. The Emperor, having discovered
that a secret correspondence was carried on by several of the Bishops
and Archbishops who had seats in the Council, determined to get rid of
some of them, and the Bishops of Ghent, Troyes, Tournay, and Toulouse
were arrested and sent to Vincennes. They were superseded by others.
He wished to dissolve the Council, which he saw was making no advance
towards the object he had in view, and, fearing that it might adopt some
act at variance with his supreme wish, every member of the Council was
individually required to make a declaration that the proposed changes
were conformable to the laws of the Church. It was said at the time that
they were unanimous in this individual declaration, though it is certain
that in the sittings of the Council opinions were divided. I know not
what His Holiness thought of these written opinions compared with the
verbal opinions that had been delivered, but certain it is though still
a captive at Savona, he refused to adhere to the concessions granted in
the secret declarations.
The conflicts which took place in Spain during the year 1811 were
unattended by any decisive results. Some brilliant events, indeed,
attested the courage of our troops and the skill of our generals.
Such were the battle of Albufera and the taking of Tarragona, while
Wellington was obliged to raise the siege of Badajoz. These advantages,
which were attended only by glory, encouraged Napoleon in the hope of
triumphing in the Peninsula, and enabled him to enjoy the brilliant
fetes which took place at Paris in celebration of the birth of the King
of Rome.
On his return from a tour in Holland at the end of October Napoleon
clearly saw that a rupture with Russia was inevitable. In vain he sent
Lauriston as Ambassador to St. Petersburg to supersede Caulaincourt,
who would no longer remain there: all the diplomatic skill in the world
could effect nothing with a powerful Government which had already formed
its determination. All the Cabinets in Europe were now unanimous in
wishing for the overthrow of Napoleon's power, and the people no less,
ardently wished for an order of things less fatal to their trade
and industry. In the state to which Europe was reduced no one could
counteract the wish of Russia and her allies to go to war with
France--Lauriston no more than Caulaincourt.
The war for which Napoleon was now obliged to prepare forced him to
neglect Spain, and to leave his interests in that country in a state of
real danger. Indeed, his occupation of Spain and his well-known wish to
maintain himself there were additional motives for inducing the powers
of Europe to enter upon a war which would necessarily divide Napoleon's
forces. All at once the troops which were in Italy and the north of
Germany moved towards the frontiers of the Russian Empire. From March
1811 the Emperor had all the military forces of Europe at his disposal.
It was curious to see this union of nations, distinguished by difference
of manners,
--[It should be remarked that Napoleon was far from being anxious
for the war with Russia. Metternich writing on 26th March 1811,
says "Everything seems to indicate that the Emperor Napoleon is at
present still far from desiring a war with Russia. But it is not
less true that the Emperor Alexander has given himself over, 'nolens
volens', to the war party, and that he will bring about war, because
the time is approaching when he will no longer be able to resist the
reaction of the party in the internal affairs of his Empire, or the
temper of his army. The contest between Count Romanzov and the
party opposed to that Minister seems on the point of precipitating a
war between Russia and France." This, from Metternich, is strong
evidence.]--
language, religion, and interests, all ready to fight for one man
against a power who had done nothing to offend them. Prussia herself,
though she could not pardon the injuries he had inflicted upon her,
joined his alliance, but with the intention of breaking it on the first
opportunity. When the war with Russia was first spoken of Savary and I
had frequent conversations on the subject. I communicated to him all the
intelligence I received from abroad respecting that vast enterprise. The
Duc de Rovigo shared all my forebodings; and if he and those who thought
like him had been listened to, the war would probably have been avoided.
Through him I learnt who were the individuals who urged the invasion.
The eager ambition with which they looked forward to Viceroyalties,
Duchies, and endowments blinded them to the possibility of seeing the
Cossacks in Paris.
The gigantic enterprise being determined on, vast preparations were made
for carrying it into effect. Before his departure Napoleon, who was to
take with him all the disposable troops, caused a 'Senatus-consulte' to
be issued for levying the National Guards, who were divided into
three corps. He also arranged his diplomatic affairs by concluding,
in February 1812, a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive,
with Prussia, by virtue of which the two contracting powers mutually
guaranteed the integrity of their own possessions, and the European
possessions of the Ottoman Porte, because that power was then at war
with Russia. A similar treaty was concluded about the beginning of March
with Austria, and about the end of the same month Napoleon renewed
the capitulation of France and Switzerland. At length, in the month of
April, there came to light an evident proof of the success which had
attended M. Czernischeff's intrigues in Paris. It was ascertained that
a clerk in the War Office, named Michel, had communicated to him the
situation of the French forces in Germany. Michel was condemned to
death, for the time was gone by when Bonaparte, confident in his genius
and good fortune, could communicate his plans to the spy of General
Melas.
In March 1812, when I saw that the approaching war would necessarily
take Napoleon from France, weary of the persecutions and even threats
by which I was every day assailed, I addressed to the Emperor a memorial
explaining my conduct and showing the folly and wickedness of my
accusers. Among them was a certain Ogier de la Saussaye, who had sent
a report to the Emperor, in which the principal charge was, that I had
carried off a box containing important papers belonging to the First
Consul. The accusation of Ogier de la Saussaye terminated thus: "I add
to my report the interrogatories of MM. Westphalen, Osy, Chapeau Rouge,
Aukscher, Thierry, and Gumprecht-Mores. The evidence of the latter
bears principally on a certain mysterious box, a secret upon which it is
impossible to throw any light, but the reality of which we are bound to
believe." These are his words. The affair of the mysterious box has
been already explained. I have already informed the reader that I put my
papers into a box, which I buried lest it should be stolen from me. But
for that precaution I should not have been able to lay before the reader
the autograph documents in my possession, and which I imagine form the
most essential part of these volumes. In my memorial to the Emperor I
said, in allusion to the passage above quoted, "This, Sire, is the most
atrocious part of Ogier's report.
"Gumprecht being questioned on this point replies that the accuser has
probably, as well as himself, seen the circumstance mentioned in an
infamous pamphlet which appeared seven or eight years, ago. It was,
I think, entitled 'Le Secret du Cabinet des Tuileries,' and was very
likely at the time of its appearance denounced by the police. In that
libel it is stated, among a thousand other calumnies equally false and
absurd, 'that when I left the First Consul I carried away a box full of
important papers, that I was in consequence sent to the Temple, where
your brother Joseph came to me and offered me my liberation, and a
million of francs, if I would restore the papers, which I refused to
do,' etc. Ogier, instead of looking for this libel in Hamburg, where I
read it, has the impudence to give credit to the charge, the truth of
which could have been ascertained immediately: and he adds, 'This secret
we are bound to believe.' Your Majesty knows whether I was ever in the
Temple, and whether Joseph ever made such an offer to me." I entreated
that the Emperor would do me the favour to bring me to trial; for
certainly I should have regarded that as a favour rather than to remain
as I was, exposed to vague accusations; yet all my solicitations were in
vain. My letter to the Emperor remained unanswered; but though Bonaparte
could not spare a few moments to reply to an old friend, I learned
through Duroc the contempt he cherished for my accusers. Duroc
advised me not to be uneasy, and that in all probability the Emperor's
prejudices against me would be speedily overcome; and I must say that if
they were not overcome it was neither the fault of Duroc nor Savary, who
knew how to rightly estimate the miserable intrigues just alluded to.
Napoleon was at length determined to extend the limits of his Empire,
or rather to avenge the injuries which Russia had committed against his
Continental system. Yet, before he departed for Germany, the resolute
refusal of the Pope to submit to any arrangement urgently claimed
his consideration. Savona did not appear to him a sufficiently secure
residence for such a prisoner. He feared that when all his strength
should be removed towards the Niemen the English might carry off the
Pope, or that the Italians, excited by the clergy, whose dissatisfaction
was general in Italy, would stir up those religious dissensions which
are always fatal and difficult to quell. With the view, therefore, of
keeping the Pope under his control he removed him to Fontainebleau, and
even at one time thought of bringing him to Paris.
The Emperor appointed M. Denon to reside with the Pope at Fontainebleau;
and to afford his illustrious prisoner the society of such a man was
certainly a delicate mark of attention on the part of Napoleon. When
speaking of his residence with Pius VII. M. Denon related to me the
following anecdote. "The Pope," said he, "was much attached to me.
He always addressed me by the appellation 'my son,' and he loved to
converse with me, especially on the subject of the Egyptian expedition.
One day he asked me for my work on Egypt, which he said he wished to
read; and as you know it is not quite orthodox, and does not perfectly
agree with the creation of the world according to Genesis, I at first
hesitated; but the Pope insisted, and at length I complied with his
wish. The Holy Father assured me that he had been much interested by the
perusal of the book. I made some allusion to the delicate points; upon
which he said, 'No matter, no matter, my son; all that is exceedingly
curious, and I must confess entirely new to me.' I then," continued M.
Denon, "told His Holiness why I hesitated to lend him the work, which,
I observed, he had excommunicated, together with its author.
'Excommunicated you, my son?' resumed the Pope in a tone of affectionate
concern. 'I am very sorry for it, and assure you I was far from being
aware of any such thing.'"
When M. Denon related to me this anecdote he told me how greatly he had
admired the virtues and resignation of the Holy Father; but he added
that it would nevertheless have been easier to make him a martyr than
to induce him to yield on any point until he should be restored to
the temporal sovereignty of Rome, of which he considered himself
the depositary, and which he would not endure the reproach of having
willingly sacrificed. After settling the place of the Pope's residence
Napoleon set off for Dresden, accompanied by Maria Louisa, who had
expressed a wish to see her father.
The Russian enterprise, the most gigantic, perhaps, that the genius
of man ever conceived since the conquest of India by Alexander, now
absorbed universal attention, and defied the calculations of reason.
The Manzanares was forgotten, and nothing was thought of but the Niemen,
already so celebrated by the raft of Tilsit. Thither, as towards a
common centre, were moving men, horses, provisions, and baggage of every
kind, from all parts of Europe. The hopes of our generals and the fears
of all prudent men were directed to Russia. The war in Spain, which was
becoming more and more unfortunate, excited but a feeble interest; and
our most distinguished officers looked upon it as a disgrace to be sent
to the Peninsula. In short, it was easy to foresee that the period
was not far distant when the French would be obliged to recross the
Pyrenees. Though the truth was concealed from the Emperor on many
subjects, yet he was not deceived as to the situation of Spain in the
spring of 1812. In February the Duke of Ragusa had frankly informed him
that the armies of Spain and Portugal could not, without considerable
reinforcements of men and money, hope for any important advantages since
Ciudad-Rodrigo and Badajoz had fallen into the hands of the English.
Before he commenced his great operations on the Niemen and the Volga
Napoleon made a journey to Dantzic, and Rapp, who was then Governor of
that city, informed me of some curious particulars connected with the
Imperial visit. The fact is, that if Rapp's advice had been listened
to, and had been supported by men higher in rank than himself, Bonaparte
would not have braved the chances of the Russian war until those chances
turned against him. Speaking to me of the Russians Rapp said, "They will
soon be as wise as we are! Every time we go to war with them we teach
them how to beat us." I was struck with the originality and truth of
this observation, which at the time I heard it was new, though it has
been often repeated since.
"On leaving Dresden," said Rapp to me, "Napoleon came to Dantzic. I
expected a dressing; for, to tell you the truth, I had treated very
cavalierly both his custom-house and its officers, who were raising up
as many enemies to France as there were inhabitants in my Government.
I had also warned him of all that has since happened in Russia, but
I assure you I did not think myself quite so good a prophet. In
the beginning of 1812 I thus wrote to him: 'If your Majesty should
experience reverses you may depend on it that both Russians and Germans
will rise up in a mass to shake off the yoke. There will be a crusade,
and all your allies will abandon you. Even the King of Bavaria, on whom
you rely so confidently, will join the coalition. I except only the King
of Saxony. He, perhaps, might remain faithful to you; but his subjects
will force him to make common cause with your enemies. The King of
Naples," continued Rapp, "who had the command of the cavalry, had been
to Dantzic before the Emperor. He did not seem to take a more favourable
view of the approaching campaign than I did. Murat was dissatisfied that
the Emperor would not consent to his rejoining him in Dresden; and he
said that he would rather be a captain of grenadiers than a King such as
he was."
Here I interrupted Rapp to tell him what had fallen from Murat when I
met him in the Champs Elysees "Bah!" resumed Rapp, "Murat, brave as he
was, was a craven in Napoleon's presence! On the Emperor's arrival in
Dantzic the first thing of which he spoke to me was the alliance he had
just then concluded with Prussia and Austria. I could not refrain from
telling him that we did a great deal of mischief as allies; a fact of
which I was assured from the reports daily transmitted to me respecting
the conduct of our troops. Bonaparte tossed his bead, as you know he was
in the habit of doing when he was displeased. After a moment's silence,
dropping the familiar thee and thou, he said, 'Monsieur le General, this
is a torrent which must be allowed to run itself out. It will not last
long. I must first ascertain whether Alexander decidedly wishes for
war.' Then, suddenly changing the subject of conversation, he said,
'Have you not lately observed something extraordinary in Murat? I think
he is quite altered. Is he ill?'--'Sire,' replied I, 'Murat is not
ill, but he is out of spirits.'--'Out of spirits! but why? Is he not
satisfied with being a King?'--'Sire, Murat says he is no King.'--'That
is his own fault. Why does he make himself a Neapolitan? Why is he not a
Frenchman? When he is in his Kingdom he commits all sorts of follies. He
favours the trade of England; that I will not suffer.'
"When," continued Rapp, "he spoke of the favour extended by Murat to the
trade between Naples and England I thought my turn would come next; but
I was deceived. No more was said on the subject, and when I was about
to take my leave the Emperor said to me, as when in his best of humours,
'Rapp, you will sup with me this evening.' I accordingly supped that
evening with the Emperor, who had also invited the King of Naples and
Berthier. Next day the Emperor visited the fortress, and afterwards
returned to the Government Palace, where he received the civil and
military authorities. He again invited Murat, Berthier, and me to
supper. When we first sat down to table we were all very dull, for the
Emperor was silent; and, as you well know, under such circumstances
not even Murat himself dared to be the first to speak to him. At length
Napoleon, addressing me, inquired how far it was from Cadiz to Dantzic.
'Too far, Sire,' replied I. 'I understand you, Monsieur le General,
but in a few months the distance will be still greater.'--'So much the
worse, Sire!' Here there was another pause. Neither Murat nor Berthier,
on whom the Emperor fixed a scrutinising glance, uttered a word, and
Napoleon again broke silence, but without addressing any one of us in
particular: 'Gentlemen,' said he in a solemn and rather low tone of
voice, 'I see plainly that you are none of you inclined to fight again.
The King of Naples does not wish to leave the fine climate of his
dominions, Berthier wishes to enjoy the diversion of the chase at his
estate of Gros Bois, and Rapp is impatient to be back to his hotel in
Paris.' Would you believe it," pursued Rapp, "that neither Murat nor
Berthier said a word in reply? and the ball again came to me. I told him
frankly that what he said was perfectly true, and the King of Naples and
the Prince of Neufchatel complimented me on my spirit, and observed that
I was quite right in saying what I did. 'Well,' said I, 'since it was so
very right, why did you not follow my example, and why leave me to say
all?' You cannot conceive," added Rapp, "how confounded they both were,
and especially Murat, though he was very differently situated from
Berthier."
The negotiations which Bonaparte opened with Alexander, when he yet
wished to seem averse to war, resembled those oratorical paraphrases
which do not prevent us from coming to the conclusion we wish. The two
Emperors equally desired war; the one with the view of consolidating his
power, and the other in the hope of freeing himself from a yoke which
threatened to reduce him to a state of vassalage, for it was little
short of this to require a power like Russia to close her ports against
England for the mere purpose of favouring the interests of France.
At that time only two European powers were not tied to Napoleon's
fate--Sweden and Turkey. Napoleon was anxious to gain the alliance of
these two powers. With respect to Sweden his efforts were vain; and
though, in fact, Turkey was then at war with Russia, yet the Grand
Seignior was not now, as at the time of Sebastiani's embassy, subject to
the influence of France.
The peace, which was soon concluded at Bucharest, between Russia, and
Turkey increased Napoleon's embarrassment. The left of the Russian army,
secured by the neutrality of Turkey, was reinforced by Bagration's corps
from Moldavia: it subsequently occupied the right of the Beresina, and
destroyed the last hope of saving the wreck of the French army. It is
difficult to conceive how Turkey could have allowed the consideration of
injuries she had received from France to induce her to terminate the war
with Russia when France was attacking that power with immense forces.
The Turks never had a fairer opportunity for taking revenge on Russia,
and, unfortunately for Napoleon, they suffered it to escape.
Napoleon was not more successful when he sought the alliance of a Prince
whose fortune he had made, and who was allied to his family, but with
whom he had never been on terms of good understanding. The Emperor
Alexander had a considerable corps of troops in Finland destined to
protect that country against the Sweden, Napoleon having consented to
that occupation in order to gain the provisional consent of Alexander
to the invasion of Spain. What was the course pursued by Napoleon when,
being at war with Russia, he wished to detach Sweden from her
alliance with Alexander? He intimated to Bernadotte that he had a sure
opportunity of retaking Finland, a conquest which would gratify his
subjects and win their attachment to him. By this alliance Napoleon
wished to force Alexander not to withdraw the troops who were in the
north of his Empire, but rather to augment their numbers in order to
cover Finland and St. Petersburg. It was thus that Napoleon endeavoured
to draw the Prince Royal into his coalition. It was of little
consequence to Napoleon whether Bernadotte succeeded or not. The Emperor
Alexander would nevertheless have been obliged to increase his force
in Finland; that was all that Napoleon wished. In the gigantic struggle
upon which France and Russia were about to enter the most trivial
alliance was not to be neglected. In January 1812 Davoust invaded
Swedish Pomerania without any declaration of war, and without any
apparent motive. Was this inconceivable violation of territory likely
to dispose the Prince Royal of Sweden to the proposed alliance, even had
that alliance not been adverse to the interests of his country? That was
impossible; and Bernadotte took the part which was expected of him. He
rejected the offers of Napoleon, and prepared for coming events.
The Emperor Alexander wished to withdraw his force from Finland for the
purpose of more effectively opposing the immense army which threatened
his States. Unwilling to expose Finland to an attack on the part of
Sweden, he had an interview on the 28th of August 1812, at Abo, with
the Prince-Royal, to come to an arrangement with him for uniting their
interests. I know that the Emperor of Russia pledged himself, whatever
might happen, to protect Bernadotte against the fate of the new
dynasties, to guarantee the possession of his throne, and promised that
he should have Norway as a compensation for Finland. He even went so far
as to hint that Bernadotte might supersede Napoleon. Bernadotte adopted
all the propositions of Alexander, and from that moment Sweden made
common cause against Napoleon. The Prince Royal's conduct has been much
blamed, but the question resolved itself into one of mere political
interest. Could Bernadotte, a Swede by adoption, prefer the alliance
of an ambitious sovereign whose vengeance he had to fear, and who had
sanctioned the seizure of Finland to that of a powerful monarch, his
formidable neighbour, his protector in Sweden, and where hostility might
effectually support the hereditary claims of young Gustavus? Sweden,
in joining France, would thereby have declared herself the enemy of
England. Where, then, would have been her navy, her trade and even her
existence?
CHAPTER XXVII.
1812.
Changeableness of Bonaparte's plans and opinions--Articles for the
'Moniteur' dictated by the First Consul--The Protocol of the
Congress of Chatillon--Conversations with Davoust at Hamburg--
Promise of the Viceroyalty of Poland--Hope and disappointment of the
Poles--Influence of illusion on Bonaparte--The French in Moscow--
Disasters of the retreat--Mallet's conspiracy--Intelligence of the
affair communicated to Napoleon at Smolensko--Circumstances detailed
by Rapp--Real motives of Napoleon's return to Paris--Murat, Ney, and
Eugène--Power of the Italians to endure cold--Napoleon's exertions
to repair his losses--Defection of General York--Convocation of a
Privy Council--War resolved on--Wavering of the Pope--Useless
negotiations with Vienna--Maria Louisa appointed Regent.
It may now he asked whether Bonaparte, previous to entering upon the
last campaign, had resolved on restoring Poland to independence. The
fact is that Bonaparte, as Emperor, never entertained any positive wish
to reestablish the old Kingdom of Poland, though at a previous period
he was strongly inclined to that re-establishment, of which he felt the
necessity. He may have said that he would re-establish the Kingdom of
Poland, but I beg leave to say that that is no reason for believing that
he entertained any such design. He had said, and even sworn, that he
would never aggrandise the territory of the Empire! The changeableness
of Bonaparte's ideas, plans, and projects renders it difficult to master
them; but they may be best understood when it is considered that all
Napoleon's plans and conceptions varied with his fortunes. Thus, it
is not unlikely that he might at one time have considered the
reestablishment of Poland as essential to European policy, and
afterwards have regarded it as adverse to the development of his
ambition. Who can venture to guess what passed in his mind when dazzled
by his glory at Dresden, and whether in one of his dreams he might not
have regarded the Empire of the Jagellons as another gem in the Imperial
diadem? The truth is that Bonaparte, when General-in-Chief of the
army of Egypt and First Consul, had deeply at heart the avenging the
dismemberment of Poland, and I have often conversed with him on this
most interesting subject, upon which we entirely concurred in opinion.
But times and circumstances were changed since we walked together on the
terrace of Cairo and mutually deplored the death of young Sulkowski. Had
Sulkowski lived Napoleon's favourable intentions with respect to Poland
might perhaps have been confirmed. A fact which explains to me the
coolness, I may almost say the indifference, of Bonaparte to the
resurrection of Poland is that the commencement of the Consulate was the
period at which that measure particularly occupied his attention. How
often did he converse on the subject with me and other persons who may
yet recollect his sentiments! It was the topic on which he most loved
to converse, and on which he spoke with feeling and enthusiasm. In the
'Moniteur' of the period here alluded to I could point out more than one
article without signature or official character which Napoleon dictated
to me, and the insertion of which in that journal, considering the
energy of certain expressions, sufficiently proves that they could have
emanated from none but Bonaparte. It was usually in the evening that he
dictated to me these articles. Then, when the affairs of the day were
over, he would launch into the future, and give free scope to his
vast projects. Some of these articles were characterised by so little
moderation that the First Consul would very often destroy them in the
morning, smiling at the violent ebullitions of the preceding night. At
other times I took the liberty of not sending them to the 'Moniteur'
on the night on which they were dictated, and though he might earnestly
wish their insertion I adduced reasons good or bad, to account for the
delay. He would then read over the article in question, and approve of
my conduct; but he would sometimes add, "It is nevertheless true that
with an independent Kingdom of Poland, and 150,000 disposable troops in
the east of France, I should always be master of Russia, Prussia, and
Austria."--"General," I would reply, "I am entirely of your opinion; but
wherefore awaken the suspicions of the interested parties. Leave all to
time and circumstances."
The reader may have to learn, and not, perhaps, without some surprise,
that in the protocol of the sittings of the Congress of Chatillon
Napoleon put forward the spoliation of Poland by the three principal
powers allied against him as a claim to a more advantageous peace, and
to territorial indemnities for France. In policy he was right, but the
report of foreign cannon was already loud enough to drown the best of
arguments.
After the ill-timed and useless union of the Hanse Towns to France I
returned to Hamburg in the spring of 1811 to convey my family to France.
I then had some conversation with Davoust. On one occasion I said to him
that if his hopes were realised, and my sad predictions respecting
the war with Russia overthrown, I hoped to see the restoration of the
Kingdom of Poland. Davoust replied that that event was probable, since
he had Napoleon's promise of the Viceroyalty of that Kingdom, and as
several of his comrades had been promised starosties. Davoust made no
secret of this, and it was generally known throughout Hamburg and the
north of Germany.
But notwithstanding what Davoust said respecting. Napoleon's intentions
I considered that these promises had been conditional rather than
positive.
On Napoleon's arrival in Poland the Diet of Warsaw, assured, as there
seemed reason to be, of the Emperor's sentiments, declared the Kingdom
free and independent. The different treaties of dismemberment were
pronounced to be null; and certainly the Diet had a right so to act, for
it calculated upon his support. But the address of the Diet to Napoleon,
in which these principles were declared, was ill received. His answer
was full of doubt and indecision, the motive of which could not be
blamed. To secure the alliance of Austria against Russia he had just
guaranteed to his father-in-law the integrity of his dominions. Napoleon
therefore declared that he could take no part in any movement or
resolution which might disturb Austria in the possession of the Polish
provinces forming a part of her Empire. To act otherwise, he said, would
be to separate himself from his alliance with Austria, and to throw
her into the arms of Russia. But with regard to the Polish-Russian
provinces, Napoleon declared he would see what he could do, should
Providence favour the good cause. These vague and obscure expressions
did not define what he intended to do for the Poles in the event of
success crowning his vast enterprises. They excited the distrust of the
Poles, and had no other result. On this subject, however, an observation
occurs which is of some force as an apology for Napoleon. Poland was
successively divided between three powers, Russia, Austria, and Prussia,
with each of which Napoleon had been at war, but never with all three
at once. He had therefore never been able to take advantage of his
victories to re-establish Poland without injuring the interests of
neutral powers or of his allies. Hence it may be concluded not only
that he never had the positive will which would have triumphed over
all obstacles, but also that there never was a possibility of realising
those dreams and projects of revenge in which he had indulged on
the banks of the Nile, as it were to console the departed spirit of
Sulkowski.
Bonaparte's character presents many unaccountable incongruities.
Although the most positive man that perhaps ever existed, yet there
never was one who more readily yielded to the charm of illusion. In
many circumstances the wish and the reality were to him one and the same
thing. He never indulged in greater illusions than at the beginning of
the campaign of Moscow. Even before the approach of the disasters which
accompanied the most fatal retreat recorded in history, all sensible
persons concurred in the opinion that the Emperor ought to have passed
the winter of 1812-13 in Poland, and have resumed his vast enterprises
in the spring. But his natural impatience impelled him forward as
it were unconsciously, and he seemed to be under the influence of an
invisible demon stronger than even his own strong will. This demon was
ambition. He who knew so well the value of time, never sufficiently
understood its power, and how much is sometimes gained by delay. Yet
Caesar's Commentaries, which were his favourite study, ought to have
shown him that Caesar did not conquer Gaul in one campaign. Another
illusion by which Napoleon was misled during the campaign of Moscow, and
perhaps past experience rendered it very excusable, was the belief that
the Emperor Alexander would propose peace when he saw him at the head
of his army on the Russian territory. The prolonged stay of Bonaparte
at Moscow can indeed be accounted for in no other way than by supposing
that he expected the Russian Cabinet would change its opinion and
consent to treat for peace. However, whatever might have been the
reason, after his long and useless stay in Moscow Napoleon left that
city with the design of taking up his winter quarters in Poland;
but Fate now frowned upon Napoleon, and in that dreadful retreat the
elements seemed leagued with the Russians to destroy the most formidable
army ever commanded by one chief. To find a catastrophe in history
comparable to that of the Beresina we must go back to the destruction of
the legions of Varus.
Notwithstanding the general dismay which prevailed in Paris that capital
continued tranquil, when by a singular chance, on the very day on which
Napoleon evacuated the burning city of Moscow, Mallet attempted his
extraordinary enterprise. This General, who had always professed
Republican principles, and was a man of bold decided character, after
having been imprisoned for some time, obtained the permission of
Government to live in Paris in a hospital house situated near the
Barriere de Trove. Of Mallet's, conspiracy it is not necessary to say
much after the excellent account given of it in the Memoirs of the Duc
de Rovigo. Mallet's plan was to make it be believed that Bonaparte had
been killed at Moscow, and that a new Government was established under
the authority of the Senate. But what could Mallet do? Absolutely
nothing: and had his Government continued three days he would have
experienced a more favourable chance than that which he ought reasonably
to have expected than asserted that the Emperor was dead, but an
estafette from Russia would reveal the truth, resuscitate Napoleon, and
overwhelm with confusion Mallet and his proclamation. His enterprise
was that of a madman. The French were too weary of troubles to throw
themselves into the arms of, Mallet or his associate Lahorie, who had
figured so disgracefully on the trial of Moreau., Yet, in spite of the
evident impossibility of success, it must be confessed that considerable
ingenuity and address marked the commencement of the conspiracy. On
the 22d of October Mallet escaped from the hospital house and went to
Colonel Soulier, who commanded the tenth cohort of the National Guard,
whose barracks were situated exactly behind the hospital house. Mallet
was loaded with a parcel of forged orders which he had himself prepared.
He introduced himself to Soulier under the name of General La Motte, and
said that he came from General Mallet.
Colonel Soulier on hearing of the Emperor's death was affected to tears.
He immediately ordered the adjutant to assemble the cohort and obey the
orders of General La Motte, to whom he expressed his regret for being
himself too ill to leave his bed. It was then two o'clock in the
morning, and the forged documents respecting the Emperor's death slid
the new form of Government were read to the troops by lamplight. Mallet
then hastily set off with 1200 men to La Force, and liberated the Sieurs
Gudal and Laholze, who were confined there. Mallet informed them of the
Emperor's death and of the change of Government; gave them some orders,
in obedience to which the Minister and Prefect of Police were arrested
in their hotel.
I was then at Courbevoie, and I went to Paris on that very morning to
breakfast, as I frequently did, with the Minister of Police. My surprise
may be imagined when
--[General Mallet gave out that the Emperor was killed under the
walls of Moscow on the 8th of October; he could not take any other
day without incurring the risk of being contradicted by the arrival
of the regular courier. The Emperor being dead, he concluded that
the Senate ought to be invested with the supreme authority, and he
therefore resolved to address himself in the name of that body to
the nation and the army. In a proclamation to the soldiers he
deplored the death of the Emperor; in another, after announcing the
abolition of the Imperial system and the Restoration of the
Republic, he indicated the manner in which the Government was to be
reconstructed, described the branches into which public authority
was to be divided, and named the Directors. Attached to the
different documents there appeared the signatures of several
Senators whose names he recollected but with whom he had ceased to
have any intercourse for a great number of years. These
signatures were all written by Mallet, and he drew up a decree in
the name of the Senate, and signed by the same Senators, appointing
himself Governor of Paris, and commander of the troops of the first
military division. He also drew up other decrees in the same form
which purported to promote to higher ranks all the military officers
he intended to make instruments in the execution of his enterprise.
He ordered one regiment to close all the barriers of Paris, and
allow no person to pass through them. This was done: so that in all
the neighbouring towns from which assistance, in case of need, might
have been obtained, nothing was known of the transactions in Paris.
He sent the other regiments to occupy the Bank, the Treasury, and
different Ministerial offices. At the Treasury some resistance was
made. The minister of that Department was on the spot, and he
employed the guard of his household in maintaining his authority.
But in the whole of the two regiments of the Qnard not a single,
objection was started to the execution of Mallet's orders (Memoirs
of the Duc de Rivogo, tome vi. p. 20.)]--
I learned from the porter that the Duc de Rovigo had been arrested
and carried to the prison of La Force. I went into the house and was
informed, to my great astonishment, that the ephemeral Minister was
being measured for his official suit, an act which so completely denoted
the character of the conspirator that it gave me an insight into the
business.
Mallet repaired to General Hulin, who had the command of Paris. He
informed him that he had been directed by the Minister of Police to
arrest him and seal his papers. Hulin asked to see the order, and then
entered his cabinet, where Mallet followed him, and just as Hulin was
turning round to speak to him he fired a pistol in his face. Hulin
fell: the ball entered his cheek, but the wound was not mortal. The
most singular circumstance connected with the whole affair is, that the
captain whom Mallet had directed to follow him, and who accompanied him
to Hulin's, saw nothing extraordinary in all this, and did nothing to
stop it. Mallet next proceeded, very composedly, to Adjutant-General
Doucet's. It happened that one of the inspectors of the police
was there. He recognised General Mallet as being a man under his
supervision. He told him that he had no right to quit the hospital house
without leave, and ordered him to be arrested. Mallet, seeing that all
was over, was in the act of drawing a pistol from his pocket, but being
observed was seized and disarmed. Thus terminated this extraordinary
conspiracy, for which fourteen lives paid the forfeit; but, with the
exception of Mallet, Guidal, and Lahorie, all the others concerned in it
were either machines or dupes.
This affair produced but little effect in Paris, for the enterprise
and its result were make known simultaneously. But it was thought droll
enough that the Minister and Prefect of Police should be imprisoned by
the men who only the day before were their prisoners. Next day I went
to see Savary, who had not yet recovered from the stupefaction caused by
his extraordinary adventure. He was aware that his imprisonment;
though it lasted only half an hour, was a subject of merriment to the
Parisians. The Emperor, as I have already mentioned, left Moscow on
the day when Mallet made his bold attempt, that is to say, the 19th of
October. He was at Smolensko when he heard the news. Rapp, who had
been wounded before the entrance into Moscow, but who was sufficiently
recovered to return home, was with Napoleon when the latter received
the despatches containing an account of what had happened in Paris. He
informed me that Napoleon was much agitated on perusing them, and that
he launched into abuse of the inefficiency of the police. Rapp added
that he did not confine himself to complaints against the agents of his
authority. "Is, then, my power so insecure," said he, "that it may be
put in peril by a single individual, and a prisoner? It would appear
that my crown is not fixed very firmly on my head if in my own capital
the bold stroke of three adventurers can shake it. Rapp, misfortune
never comes alone; this is the complement of what is passing here. I
cannot be everywhere; but I must go back to Paris; my presence there is
indispensable to reanimate public opinion. I must have men and money.
Great successes and great victories will repair all. I must set off."
Such were the motives which induced the Emperor to leave his army. It
is not without indignation that I have heard his precipitate departure
attributed to personal cowardice. He was a stranger to such feelings,
and was never more happy than on the field of battle. I can readily
conceive that he was much alarmed on hearing of Mallet's enterprise. The
remarks which he made to Rapp were those which he knew would be made by
the public, and he well knew that the affair was calculated to banish
those illusions of power and stability with which he endeavoured to
surround his government.
On leaving Moscow Napoleon consigned the wrecks of his army to the care
of his most distinguished generals to Murat who had so ably commanded
the cavalry, but who abandoned the army to return to Naples; and to
Ney, the hero, rather than the Prince of the Moskowa, whose name will
be immortal in the annals of glory, as his death will be eternal in the
annals of party revenge. Amidst the general disorder Eugène, more than
any other chief, maintained a sort of discipline among the Italians;
and it was remarked that the troops of the south engaged in the fatal
campaign of Moscow had endured the rigour of the cold better than those
troops who were natives of less genial climates.
Napoleon's return from Moscow was not like his returns from the
campaigns of Vienna and Tilsit when he came back crowned with laurels,
and bringing peace as the reward of his triumphs. It was remarked
that Napoleon's first great disaster followed the first enterprise he
undertook after his marriage with Maria Louisa. This tended to confirm
the popular belief that the presence of Josephine was favourable to his
fortune; and superstitious as he sometimes was, I will not venture to
affirm that he himself did not adopt this ides. He now threw off even
the semblance of legality in the measures of his government: he assumed
arbitrary power, under the impression that the critical circumstances in
which he was placed would excuse everything. But, however inexplicable
were the means to which the Emperor resorted to procure resources, it is
but just to acknowledge that they were the consequence of his system of
government, and that he evinced inconceivable activity in repairing his
losses so as to place himself in a situation to resist his enemies, and
restore the triumph of the French standard.
But in spite of all Napoleon's endeavours the disasters of the campaign
of Russia were daily more and more sensibly felt. The King of Prussia
had played a part which was an acknowledgment of his weakness in joining
France, instead of openly declaring himself for the cause of Russia,
which was also his. Then took place the defection of General York,
who commanded the Prussian contingent to Napoleon's army. The King of
Prussia, though no doubt secretly satisfied with the conduct of General
York, had him tried and condemned; but shortly after that sovereign
commanded in person the troops which had turned against ours. The
defection of the Prussians produced a very ill effect, and it was easy
to perceive that other defections would follow. Napoleon, foreseeing the
fatal chances which this event was likely to draw upon him, assembled a
privy council, composed of the Ministers and some of the great officers
of his household. MM. de Talleyrand and Cambacérès, and the President
of the senate were present. Napoleon asked whether, in the complicated
difficulties of our situation, it would be more advisable to negotiate
for peace or to prepare for a new war. Cambacérès and Talleyrand gave
their opinion in favour of peace, which however, Napoleon would not
hear of after a defeat; but the Duc de Feltre,--[Clarke]--knowing how to
touch the susceptible chord in the mind of Bonaparte, said that he would
consider the Emperor dishonoured if he consented to the abandonment
of the smallest village which had been united to the Empire by a
'Senatus-consulte'. This opinion was adopted, and the war continued.
On Napoleon's return to Paris the Pope, who was still at Fontainebleau,
determined to accede to an arrangement, and to sign an act which the
Emperor conceived would terminate the differences between them. But
being influenced by some of the cardinals who had previously incurred
the Emperor's displeasure Pius VII. disavowed the new Concordat which
he had been weak enough to grant, and the Emperor, who then had more
important affairs on his hands, dismissed the Holy Father, and published
the act to which he had assented. Bonaparte had no leisure to pay
attention to the new difficulties started by Pius VII.; his thoughts
were wholly directed to the other side of the Rhine. He was unfortunate,
and the powers with whom he was most intimately allied separated from
him, as he might have expected, and Austria was not the last to imitate
the example set by Prussia. In these difficult circumstances the
Emperor, who for some time past had observed the talent and address of
the Comte Louis de Narbonne, sent him to Vienna, to supersede M. Otto;
but the pacific propositions of M. de Narbonne were not listened to.
Austria would not let slip the fair opportunity of taking revenge
without endangering herself.
Napoleon now saw clearly that since Austria had abandoned him and
refused her contingent he should soon have all Europe arrayed against
him. But this did not intimidate him.
Some of the Princes of the Confederation of the Rhine still remained
faithful to him; and his preparations being completed, he proposed to
resume in person the command of the army which had been so miraculously
reproduced. But before his departure Napoleon, alarmed at the
recollection of Mallet's attempt, and anxious to guard against any
similar occurrence during his absence, did not, as on former occasions,
consign the reins of the National Government to a Council of Ministers,
presided over by the Arch-Chancellor. Napoleon placed my successor with
him, M. Meneval, near the Empress Regent as Secretaire des Commandemens
(Principal Secretary), and certainly he could not have made a better
choice. He made the Empress Maria Louisa Regent, and appointed a Council
of Regency to assist her.
--[Meneval, who had held the post of Secretary to Napoleon from the
time of Bourrienne's disgrace in 1802, had been nearly killed by the
hardships of the Russian campaign, and now received an honourable
and responsible but less onerous post. He remained with the Empress
till 7th May 1815, when, finding that she would not return to her
husband, he left her to rejoin his master.]--
CHAPTER XXVIII.
1813.
Riots in Hamburg and Lübeck--Attempted suicide of M. Konning--
Evacuation of Hamburg--Dissatisfaction at the conduct of General St.
Cyr--The Cabinets of Vienna and the Tuileries--First appearance of
the Cossacks--Colonel Tettenborn invited to occupy Hamburg--Cordial
reception of the Russians--Depredations--Levies of troops--
Testimonials of gratitude to Tettenborn--Napoleon's new army--Death
of General Morand--Remarks of Napoleon on Vandamme--Bonaparte and
Gustavus Adolphus--Junction of the corps of Davoust and Vandamme--
Reoccupation of Hamburg by the French--General Hogendorff appointed
Governor of Hamburg--Exactions and vexatious contributions levied
upon Hamburg and Lübeck--Hostages.
A considerable time before Napoleon left Paris to join the army, the
bulk of which was in Saxony, partial insurrections occurred in many
places. The interior of France proper was indeed still in a state of
tranquillity, but it was not so in the provinces annexed by force to
the extremities of the Empire, especially in the north, and in the
unfortunate Hanse Towns, for which, since my residence at Hamburg, I
have always felt the greatest interest. The intelligence I received was
derived from such unquestionable sources that I can pledge myself for
the truth of what I have to state respecting the events which occurred
in those provinces at the commencement of 1813; and subsequently
I obtained a confirmation of all the facts communicated by my
correspondence when I was sent to Hamburg by Louis XVIII. in 1815.
M. Steuve, agent from the Court of Russia, who lived at Altona
apparently as a private individual, profited by the irritation produced
by the measures adopted at Hamburg. His plans were so well arranged that
he was promptly informed of the route of the Grand Army from Moscow, and
the approach of the Allied troops. Aided by the knowledge and activity
of Sieur Hanft of Hamburg, M. Steuve profited by the discontent of
a people so tyrannically governed, and seized the opportunity for
producing an explosion. Between eight and nine o'clock on the morning
of the 24th of February 1813 an occurrence in which the people were
concerned was the signal for a revolt. An individual returning to
Hamburg by the Altona gate would not submit to be searched by a fiscal
agent, who in consequence maltreated him and wounded him severely. The
populace instantly rose, drove away the revenue guard, and set fire to
the guard-house. The people also, excited by secret agents, attacked
other French posts, where they committed the same excesses. Surprised at
this unexpected movement, the French authorities retired to the
houses in which they resided. All the respectable inhabitants who were
unconnected with the tumult likewise returned to their homes, and no
person appeared out of doors.
General Carry St. Cyr had the command of Hamburg after the Prince of
Eckmuhl's departure for the Russian campaign.
--[General Carry St. Cyr is not to be conFused with the Marshal
Gonvion de St. Cyr; he fell into disgrace for his conduct at
Hamburg at this time, and was not again employed by Napoleon. Under
the Restoration he became Governor of French Guiana.]--
At the first news of the revolt he set about packing up his papers, and
Comte de Chaban, M. Konning, the Prefect of Hamburg, and M. Daubignosc,
the Director of Police, followed his example. It was not till about four
o'clock in the afternoon that a detachment of Danish hussars arrived
at Hamburg, and the populace: was then speedily dispersed. All the
respectable citizens and men of property assembled the next morning and
adopted means for securing internal tranquillity, so that the Danish
troops were enabled to return to Altona. Search was then made for
the ringleaders of the disturbance. Many persons were arrested, and a
military commission, ad hoc; was appointed to try them. The commission,
however, condemned only one individual, who, being convicted of being
one of the most active voters, was sentenced to be shot, and the
sentence was carried into execution.
On the 26th February a similar commotion took place at Lübeck. Attempts
were made to attack the French Authorities. The respectable citizens
instantly assembled, protected them against outrage, and escorted them
in safety to Hamburg, where they arrived on the 27th. The precipitate
flight of these persons from Lübeck spread some alarm in Hamburg. The
danger was supposed to be greater than it was because the fugitives were
accompanied by a formidable body of troops.
But these were not the only attempts to throw off the yoke of French
domination, which had become insupportable. All the left bank of the
Elbe was immediately in a state of insurrection, and all the official
persons took refuge in Hamburg. During these partial insurrections
everything was neglected. Indecision, weakness, and cupidity were
manifested everywhere. Instead of endeavours to soothe the minds of
the people, which had been, long exasperated by intolerable tyranny,
recourse was had to rigorous measures. The prisons were crowded with a
host of persons declared to be suspected upon the mere representations
of the agents of the police. On the 3d of March a special military
commission condemned six householders of Hamburg and its neighbourhood
to be shot on the glacis for no other offence than having been led,
either by chance or curiosity, to a part of the town which was the
scene of one of the riots. These executions excited equal horror
and indignation, and General Carra St. Cyr was obliged to issue a
proclamation for the dissolution of the military commission by whom the
men had been sentenced.
The intelligence of the march of the Russian and Prussian troops;
who were descending the Elbe, increased the prevailing agitation in
Westphalia, Hanover, Mecklenburg, and Pomerania, and all the French
troops cantoned between Berlin and Hamburg, including those who occupied
the coast of the Baltic, fell back upon Hamburg. General Carra St. Cyr
and Baron Konning, the Prefect of Hamburg, used to go every evening to
Altona. The latter, worn out by anxiety and his unsettled state of
life, lost his reason; and on his way to Hamburg, on the 5th of May, he
attempted to cut his throat with a razor. His 'valet de chambre' saved
his life by rushing upon him before he had time to execute his design.
It was given out that he had broken a blood-vessel, and he was conveyed
to Altona, where his wound was cured, and he subsequently recovered from
his derangement. M. Konning, who was a native of Holland, was a worthy
man, but possessed no decision of character, and but little ability.
At this juncture exaggerated reports were circulated respecting the
approach of a Russian corps. A retreat was immediately ordered, and it
was executed on the 12th of March. General Carra St. Cyr having no money
for the troops, helped himself to 100,000 francs out of the municipal
treasury. He left Hamburg at the head of the troops and the enrolled men
of the custom-house service. He was escorted by the Burgher Guard, which
protected him from the insults of the populace; and the good people of
Hamburg never had any visitors of whom they were more happy to be rid.
This sudden retreat excited Napoleon's indignation. He accused General
St. Cyr of pusillanimity, in an article inserted in the 'Moniteur',
and afterwards copied by his order into all the journals. In fact, had
General St. Cyr been better informed, or less easily alarmed, he might
have kept Hamburg, and prevented its temporary occupation by the
enemy, to dislodge whom it was necessary to besiege the city two months
afterwards. St. Cyr had 3000 regular troops, and a considerable body of
men in the custom-house service. General Morand could have furnished him
with 5000 men from Mecklenburg. He might, therefore, not only have kept
possession of Hamburg two months longer, but even to the end of the war,
as General Lexnarrois retained possession of Magdeburg. Had not General
St. Cyr so hastily evacuated the Elbe he would have been promptly aided
by the corps which General Vandamme soon brought from the Wesel, and
afterwards by the very, corps with which Marshal Davoust recaptured
Hamburg.
The events just described occurred before Napoleon quitted Paris. In the
month of August all negotiation was broken off with Austria, though that
power, still adhering to her time-serving policy, continued to protest
fidelity to the cause of the Emperor Napoleon until the moment when her
preparations were completed and her resolution formed. But if there was
duplicity at Vienna was there not folly, nay, blindness, in the Cabinet
of the Tuileries? Could we reasonably rely upon Austria? She had seen
the Russian army pass the Vistula and advance as far as the Saale
without offering any remonstrance. At that moment a single movement of
her troops, a word of declaration, would have prevented everything. As,
therefore, she would not avert the evil when she might have done so with
certainty and safety, there must have been singular folly and blindness
in the Cabinet who saw this conduct and did not understand it.
I now proceed to mention the further misfortunes which occurred in the
north of Germany, and particularly at Hamburg. At fifteen leagues east
of Hamburg, but within its territory, is a village named Bergdorf. It
was in that village that the Cossacks were first seen. Twelve or fifteen
hundred of them arrived there under the command of Colonel Tettenborn.
But for the retreat of the French troops, amounting to 3000, exclusive
of men in the customhouse service, no attempt would have been made upon
Hamburg; but the very name of the Cossacks inspired a degree of terror
which must be fresh in the recollection of every one. Alarm spread in
Hamburg, which, being destitute of troops and artillery, and surrounded
with dilapidated fortifications, could offer no defence. The Senator
Bartch and Doctor Know took upon themselves to proceed to Bergdorf to
solicit Colonel Tettenborn to take possession of Hamburg, observing that
they felt sure of his sentiments of moderation, and that they trusted
they would grant protection to a city which had immense commercial
relations with Russia. Tettenborn did not place reliance on these
propositions because he could not suppose that there had been such a
precipitate evacuation; he thought they were merely a snare to entrap
him, and refused to accede to them. But a Doctor Von Hess, a Swede,
settled in Hamburg some years, and known to Tettenborn as a decided
partisan of England and Russia, persuaded the Russian Commander to
comply with the wishes of the citizens of Hamburg. However, Tettenborn
consented only on the following conditions:--That the old Government
should be instantly re-established; that a deputation of Senators in
their old costume should invite him to take possession of Hamburg, which
he would enter only as a free and Imperial Hanse Town; that if those
conditions were not complied with he would regard Hamburg as a French
town, and consequently hostile. Notwithstanding the real satisfaction
with which the Senators of Hamburg received those propositions they
were restrained by the fear of a reverse of fortune. They, however,
determined to accept them, thinking that whatever might happen they
could screen themselves by alleging that necessity had driven them to
the step they took. They therefore declared their compliance with
the conditions, and that night and the following day were occupied in
assembling the Senate, which had been so long dissolved, and in making
the preparations which Tettenborn required.
At four o'clock in the afternoon of the 17th of March a picket of
Cossacks, consisting of only forty men, took possession of a town
recently flourishing, and containing a population of 124,000, but ruined
and reduced to 80,000 inhabitants by the blessing of being united to
the French Empire. On the following day, the 18th, Colonel Tettenborn
entered Hamburg at the head of 1000 regular and 200 irregular Cossacks.
I have described the military situation of Hamburg when it was
evacuated on the 12th of March, and Napoleon's displeasure may be easily
conceived. Tettenborn was received with all the honours usually bestowed
upon a conqueror. Enthusiasm was almost universal. For several nights
the people devoted themselves to rejoicing. The Cossacks were gorged
with provisions and drink, and were not a little astonished at the
handsome reception they experienced.
It was not until the expiration of three or four days that the people
began to perceive the small number of the allied troops. Their amount
gradually diminished. On the day after the arrival of the Cossacks a
detachment was sent to Lübeck, where they were received with the same
honours as at Hamburg. Other detachments were sent upon different
places, and after four days' occupation there remained in Hamburg only
70 out of the 1200 Cossacks who had entered on the 18th March.
The first thing their commander did was to take possession of the
post-office and the treasuries of the different public offices. All the
movable effects of the French Government and its agents were seized and
sold. The officers evinced a true Cossack disregard of the rights of
private property. Counts Huhn, Buasenitz, and Venechtern, who had joined
Tettenborn's staff, rendered themselves conspicuous by plundering the
property of M. Pyonnier, the Director of the Customs, and M. Gonae,
the Postmaster, and not a bottle of wine was left in their cellars.
Tettenborn laid hands upon a sum of money, consisting of upwards of
4000 Louis in gold, belonging to M. Gonse, which had been lodged with
M. Schwartz, a respectable banker in Hamburg, who filled the office of
Prussian Consul. M. Schwartz, with whom this money had been deposited
for the sake of security, had also the care of some valuable jewels
belonging to Mesdames Carry St. Cyr and Daubignoac; Tettenborn carried
off these as well as the money. M. Schwartz remonstrated in his
character of Prussian Consul, Prussia being the ally of Russia, but
he was considered merely as a banker, and could obtain no redress.
Tettenborn, like most of the Cossack chiefs, was nothing but a man for
blows and pillage, but the agent of Russia was M. Steuve, whose name I
have already mentioned.
Orders were speedily given for a levy of troops, both in infantry and
cavalry, to be called Hanseatic volunteers. A man named Hanft, who had
formerly been a butcher, raised at his own expense a company of foot and
one of lancers, of which he took the command. This undertaking, which
cost him 130,000 francs, may afford some idea of the attachment of the
people of Hamburg to the French Government! But money, as well as men,
was wanting, and a heavy contribution was imposed to defray the expense
of enrolling a number of workmen out of employment and idlers, of
various kinds. Voluntary donations were solicited, and enthusiasm was
so general that even servant-maids gave their rings. The sums thus
collected were paid into the chest of Tettenborn's staff, and became
a prey to dishonest appropriation. With respect to this money a Sieur
Oswald was accused of not having acted with the scrupulous delicacy
which Madame de Stael attributes to his namesake in her romance of
Corinne.
Between 8000 and 10,000 men were levied in the Hanse Towns and their
environs, the population of which had been so greatly reduced within two
years. These undisciplined troops, who had been for the most part levied
from the lowest classes of society, committed so many outrages that they
soon obtained the surname of the Cossacks of the Elbe; and certainly
they well deserved it.
Such was the hatred which the French Government had inspired in Hamburg
that the occupation of Tettenborn was looked upon as a deliverance. On
the colonel's departure the Senate, anxious to give high a testimonial
of gratitude, presented him with the freedom of the city, accompanied by
5000 gold fredericks (105,000 francs), with which he was doubtless much
more gratified than with the honour of the citizenship.
The restored Senate of Hamburg did not long survive. The people of the
Hanse Towns learned, with no small alarm, that the Emperor was making
immense preparations to fall upon Germany, where his lieutenants could
not fail to take cruel revenge on those who had disavowed his authority.
Before he quitted Paris on the 15th of April Napoleon had recalled under
the banners of the army 180,000 men, exclusive of the guards of honour,
and it was evident that with such a force he might venture on a great
game, and probably win it. Yet the month of April passed away
without the occurrence of any event important to the Hanse Towns, the
inhabitants of which vacillated between hope and fear. Attacks daily
took place between parties of Russian and French troops on the territory
between Lüneburg and Bremen. In one of these encounters General Morand
was mortally wounded, and was conveyed to Lüneburg. His brother having
been taken prisoner in the same engagement, Tettenborn, into whose hands
he had fallen, gave him leave on parole to visit the General; but he
arrived in Lüneburg only in time to see him die.
The French having advanced as far as Haarburg took up their position on
the plateau of Schwartzenberg, which commands that little town and the
considerable islands situated in that part of the river between Haarburg
and Hamburg. Being masters of this elevated point they began to threaten
Hamburg and to attack Haarburg. These attacks were directed by Vandamme,
of all our generals the most redoubtable in conquered countries. He was
a native of Cassel, in Flanders, and had acquired a high reputation for
severity. At the very time when he was attacking Hamburg Napoleon said
of him at Dresden, "If I were to lose Vandamme I know not what I would
give to have him back again; but if I had two such generals I should be
obliged to shoot one of them." It must be confessed that one was quite
enough.
As soon as he arrived Vandamme sent to inform Tettenborn that if he did
not immediately liberate the brother and brother-in-law of Morand, both
of whom were his prisoners, he would burn Hamburg. Tettenborn replied
that if he resorted to that extremity he would hang them both on the
top of St. Michael's Tower, where he might have a view of them. This
energetic answer obliged Vandamme to restrain his fury, or at least to
direct it to other objects.
Meanwhile the French forces daily augmented at Haarburg. Vandamme,
profiting by the negligence of the new Hanseatic troops, who had the
defence of the great islands of the Elbe, attacked them one night in
the month of May. This happened to be the very night after the battle
of Lutzsn, where both sides claimed the victory; and Te Deum was sung in
the two hostile camps. The advance of the French turned the balance of
opinion in favour of Napoleon, who was in fact really the conqueror on
a field of battle celebrated nearly two centuries before by the victory
and death of Gustavus Adolphus. The Cossacks of the Elbe could not
sustain the shock of the French; Vandamme repulsed the troops who
defended Wilhelmsburg, the largest of the two islands, and easily took
possession of the smaller one, Fidden, of which the point nearest the
right bank of the Elbe is not half a gunshot distant from Hamburg. The
9th of May was a fatal day to the people of Hamburg; for it was then
that Davoust, having formed his junction with Vandamme, appeared at the
head of a corps of 40,000 men destined to reinforce Napoleon's Grand
Army. Hamburg could not hold out against the considerable French force
now assembled in its neighbourhood. Tettenborn had, it is true, received
a reinforcement of 800 Prussians and 2000, Swedes, but still what
resistance could he offer to Davoust's 40,000 men? Tettenborn did not
deceive himself as to the weakness of the allies on this point, or the
inutility of attempting to defend the city. He yielded to the entreaties
of the inhabitants, who represented to him that further resistance must
be attended by certain ruin. He accordingly evacuated Hamburg on the
29th of May, taking with him his Hanseatic legions, which had not held
out an hour in the islands of the Elbe, and accompanied by the Swedish
Doctor Von Hess, whose imprudent advice was the chief cause of all the
disasters to which the unfortunate city lied been exposed.
Davoust was at Haarburg, where he received the deputies from Hamburg
with an appearance of moderation; and by the conditions stipulated at
this conference on the 30th of May a strong detachment of Danish troops
occupied Hamburg in the name of the Emperor. The French made their
entrance the same evening, and occupied the posts as quietly as if they
had been merely changing guard. The inhabitants made not a shadow of
resistance. Not a drop of blood was issued; not a threat nor an
insult was interchanged. This is the truth; but the truth did not
suit Napoleon. It was necessary to getup a pretext for revenge, and
accordingly recourse was had to a bulletin, which proclaimed to France
and Europe that Hamburg had been taken by main force, with a loss
of some hundred men. But for this imaginary resistance, officially
announced, how would it have been possible to justify the spoliations
and exactions which ensued?
The Dutch General, Hogendorff, became Governor of Hamburg in lieu of
Carra St. Cyr, who had been confined at Osnabruck since his precipitate
retreat. General Hogendorff had been created one of the Emperor's
aides de camp, but he was neither a Rapp, a Lauriston, nor a Duroc. The
inhabitants were required to pay all the arrears of taxes due to the
different public offices during the seventy days that the French had
been absent; and likewise all the allowances that would have been paid
to the troops of the garrison had they remained in Hamburg. Payment was
also demanded of the arrears for the quartering of troops who were fifty
leagues off. However, some of the heads of the government departments,
who saw and understood the new situation of the French at Hamburg,
did not enforce these unjust and vexatious measures. The duties on
registrations were reduced. M. Pyonnier, Director of the Customs, aware
of the peculiar difficulty of his situation in a country where the
customs were held in abhorrence, observed great caution and moderation
in collecting the duties: Personal examination, which is so revolting
and indecorous, especially with respect to females, was suppressed. But
these modifications did not proceed from the highest quarter; they were
due to the good sense of the subordinate agents, who plainly saw that
if the Empire was to fall it would not be owing to little infractions in
the laws of proscription against coffee and rhubarb.
If the custom-house regulations became less vexatious to the inhabitants
of Hamburg it was not the same with the business of the post-office. The
old manoeuvres of that department were resumed more actively than
ever. Letters were opened without the least reserve, and all the old
post-office clerks who were initiated in these scandalous proceedings
were recalled. With the exception of the registrations and the customs
the inquisitorial system, which had so long oppressed the Hanse Towns,
was renewed; and yet the delegates of the French Government were the
first to cry out, "The people of Hamburg are traitors to Napoleon: for,
in spite of all the blessings he has conferred upon them they do not say
with the Latin poet, 'Deus nobis haec otia fecit."
But all that passed was trifling in comparison with what was to come. On
the 18th of June was published an Imperial decree, dated the 8th of
the same month, by virtue of which were to be reaped the fruits of the
official falsehood contained in the bulletin above mentioned. To expiate
the crime of rebellion Hamburg was required to pay an extraordinary
contribution of 48,000,000 francs, and Lübeck a contribution of
6,000,000. The enormous sum levied on Hamburg was to be paid in the
short space of a month, by six equal instalments, either in money,
or bills on respectable houses in Paris. In addition to this the new
Prefect of Hamburg made a requisition of grain and provisions of every
kind, wines, sailcloth, masts, pitch, hemp, iron, copper, steel, in
short, everything that could be useful for the supply of the army and
navy.
But while these exactions were made on property in Hamburg, at Dresden
the liberties of individuals and even lives were attacked. On the 15th
of June Napoleon, doubtless blinded by the false reports that were laid
before him, gave orders for making out a list of the inhabitants of
Hamburg who were absent from the city. He allowed them only a fortnight
to return home, an interval too short to enable some of them to come
from the places where they had taken refuge. They consequently remained
absent beyond the given time. Victims were indispensable but assuredly
it was not Bonaparte who conceived the idea of hostages to answer
for the men whom prudence kept absent. Of this charge I can clear his
memory. The hostages, were, however, taken, and were declared to be
also responsible for the payment of the contribution of 48,000,000. In
Hamburg they were selected from among the most respectable and wealthy
men in the city, some of them far advanced in age. They were conveyed to
the old castle of Haarburg on the left bank of the Elbe, and these men,
who had been accustomed to all the comforts of life, were deprived even
of necessaries, and had only straw to lie on. The hostages from Lübeck
were taken to, Hamburg: they were placed between decks on board an old
ship in the port: this was a worthy imitation of the prison hulks
of England. On the 24th of July there was issued a decree which
was published in the Hamburg Correspondent of the 27th. This decree
consisted merely of a proscription list, on which were inscribed the
names of some of the wealthiest men in the Hanse Towns, Hanover, and
Westphalia.
CHAPTER XXIX.
1813.
Napoleon's second visit to Dresden--Battle of Bantzen--The Congress
at Prague--Napoleon ill advised--Battle of Vittoria--General Moreau
Rupture of the conferences at Prague--Defection of Jomini--Battles
of Dresden and Leipsic--Account of the death of Duroc--An
interrupted conversation resumed a year after--Particulars
respecting Poniatowski--His extraordinary courage and death--
His monument at Leipsic and tomb in the cathedral of Warsaw.
On the 2d of May Napoleon won the battle of Lützen. A week after he was
at Dresden, not as on his departure for the Russian campaign, like the
Sovereign of the West surrounded by his mighty vassals: he was now in
the capital of the only one of the monarchs of his creation who remained
faithful to the French cause, and whose good faith eventually cost him
half his dominions. The Emperor stayed only ten days in Dresden, and
then went in pursuit of the Russian army, which he came up with on the
19th, at Bautzen. This battle, which was followed on the two succeeding
days by the battles of Wurtchen and Oclikirchen, may be said to have
lasted three days--a sufficient proof that it was obstinately disputed.
It ended in favour of Napoleon, but he and France paid dearly for it:
while General Kirschner and Duroc were talking together the former
was killed by a cannon-ball, which mortally wounded the latter in the
abdomen.
The moment had now arrived for Austria to prove whether or not she.
intended entirely to desert the cause of Napoleon.
--[There is a running attack in Erreurs (tome, ii. pp, 289-325) on
all this part of the Memoirs, but the best account of the
negotiations between France, Austria, and the Allies will be found
in Metternich, Vol. i. pp. 171-215. Metternich, with good
reason, prides himself on the skill with which he gained from
Napoleon the exact time, twenty days, necessary for the
concentration of the Austrian armies. Whether the negotiations were
consistent with good faith on the part of Austria is another matter;
but, one thing seems clear--the Austrian marriage ruined Napoleon.
He found it impossible to believe that the monarch who had given him
his daughter would strike the decisive blow against him. Without
this belief there can be no doubt that he would have attacked
Austria before she could have collected her forces, and Metternich
seems to have dreaded the result. "It was necessary, therefore to
prevent Napoleon from carrying out his usual system of leaving an
army of observation before the Allied armies, and himself turning to
Bohemia to deal a great blow at us, the effect of which it would be
impossible to foresee in the present depressed state of the great
majority of our men" (Metternich, Vol. i, p. 177). With our
knowledge of how Napoleon held his own against the three armies at
Dresden we may safely assume that he would have crushed Austria if
she had not joined him or disarmed. The conduct of Austria was
natural and politic, but it was only successful because Napoleon
believed in the good faith of the Emperor Francis, his
father-in-law. It is to be noted that Austria only succeeded in
getting Alexander to negotiate on the implied condition that the
negotiations were not to end in a peace with France. See
Metternich, Vol. i. p. 181, where, in answer to the Czar's
question as to what would become of their cause if Napoleon accepted
the Austrian mediation, he says that if Napoleon declines Austria
will join the Allies. If Napoleon accepts, "the negotiations will
most certainly show Napoleon to be neither wise nor just, and then
the result will be the same. In any case we shall have gained the
necessary time to bring our armies into such positions that we need
not again fear a separate attack on any one of them, and from which
we may ourselves take the offensive."]--
All her amicable demonstrations were limited to an offer of her
intervention in opening negotiations with Russia. Accordingly, on the
4th of June, an armistice was concluded at Pleiswitz, which was to last
till the 8th of July, and was finally prolonged to the 10th of August.
The first overtures after the conclusion of the armistice of Pleiswitz
determined the assembling of a Congress at Prague. It was reported at
the time that the Allies demanded the restoration of all they had lost
since 1805; that is to say, since the campaign of Ulm. In this demand
Holland and the Hanse Towns, which had become French provinces, were
comprehended. But we should still have retained the Rhine, Belgium,
Piedmont, Nice, and Savoy. The battle of Vittoria,
--The news of this decisive battle increased the difficulty of the
French plenipotentiaries at Prague, and raised the demands of the
Allies. It also shook the confidence of those who remained faithful
to us.--Bourrienne.]--
which placed the whole of Spain at the disposal of the English, the
retreat of Suchet upon the Ebro, the fear of seeing the army of Spin
annihilated, were enough to alter the opinions of those counsellors who
still recommended war. Notwithstanding Napoleon's opposition and his
innate disposition to acquire glory by his victories, probably he would
not have been inaccessible to the reiterated representations of sensible
men who loved their country, France, therefore, has to reproach his
advisers. At this juncture General Moreau arrived; it has been said
that he came at the solicitation of Bernadotte. This is neither true
nor probable. In the first place, there never was any intimacy between
Bernadotte and Moreau; and, in the next, how can it be imagined that
Bernadotte wished to see Moreau Emperor! But this question is at once
put at rest by the fact, that in the interview at Åbo the Emperor of
Russia hinted to Bernadotte the possibility of his succeeding Napoleon.
It was generally reported at the time, and I have since learnt that
it was true, that the French Princes of the House of Bourbon had made
overtures to Moreau through the medium of General Willot, who had been
proscribed on the 18th Fructidor; and I have since learned from an
authentic source that General Moreau, who was then at Baltimore, refused
to support the Bourbon cause. Moreau yielded only to his desire of being
revenged on Napoleon; and he found death where he could not find glory.
At the end of July the proceedings of the Congress at Prague were no.
further advanced than at the time of its assembling. Far from cheering
the French with the prospect of a peace, the Emperor made a journey
to Mayence; the Empress went there to see him, and returned to Paris
immediately after the Emperor's departure. Napoleon went back to
Dresden, and the armistice not being renewed, it died a natural death on
the 17th of August, the day appointed for its expiration. A fatal event
immediately followed the rupture of the conferences. On the 17th of
August Austria, wishing to gain by war as she had before gained by
alliances, declared that she would unite her forces with those of the
Allies. On the very opening of this disastrous campaign General Jomini
went over to the enemy. Jomini belonged to the staff of the unfortunate
Marshal Ney, who was beginning to execute with his wonted ability, the
orders he had received. There was much surprise at his eagerness to
profit by a struggle, begun under such melancholy auspices, to seek a
fresh fortune, which promised better than what he had tried under our
flag. Public opinion has pronounced judgment on Jomini.
--[It was on the 11th of August, not the 17th, that Metternich
announced to Caulaincourt, Napoleon's plenipotentiary at Prague,
that Austria had joined the Allies and declared war with France;
At midnight on 10th August Metternich had despatched the passports
for the Comte Louis de Narbonne, Napoleon's Ambassador, and the war
manifesto of the Emperor Francis; then he had the beacons lighted
which had been prepared from Prague to the Silesian frontier, as a
sign of the breech of the negotiations, and the right (i.e. power)
of the Allied armies to cross the Silesian frontier (Metternich,
vol. i, p. 199).]--
The first actions were the battle of Dresden, which took place seven
days after the rupture of the armistice, and the battle in which
Vandamme was defeated, and which rendered the victory of Dresden
unavailing. I have already mentioned that Moreau was killed at Dresden.
Bavaria was no sooner rid of the French troops than she raised the mask
and ranged herself among our enemies.
In October the loss of the battle of Leipsic decided the fate of France.
The Saxon army, which had long remained faithful to us, went over to the
enemy during the battle. Prince Poniatowski perished at the battle of
Leipsic in an attempt to pass the Aster.
I will here mention a fact which occurred before Duroc's departure for
the campaign of 1812. I used often to visit him at the Pavilion Marsan,
in the Tuileries, where he lodged. One forenoon, when I had been waiting
for him a few minutes, he came from the Emperor's apartments, where he
had been engaged in the usual business, He was in his court-dress. As
soon as he entered he pulled off his coat and hat and laid them aside.
"I have just had a conversation with the Emperor about you," said he.
"Say nothing to anybody. Have patience, and you will be--" He had, no
sooner uttered these words than a footman entered to inform him that the
Emperor, wished to see him immediately. "Well," said Duroc, "I must
go." No sooner was the servant gone than Duroc stamped violently on the
floor, and exclaimed, "That ----- ----- never leaves me a moment's rest.
If he finds I have five minutes to myself in the course of the morning
he is sure to send for me." He then put on his coat and returned to the
Emperor, saying, "Another time you shall hear what I have to tell you."
From that time I did not see Duroc until, the month of January 1813. He
was constantly absent from Paris, and did not return until the end
of 1812. He was much affected at the result of the campaign, but his
confidence in Napoleon's genius kept up his spirits. I turned the
conversation from this subject and reminded him of his promise to tell
me what had passed between the Emperor and himself relative tome. "You
shall hear," said he. "The Emperor and I had been playing at billiards,
and, between ourselves, he plays very badly. He is nothing at a game
which depends on skill. While negligently rolling his balls about he
muttered these words: 'Do you ever see Bourrienne now?'--'Yes, Sire, he
sometimes dines with me on diplomatic reception-days, and he looks so
droll in his old-fashioned court-dress, of Lyons manufacture, that
you would laugh if you saw him.'--'What does he say respecting the
new regulation for the court-dresses?'--'I confess he says it is very
ridiculous; that it will have no other result than to enable the Lyons
manufacturers to get rid of their old-fashioned goods; that forced
innovations on the customs of a nation are never successful.'--'Oh, that
is always the way with Bourrienne; he is never pleased with anything.'--
'Certainly, Sire, he is apt to grumble; but he says what he thinks.'--
'Do you know, Duroc, he served me very well at Hamburg. He raised a good
deal of money for me. He is a man who understands business. I will not
leave him unemployed. Time must hang heavily on his hands. I will see
what I can do for him. He has many enemies.'--'And who has not, Sire?'--
'Many complaints against him were transmitted to me from Hamburg, but
the letter which he wrote to me in his justification opened my eyes,
and I begin to think that Savary had good motives for defending him.
Endeavours are made to dissuade me from employing him, but I shall
nevertheless do so at last. I remember that it was he who first informed
me of the near approach of the war which we are now engaged in. I forget
all that has been said against him for the last two years, and as soon
as peace is concluded, and I am at leisure, I will think of him.'"
After relating to me this conversation Duroc said, "you must, of
course, feel assured that I said all I think of you, and I will take an
opportunity of reminding him of you. But we must we patient. Adieu, my
dear friend; we must set off speedily, and Heaven knows when we shall
be back again!" I wished him a successful campaign and a speedy return.
Alas! I was doomed to see my excellent friend only once again.
Next to the death of Duroc the loss most sincerely regretted during the
campaign of 1813 was that of Prince Poniatowski. Joseph Poniatowaki, a
nephew of Stanislas Augustus, King of Poland, was born at Warsaw on the
7th of May 1763: At an early age he was remarkable for his patriotic
spirit; but his uncle's influence gave him an apparent irresolution,
which rendered him suspected by some of the parties in Poland. After his
uncle had acceded to the Confederation of Targowitz, Poniatowski left
the service accompanied by most of his principal officers. But when, in
1794, the Poles endeavoured to repulse the Russians, he again repaired
to the Polish camp and entered the army as a volunteer. His noble
conduct obtained for him the esteem of his countrymen. Kosciusko gave
him the command of a division, with which he rendered useful services
during the two sieges of Warsaw. Immediately after the surrender of that
capital Poniatowski went to Vienna. He refused the offers of Catherine
and Paul to bear arms in the service of Russia.
Poniatowaki retired to his estate year Warsaw, where he lived like
a private gentleman until the creation of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw
revived the hopes of the Polish patriots. He then became War Minister.
The Archduke Ferdinand having come, in 1809, with Austrian troops to
take possession of the Duchy of Warsaw, Poniatowski, who commanded
the Polish troops, which were very inferior in numbers to the Austrian
force, obliged the latter, rather by dint of skillful maneuvering than
by fighting, to evacuate the Grand Duchy. He pursued them into Galicia
as far as Cracow.
After this honourable campaign he continued to exercise his functions
as Minister until 1812. The war against Russia again summoned him to
the head of the Polish army. After taking part in all the events of that
war, which was attended by such various chances, Poniatowaki was present
at the battle of Leipsic. That battle, which commenced on the 14th
of October, the anniversary of the famous battles of Ulm and of Jena,
lasted four days, and decided the fate of Europe. Five hundred thousand
men fought on a surface of three square leagues.
Retreat having become indispensable, Napoleon took leave at Leipsic of
the King of Saxony and his family, whom he had brought with him from
Dresden. The Emperor then exclaimed in a loud voice, "Adieu; Saxons,"
to the people who filled the market-place, where the King of Saxony
resided. With some difficulty, and after passing through many turnings
and windings, he gained the suburb of Runstadt and left Leipsic by the
outer gate of that suburb which leads to the bridge of the Elster, and
to Lindenau. The bridge was blown up shortly after he had passed it, and
that event utterly prevented the retreat of the part of the army which
was on the left bank of the Easter, and which fell into the power of
the enemy. Napoleon was at the time accused of having ordered the
destruction of the bridge immediately after he had himself passed it in
order to secure his own personal retreat, as he was threatened by the
active pursuit of the enemy. The English journals were unanimous on
this point, and to counteract this opinion, which was very general, an
article was inserted in the 'Moniteur'.
Before passing the bridge of the Elster Napoleon had directed
Poniatowski, in concert with Marshal Macdonald, to cover and protect
the retreat, and to defend that part of the suburb of Leipsic which is
nearest to the Borne road. For the execution of these orders he had only
2000 Polish infantry. He was in this desperate situation when he saw the
French columns in full retreat and the bridge so choked up with their
artillery and waggons that there was no possibility of passing it. Then
drawing his sword, and turning to the officers who were near him, he
said, "Here we must fall with honour!" At the head of a small party of
cuirassiers and Polish officers he rushed on the columns of the Allies.
In this action he received a ball in his left arm: he had already been
wounded on the 14th and 16th. He nevertheless advanced, but he found the
suburb filled with Allied troops.
--[The Allies were so numerous that they scarcely perceived the
losses they sustained. Their masses pressed down upon us in every
direction, and it was impossible that victory could fail to be with
them. Their success, however, would have been less decisive had it
not been for the defection of the Saxons. In the midst of the
battle, these troops having moved towards the enemy, as if intending
to make an attack, turned suddenly around, and opened a heavy fire
of artillery and musketry on the columns by the aids of which they
had a few moments before been fighting. I do not know to what page
of history such a transaction is recorded. This event immediately
produced a great difference in our affairs, which were before in a
bad enough train. I ought here mention that before the battle the
Emperor dismissed a Bavarian division which still remained with him.
He spoke to the officers in terms which will not soon be effaced
from their memory. He told them, that, "according to the laws of
war, they were his prisoners, since their Government had taken part
against him; but that he could not forget the services they had
rendered him, and that they were therefore at liberty to return
home." These troops left the army, where they were much esteemed,
and marched for Bavaria.]--
He fought his way through them and received another wound. He then threw
himself into the Pleisse, which was the first river he came to. Aided
by his officers, he gained the opposite bank, leaving his horse in
the river. Though greatly exhausted he mounted another, and gained the
Elster, by passing through M. Reichenbach's garden, which was situated
on the side of that river. In spite of the steepness of the banks of the
Elster at that part, the Prince plunged with his horse into the river:
both man and horse were drowned, and the same fate was shared by several
officers who followed Poniatawski's example. Marshal Macdonald was,
luckily, one of those who escaped. Five days after a fisherman drew
the body of the Prince, out of the water. On the 26th of October it
was temporarily interred at Leipsic, with all the honours due to the
illustrious deceased. A modest stone marks the spot where the body of
the Prince was dragged from the river. The Poles expressed a wish to.
erect a monument to the memory of their countryman in the garden of
M. Reichenbach, but that gentleman declared he would do it at his own
expense, which he did. The monument consists of a beautiful sarcophagus,
surrounded by weeping willows. The body of the Prince, after bring
embalmed, was sent in the following year to Warsaw, and in 1816 it was
deposited in the cathedral, among the remains of the Kings and great
men of Poland. The celebrated Thorwaldsen was commissioned to execute
a monument for his tomb. Prince Poniatowski left no issue but a
natural son, born in 1790. The royal race, therefore existed only in a
collateral branch of King Stanislas, namely, Prince Stanislas, born in
1754.
CHAPTER XXX.
1813
Amount of the Allied forces against Napoleon--Their advance towards
the Rhine--Levy of 280,000 men--Dreadful situation of the French at
Mayence--Declaration of the Allies at Frankfort--Diplomatic
correspondents--The Duc de Bassano succeeded by the Duke of Vicenza
--The conditions of the Allies vaguely accepted--Caulaincourt sent to
the headquarters of the Allies--Manifesto of the Allied powers to
the French people.--Gift of 30,000,000 from the Emperor's privy
purse--Wish to recall M. de Talleyrand--Singular advice relative to
Wellington--The French army recalled from Spain--The throne resigned
Joseph--Absurd accusation against M. Laine--Adjournment of the
Legislative Body--Napoleon's Speech to the Legislative Body--Remarks
of Napoleon reported by Cambacérès.
When the war resumed its course after the disaster of Leipsic I am
certain that the Allied sovereigns determined to treat with Napoleon
only in his own capital, as he, four years before, had refused to treat
with the Emperor of Austria except at Vienna. The latter sovereign now
completely raised the mask, and declared to the Emperor that he
would make common cause with Russia and Prussia against him. In his
declaration he made rise of the singular pretext, that the more enemies
there were against Napoleon there would be the greater chance of
speedily obliging him to accede to conditions which would at length
restore the tranquillity of which Europe stood so much in need.
This declaration on the part of Austria was an affair of no little
importance, for she had now raised an army of 260,000 men. An equal
force was enrolled beneath the Russian banners, which were advancing
towards the Rhine. Prussia had 200,000 men; the Confederation of the
Rhine 150,000: in short, including the Swedes and the Dutch, the English
troops in Spain and in the Netherlands, the Danes, who had abandoned us,
the Spaniards and Portuguese, whose courage and hopes were revived by
our reverses, Napoleon had arrayed against him upwards of a million of
armed men. Among them, too, were the Neapolitans, with Murat at their
head!
The month of November 1813 was fatal to the fortune of Napoleon. In all
parts the French armies were repulsed and driven back upon the Rhine,
while-in every direction, the Allied forces advanced towards that river.
For a considerable time I had confidently anticipated the fall of the
Empire; not because the foreign sovereigns had vowed its destruction,
but because I saw the impossibility of Napoleon defending himself
against all Europe, and because I knew that, however desperate might be
his fortune, nothing would induce him to consent to conditions which
he considered disgraceful. At this time every day was marked by a new
defection. Even the Bavarians, the natural Allies of France, they
whom the Emperor had led to victory at the commencement of the second
campaign of Vienna, they whom he had, as it were, adopted on the field
of battle, were now against us, and were the bitterest of our enemies.
Even before the battle of Leipsic, the consequences of which were so
ruinous to Napoleon, he had felt the necessity of applying to France for
a supply of troops; as if France had been inexhaustible. He directed
the Empress Regent to make this demand; and accordingly Maria Louisa
proceeded to the Senate, for the first time, in great state: but the
glories of the Empire were now on the decline. The Empress obtained a
levy of 280,000 troops, but they were no sooner enrolled than they were
sacrificed. The defection of the Bavarians considerably augmented the
difficulties which assailed the wreck of the army that had escaped from
Leipsic. The Bavarians had got before us to Hanau, a town four leagues
distant from Frankfort; there they established themselves, with the view
of cutting off our retreat; but French valour was roused, the little
town was speedily carried, and the Bavarians were repulsed with
considerable loss. The French army arrived at Mayence; if, indeed, one
may give the name of army to a few masses of men destitute, dispirited,
and exhausted by fatigue and privation. On the arrival of the troops at
Mayence no preparation had been made for receiving them: there were no
provisions, or supplies of any kind; and, as the climax of misfortune,
infectious epidemics broke out amongst the men. All the accounts I
received concurred in assuring me that their situation was dreadful:
However; without counting the wreck which escaped from the disasters of
Leipsic, and the ravages of disease; without including the 280,000 men
which had been raised by a 'Senatus-consulte, on the application of
Maria Louisa, the Emperor still possessed 120,000 good troops; but they
were in the rear, scattered along the Elbe, shut up in fortresses such
as Dantzic, Hamburg, Torgau, and Spandau. Such was the horror of our
situation that if, on the one hand, we could not resolve to abandon
them, it was at the same time impossible to aid them. In France a
universal cry was raised for peace, at whatever price it could be
purchased. In this state of things it may be said that the year 1813 was
more fatal to Napoleon than the year 1812. The disasters of Moscow were
repaired by his activity and the sacrifices of France; but the disasters
of Leipsic were irreparable.
I shall shortly speak of some negotiations in which, if I had chosen,
I might have taken a part. After the battle of Leipsic, in which France
lost, for the second time, a formidable army, all the powers allied
against Napoleon declared at Frankfort, on the 9th of November, that
they would never break the bonds which united them; that henceforth it
was not merely a Continental peace, but a general peace, that would be
demanded; and that any negotiation not having a general peace for its
object would be rejected. The Allied powers declared that France was
to be confined within her natural limits, the Rhine, the Alps, and the
Pyrenees. This was all that was to remain of the vast Empire founded by
Napoleon; but still it must be allowed it was a great deal, after the
many disasters France had experienced, and when she was menaced with
invasion by numerous and victorious armies. But Napoleon could not
accede to such proposals, for he was always ready to yield to illusion
when the truth was not satisfactory to him.
According to the proposals of the Allies at Frankfort, Germany; Italy,
and Spain were to be entirely withdrawn from the dominion of France.
England recognised the freedom of trade and navigation, and there
appeared no reason to doubt the sincerity of her professed willingness
to make great sacrifices to promote the object proposed by the Allies.
But to these offers a fatal condition was added, namely, that the
Congress should meet in a town, to be declared neutral, on the right
bank of the Rhine, where the plenipotentiaries of all the belligerent
powers were to assemble; but the course of the war was not to be impeded
by these negotiations.
--[This, system of negotiating and advancing was a realization of
Metternich's idea copying Napoleon's own former procedure. "Let us
hold always the sword in one head, and the olive branch in the
other; always ready to negotiate, but only negotiating whilst
advancing. Here is Napoleon's system: may he find enemies who will
carry on war . . . as he would carry it on himself." (Metternich
vol. ii. p. 346).]--
The Duc de Bassano (Maret), who was still Minister for Foreign Affairs,
replied, by order of Napoleon, to the overtures wade by the Allies for
a general Congress; and stated that the Emperor acceded to them, and
wished Mannheim to be chosen as the neutral town. M. Metternich replied
in a note, dated Frankfort, the 25th of November, stating that the
Allies felt no difficulty in acceding to Napoleon's choice of Mannheim
for the meeting of the Congress; but as M. de Bassano's letter contained
no mention of the general and summary bases I have just mentioned,
and which had been communicated to M. de St. Aignan at Frankfort, M.
Metternich stated that the Allies wished the Emperor Napoleon to declare
his determination respecting those bases, in order that insurmountable
difficulties might not arrest the negotiations at their very outset.
The Duke of Vicenza (Caulaincourt), who had just succeeded the Duc de
Bassano, received this letter. Trusting to the declaration of Frankfort
he thought he would be justified in treating on those bases; he
confidently relied on the consent of Napoleon. But the Allies had
now determined not to grant the limits accorded by that declaration.
Caulaincourt was therefore obliged to apply for fresh powers, which
being granted, he replied, on the 2d of December, that Napoleon accepted
the fundamental and summary bases which had been communicated by M. de
St. Aignan. To this letter M. Metternich answered that the Emperors of
Russia and Austria were gratified to find that the Emperor of France
recognised the bases judged necessary by the Allies; that the two
sovereigns would communicate without delay the official document to
their Allies, and that they were convinced that immediately on receiving
their reply the negotiations might be opened without any interruption of
the war.
We shall now see the reason why these first negotiations came to no
result. In the month of October the Allies overthrew the colossal
edifice denominated the French Empire. When led by victory to the
banks of the Rhine they declared their wish to abstain from conquest,
explained their intentions, and manifested an unalterable resolution
to abide by them. This determination of the Allies induced the French
Government to evince pacific intentions. Napoleon wished, by an apparent
desire for peace, to justify, if I may so express myself, in the eyes of
his subjects, the necessity of new sacrifices; which, according to his
proclamations, he demanded only to enable him to obtain peace on as
honourable conditions as possible. But the truth is, he was resolved not
even to listen to the offers made at Frankfort. He always represented
the limits of the Rhine as merely a compensation for the dismemberment
of Poland and the immense aggrandisement of the English possessions in
Asia. But he wanted to gain time, and, if possible, to keep the Allied
armies on the right bank of the Rhine.
The immense levies made in France, one after the other, had converted
the conscription into a sort of pressgang. Men employed in agriculture
and manufactures were dragged from their labours; and the people began
to express their dissatisfaction at the measures of Government more
loudly than they had hitherto ventured to do; yet all were willing to
make another effort, if they could have persuaded themselves that the
Emperor would henceforth confine his thoughts to France alone. Napoleon
sent Caulaincourt to the headquarters of the Allies; but that was
only for the sake of gaining time, and inducing a belief that he was
favourably disposed to peace.
The Allies having learned the immense levies of troops which Napoleon
was making, and being well acquainted with the state of feeling in
France, published the famous manifesto, addressed to the French people,
which was profusely circulated, and may be referred to as a warning to
subjects who trust to the promises of Governments.
The good faith with which the promises in the manifesto were kept may
be judged of from the Treaty of Paris. In the meantime the manifesto
did not a little contribute to alienate from Napoleon those who were
yet faithful to his cause; for, by believing in the declarations of the
Allies, they saw in him the sole obstacle to that peace which France so
ardently desired. On this point, too, the Allies were not wrong, and
I confess that I did not see without great surprise that the Duc de
Rovigo, in that part of his Memoirs where he mentions this manifesto,
reproaches those who framed it for representing the Emperor as a madman,
who replied to overtures of peace only by conscription levies: After
all, I do not intend to maintain that the declaration was entirely
sincere; with respect to the future it certainly was not. Switzerland
was already tampered with, and attempts were made to induce her to
permit the Allied troops to enter France by the bridge of Bale. Things
were going on no better in the south of France, where the Anglo-Spanish
army threatened our frontiers by the Pyrenees, and already occupied
Pampeluna; and at the same time the internal affairs of the country
were no less critical than its external position. It was in vain to levy
troops; everything essential to an army was wanting. To meet the most
pressing demands the Emperor drew out 30,000,000 from the immense
treasure which he had accumulated in the cellars and galleries of the
Pavillion Marsan, at the Tuileries. These 30,000,000 were speedily
swallowed up. Nevertheless it was an act of generosity on the part of
Napoleon, and I never could understand on what ground the Legislative
Body complained of the outlay, because, as the funds did not proceed
from the Budget, there needed no financial law to authorise their
application. Besides, why did these rigid legislators, who, while
fortune smiled on Bonaparte, dared not utter a word on the subject,
demand, previously to the gratuitous gift just mentioned, that the
350,000,000 in the Emperor's privy puree should be transferred to the
Imperial treasury and carried to the public accounts? Why did they wink
at the accumulation in the Tuileries of the contributions and exactions
levied in, conquered countries? The answer is plain: because there would
have been danger in opposing it.
Amidst the difficulties which assailed the Emperor he cast his eyes on
M. de Talleyrand. But it being required, as a condition of his receiving
the portfolio of Foreign Affairs, that he should resign his office of
Vice-Grand-Elector, M. de Talleyrand preferred a permanent post to a
portfolio, which the caprice of a moment might withdraw. I have been
informed that, in a conversation with the Emperor, M. de Talleyrand gave
him the extraordinary advice of working upon the ambition of the English
family of Wellesley, and to excite in the mind of Wellington, the lustre
of whose reputation was now dawning, ambitious projects which would
have embarrassed the coalition. Napoleon, however, did not adopt this
proposition, the issue of which he thought too uncertain, and above all,
too remote, in the urgent circumstances in which it stood. Caulaincourt
was then made Minister for Foreign Affairs, in lieu of M. Maret, who was
appointed Secretary of State, an office much better suited to him.
Meanwhile the Emperor was wholly intent on the means of repelling the
attack which was preparing against him. The critical circumstances in
which he was placed seemed to restore the energy which time had in some
measure robbed him of. He turned his eyes towards Spain, and resolved to
bring the army from that country to oppose the Allies, whose movements
indicated their intention of entering France by Switzerland. An event
occurred connected with this subject calculated to have a decided
influence on the affairs of the moment, namely, the renunciation by
Joseph, King of Spain, of all right to the crown, to be followed by the
return; as had been agreed on; of Ferdinand to his dominions. Joseph
made this sacrifice at the instigation of his brother. The treaty was
signed, but an inconceivable delay occurred in its execution, while the
torrent, which was advancing upon France, rushed forward so rapidly that
the treaty could not be carried into execution. Ferdinand, it is true,
re-ascended his throne, but from other causes.
The Emperor was deeply interested in the march of the Allies. It was
important to destroy the bridge of Bale, because the Rhine once crossed
masses of the enemy would be thrown into France. At this time I
had close relations with a foreign diplomat whom I am forbidden by
discretion to name. He told me that the enemy was advancing towards the
frontier, and that the bridge of Bale would not be destroyed, as it
had been so agreed at Berne, where the Allies had gained the day. This
astonished me, because I knew, on the other hand, from a person who
ought, to have been equally well informed,--that it was hoped the bridge
would be blown up. Being much interested in knowing the truth, I sent
on my own account, an agent to Bale who on his return told me that the
bridge would remain.
On the 19th of December the Legislative Body was convoked. It was on a
Wednesday. M. Laine was Vice-President under M. Regnier. A committee was
appointed to examine and report on the communications of the Emperor.
The report and conclusions of the committee were not satisfactory; it
was alleged that they betrayed a revolutionary tendency, of which M.
Laine was absurdly accused of having been one of the promoters; but all
who knew him must have been convinced of the falsehood of the charge.
The Emperor ordered the report to be seized, and then adjourned the
Legislative Body. Those who attentively observed the events of the time
will recollect the stupor which prevailed in Paris on the intelligence
of this seizure and of the adjournment of the Legislative Body. A
thousand conjectures were started as to what new occurrences had taken
place abroad, but nothing satisfactory was learned.
I considered this a great mistake. Who can doubt that if the Legislative
Body had taken the frank and noble step of declaring that France
accepted the conditions of Frankfort they would not have been listened
to by the Allies? But the words, "You are dishonoured if you cede a
single village acquired by a 'Senatus-consulte'," always, resounded in
Napoleon's ears: they flattered his secret thoughts, and every pacific
proposal was rejected.
The members of the adjourned Legislative Body went as usual to
take leave of the Emperor, who received them on a Sunday, and after
delivering to them the speech, which is very well known, dismissed the
rebels with great ill-humour, refusing to hear any explanation. "I
have suppressed your address," he began abruptly: "it was incendiary.
I called you round me to do good--you have done ill. Eleven-twelfths
of you are well-intentioned, the others, and above all M. Laine,
are factious intriguers, devoted to England, to all my enemies, and
corresponding through the channel of the advocate Deseze with the
Bourbons. Return to your Departments, and feel that my eye will follow
you; you have endeavoured to humble me, you may kill me, but you shall
not dishonour me. You make remonstrances; is this a time, when the
stranger invades our provinces, and 200,000 Cossacks are ready to
overflow our country? There may have been petty abuses; I never connived
at them. You, M. Raynouard, you said that. Prince Massena robbed a man
at Marseilles of his house. You lie! The General took possession of a
vacant house, and my Minister shall indemnify the proprietor. Is it thus
that you dare affront a Marshal of France who has bled for his country,
and grown gray in victory? Why did you not make your complaints in
private to me? I would have done you justice. We should wash our
dirty linen at home, and not drag it out before the world. You, call
yourselves Representatives of the Nation. It is not true; you are only
Deputies of the Departments; a small portion of the State, inferior to
the Senate, inferior even to the Council of State. The Representatives
of the People! I am alone the Representative of the People. Twice
have 24,000,000 of French called me to the throne: which of you durst
undertake such a burden? It had already overwhelmed (ecrase), your
Assemblies, and your Conventions, your Vergniauds and your Guadets,
your Jacobins and your Girondins. They are all dead! What, who are you?
nothing--all authority is in the Throne; and what is the Throne? this
wooden frame covered with velvet?--no, I am the Throne! You have added
wrong to reproaches. You have talked of concessions--concessions that
even my enemies dared not ask! I suppose if they asked Champaigne you
would have had me give them La Brie besides; but in four months I will
conquer peace, or I shall be dead! You advise! how dare you debate of
such high matters (de si graves interets)! You have put me in the front
of the battle as the cause of war--it is infamous (c'est une atrocité).
In all your committees you have excluded the friends of Government--
extraordinary commission--committee of finance--committee of the
address, all, all my enemies. M. Laine, I repeat it, is a traitor; he
is a wicked man, the others are mere intriguers. I do justice to the
eleven-twelfths; but the factions I know, and will pursue. Is it, I
ask again, is it while the enemy is in France that you should have done
this? But nature has gifted me with a determined courage--nothing can
overcome me. It cost my pride much too--I made that sacrifice; I--but I
am above your miserable declamations--I was in need of consolation, and
you would mortify me--but, no, my victories shall crush your clamours!
In three months we shall have peace, and you shall repent your folly. I
am one of those who triumph or die.
"Go back to your Departments if any one of you dare to print your
address I shall publish it in the Moniteur with notes of my own.
Go; France stands in more need of me than I do of France. I bear the
eleven-twelfths of you in my heart--I shall nominate the Deputies to the
two series which are vacant, and I shall reduce the Legislative Body
to the discharge of its proper duties. The inhabitants of Alsace and
Franche Comte have more spirit than you; they ask me for arms, I send
them, and one of my aides de camp will lead them against the enemy."
In after conversations he said of the Legislative Body that "its members
never came to Paris but to obtain some favours. They importuned the
Ministers from morning till night, and complained if they were not
immediately satisfied. When invited to dinner they burn with envy at the
splendour they see before them." I heard this from Cambacérès, who was
present when the Emperor made these remarks.
CHAPTER XXXI.
1813.
The flag of the army of Italy and the eagles of 1813--Entrance of
the Allies into Switzerland--Summons to the Minister of Police--
My refusal to accept a mission to Switzerland--Interviews with M. de
Talleyrand and the Duc de Picence--Offer of a Dukedom and the Grand
Cordon of the Legion of Honour--Definitive refusal--The Duc de
Vicence's message to me in 1815--Commencement of the siege of
Hamburg--A bridge two leagues long--Executions at Lübeck--Scarcity
of provisions in Hamburg--Banishment of the inhabitants--Men
bastinadoed and women whipped--Hospitality of the inhabitants of
Altona.
I am now arrived at the most critical period in Napoleon's career. What
reflections must he have made, if he had had leisure to reflect, in
comparing the recollections of his rising glory with the sad picture of
his falling fortune? What a contrast presents itself when we compare
the famous flag of the army of Italy, which the youthful conqueror,
Bonaparte, carried to the Directory, with those drooping eagles who had
now to defend the aerie whence they had so often taken flight to spread
their triumphant wings over Europe! Here we see the difference between
liberty and absolute power! Napoleon, the son of liberty, to whom he
owed everything, had disowned his mother, and was now about to fall.
Those glorious triumphs were now over when the people of Italy consoled
themselves for defeat and submitted to the magical power of that liberty
which preceded the Republican armies. Now, on the contrary, it was to
free themselves from a despotic yoke that the nations of Europe had in
their turn taken up arms and were preparing to invade France.
With the violation of the Swiss territory by the Allied armies, after
the consent of the Cantons, is connected a fact of great importance in
my life, and which, if I had chosen, might have made a great difference
in my destiny. On Tuesday, the 28th of December, I dined with my old
friend, M. Pierlot, and on leaving home I was in the habit of saying
where I might be found in case I should be wanted. At nine o'clock at
night an express arrived from the Minister of Police desiring me to come
immediately to his office. I confess, considering the circumstances
of the times, and knowing the Emperor's prejudices against me, such
a request coming at such an hour made me feel some uneasiness, and I
expected nothing less then a journey to Vincennes. The Duc de Rovigo,
by becoming responsible for me, had as yet warded off the blow, and the
supervision to which the Emperor had subjected me--thanks to the good
offices of Davoust--consisted in going three times a week to show myself
to Savory.
I accordingly, having first borrowed a night-cap, repaired to the hotel
of the Minister of Police. I was ushered into a well-lighted room, and
when I entered I found Savary waiting for me. He was in full costume,
from which I concluded he had just come from the Emperor. Advancing
towards me with an air which showed he had no bad news to communicate,
he thus addressed me:
"Bourrienne, I have just come from the Emperor, who asked me where you
were? I told him you were in Paris, and that I saw you often. 'Well,'
continued the Emperor, 'bid him come to me, I want to employ him. It
is three years since he has had anything to do. I wish to send him as
Minister to Switzerland, but he must set off directly. He must go to
the Allies. He understands German well. The King of Prussia expressed
by letter satisfaction at his conduct towards the Prussians whom the
war forced to retire to Hamburg. He knows Prince Witgenstein, who is the
friend of the King of Prussia, and probably is at Lörrach. He will see
all the Germans who are there. I confidently rely on him, and believe
his journey will have a good result. Caulaincourt will give him his
instructions."
Notwithstanding my extreme surprise at this communication I replied
without hesitation that I could not accept the mission; that it was
offered too late. "It perhaps is hoped;" said I, "that the bridge
of Bale will be destroyed, and that Switzerland will preserve her
neutrality. But I do not believe any such thing; nay, more, I know
positively to the contrary. I can only repeat the offer comes much too
late."--"I am very sorry for this resolution," observed Savory, "but
Caulaincourt will perhaps persuade you. The Emperor wishes you to go to
the Duc de Vicence to-morrow at one o'clock; he will acquaint you with
all the particulars, and give you your instructions."--"He may acquaint
me with whatever he chooses, but I will not go to Lörrach."--"You know
the Emperor better than I do, he wishes you to go, and he will not
pardon your refusal."--"He may do as he pleases, but no consideration
shall induce me to go to Switzerland."--"You are wrong: but you will
reflect on the matter between this and tomorrow morning. Night will
bring good counsel, At any rate, do not fail to go to-morrow at one
o'clock to Caulaincourt, he expects you, and directions will be given to
admit you immediately."
Next morning the first thing I did was to call on M. de Talleyrand. I
told him what had taken place, and as he was intimately acquainted with
Caulaincourt, I begged him to speak to that Minister in favour of my
resolution. M. de Talleyrand approved of my determination not to go
to Switzerland, and at one o'clock precisely I proceeded to M. de
Caulaincourt's. He told me all he had been instructed to say. From the
manner in which he made the communication I concluded that he himself
considered the proposed mission a disagreeable one, and unlikely to be
attended by any useful result. I observed that he must have heard from
Savory that I had already expressed my determination to decline the
mission which the Emperor had been pleased to offer me. The Duc de
Vicence then, in a very friendly way, detailed the reasons which ought
to induce me to accept the offer, and did not disguise from me that
by persisting in my determination I ran the risk of raising Napoleon's
doubts as to my opinions and future intentions. I replied that, having
lived for three years as a private individual, unconnected with public
affairs, I should have no influence at the headquarters of the Allies,
and that whatever little ability I might be supposed to possess, that
would not counterbalance the difficulties of my situation, and the
opinion that I was out of favour. I added that I should appear at the
headquarters without any decoration, without even that of the Cordon of
the Legion of Honour to which the Emperor attached so much importance,
and the want of which would almost have the appearance of disgrace; and
I said that these trifles, however slightly valued by reasonable men,
were not, as he well knew, without their influence on the men with whom
I should have to treat. "If that be all," replied Caulaincourt, "the
obstacle will speedily be removed. I am authorised by the Emperor to
tell you that he will create you a Duke, and give you the Grand Cordon
of the Legion of Honour."
After these words I thought I was dreaming, and I was almost inclined
to believe that Caulaincourt was jesting with me. However, the offer was
serious, and I will not deny that it was tempting; yet I nevertheless
persisted in the refusal I had given. At length, after some further
conversation, and renewed, but useless, entreaties on the part of M.
de Caulaincourt, he arose, which was a signal that our interview was
terminated. I acknowledge I remained for a moment in doubt how to act,
for I felt we had come to no understanding. M. de' Caulaincourt advanced
slowly towards the door of his cabinet: If I went away without knowing
his opinion I had done nothing; addressing him, therefore, by his
surname, "Caulaincourt;" said I, "you have frequently assured me that
you would never forget the services I rendered to you and your family at
a time when I possessed some influence. I know you, and therefore speak
to you without disguise. I do not now address myself to the Emperor's
Minister, but to Caulaincourt. You are a man of honour, and I can open
my heart to you frankly. Consider the embarrassing situation of France,
which you know better than I do. I do not ask you for your secrets, but
I myself know enough. I will tell you candidly that I am convinced the
enemy will pass the Rhine in a few days. The Emperor has been deceived:
I should not have time to reach my destination, and I should be laughed
at. My correspondents in Germany have made me acquainted with every
particular. Now, Caulaincourt, tell me honestly, if you were in my
place, and I in yours, and I should make this proposition to you, what
determination would you adopt?"
I observed from the expression of Caulaincourt's countenance that my
question had made an impression on him, and affectionately pressing my
hand he said, "I would do as you do: Enough. I will arrange the business
with the Emperor." This reply seemed to remove a weight from my mind,
and I left Caulaincourt with feelings of gratitude. I felt fully assured
that he would settle the business satisfactorily, and in this conjecture
I was not deceived, for I heard no more of the matter.
I must here go forward a year to relate another occurrence in which
the Duc de Vicence and I were concerned. When, in March 1815, the
King appointed me Prefect of Police, M. de Caulaincourt sent to me a
confidential person to inquire whether he ran any risk in remaining in
Paris, or whether he had better remove. He had been told that his name
was inscribed in a list of individuals whom I had received orders to
arrest. Delighted at this proof of confidence, I returned the following
answer by the Duc de Vicence's messenger: "Tell M. de Caulaincourt that
I do not know where he lives. He need be under no apprehension: I will
answer for him."
During the campaign of 1813 the Allies, after driving the French out of
Saxony and obliging them to retreat towards the Rhine, besieged Hamburg,
where Davoust was shut up with a garrison of 30,000 men, resolutely
determined to make it a second Saragossa. From the month of September
every day augmented the number of the Allied troops, who were already
making rapid progress on the left bank of the Elbe. Davoust endeavoured
to fortify Hamburg on so extended a scale that, in the opinion of the
most experienced military men, it would have required a garrison of
60,000 men to defend it in a regular and protracted siege. At the
commencement of the siege Davoust lost Vandamme, who was killed in
a sortie at the head of a numerous corps which was inconsiderately
sacrificed.
It is but justice to admit that Davoust displayed great activity in the
defence, and began by laying in large supplies.
--[Vandamme fought under Grouchy in 1815, and died several years
afterwards. This killing him at Hamburg is one of the curious
mistakes seized on by the Bonapartists to deny the authenticity of
these Memoirs.]--
General Bertrand was directed to construct a bridge to form a
communication between Hamburg and Haarburg by joining the islands of the
Elbe to the Continent along a total distance of about two leagues.
This bridge was to be built of wood, and Davoust seized upon all the
timber-yards to supply materials for its construction. In the space of
eighty-three days the bridge was finished. It was a very magnificent
structure, its length being 2529 toises, exclusive of the lines of
junction, formed on the two islands.
The inhabitants were dreadfully oppressed, but all the cruel measures
and precautions of the French were ineffectual, for the Allies advanced
in great force and occupied Westphalia, which movement obliged the
Governor of Hamburg to recall to the town the different detachments
scattered round Hamburg.
At Lübeck the departure of the French troops was marked by blood. Before
they evacuated the town, an old man, and a butcher named Prahl, were
condemned to be shot. The butcher's crime consisted in having said, in
speaking of the French, "Der teufel hohle sie" (the devil take
them). The old man fortunately escaped his threatened fate, but,
notwithstanding the entreaties and tears of the inhabitants, the
sentence upon Prahl was carried into execution.
The garrison of Hamburg was composed of French, Italian, and Dutch
troops. Their number at first amounted to 30,000, but sickness made
great-havoc among them. From sixty to eighty perished daily in the
hospitals. When the garrison evacuated Hamburg in May 1814 it was
reduced to about 15,000 men. In the month of December provisions began
to diminish, and there was no possibility of renewing the supply.
The poor were first of all made to leave the town, and afterwards
all persons who were not usefully employed. It is no exaggeration to
estimate at 50,000 the number of persons who were thus exiled. The
colonel commanding the gendarmerie at Hamburg notified to the exiled
inhabitants that those who did not leave the town within the prescribed
time would receive fifty blows with a cane and afterwards be driven out.
But if penance may be commuted with priests so it may with gendarmes.
Delinquents contrived to purchase their escape from the bastinado by a
sum of money, and French gallantry substituted with respect to females
the birch for the cane. I saw an order directing all female servants to
be examined as to their health unless they could produce certificates
from their masters. On the 25th of December the Government granted
twenty-four hours longer to persons who were ordered to quit the town;
and two days after this indulgence an ordinance was published declaring
that those who should return to the town after once leaving it were
to be considered as rebels and accomplices of the enemy, and as such
condemned to death by a prevotal court. But this was not enough. At the
end of December people, without distinction of sex or age, were dragged
from their beds and conveyed out of the town on a cold night, when the
thermometer was between sixteen or eighteen degrees; and it was affirmed
that several old men perished in this removal. Those who survived were
left on the outside of the Altona gates. At Altona they all found refuge
and assistance. On Christmas-day 7000 of these unfortunate persons
were received in the house of M. Rainville, formerly aide de camp to
Dumouriez, and who left France together with that general. His
house, which was at Holstein, was usually the scene of brilliant
entertainments, but it was converted into the abode of misery, mourning,
and death. All possible attention was bestowed on the unfortunate
outlaws; but few profited by it, and what is worse, the inhabitants of
Altona suffered for their generosity. Many of the unfortunate persons
were affected with the epidemic disease which was raging in Hamburg, and
which in consequence broke out at Altona.
All means of raising money in Hamburg being exhausted, a seizure was
made of the funds of the Bank of that city, which yet contained from
seven to eight millions of marks. Were those who ordered this measure
not aware that to seize on the funds of some of the citizens of Hamburg
was an injury to all foreigners who had funds in the Bank? Such is a
brief statement of the vexations and cruelties which long oppressed this
unfortunate city. Napoleon accused Hamburg of Anglomania, and by ruining
her he thought to ruin England. Hamburg, feeble and bereft of her
sources, could only complain, like Jerusalem when besieged by Titus:
"Plorans, ploravit in nocte."
CHAPTER XXXII.
1813-1814.
Prince Eugène and the affairs of Italy--The army of Italy on the
frontiers of Austria--Eugène's regret at the defection of the
Bavarians--Murat's dissimulation and perfidy--His treaty with
Austria--Hostilities followed by a declaration of war--Murat
abandoned by the French generals--Proclamation from Paris--Murat's
success--Gigantic scheme of Napoleon--Napoleon advised to join the
Jacobins--His refusal--Armament of the National Guard--The Emperor's
farewell to the officers--The Congress of Chatillon--Refusal of an
armistice--Napoleon's character displayed in his negotiations--
Opening of the Congress--Discussions--Rupture of the Conferences.
I want now to proceed to notice the affairs of Italy and the principal
events of the Viceroyalty of Eugène. In order to throw together all that
I have to say about the Viceroy I must anticipate the order of time.
After the campaign of 1812, when Eugène revisited Italy, he was promptly
informed of the more than doubtful dispositions of Austria towards
France. He then made preparations for raising an army capable of
defending the country which the Emperor had committed to his safeguard.
Napoleon was fully aware how much advantage he would derive from the
presence on the northern frontiers of Italy of an army sufficiently
strong to harass Austria, in case she should draw aside the transparent
veil which still covered her policy. Eugène did all that depended on him
to meet the Emperor's wishes; but in spite of his efforts the army of
Italy was, after all; only an imaginary army to those who could compare
the number of men actually enrolled with the numbers stated in the
lists. When, in July 1813, the Viceroy was informed of the turn taken by
the negotiations at the shadow of a Congress assembled at Prague, he
had no longer any doubt of the renewal of hostilities; and foreseeing
an attack on Italy he resolved as speedily as possible to approach the
frontiers of Austria. He had succeeded in assembling an army composed of
French and Italians, and amounting to 45,000 infantry and 5000 cavalry.
On the renewal of hostilities the Viceroy's headquarters were at Udine.
Down to the month of April 1814 he succeeded in maintaining a formidable
attitude, and in defending the entrance of his kingdom by dint of that
military talent which was to be expected in a man bred in the great
school of Napoleon, and whom the army looked up to as one of its most
skillful generals.
During the great and unfortunate events of 1813 all eyes had been fixed
on Germany and the Rhine; but the defection of Murat for a time diverted
attention to Italy. That event did not so very much surprise me, for I
had not forgotten my conversation with the King of Naples in the Champs
Elysees, with which I have made the reader acquainted. At first Murat's
defection was thought incredible by every one, and it highly excited
Bonaparte's indignation. Another defection which occurred about the same
period deeply distressed Eugène, for although raised to the rank of a
prince, and almost a sovereign, he was still a man, and an excellent
man. He was united to the Princess Amelia of Bavaria, who was as amiable
and as much beloved as he, and he had the deep mortification to count
the subjects of his father-in-law among the enemies whom he would
probably have to combat. Fearing lest he should be harassed by the
Bavarians on the side of the Tyrol, Eugène commenced his retrograde
movement in the autumn of 1813. He at first fell back on the
Tagliamento, and successively on the Adige. On reaching that river the
army of Italy was considerably diminished, in spite of all Eugène's
care of his troops. About the end of November Eugène learned that
a Neapolitan corps was advancing upon Upper Italy, part taking the
direction of Rome, and part that of Ancona. The object of the King of
Naples was to take advantage of the situation of Europe, and he was
duped by the promises held out to him as the reward of his treason.
Murat seemed to have adopted the artful policy of Austria; for not only
had he determined to join the coalition, but he was even maintaining
communications with England and Austria, while at the same time he was
making protestations of fidelity to his engagements with Napoleon.
When first informed of Murat's treason by the Viceroy the Emperor
refused to believe it. "No," he exclaimed to those about him, "it cannot
be! Murat, to whom I have given my sister! Murat, to whom I have given
a throne! Eugène must be misinformed. It is impossible that Murat has
declared himself against me!" It was, however, not only possible but
true. Gradually throwing aside the dissimulation beneath which he had
concealed his designs, Murat seemed inclined to renew the policy of
Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when the art of
deceiving was deemed by the Italian Governments the most sublime effort
of genius. Without any declaration of war, Murat ordered the Neapolitan
General who occupied Rome to assume the supreme command in the Roman
States, and to take possession of the country. General Miollis, who
commanded the French troops in Rome, could only throw himself, with
his handful of men, into the Castle of St. Angelo, the famous mole of
Adrian, in which was long preserved the treasury of Sixtus V. The French
General soon found himself blockaded by the Neapolitan troops, who also
blockaded Civita Vecchia and Ancona.
The treaty concluded between Murat and Austria was definitively signed
on the 11th of January 1814. As soon as he was informed of it
the Viceroy, certain that he should soon have to engage with the
Neapolitans, was obliged to renounce the preservation of the line of
the Adige, the Neapolitan army being in the rear of his right wing.
He accordingly ordered a retrograde movement to the other side of the
Mincio, where his army was cantoned. In this position Prince Eugène, on
the 8th of February, had to engage with the Austrians, who had come up
with him, and the victory of the Mincio arrested, for some time, the
invasion of the Austrian army and its junction with the Neapolitan
troops.
It was not until eight days after that Murat officially declared war
against the Emperor; and immediately several general and superior
officers, and many French troops, who were in his service, abandoned
him, and repaired to the headquarters of the Viceroy. Murat made
endeavours to detain them; they replied, that as he had declared war
against France, no Frenchman who loved his country could remain in his
service. "Do you think," returned he, "that my heart is less French than
yours? On the contrary, I am much to be pitied. I hear of nothing but
the disasters of the Grand Army. I have been obliged to enter into
a treaty with the Austrians, and an arrangement with the English,
commanded by Lord Bentinck, in order to save my Kingdom from a
threatened landing of the English and the Sicilians, which would
infallibly have excited an insurrection."
There could not be a more ingenuous confession of the antipathy which
Joachim knew the Neapolitans to entertain towards his person and
government. His address to the French was ineffectual. It was easy
to foresee what would ensue. The Viceroy soon received an official
communication from Napoleon's War Minister, accompanied by an Imperial
decree, recalling all the French who were in the service of Joachim,
and declaring that all who were taken with arms in their hands should be
tried by a courtmartial as traitors to their country. Murat commenced
by gaining advantages which could not be disputed. His troops almost
immediately took possession of Leghorn and the citadel of Ancona, and
the French were obliged to evacuate Tuscany.
The defection of Murat overthrew one of Bonaparte's gigantic
conceptions. He had planned that Murat and Eugène with their combined
forces should march on the rear of the Allies, while he, disputing the
soil of France with the invaders, should multiply obstacles to their
advance; the King of Naples and the Viceroy of Italy were to march upon
Vienna and make Austria tremble in the heart of her capital before the
timid million of her Allies, who measured their steps as they approached
Paris, should desecrate by their presence the capital of France. When
informed of the vast project, which, however, was but the dream of
a moment, I immediately recognised that eagle glance, that power
of discovering great resources in great calamities, so peculiar to
Bonaparte.
Napoleon was yet Emperor of France; but he who had imposed on all Europe
treaties of peace no less disastrous than the wars which had preceded
them, could not now obtain an armistice; and Caulaincourt, who was
sent to treat for one at the camp of the Allies, spent twenty days at
Luneville before he could even obtain permission to pass the advanced
posts of the invading army. In vain did Caulaincourt entreat Napoleon
to sacrifice, or at least resign temporarily, a portion of that glory
acquired in so many battles, and which nothing could efface in history.
Napoleon replied, "I will sign whatever you wish. To obtain peace I will
exact no condition; but I will not dictate my own humiliation." This
concession, of course, amounted to a determination not to sign or to
grant anything.
In the first fortnight of January 1814 one-third of France was
invaded, and it was proposed to form a new Congress, to be held at
Chatillon-sur-Seine. The situation of Napoleon grew daily worse and
worse. He was advised to seek extraordinary resources in the interior of
the Empire, and was reminded of the fourteen armies which rose, as if
by enchantment, to defend France at the commencement of the Revolution.
Finally, a reconciliation with the Jacobins, a party who had power to
call up masses to aid him, was recommended. For a moment he was inclined
to adopt this advice. He rode on horseback through the surburbs of St.
Antoine and St. Marceau, courted the populace, affectionately replied to
their acclamations, and he thought he saw the possibility of turning to
account the attachment which the people evinced for him. On his return
to the Palace some prudent persons ventured to represent to him that,
instead of courting this absurd sort of popularity it would be more
advisable to rely on the nobility and the higher classes of society.
"Gentlemen," replied he, "you may say what you please, but in the
situation in which I stand my only nobility is the rabble of the
faubourgs, and I know of no rabble but the nobility whom I have
created." This was a strange compliment to all ranks, for it was only
saying that they were all rabble together.
At this time the Jacobins were disposed to exert every effort to serve
him; but they required to have their own way, and to be allowed freely
to excite and foster revolutionary sentiments. The press, which groaned
under the most odious and intolerable censorship, was to be wholly
resigned to them. I do not state these facts from hearsay. I happened
by chance to be present at two conferences in which were set forward
projects infected with the odour of the clubs, and these projects were
supported with the more assurance because their success was regarded as
certain. Though I had not seen Napoleon since my departure for Hamburg,
yet I was sufficiently assured of his feeling towards the Jacobins to be
convinced that he would have nothing to do with them. I was not wrong.
On hearing of the price they set on their services he said, "This is too
much; I shall have a chance of deliverance in battle, but I shall have
none with these furious blockheads. There can be nothing in common
between the demagogic principles of '93 and the monarchy, between clubs
of madmen and a regular Ministry, between a Committee of Public Safety
and an Emperor, between revolutionary tribunals and established laws. If
fall I must, I will not bequeath France to the Revolution from which I
have delivered her."
These were golden words, and Napoleon thought of a more noble and truly
national mode of parrying the danger which threatened him. He ordered
the enrolment of the National Guard of Paris, which was placed under the
command of Marshal Moncey. A better choice could not have been made,
but the staff of the National Guard was a focus of hidden intrigues,
in which the defence of Paris was less thought about than the means of
taking advantage of Napoleon's overthrow. I was made a captain in
this Guard, and, like the rest of the officers, I was summoned to the
Tuileries, on the 23d of January, when the Emperor took leave of the
National Guard previously to his departure from Paris to join the army.
Napoleon entered with the Empress. He advanced with a dignified step,
leading by the hand his son, who was not yet three years old. It was
long since I had seen him. He had grown very corpulent, and I remarked
on his pale countenance an expression of melancholy and irritability.
The habitual movement of the muscles of his neck was more decided and
more frequent than formerly. I shall not attempt to describe what
were my feelings during this ceremony, when I again saw, after a long
separation, the friend of my youth, who had become master of Europe,
and was now on the point of sinking beneath the efforts of his enemies.
There was something melancholy in this solemn and impressive ceremony. I
have rarely witnessed such profound silence in so numerous an assembly.
At length Napoleon, in a voice as firm and sonorous as when he used
to harangue his troops in Italy or in Egypt, but without that air
of confidence which then beamed on his countenance, delivered to the
assembled officers an address which was published in all the journals of
the time. At the commencement of this address he said, "I set out
this night to take the command of the army. On quitting the capital I
confidently leave behind me my wife and my son, in whom so many hopes
are centred." I listened attentively to Napoleon's address, and, though
he delivered it firmly, he either felt or feigned emotion. Whether or
not the emotion was sincere on his part, it was shared by many present;
and for my own part I confess that my feelings were deeply moved when he
uttered the words, "I leave you my wife and my son." At that moment
my eyes were fixed on the young Prince, and the interest with which he
inspired me was equally unconnected with the splendour which surrounded
and the misfortunes which threatened him. I beheld in the interesting
child not the King of Rome but the son of my old friend. All day long
afterwards I could not help feeling depressed while comparing the
farewell scene of the morning with the day on which we took possession
of the Tuileries. How many centuries seemed the fourteen years which
separated the two events.
It may be worth while to remind those who are curious in comparing
dates that Napoleon, the successor of Louis XVI., and who had become
the nephew of that monarch by his marriage with the niece of Marie
Antoinette, took leave of the National Guard of Paris on the anniversary
of the fatal 21st of January, after twenty-five years of successive
terror, fear, hope, glory, and misfortune.
Meanwhile, a Congress was opened at Chatillon-sur-Seine, at which were
assembled the Duke of Vicenza on the part of France, Lords Aderdeen
and Cathcart and Sir Charles Stewart as the representatives of England,
Count Razumowsky on the part of Russia, Count Stadion for Austria, and
Count Humboldt for Prussia. Before the opening of the Congress, the
Duke of Vicenza, in conformity with the Emperor's orders, demanded an
armistice, which is almost invariably granted during negotiations for
peace; but it was now too late: the Allies had long since determined
not to listen to any such demand. They therefore answered the Duke
of Vicenza's application by requiring that the propositions for peace
should be immediately signed. But these were not the propositions of
Frankfort. The Allies established as their bases the limits of the old
French monarchy. They conceived themselves authorised in so doing by
their success and by their situation.
To estimate rightly Napoleon's conduct during the negotiations for peace
which took place in the conferences at Chatillon it is necessary to bear
in mind the organisation he had received from nature and the ideas with
which that organisation had imbued him at an early period of life.
If the last negotiations of his expiring reign be examined with due
attention and impartiality it will appear evident that the causes of
his fall arose out of his character. I cannot range myself among those
adulators who have accused the persons about him with having dissuaded
him from peace. Did he not say at St. Helena, in speaking of the
negotiations at Chatillon, "A thunderbolt alone could have saved us: to
treat, to conclude, was to yield foolishly to the enemy." These words
forcibly portray Napoleon's character. It must also be borne in mind
how much he was captivated by the immortality of the great names which
history has bequeathed to our admiration, and which are perpetuated from
generation to generation. Napoleon was resolved that his name should
re-echo in ages to come, from the palace to the cottage. To live without
fame appeared to him an anticipated death. If, however, in this thirst
for glory, not for notoriety, he conceived the wish to surpass Alexander
and Caesar, he never desired the renown of Erostratus, and I will
say again what I have said before, that if he committed actions to be
condemned, it was because he considered them as steps which helped him
to place himself on the summit of immortality on which he wished to
place his name. Witness what he wrote to his brother Jerome, "Better
never, to have lived than to live without glory;" witness also what he
wrote later to his brother Louis, "It is better to die as a King than to
live as a Prince." How often in the days of my intimacy with Bonaparte
has he not said to me, "Who knows the names of those kings who have
passed from the thrones on which chance or birth seated them? They lived
and died unnoticed. The learned, perhaps, may find them mentioned in
old archives, and a medal or a coin dug from the earth may reveal to
antiquarians the existence of a sovereign of whom they had never before
heard. But, on the contrary, when we hear the names of Cyrus, Alexander,
Caesar, Mahomet, Charlemagne, Henry IV., and Louis XIV., we are
immediately among our intimate acquaintance." I must add, that when
Napoleon thus spoke to me in the gardens of Malmaison he only repeated
what had often fallen from him in his youth, for his character and his
ideas never varied; the change was in the objects to which they were
applied.
From his boyhood Napoleon was fond of reading the history of the great
men of antiquity; and what he chiefly sought to discover was the means
by which those men had become great. He remarked that military glory
secures more extended fame than the arts of peace and the noble efforts
which contribute to the happiness of mankind. History informs us that
great military talent and victory often give the power, which, in its
turn, procures the means of gratifying ambition. Napoleon was always
persuaded that that power was essential to him, in order to bend men
to his will, and to stifle all discussions on his conduct. It was his
established principle never to sign a disadvantageous peace. To him
a tarnished crown was no longer a crown. He said one day to M. de
Caulaincourt, who was pressing him to consent to sacrifices, "Courage
may defend a crown, but infamy never." In all the last acts of
Napoleon's career I can retrace the impress of his character, as I had
often recognised in the great actions of the Emperor the execution of a
thought conceived by the General-in-Chief of the Army of Italy.
On the opening of the Congress the Duke of Vicenza, convinced that
he could no longer count on the natural limits of France promised
at Frankfort by the Allies, demanded new powers. Those limits were
doubtless the result of reasonable concessions, and they had been
granted even after the battle of Leipsic; but it was now necessary
that Napoleon's Minister should show himself ready to make further
concessions if he wished to be allowed to negotiate. The Congress was
opened on the 5th of February, and on the 7th the Plenipotentiaries of
the Allied powers declared themselves categorically. They inserted in
the protocol that after the successes which had favoured their armies
they insisted on France being restored to her old limits, such as they
were during the monarchy before the Revolution; and that she should
renounce all direct influence beyond her future limits.
This proposition appeared so extraordinary to M. de Caulaincourt that he
requested the sitting might be suspended, since the conditions departed
too far from his instructions to enable him to give an immediate answer.
The Plenipotentiaries of the Allied powers acceded to his request, and
the continuation of the sitting was postponed till eight in the evening.
When it was resumed the Duke of Vicenza renewed his promise to make
the greatest sacrifices for the attainment of peace. He added that
the amount of the sacrifices necessarily depended on the amount of the
compensations, and that he could not determine on any concession or
compensation without being made acquainted with the whole. He wished to
have a general plan of the views of the Allies, and he requested that
their Plenipotentiaries would explain themselves decidedly respecting
the number and description of the sacrifices and compensations to be
demanded. It must be acknowledged that the Duke of Vicenza perfectly
fulfilled the views of the Emperor in thus protracting and gaining time
by subtle subterfuges, for all that he suggested had already been done.
On the day after this sitting some advantages gained by the Allies,
who took Chatillon-sur-Marne and Troves, induced Napoleon to direct
Caulaincourt to declare to the Congress that if an armistice were
immediately agreed on he was ready to consent to France being restored
to her old limits. By securing this armistice Napoleon hoped that happy
chances might arise, and that intrigues might be set on foot; but the
Allies would not listen to any such proposition.
At the sitting of the 10th of March the Duke of Vicenza inserted in the
protocol that the last courier he had received had been arrested and
detained a considerable time by several Russian general officers,
who had obliged him to deliver up his despatches, which had not been
returned to him till thirty-six hours after at Chaumont. Caulaincourt
justly complained of this infraction of the law of nations and
established usage, which, he said, was the sole cause of the delay
in bringing the negotiations to a conclusion. After this complaint he
communicated to the Congress the ostensible instructions of Napoleon, in
which he authorised his Minister to accede to the demands of the Allies.
But in making this communication M. de Caulaincourt took care not to
explain the private and secret instructions he had also received.
The Allies rejected the armistice because it would have checked their
victorious advance; but they consented to sign the definitive peace,
which of all things was what the Emperor did not wish.
Napoleon at length determined to make sacrifices, and the Duke of
Vicenza submitted new propositions to the Congress. The Allies replied,
in the same sitting, that these propositions contained no distinct and
explicit declaration on the project presented by them on the 17th
of February; that, having on the 28th of the same month, demanded a
decisive answer within the term of ten days, they were about to break up
the negotiations Caulaincourt then declared verbally:
1st. That the Emperor Napoleon was ready to renounce all pretension or
influence whatever in countries beyond the boundaries of France.
2d. To recognise the independence of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany,
and Holland, and that as to England, France would make such concessions
as might be deemed necessary in consideration of a reasonable
equivalent.
Upon this the sitting was immediately broken up without a reply. It must
be remarked that this singular declaration was verbal, and consequently
not binding, and that the limits of France were mentioned without being
specified. It cannot be doubted that Napoleon meant the limits conceded
at Frankfort, to which he was well convinced the Allies would not
consent, for circumstances were now changed. Besides, what could be
meant by the reasonable equivalent from England? Is it astonishing that
this obscurity and vagueness should have banished all confidence on the
part of the Plenipotentiaries of the Allied powers? Three days after
the sitting of the 10th of March they declared they could not even enter
into a discussion of the verbal protocol of the French Minister. They
requested that M. de Caulaincourt would declare whether he would accept
or reject the project of a treaty presented by the Allied Sovereigns, or
offer a counter-project.
The Duke of Vicenza, who was still prohibited, by secret instructions
from coming to any conclusion on the proposed basis, inserted in the
protocol of the sitting of the 13th of March a very ambiguous note. The
Plenipotentiaries of the Allies; in their reply, insisted upon receiving
another declaration from the French Plenipotentiary, which should
contain an acceptance or refusal of their project of a treaty presented
in the conference of the 7th of February, or a counter-project. After
much discussion Caulaincourt agreed to draw up a counter-project, which
he presented on the 15th, under the following title: "Project of a
definitive Treaty between France and the Allies." In this extraordinary
project, presented after so much delay, M. de Caulaincourt, to the great
astonishment of the Allies, departed in no respect from the declarations
of the 10th of March. He replied again to the ultimatum of the Allies,
or what he wished to regard as such, by defending a multitude of petty
interests, which were of no importance in so great a contest; but in
general the conditions seemed rather those of a conqueror dictating to
his enemies than of a man overwhelmed by misfortune: As may readily be
imagined, they were, for the most part, received with derision by the
Allies.
Everything tends to prove that the French Plenipotentiary had received
no positive instructions from the 5th of February, and that, after all
the delay which Napoleon constantly created, Caulaincourt never had it
in his power to answer, categorically, the propositions of the Allies.
Napoleon never intended to make peace at Chatillon on the terms
proposed. He always hoped that some fortunate event would enable him to
obtain more favourable conditions.
On the 18th of March, that is to say, three days after the presentation
of this project of a treaty, the Plenipotentiaries of the Allies
recorded in the protocol their reasons for rejecting the extraordinary
project of the French Minister. For my part, I was convinced, for the
reasons I have mentioned, that the Emperor would never agree to sign the
conditions proposed in the ultimatum of the Allies, dated the 13th of
March, and I remember having expressed that opinion to M. de Talleyrand.
I saw him on the 14th, and found him engaged in perusing some
intelligence he had just received from the Duke of Vicenza, announcing,
as beyond all doubt, the early signature of peace. Caulaincourt had
received orders to come to a conclusion. Napoleon, he said, had given
him a carte blanche to save the capital, and avoid a battle, by which
the last resources of the nation would be endangered. This seemed pretty
positive, to be sure; but even this assurance did not, for a moment,
alter my opinion. The better to convince me, M. de Talleyrand gave me
Caulaincourt's letter to read. After reading it I confidently said,
"He will never sign the conditions." M. de Talleyrand could not help
thinking me very obstinate in my opinion, for he judged of what the
Emperor would do by his situation, while I judged by his character.
I told M. de Talleyrand that Caulaincourt might have received written
orders to sign; for the sake of showing them to the Plenipotentiaries of
the Allies, but that I had no doubt he had been instructed to postpone
coming to a conclusion, and to wait for final orders. I added, that I
saw no reason to change my opinion, and that I continued to regard
the breaking up of the Congress as nearer than appearances seemed to
indicate. Accordingly, three days afterwards, the Allies grew tired of
the delay and the conferences were broken up. Thus Napoleon sacrificed
everything rather than his glory. He fell from a great height, but he
never, by his signature, consented to any dismemberment of France.
The Plenipotentiaries of the Allies, convinced that these renewed
difficulties and demands had no other object but to gain time, stated
that the Allied powers, faithful to their principles, and in conformity
with their previous declarations, regarded the negotiations at Chatillon
as terminated by the French Government. This rupture of the conferences
took place on the 19th of March, six days after the presentation of the
ultimatum of the Allied powers. The issue of these long discussions
was thus left to be decided by the chances of war, which were not very
favourable to the man who boldly contended against armed Europe. The
successes of the Allies during the conferences at Chatillon had
opened to their view the road to Paris, while Napoleon shrunk from the
necessity of signing his own disgrace. In these circumstances was to
be found the sole cause of his ruin, and he might have said, "Tout est
perdu, fors la gloire." His glory is immortal.
--[The conviviality and harmony that reigned between the Ministers
made the society and Intercourse at Chatillon most agreeable. The
diplomatists dined alternately with each other; M. de Caulaincourt
liberally passing for all the Ministers, through the French advanced
posts, convoys of all the good cheer in epicurean wises, etc., that
Paris could afford; nor was female society wanting to complete the
charm and banish ennui from the Chatillon Congress, which I am sure
will be long recollected with sensations of pleasure by all the
Plenipotentiaries there engaged (Memoirs of Lord Burghersh).]--
CHAPTER XXXIII.
1814
Curious conversation between General Reynier and the Emperor
Alexander--Napoleon repulses the Prussians--The Russians at
Fontainebleau--Battle of Brienne--Sketch of the campaign of France--
Supper after the battle of Champ Aubert--Intelligence of the arrival
of the Duc d'Angouleme and the Comte d'Artois in France--The battle
of the ravens and the eagle--Battle of Craonne--Departure of the
Pope and the Spanish Princes--Capture of a convoy--Macdonald at the
Emperor's headquarters--The inverted cipher.
I was always persuaded, and everything I have since seen has confirmed
my opinion, that the Allies entering France had no design of restoring
the House of Bourbon, or of imposing any Government whatever on the
French people. They came to destroy and not to found. That which they
wished to destroy from the commencement of their success was Napoleon's
supremacy, in order to prevent the future invasions with which they
believed Europe would still be constantly threatened. If, indeed, I had
entertained any doubt on this subject it would have been banished by
the account I heard of General Reynier's conversation with the
Emperor Alexander. That General, who was made prisoner at Leipsic, was
exchanged, and returned to France. In the beginning of February 1814
he passed through Troves, where the Emperor Alexander then was. Reynier
expressed a desire to be allowed to pay his respects to the Emperor, and
to thank him for having restored him to liberty. He was received with
that affability of manner which was sometimes affected by the Russian
monarch.
On his arrival at Paris General Reynier called at the Duc de Rovigo's,
where I had dined that day, and where he still was when I arrived. He
related in my hearing the conversation to which I have alluded, and
stated that it had all the appearance of sincerity on the Emperor's
part. Having asked Alexander whether he had any instructions for
Napoleon, as the latter, on learning that he had seen his Majesty would
not fail to ask him many questions, he replied that he had nothing
particular to communicate to him. Alexander added that he was Napoleon's
friend, but that he had, personally, much reason--to complain of his
conduct; that the Allies would have nothing more to do with him; that
they had no intention of forcing any Sovereign upon France; but that
they would no longer acknowledge Napoleon as Emperor of the French. "For
my part," said Alexander, "I can no longer place any confidence in
him. He has deceived me too often." In reply to this Reynier made
some remarks dictated by his attachment and fidelity to Bonaparte. He
observed that Napoleon was acknowledged as Sovereign of France by every
treaty. "But," added Reynier, "if you should persist in forcing him to
resign the supreme power, whom will you put in his place?"--"Did you not
choose him; why then can you not choose some one else to govern you? I
repeat that we do not intend to force any one upon you but we will have
no more to do with Napoleon."
Several Generals were then named; and after Reynier had explained
the great difficulties which would oppose any such choice, Alexander
interrupted him saying, "But, General, there is Bernadotte.' Has he
not been voluntarily chosen Prince Royal of Sweden; may he not also be
raised to the same rank in France? He is your countryman; surely then
you may choose him, since the Swedes took him, though a foreigner."
General Reynier, who was a man of firm character, started some
objections, which I thought at the time well founded; and Alexander
put an end to the conversation by saving, rather in a tone of
dissatisfaction, "Well, General, the fate of arms will decide."
The campaign of France forced Napoleon to adopt a kind of operations
quite new to him. He had been accustomed to attack; but he was now
obliged to stand on his defence, so that, instead of having to execute a
previously conceived plan, as when, in the Cabinet of the Tuileries,
he traced out to me the field of Marengo, he had now to determine his
movements according to those of his numerous enemies. When the Emperor
arrived at Chalons-sur-Marne the Prussian army was advancing by the road
of Lorraine. He drove it back beyond St. Dizier. Meanwhile the Grand
Austro-Russian army passed the Seine and the Yonne at Montereau, and
even sent forward a corps which advanced as far as Fontainebleau.
Napoleon then made a movement to the right in order to drive back the
troops which threatened to march on Paris, and by a curious chance he
came up with the troops in the very place where he passed the boyish
years in which he cherished what then seemed wild and fabulous dreams
of his future fate. What thoughts and recollections must have crowded on
his mind when he found himself an Emperor and a King, at the head of a
yet powerful army, in the chateau of the Comte de Brienne, to whom he
had so often paid his homage! It was at Brienne that he had said to
me, thirty-four years before, "I will do these Frenchman all the harm I
can." Since then he had certainly changed his mind; but it might be said
that fate persisted in forcing the man to realise the design of the
boy in spite of himself. No sooner had Napoleon revisited Brienne as
a conqueror than he was repulsed and hurried to his fall, which became
every moment more certain.
I shall not enter into any details of the campaign of France, because
the description of battles forms no part of my plan. Still, I think it
indispensable briefly to describe Napoleon's miraculous activity from
the time of his leaving Paris to the entrance of the Allies into the
capital. Few successful campaigns have enabled our Generals and the
French army to reap so much glory as they gained during this great
reverse of fortune. For it is possible to triumph without honour, and to
fall with glory. The chances of the war were not doubtful, but certainly
the numerous hosts of the Allies could never have anticipated so long
and brilliant a resistance. The theatre of the military operations soon
approached so near to Paris that the general eagerness for news from the
army was speedily satisfied, and when any advantage was gained by the
Emperor his partisans saw the enemy already repulsed from the French
territory. I was not for a moment deceived by these illusions, as I
well knew the determination and the resources of the Allied sovereigns.
Besides, events were so rapid and various in this war of extermination
that the guns of the Invalides announcing a victory were sometimes
immediately followed by the distant rolling of artillery, denoting the
enemy's near approach to the capital.
The Emperor left Paris on the 25th of January, at which time the
Emperors of Russia and Austria and the King of Prussia were assembled at
Langres. Napoleon rejoined his Guard at Vitry-le-Francais. On the second
day after his departure he drove before him the Prussian army, which
he had forced to evacuate St. Dizier. Two days after this the battle of
Brienne was fought, and on the 1st of February between 70,000 and
80,000 French and Allied troops stood face to face. On this occasion the
commanders on both sides were exposed to personal danger, for Napoleon
had a horse killed under him, and a Cossack fell dead by the side of
Marshal Blücher.
A few days after this battle Napoleon entered Troves, where he stayed
but a short time, and then advanced to Champaubert. At the latter place
was fought the battle which hears its name. The Russians were defeated,
General Alsufieff was made prisoner, and 2000 men and 30 guns fell into
the hands of the French. After this battle the Emperor was under such a
delusion as to his situation that while supping with Berthier, Marmont,
and his prisoner, General Alsufieff, the Emperor said, "Another such
victory as this, gentlemen, and I shall be on the Vistula."
Finding that no one replied, and reading in the countenances of his
Marshals that they did not share his hopes, "I see how it is," he added,
"every one is growing tired of war; there is no more enthusiasm. The
sacred fire is extinct." Then rising from the table, and stepping up
to General Drouot, with the marked intention of paying him a compliment
which should at the same time convey a censure on the Marshals,
"General," said he, patting him on the shoulder, "we only want a
hundred men like you, and we should succeed." Drouot replied, with great
presence of mind and modesty, "Rather say a hundred thousand, Sire."
This anecdote was related to me by the two principal persons who were
present on the occasion.
Napoleon soon began to have other subjects of disquietude besides the
fate of battles. He was aware that since the beginning of February the
Duc d'Angouleme had arrived at St. Jean de Luz, whence he had addressed
a proclamation to the French armies in the name of his uncle, Louis
XVIII.; and he speedily heard of the Comte d'Artois' arrival at Yesoul,
on the 21st of February, which place he did not leave until the 16th of
March following.
Meanwhile hostilities were maintained with increased vigor over a vast
line of operations. How much useless glory did not our soldiers gain
in these conflicts! In spite of prodigies of valour the enemy's masses
advanced, and gradually concentrated, so that this war might be compared
to the battles of the ravens and the eagle in the Alps. The eagle slays
hundreds of his assailants--every blow of his beak is the death of an
enemy, but still the vultures return to the charge, and press upon the
eagle until they destroy him.
As the month of February drew to its close the Allies were in retreat
on several points, but their retreat was not a rout. After experiencing
reverses they fell back without disorder, and retired behind the Aube,
where they rallied and obtained numerous reinforcements, which daily
arrived, and which soon enabled them to resume the offensive.
Still Napoleon continued astonishing Europe, leagued as it was against
him. At Craonne, on the 7th of March, he destroyed Blücher's corps in
a severe action, but the victory was attended by great loss to the
conqueror. Marshal Victor was seriously wounded, as well as Generals
Grouchy and La Ferriere.
While Napoleon was resisting the numerous enemies assembled to destroy
him it might be said that he was also his own enemy, either from
false calculation or from negligence with respect to his illustrious
prisoners, who, on his departure from Paris, had not yet been sent to
their States. The Pope was then at Fontainebleau, and the Princes of
Spain at Valencay. The Pope, however, was the first to be allowed to
depart. Surely Bonaparte could never have thought of the service which
the Pope might have rendered him at Rome, into which Murat's troops
would never have dared to march had his Holiness been present there.
With regard to the Spanish Princes Napoleon must have been greatly
blinded by confidence in his fortune to have so long believed it
possible to retain in France those useless trophies of defeated
pretensions. It was, besides, so easy to get rid of the exiles of
Valencay by sending them back to the place from whence they had been
brought! It was so natural to recall with all speed the troops from the
south when our armies in Germany began to be repulsed on the Rhine and
even driven into France! With the aid of these veteran troops Napoleon
and his genius might have again turned the scale of fortune. But
Napoleon reckoned on the nation, and he was wrong, for the nation was
tired of him. His cause had ceased to be the cause of France.
The latter days of March were filled up by a series of calamities
to Napoleon. On the 23d the rear-guard of the French army suffered
considerable loss. To hear of attacks on his rear-guard must indeed
have been mortifying to Napoleon, whose advanced guards had been so
long accustomed to open the path of victory! Prince Schwartzenberg soon
passed the Aube and marched upon Vitry and Chalons. Napoleon, counting
on the possibility of defending Paris, threw himself, with the velocity
of the eagle, on Schwartzenberg's rear by passing by Doulevant and Bar-
sur-Aube. He pushed forward his advanced guards to Chaumont, and there
saw the Austrian army make a movement which he took to be a retreat; but
it was no such thing. The movement was directed on Paris, while
Blücher, who had re-occupied Chalons-sur-Maine, marched to meet Prince
Schwartzenberg, and Napoleon, thinking to cut off their retreat, was
himself cut off from the possibility of returning to Paris. Everything
then depended on the defence of Paris, or, to speak more correctly, it
seemed possible, by sacrificing the capital, to prolong for a few days
the existence of the phantom of the Empire which was rapidly vanishing.
On the 26th was fought the battle of Fere Champenoise, where, valour
yielding to numbers, Marshals Marmont and Mortier were obliged to retire
upon Sezanne after sustaining considerable loss.
It was on the 26th of March, and I beg the reader to bear this date in
mind, that Napoleon suffered a loss which, in the circumstances in which
he stood, was irreparable. At the battle of Fere Champenoise the Allies
captured a convoy consisting of nearly all the remaining ammunition and
stores of the army, a vast quantity of arms, caissons, and equipage
of all kinds. The whole became the prey of the Allies, who published a
bulletin announcing this important capture. A copy of this order of the
day fell into the hands of Marshal Macdonald, who thought that such
news ought immediately to be communicated to the Emperor. He therefore
repaired himself to the headquarters of Napoleon, who was then preparing
to recover Vitre-le-Francais, which was occupied by the Prussians. The
Marshal, with the view of dissuading the Emperor from what he considered
a vain attempt, presented him with the bulletin.
This was on the morning of the 27th: Napoleon would not believe the
news. "No!" said he to the Marshal, "you are deceived, this cannot be
true." Then perusing the bulletin with more attention. "Here," said he,
"look yourself. This is the 27th, and the bulletin is dated the 29th.
You see the thing is impossible. The bulletin is forged!" The Marshal,
who had paid more attention to the news than to its date, was astounded.
But having afterwards shown the bulletin to Drouot, that General said,
"Alas! Marshal, the news is but too true. The error of the date is
merely a misprint, the 9 is a 6 inverted!" On what trifles sometimes
depend the most important events. An inverted cipher sufficed to flatter
Bonaparte's illusion, or at least the illusions which he wished to
maintain among his most distinguished lieutenants, and to delay the
moment when they should discover that the loss they deplored was too
certain. On that very day the Empress left Paris.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
1814.
The men of the Revolution and the men of the Empire--The Council of
Regency--Departure of the Empress from Paris--Marmont and Mortier--
Joseph's flight--Meeting at Marmont's hotel--Capitulation of Paris--
Marmont's interview with the Emperor at Fontainebleau--Colonels
Fabvier and Denys--The Royalist cavalcade--Meeting at the hotel of
the Comte de Morfontaine--M. de Chateaubriand and his pamphlet--
Deputation to the Emperor Alexander--Entrance of the Allied
sovereigns into Paris--Alexander lodged in M. Talleyrand's hotel--
Meetings held there--The Emperor Alexander's declaration--
My appointment as Postmaster-General--Composition of the Provisional
Government--Mistake respecting the conduct of the Emperor of
Austria--Caulaincourt's mission from Napoleon--His interview with
the Emperor Alexander--Alexander's address to the deputation of the
Senate--M. de Caulaincourt ordered to quit the capital.
The grandees of the Empire and the first subjects of Napoleon were
divided into two classes totally distinct from each other. Among these
patronised men were many who had been the first patrons of Bonaparte and
had favoured his accession to Consular power. This class was composed
of his old friends and former companions-in-arms. The others, who may be
called the children of the Empire, did not carry back their thoughts
to a period which they had not seen. They had never known anything but
Napoleon and the Empire, beyond which the sphere of their ideas did
not extend, while among Napoleon's old brothers-in-arms it was still
remembered that there was once a country, a France, before they had
helped to give it a master. To this class of men France was not confined
to the narrow circle of the Imperial headquarters, but extended to the
Rhine, the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the two oceans.
On the other hand, numbers of ardent and adventurous young men, full of
enthusiasm for Bonaparte, had passed from the school to the camp. They
were entirely opposed to Napoleon's downfall, because with his power
would vanish those dreams of glory and fortune which had captivated
their imaginations. These young men, who belonged to the class which
I have denominated children of the Empire, were prepared to risk and
commit everything to prolong the political life of their Emperor.
The distinction I have drawn between what may be called the men of
France and the men of the Empire was not confined to the army, but was
equally marked among the high civil functionaries of the State. The old
Republicans could not possibly regard Napoleon with the same eyes as
those whose elevation dated only from Napoleon; and the members of
assemblies anterior to the 18th Brumaire could not entertain the same
ideas as those whose notions of national franchises and public rights
were derived from their seats as auditors in the Council of State.
I know not whether this distinction between the men of two different
periods has been before pointed out, but it serves to explain the
conduct of many persons of elevated rank during the events of 1814.
With regard to myself, convinced as I was of the certainty of Napoleon's
fall, I conceived that the first duty of every citizen was claimed by
his country; and although I may incur censure, I candidly avow that
Napoleon's treatment of me during the last four years of his power was
not without some influence on my prompt submission to the Government
which succeeded his. I, however, declare that this consideration was not
the sole nor the most powerful motive of my conduct. Only those who
were in Paris at the period of the capitulation can form an idea of the
violence of party feeling which prevailed there both for and against
Napoleon, but without the name of the Bourbons ever being pronounced.
They were almost unknown to the new generation, forgotten by many of
the old, and feared by the conventionalists; at that time they possessed
only the frail support of the coteries of the Faubourg St. Germain, and
some remains of the emigration. But as it is certain that the emigrants
could offer only vain demonstrations and wishes in support of the old
family of our Kings, they did little to assist the restoration of the
Bourbons. Another thing equally certain is, that they alone, by their
follies and absurd pretensions, brought about the return of Bonaparte
and the second exile of Louis XVIII. in the following year.
On the 28th of March was convoked an extraordinary Council of Regency,
at which Maria Louisa presided. The question discussed was, whether the
Empress should remain in Paris or proceed to Blois. Joseph Bonaparte
strongly urged her departure, because a letter from the Emperor had
directed that in case of Paris being threatened the Empress-Regent and
all the Council of Regency should retire to Blois. The Arch-Chancellor
and the majority of the Council were of the same opinion, but one of
the most influential members of the Council observed to Joseph that the
letter referred to had been written under circumstances very different
from those then existing, and that it was important the Empress should
remain in Paris, where she would, of course, obtain from the Emperor her
father and the Allied sovereigns, more advantageous conditions than if
she were fifty leagues from Paris. The adoption of this opinion would
only have retarded for a few days a change which had become inevitable;
nevertheless it might have given rise to great difficulties. It must be
admitted that for the interests of Napoleon it was the wisest counsel
that could be suggested. However, it was overruled by Joseph's advice.
M. de Talleyrand, as a member of the Council of Regency, also received
the order to quit Paris on the 30th of March. At this period I was
at his house every day. When I went to him that day I was told he had
started. However I went up, and remained some time in his hotel with
several of his friends who had met there. We soon saw him return, and
for my part I heard with satisfaction that they had not allowed him to
pass the barriers. It was said then, and it has been repeated since,
that M. de Talleyrand was not a stranger to the gentle violence used
towards him. The same day of this visit to M. de Talleyrand I also went
to see the Duc de Rovigo (Savary), with the friendly object of getting
him to remain, and to profit by his position to prevent disturbances. He
refused without hesitating, as he only thought of the Emperor. I found
him by his fireside, where there was a large fire, in which he was
burning all the papers which might have compromised every one who had
served his ministry (Police). I congratulated him sincerely on this
loyal occupation: fire alone could purify the mass of filth and
denunciations which encumbered the police archives.
On the departure of the Empress many persons expected a popular movement
in favour of a change of Government, but the capital remained tranquil.
Many of the inhabitants, indeed, thought of defence, not for the sake of
preserving Napoleon's government, but merely from that ardour of feeling
which belongs to our national character. Strong indignation was excited
by the thought of seeing foreigners masters of Paris--a circumstance
of which there had been no example since the reign of Charles VII.
Meanwhile the critical moment approached. On the 29th of March Marshals
Marmont and Mortier fell back to defend the approaches to Paris. During
the night the barriers were consigned to the care of the National Guard,
and not a foreigner, not even one of their agents, was allowed to enter
the capital.
At daybreak on the 30th of March the whole population of Paris was
awakened by the report of cannon, and the plain of St. Denis was soon
covered with Allied troops, who were debouching upon it from all points.
The heroic valour of our troops was unavailing against such a numerical
superiority. But the Allies paid dearly for their entrance into the
French capital. The National Guard, under the command of Marshal Moncey,
and the pupils of the Polytechnic School transformed into artillery men,
behaved in a manner worthy of veteran troops. The conduct of Marmont on
that day alone would suffice to immortalise him. The corps he commanded
was reduced to between 7000 and 8000 infantry and 800 cavalry, with
whom, for the space of twelve hours he maintained his ground against an
army of 55,000 men, of whom it is said 14,000 were killed, wounded, and
taken. Marshal Marmont put himself so forward in the heat of the battle
that a dozen of men were killed by the bayonet at his side, and his hat
was perforated by a ball. But what was to be done against overwhelming
numbers!
In this state of things the Duke of Ragusa made known his situation to
Joseph Bonaparte, who authorised him to negotiate.
Joseph's answer is so important in reference to the events which
succeeded that I will transcribe it here.
If the Dukes of Ragusa and Treviso can no longer hold out, they are
authorised to negotiate with Prince Schwartzenberg and the Emperor
of Russia, who are before them.
They will fall back on the Loire.
(Signed) JOSEPH
Montmartre, 30th March 1814, 12 oclock
It was not until a considerable time after the receipt of this formal
authority that Marmont and Mortier ceased to make a vigorous resistance
against the Allied army, for the suspension of arms was not agreed
upon until four in the afternoon. It was not waited for by Joseph; at a
quarter past twelve--that is to say, immediately after he had addressed
to Marmont the authority just alluded to Joseph repaired to the Bois de
Boulogne to regain the Versailles road, and from thence to proceed to
Rambouillet. The precipitate flight of Joseph astonished only those who
did not know him. I know for a fact that several officers attached to
his staff were much dissatisfied at his alacrity on this occasion.
In these circumstances what was to be done but to save Paris, which
there was no possibility of defending two hours longer. Methinks I still
see Marmont when, on the evening of the 30th of March, he returned from
the field of battle to his hotel in the Rue de Paradis, where I was
waiting for him, together with about twenty other persons, among
whom were MM. Perregaua and Lafitte. When he entered he was scarcely
recognisable: he had a beard of eight days' growth; the greatcoat which
covered his uniform was in tatters, and he was blackened with powder
from head to foot. We considered what was best to be done, and all
insisted on the necessity of signing a capitulation. The Marshal must
recollect that the exclamation of every one about him was, "France must
be saved." MM. Perregaus and Lafitte delivered their opinions in a
very decided way, and it will readily be conceived how great was the
influence of two men who were at the head of the financial world. They
alleged that the general wish of the Parisians, which nobody had a
better opportunity of knowing than themselves, was decidedly averse to a
protracted conflict, and that France was tired of the yoke of Bonaparte.
This last declaration gave a wider range to the business under
consideration. The question was no longer confined to the capitulation
of Paris, but a change in the government was thought of, and the name of
the Bourbons was pronounced for the first time. I do not recollect which
of us it was who, on hearing mention made of the possible recall of
the old dynasty, remarked how difficult it would be to bring about a
restoration without retrograding to the past. But I think I am perfectly
correct in stating that M. Lafitte said, "Gentlemen, we shall have
nothing to fear if we have a good constitution which will guarantee
the rights of all." The majority of the meeting concurred in this wise
opinion, which was not without its influence on Marshal Marmont.
During this painful meeting an unexpected incident occurred. One of the
Emperor's aides de camp arrived at Marmont's. Napoleon, being informed
of the advance of the Allies on Paris, had marched with the utmost speed
from the banks of the Marne on the road of Fontainebleau. In the evening
he was in person at Froidmanteau, whence he despatched his envoy to
Marshal Marmont. From the language of the aide de camp it was easy to
perceive that the state of opinion at the Imperial headquarters was very
different from that which prevailed among the population of Paris. The
officer expressed indignation at the very idea of capitulating, and
he announced with inconceivable confidence the approaching arrival of
Napoleon in Paris, which he yet hoped to save from the occupation of
the enemy. The officer informed us that Napoleon trusted to the people
rising in spite of the capitulation, and that they would unpave the
streets to stone the Allies on their entrance. I ventured to dissent
from this absurd idea of defence, and I observed that it was madness to
suppose that Paris could resist the numerous troops who were ready
to enter on the following day; that the suspension of arms had been
consented to by the Allies only to afford time for drawing up a more
regular capitulation, and that the armistice could not be broken without
trampling on all the laws of honour. I added that the thoughts of the
people were directed towards a better future; that the French were tired
of a despotic Government and of the distress to which continual war had
reduced trade and industry; "for," said I, "when a nation is sunk
to such a state of misery its hopes can only be directed towards
the future; it is natural they should be so directed, even without
reflection." Most of the individuals present concurred in my opinion,
and the decision of the meeting was unanimous. Marshal Marmont has since
said to me, "I have been blamed, my dear Bourrienne: but you were with
me on the 30th of March. You were a witness to the wishes expressed by a
portion of the principal inhabitants of Paris. I acted as I was urged to
do only because I considered the meeting to be composed of men entirely
disinterested, and who had nothing to expect from the return of the
Bourbons."
Such is a correct statement of the facts which some persons have
perverted with the view of enhancing Napoleon's glory. With respect to
those versions which differ from mine I have only one comment to offer,
which is, that I saw and heard what I describe.
The day after the capitulation of Paris--Marmont went in the evening to
see the Emperor at Fontainebleau. He supped with him. Napoleon praised
his defence of Paris.. After supper the Marshal rejoined his corps at
Essonne, and six hours after the Emperor arrived there to visit the
lines. On leaving Paris Marmont had left Colonels Fabvier and Dent's
to direct the execution of the capitulation. These officers joined the
Emperor and the Marshal as they were proceeding up the banks of the
river at Essonne. They did not disguise the effect which the entrance of
the Allies had produced in Paris. At this intelligence the Emperor was
deeply mortified, and he returned immediately to Fontainebleau, leaving
the Marshal at Essonne.
At daybreak on the 31st of March Paris presented a novel and curious
spectacle. No sooner had the French troops evacuated the capital than
the principal streets resounded with cries of "Down with Bonaparte!"--
"No conscription!"--"No consolidated duties (droits reunis)!" With these
cries were mingled that of "The Bourbons for ever!" but this latter cry
was not repeated so frequently as the others: in general I remarked
that the people gaped and listened with a sort of indifference. As I had
taken a very active part in all that had happened during some preceding
days I was particularly curious to study what might be called the
physiognomy of Paris. This was the second opportunity which had offered
itself for such a study, and I now saw the people applaud the fall of
the man whom they had received with enthusiasm after the 18th Brumaire.
The reason was, that liberty was then hoped for, as it was hoped for
in 1814. I went out early in the morning to see the numerous groups
of people who had assembled in the streets. I saw women tearing their
handkerchiefs and distributing the fragments as the emblems of the
revived lily. That same morning I met on the Boulevards, and some hours
afterwards on the Place Louis XV., a party of gentlemen who paraded the
streets of the capital proclaiming the restoration of the Bourbons
and shouting, "Vive le Roi!" and "Vive Louis XVIII!" At their head I
recognised MM. Sosthenes de la Rochefoucauld, Comte de Froissard, the
Duc de Luxembourg, the Duc de Crussol, Seymour, etc. The cavalcade
distributed white cockades in passing along, and was speedily joined by
a numerous crowd, who repaired to the Place Vendome. The scene that
was acted there is well known, and the enthusiasm of popular joy could
scarcely excuse the fury that was directed against the effigy of the
man whose misfortunes, whether merited or not, should have protected
him from such outrages. These excesses served, perhaps more than is
generally supposed, to favour the plans of the leaders of the Royalist
party, to whom M. Nesselrode had declared that before he would pledge
himself to further their views he must have proofs that they were
seconded by the population of Paris.
I was afterwards informed by an eye-witness of what took place on the
evening of the 31st of March in one of the principal meetings of the
Royalists, which was held in the hotel of the Comte de Morfontaine,
who acted as president on the occasion. Amidst a chaos of abortive
propositions and contradictory motions M. Sosthenes de la Rochefoucauld
proposed that a deputation should be immediately sent to the Emperor
Alexander to express to him the wish of the meeting. This motion was
immediately approved, and the mover was chosen to head the deputation.
On leaving the hotel the deputation met M. de Chateaubriand, who had
that very day been, as it were, the precursor of the restoration,
by publishing his admirable manifesto, entitled "Bonaparte and the
Bourbons." He was invited to join the deputation; but nothing could
overcome his diffidence and induce him to speak. On arriving at the
hotel in the Rue St. Florentin the deputation was introduced to Count
Nesselrode, to whom M. Sosthenes de la Rochefoucauld briefly explained
its object; he spoke of the wishes of the meeting and of the manifest
desire of Paris and of France. He represented the restoration of
the Bourbons as the only means of securing the peace of Europe; and
observed, in conclusion, that as the exertions of the day must have
been very fatiguing to the Emperor, the deputation would not solicit
the favour of being introduced to him, but would confidently rely on
the good faith of his Imperial Majesty. "I have just left the Emperor,"
replied M. Nesselrode, "and can pledge myself for his intentions. Return
to the meeting and announce to the French people that in compliance with
their wishes his Imperial Majesty will use all his influence to restore
the crown to the legitimate monarch: his Majesty Louis XVIII. shall
reascend the throne of France." With this gratifying intelligence the
deputation returned to the meeting in the Rue d'Anjou.
There is no question that great enthusiasm was displayed on the entrance
of the Allies into Paris. It may be praised or blamed, but the fact
cannot be denied. I closely watched all that was passing, and I observed
the expression of a sentiment which I had long anticipated when, after
his alliance with the daughter of the Caesars, the ambition of
Bonaparte increased in proportion as it was gratified: I clearly foresaw
Napoleon's fall. Whoever watched the course of events during the last
four years of the Empire must have observed, as I did, that from the
date of Napoleon's marriage with Maria Louisa the form of the French
Government became daily more and more tyrannical and oppressive. The
intolerable height which this evil had attained is evident from the
circumstance that at the end of 1813 the Legislative Body, throwing
aside the mute character which it had hitherto maintained, presumed to
give a lecture to him who had never before received a lecture from any
one. On the 31st of March it was recollected what had been the conduct
of Bonaparte on the occasion alluded to, and those of the deputies who
remained in Paris related how the gendarmes had opposed their entrance
into the hall of the Assembly. All this contributed wonderfully to
irritate the public mind against Napoleon. He had become master of
France by the sword, and the sword being sheathed, his power was at
an end, for no popular institution identified with the nation the new
dynasty which he hoped to found. The nation admired but did not love
Napoleon, for it is impossible to love what is feared, and he had done
nothing to claim the affections of France.
I was present at all the meetings and conferences which were held at
M de Talleyrand's hotel, where the Emperor Alexander had taken up his
residence. Of all the persons present at these meetings M. de Talleyrand
was most disposed to retain Napoleon at the head of the Government,
with restrictions on the exercise of his power. In the existing state
of things it was only possible to choose one of three courses: first, to
make peace with Napoleon, with the adoption of proper securities against
him; second, to establish a Regency; and third, to recall the Bourbons.
On the 13th of March I witnessed the entrance of the Allied sovereigns
into Paris, and after the procession had passed the new street of the
Luxembourg I repaired straight to M. de Talleyrand's hotel, which I
reached before the Emperor Alexander, who arrived at a quarter-past one.
When his Imperial Majesty entered M. de Talleyrand's drawing-room most
of the persons assembled, and particularly the Abbe de Pradt, the Abbe
de Montesquieu, and General Dessolles, urgently demanded the restoration
of the Bourbons. The Emperor did not come to any immediate decision.
Drawing me into the embrasure of a window, which looked upon the street,
he made some observations which enabled me to guess what would be his
determination. "M. de Bourrienne," said he, "you have been the friend
of Napoleon, and so have I. I was his sincere friend; but there is no
possibility of remaining at peace with a man of such bad faith." These
last words opened my eyes; and when the different propositions which
were made came under discussion I saw plainly that Bonaparte, in making
himself Emperor, had made up the bed for the Bourbons.
A discussion ensued on the three possible measures which I have above
mentioned, and which were proposed by the Emperor Alexander himself.
I thought, if I may so express myself, that his Majesty was playing
a part, when, pretending to doubt the possibility of recalling the
Bourbons, which he wished above all things, he asked M. de Talleyrand
what means he proposed to employ for the attainment of that object?
Besides the French, there were present at this meeting the Emperor
Alexander, the King of Prussia, Prince Schwartzenberg, M. Nesselrode,
M. Pozzo-di-Borgo, and Prince Liechtenstein. During the discussion
Alexander walked about with some appearance of agitation. "Gentlemen,"
said, he, addressing us in an elevated tone of voice, "you know that it
was not I who commenced the war; you know that Napoleon came to attack
me in my dominions. But we are not drawn here by the thirst of conquest
or the desire of revenge. You have seen the precautions I have taken
to preserve your capital, the wonder of the arts, from the horrors of
pillage, to which the chances of war would have consigned it. Neither
my Allies nor myself are engaged in a war of reprisals; and I should be
inconsolable if any violence were committed on your magnificent city. We
are not waging war against France, but against Napoleon, and the enemies
of French liberty. William, and you, Prince" (here the Emperor turned
towards the King of Prussia and Prince Schwartzenberg, who represented
the Emperor of Austria), "you can both bear testimony that the
sentiments I express are yours." Both bowed assent to this observation
of Alexander, which his Majesty several times repeated in different
words. He insisted that France should be perfectly free; and declared
that as soon as the wishes of the country were understood, he and his
Allies would support them, without seeking to favour any particular
government.
The Abbe de Pradt then declared, in a tone of conviction, that we were
all Royalists, and that the sentiments of France concurred with ours.
The Emperor Alexander, adverting to the different governments which
might be suitable to France, spoke of the maintenance of Bonaparte on
the throne, the establishment of a Regency, the choice of Bernadotte,
and the recall of the Bourbons. M. de Talleyrand next spoke, and I well
remember his saying to the Emperor of Russia, "Sire, only one of two
things is possible. We must either have Bonaparte or Louis XVIII.
Bonaparte, if you can support him; but you cannot, for you are not
alone.... We will not have another soldier in his stead. If we want a
soldier, we will keep the one we have; he is the first in the world.
After him any other who may be proposed would not have ten men to
support him. I say again, Sire, either Bonaparte or Louis XVIII.
Anything else is an intrigue." These remarkable words of the Prince de
Benevento produced on the mind of Alexander all the effect we could hope
for. Thus the question was simplified, being reduced now to only two
alternatives; and as it was evident that Alexander would have nothing
to do with either Napoleon or his family, it was reduced to the single
proposition of the restoration of the Bourbons.
On being pressed by us all, with the exception of M. de Talleyrand, who
still wished to leave the question undecided between Bonaparte and Louis
XVIII., Alexander at length declared that he would no longer treat with
Napoleon. When it was represented to him that that declaration referred
only to Napoleon personally, and did not extend to his family, he added,
"Nor with any member of his family." Thus as early as the 31st of March
the restoration of the Bourbons might be considered as decided.
I cannot omit mentioning the hurry with which Laborie, whom M. de
Talleyrand appointed Secretary to the Provisional Government, rushed out
of the apartment as soon as he got possession of the Emperor Alexander's
declaration. He got it printed with such expedition that in the space
of an hour it was posted on all the walls in Paris; and it certainly
produced an extraordinary effect. As yet nothing warranted a doubt that
Alexander would not abide by his word. The treaty of Paris could not
be anticipated; and there was reason to believe that France, with a new
Government, would obtain more advantageous conditions than if the Allies
had, treated with Napoleon. But this illusion speedily vanished.
On the evening of the 31st of March I returned to M. de Talleyrand's.
I again saw the Emperor Alexander, who, stepping up to me, said, "M.
de Bourrienne you must take the superintendence of the Post-office
department." I could not decline this precise invitation on the part of
the Czar; and besides, Lavalette having departed on the preceding day,
the business would have been for a time suspended; a circumstance which
would have been extremely prejudicial to the restoration which we wished
to favour.
I went at once to the hotel in the Rue J. J. Rousseau, where, indeed,
I found that not only was there no order to send out the post next
day, but that it had been even countermanded. I went that night to the
administrators, who yielded to my requests and, seconded by them, next
morning I got all the clerks to be at their post. I reorganised the
service, and the post went out on the 1st of April as usual. Such are my
remembrances of the 31st of March.
A Provisional Government was established, of which M. de Talleyrand was
appointed President. The other members were General Beurnonville, Comte
Francois de Jaucourt, the Duc Dalberg, who had married one of Maria
Louisa's ladies of honour, and the Abby de Montesquieu. The place of
Chancellor of the Legion of Honour was given to the Abbe de Pradt. Thus
there were two abbes among the members of the Provisional Government,
and by a singular chance they happened to be the same who had officiated
at the mass which was performed in the Champ de Mars on the day of the
first federation.
Those who were dissatisfied with the events of the 31st of March now
saw no hope but in the possibility that the Emperor of Austria would
separate from his Allies, or at least not make common cause with them
in favour of the re-establishment of the Bourbons. But that monarch had
been brought up in the old policy of his family, and was imbued with
the traditional principles of his Cabinet. I know for a fact that the
sentiments and intentions of the Emperor of Austria perfectly coincided
with those of his Allies. Anxious to ascertain the truth on this
subject, I ventured, when in conversation with the Emperor Alexander, to
hint at the reports I had heard relative to the cause of the Emperor of
Austria's absence. I do not recollect the precise words of his Majesty's
answer, but it enabled me to infer with certainty that Francis II.
was in no way averse to the overthrow of his son-in-law, and that his
absence from the scene of the discussions was only occasioned by a
feeling of delicacy natural enough in his situation.
Caulaincourt, who was sent by Napoleon to the headquarters of the
Emperor Alexander, arrived there on the night of the 30th of March.
He, however, did not obtain an interview with the Czar until after his
Majesty had received the Municipal Council of Paris, at the head of
which was M. de Chabrol. At first Alexander appeared somewhat surprised
to see the Municipal Council, which he did not receive exactly in the
way that was expected; but this coldness was merely momentary, and
he afterwards addressed the Council in a very gracious way, though he
dropped no hint of his ulterior intentions.
Alexander, who entertained a personal regard for Caulaincourt, received
him kindly in his own character, but not as the envoy of Napoleon. "You
have come too late," said the Czar. "It is all over. I can say nothing
to you at present. Go to Paris, and I will see you there." These words
perfectly enlightened Caulaincourt as to the result of his mission. His
next interview with the Emperor Alexander at M. de Talleyrand's did not
take place until after the declaration noticed in my last chapter. The
conversation they had together remained a secret, for neither Alexander
nor the Duke of Vicenza mentioned it; but there was reason to infer,
from some words which fell from the Emperor Alexander, that he had
received Caulaincourt rather as a private individual than as the
ambassador of Napoleon, whose power, indeed, he could not recognise
after his declaration. The Provisional Government was not entirely
pleased with Caulaincourt's presence in Paris, and a representation was
made to the Russian Emperor on the subject. Alexander concurred in the
opinion of the Provisional Government, which was expressed through the
medium of the Abbe de Pradt. M. de Caulaincourt, therefore, at the wish
of the Czar, returned to the Emperor, then at Fontainebleau.
CHAPTER, XXXV.
1814.
Situation of Bonaparte during the events of the 30th and 31st of
March--His arrival at Fontainebleau--Plan of attacking Paris--
Arrival of troops at Fontainebleau--The Emperor's address to the
Guard--Forfeiture pronounced by the Senate--Letters to Marmont--
Correspondence between Marmont and Schwartzenberg--Macdonald
informed of the occupation of Paris--Conversation between the
Emperor and Macdonald at Fontainebleau--Beurnonville's letter--
Abdication on condition of a Regency--Napoleon's wish to retract his
act of abdication--Macdonald Ney, and Caulaincourt sent to Paris--
Marmont released from his promise by Prince Schwartzenberg.
On the morning of the 30th of March, while the battle before the walls
of Paris was at its height, Bonaparte was still at Troyes. He quitted
that town at ten o'clock, accompanied only by Bertrand, Caulaincourt,
two aides de camp, and two orderly officers. He was not more than two
hours in traveling the first ten leagues, and he and his slender
escort performed the journey without changing horses, and without
even alighting. They arrived at Sens at one o'clock in the afternoon.
Everything was in such confusion that it was impossible to prepare a
suitable mode of conveyance for the Emperor. He was therefore obliged
to content himself with a wretched cariole, and in this equipage, about
four in the morning, he reached Froidmanteau, about four leagues from
Paris. It was there that the Emperor received from General Belliard, who
arrived at the head of a column of artillery, the first intelligence of
the battle of Paris. He heard the news with an air of composure, which
was probably affected to avoid discouraging those about him. He walked
for about a quarter of an hour on the high road, and it was after that
promenade that he sent Caulaincourt to Paris. Napoleon afterwards went
to the house of the postmaster, where he ordered his maps to be brought
to him, and, according to custom, marked the different positions of the
enemy's troops with pine, the heads of which were touched with wax of
different colours. After this description of work, which Napoleon
did every day, or sometimes several times a day, he repaired to
Fontainebleau, where he arrived at six in the morning. He did not order
the great apartments of the castle to be opened, but went up to his
favourite little apartment, where he shut himself up, and remained alone
during the whole of the 31st of March.
In the evening the Emperor sent for the Duke of Ragusa, who had just
arrived at Essonne with his troops. The Duke reached Fontainebleau
between three and four o'clock on the morning of the 1st of April.
Napoleon then received a detailed account of the events of the 30th from
Marmont, on whose gallant conduct before Paris he bestowed much praise.
All was gloom and melancholy at Fontainebleau, yet the Emperor still
retained his authority, and I have been informed that he deliberated
for some time as to whether he should retire behind the Loire, or
immediately hazard a bold stroke upon Paris, which would have been
much more to his taste than to resign himself to the chances which an
uncertain temporising might bring about. This latter thought pleased
him; and he was seriously considering his plan of attack when the news
of the 31st, and the unsuccessful issue of Caulaincourt's mission, gave
him to understand that his situation was more desperate than he had
hitherto imagined.
Meanwhile the heads of his columns, which the Emperor had left at
Troves, arrived on the 1st of April at Fontainebleau, the troops having
marched fifty leagues in less than three days, one of the most rapid
marches ever performed. On the 2d of April Napoleon communicated the
events of Paris to the Generals who were about him, recommending them
to conceal the news lest it should dispirit the troops, upon whom he yet
relied. That day, during an inspection of the troops, which took place
in the court of the Palace, Bonaparte assembled the officers of his
Guard, and harangued them as follows:
Soldiers! the enemy has stolen three marches upon us, and has made
himself master of Paris. We must drive him thence. Frenchmen,
unworthy of the name, emigrants whom we have pardoned, have mounted
the white cockade, and joined the enemy. The wretches shall receive
the reward due to this new crime. Let us swear to conquer or die,
and to enforce respect to the tri-coloured cockade, which has for
twenty years accompanied us on the path of glory and honour.
He also endeavoured to induce the Generals to second his mad designs
upon Paris, by making them believe that he had made sincere efforts to
conclude peace. He assured them that he had expressed to the Emperor
Alexander his willingness to purchase it by sacrifices; that he had
consented to resign even the conquests made during the Revolution, and
to confine himself within the old limits of France. "Alexander," added
Napoleon, "refused; and, not content with that refusal, he has leagued
himself with a party of emigrants, whom, perhaps, I was wrong in
pardoning for having borne arms against France. Through their perfidious
insinuations Alexander has permitted the white cockade to be mounted on
the capital. We will maintain ours, and in a few days we will march upon
Paris. I rely on you."
When the boundless attachment of the Guards to the Emperor is considered
it cannot appear surprising that these last words, uttered in an
impressive tone, should have produced a feeling of enthusiasm, almost
electrical, in all to whom they were addressed. The old companions of
the glory of their chief exclaimed with one voice, "Paris! Paris!" But,
fortunately, during the night, the Generals having deliberated with each
other saw the frightful abyss into which they were about to precipitate
France. They therefore resolved to intimate in discreet terms to the
Emperor that they would not expose Paris to destruction, so that on the
3d of April, prudent ideas succeeded the inconsiderate enthusiasm of the
preceding day.
The wreck of the army assembled at Fontainebleau, which was the remnant
of 1,000,000 of troops levied during fifteen months, consisted only of
the corps of the Duke of Reggio (Oudinot), Ney, Macdonald, and General
Gerard, which 'altogether did not amount to 25,000 men, and which,
joined to the remaining 7000 of the Guard, did not leave the Emperor a
disposable force of more than 32,000 men. Nothing but madness or
despair could have suggested the thought of subduing, with such scanty
resources, the foreign masses which occupied and surrounded Paris.
On the 2d of April the Senate published a 'Senatus-consulte', declaring
that Napoleon had forfeited the throne, and abolishing the right
of succession, which had been established in favour of his family.
Furnished with this set, and without awaiting the concurrence of the
Legislative Body, which was given next day, the Provisional Government
published an address to the French armies. In this address the troops
were informed that they were no longer the soldiers of Napoleon, and
that the Senate released them from their oaths. These documents were
widely circulated at the time, and inserted in all the public journals.
The address of the Senate was sent round to the Marshals, and was of
course first delivered to those who were nearest the capital; of this
latter number was Marmont, whose allegiance to the Emperor, as we have
already seen, yielded only to the sacred interests of his country.
Montessuis was directed by the Provisional Government to convey the
address to Marmont, and to use such arguments as were calculated
to strengthen those sentiments which had triumphed over his dearest
personal affections. I gave Montessuis a letter to Marmont, in which I
said:
"MY DEAR FRIEND--An old acquaintance of mine will convey to you the
remembrances of our friendship. He will, I trust, influence your
resolution: a single word will suffice to induce you to sacrifice
all for the happiness of your country. To secure that object you,
who are so good a Frenchman and so loyal a knight, will not fear
either dangers or obstacles. Your friends expect you, long for you,
and I trust will soon embrace you."
Montessuis also took one from General Dessolles, whom the Provisional
Government had appointed Governor of the National Guard in the room
of Marshal Moncey, who had left Paris on the occupation of the
Allies. General Dessolles and I did not communicate to each other our
correspondence, but when I afterwards saw the letter of Dessolles I
could not help remarking the coincidence of our appeal to Marmont's
patriotism. Prince Schwartzenberg also wrote to Marmont to induce him
to espouse a clause which had now become the cause of France. To the
Prince's letter Marmont replied, that he was disposed to concur in the
union of the army and the people, which would avert all chance of civil
war, and stop the effusion of French blood; and that he was ready with
his troops to quit the army of the Emperor Napoleon on the condition
that his troops might retire with the honours of war, and that the
safety and liberty of the Emperor were guaranteed by the Allies.
After Prince Schwartzenberg acceded to these conditions Marmont was
placed in circumstances which obliged him to request that he might be
released from his promise.
I happened to learn the manner in which Marshal Macdonald was informed
of the taking of Paris. He had been two days without any intelligence
from the Emperor, when he received an order in the handwriting of
Berthier, couched in the following terms: "The Emperor desires that you
halt wherever you may receive this order." After Berthier's signature
the following words were added as a postscript: "You, of course,
know that the enemy is in possession of Paris." When the Emperor thus
announced, with apparent negligence, an event which totally changed
the face of affairs, I am convinced his object was to make the Marshal
believe that he looked upon, that event as less important than it really
was. However, this object was not attained, for I recollect having
heard Macdonald say that Berthier's singular postscript, and the tone of
indifference in which it was expressed, filled him with mingled surprise
and alarm. Marshal Macdonald then commanded the rear-guard of the army
which occupied the environs of Montereau. Six hours after the receipt of
the order here referred to Macdonald received a second order directing
him to put his troops in motion, and he learned the Emperor's intention
of marching on Paris with all his remaining force.
On receiving the Emperor's second order Macdonald left his corps at
Montereau and repaired in haste to Fontainebleau. When he arrived there
the Emperor had already intimated to the Generals commanding divisions
in the corps assembled at Fontainebleau his design of marching on Paris.
Alarmed at this determination the Generals, most of whom had left in
the capital their wives, children, and friends, requested that Macdonald
would go with them to wait upon Napoleon and endeavour to dissuade him
from his intention. "Gentlemen," said the Marshal, "in the Emperor's
present situation such a proceeding may displease him. It must be
managed cautiously. Leave it to me, gentlemen, I will go to the
chateau."
Marshal Macdonald accordingly went to the Palace of Fontainebleau, where
the following conversation ensued between him and the Emperor, and I
beg the reader to bear in mind that it was related to me by the Marshal
himself. As soon as he entered the apartment in which Napoleon was the
latter stepped up to him and said, "Well, how are things going on?"--
"Very badly, Sire."--"How? . . . badly! . . . What then are the feelings
of your army?"--"My army, Sire, is entirely discouraged . . . appalled
by the fate of Paris."--"Will not your troops join me in an advance on
Paris?"--"Sire, do not think of such a thing. If I were to give such an
order to my troops I should run the risk of being disobeyed."--"But
what is to be done? I cannot remain as I am; I have yet resources and
partisans. It is said that the Allies will no longer treat with me.
Well! no matter. I will march on Paris. I will be revenged on the
inconstancy of the Parisians and the baseness of the Senate. Woe to the
members of the Government they have patched up for the return of their
Bourbons; that is what they are looking forward to. But to-morrow I
shall place myself at the head of my Guards, and to-morrow we shall be
in the Tuileries."
The Marshal listened in silence, and when at length Napoleon became
somewhat calm he observed, "Sire, it appears, then, that you are not
aware of what has taken place in Paris--of the establishment of a
Provisional Government, and--"--"I know it all: and what then?"--"Sire,"
added the Marshal, presenting a paper to Napoleon, "here is something
which will tell you more than I can." Macdonald then presented to him
a letter from General Beurnonville, announcing the forfeiture of the
Emperor pronounced by the Senate, and the determination of the Allied
powers not to treat with Napoleon, or any member of his family.
"Marshal," said the Emperor, before he opened the letter, "may this be
read aloud?"--"Certainly, Sire." The letter was then handed to Barre,
who read it. An individual who was present on the occasion described to
me the impression which the reading of the letter produced on Napoleon.
His countenance exhibited that violent contraction of the features which
I have often remarked when his mind was disturbed. However, he did not
lose his self-command, which indeed never forsook him when policy
or vanity required that he should retain it; and when the reading of
Beurnonville's letter was ended he affected to persist in his intention
of marching on Paris. "Sire," exclaimed Macdonald, "that plan must be
renounced. Not a sword would be unsheathed to second you in such an
enterprise." After this conversation between the Emperor and Macdonald
the question of the abdication began to be seriously thought of.
Caulaincourt had already hinted to Napoleon that in case of his
abdicating personally there was a possibility of inducing the Allies to
agree to a Council of Regency. Napoleon then determined to sign the act
of abdication, which he himself drew up in the following terms:--
The Allied powers having declared that the Emperor Napoleon is the
only obstacle to the re-establishment of peace in Europe, the
Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares that he is ready to
descend from the throne, to leave France, and even to lay down his
life for the welfare of the country, which is inseparable from the
rights of his son, those of the Regency of the Empress, and the
maintenance of the laws of the Empire. Given at our Palace of
Fontainebleau, 2d April 1814.
(Signed) NAPOLEON.
After having written this act the Emperor presented it to the Marshals,
saying, "Here, gentlemen! are you satisfied?"
This abdication of Napoleon was certainly very useless, but in case of
anything occurring to render it a matter of importance the act might
have proved entirely illusory. Its meaning might appear unequivocal to
the generality of people, but not to me, who was so well initiated in
the cunning to which Napoleon could resort when it suited his purpose.
It is necessary to observe that Napoleon does not say that "he descends
from the throne," but that "he is ready to descend from the throne."
This was a subterfuge, by the aid of which he intended to open new
negotiations respecting the form and conditions of the Regency of his
son, in case of the Allied sovereigns acceding to that proposition. This
would have afforded the means of gaining time.
He had not yet resigned all hope, and therefore he joyfully received a
piece of intelligence communicated to him by General Allix. The General
informed the Emperor that he had met an Austrian officer who was sent
by Francis II. to Prince Schwartzenberg, and who positively assured him
that all which had taken place in Paris was contrary to the wish of the
Emperor of Austria. That this may have been the opinion of the officer
is possible, and even probable. But it is certain from the issue of a
mission of the Duc de Cadore (Champagny), of which I shall presently
speak, that the officer expressed merely his own personal opinion.
However, as soon as General Allix had communicated this good news, as
he termed it, to Napoleon, the latter exclaimed to the persons who
were about him, "I told you so, gentlemen. Francis II. cannot carry his
enmity so far as to dethrone his daughter. Vicenza, go and desire the
Marshals to return my act of abdication. I will send a courier to the
Emperor of Austria."
Thus Bonaparte in his shipwreck looked round for a saving plank,
and tried to nurse himself in illusions. The Duke of Vicenza went to
Marshals Ney and Macdonald, whom he found just stepping into a carriage
to proceed to Paris. Both positively refused to return the act to
Caulaincourt, saying, "We are sure of the concurrence of the Emperor of
Austria, and we take everything upon ourselves." The result proved that
they were better informed than General Allix.
During the conversation with Marshal Macdonald which has just been
described the Emperor was seated. When he came to the resolution of
signing the abdication he arose and walked once or twice up and down his
cabinet. After he had written and signed the act he said, "Gentlemen,
the interests of my son, the interests of the army, and above all,
the interests of France, must be defended. I therefore appoint as my
commissioners to the Allied powers the Duke of Vicenza, the Prince of
the Moskowa, and the Duke of Ragusa. . . . Are you satisfied?" added he,
after a pause. "I think these interests are consigned to good hands."
All present answered, as with one voice. "Yes, Sire." But no sooner
was this answer pronounced than the Emperor threw himself upon a small
yellow sofa, which stood near the window, and striking his thigh with
his hand with a sort of convulsive motion, he exclaimed, "No, gentlemen:
I will have no Regency! With my Guards and Marmont's corps I shall be in
Paris to-morrow." Ney and Macdonald vainly endeavoured to undeceive him
respecting this impracticable design. He rose with marked ill-humour,
and rubbing his head, as he was in the habit of doing when agitated, he
said in a loud and authoritative tone, "Retire."
The Marshals withdrew, and Napoleon was left alone with Caulaincourt.
He told the latter that what had most displeased him in the proceedings
which had just taken place was the reading of Beurnonville's letter.
"Sire," observed the Duke of Vicenza, "it was by your order that the
letter was read."--"That is true. . . . But why was it not addressed
directly to me by Macdonald?"--"Sire, the letter was at first addressed
to Marshal Macdonald, but the aide de camp who was the bearer of it
had orders to communicate its contents to Marmont on passing through
Essonne, because Beurnonville did not precisely know where Macdonald
would be found." After this brief explanation the Emperor appeared
satisfied, and he said to Caulaincourt, "Vicenza, call back Macdonald."
The Duke of Vicenza hastened after the Marshal, whom he found at the end
of the gallery of the Palace, and he brought him back to the Emperor.
When Macdonald returned to the cabinet the Emperor's warmth had entirely
subsided, and he said to him with great composure, "Well, Duke of
Tarantum, do you think that the Regency is the only possible thing?"--
"Yes, Sire."--"Then I wish you to go with Ney to the Emperor Alexander,
instead of Marmont; it is better that he should remain with his corps,
to which his presence is indispensable. You will therefore go with Ney.
I rely on you. I hope you have entirely forgotten all that has separated
us for so long a time."--"Yes, Sire, I have not thought of it since
1809."--"I am glad of it, Marshal, and I must acknowledge to you that I
was in the wrong." While speaking to the Marshal the Emperor manifested
unusual emotion. He approached him and pressed his hand in the most
affectionate way.
The Emperor's three Commissioners--that is to say, Marshals Macdonald
and Ney and the Duke of Vicenza had informed Marmont that they would
dine with him as they passed through Essonne, and would acquaint him
with all that had happened at Fontainebleau. On their arrival at Essonne
the three Imperial Commissioners explained to the Duc of Ragusa the
object of their mission, and persuaded him to accompany them to the
Emperor Alexander. This obliged the Marshal to inform them how he was
situated. The negotiations which Marmont had opened and almost concluded
with Prince Schwartzenberg were rendered void by the mission which he
had joined, and which it was necessary he should himself explain to
the Commander of the Austrian army. The three Marshals and the Duke
of Vicenza repaired to Petit Bourg, the headquarters of Prince
Schwartzenberg, and there the Prince released Marmont from the promise
he had given.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
1814.
Unexpected receipts in the Post-office Department--Arrival of
Napoleon's Commissioners at M. de Talleyrand's--Conference of the
Marshals with Alexander--Alarming news from Essonne--Marmont's
courage--The white cockade and the tri-coloured cockade--
A successful stratagem--Three Governments in France--The Duc de
Cadore sent by Maria Louisa to the Emperor of Austria--Maria
Louisa's proclamation to the French people--Interview between the
Emperor of Austria and the Duc de Cadore--The Emperor's protestation
of friendship for Napoleon--M. Metternich and M. Stadion--Maria
Louisa's departure for Orleans--Blücher's visit to me--Audience of
the King of Prussia--His Majesty's reception of Berthier, Clarke,
and myself--Bernadotte in Paris--Cross of the Polar Star presented
to me by Bernadotte.
After my nomination as Director-General of the Post office the business
of that department proceeded as regularly as before. Having learned that
a great many intercepted letters had been thrown aside I sent, on the
4th of April, an advertisement to the 'Moniteur', stating that the
letters to and from England or other foreign countries which had been
lying at the Post-office for more than three years would be forwarded to
their respective addresses. This produced to the Post-office a receipt
of nearly 300,000 francs, a fact which may afford an idea of the
enormous number of intercepted letters.
On the night after the publication of the advertisement I was awakened
by an express from the Provisional Government, by which I was requested
to proceed with all possible haste to M. de Talleyrand's hotel. I rose,
and I set off immediately, and I got there some minutes before the
arrival of the Emperor's Commissioners. I went up to the salon on the
first floor, which was one of the suite of apartments occupied by the
Emperor Alexander. The Marshals retired to confer with the monarch, and
it would be difficult to describe the anxiety--or, I may rather say,
consternation--which, during their absence, prevailed among some of the
members of the Provisional Government and other persons assembled in the
salon where I was.
While the Marshals were with Alexander, I learned that they had
previously conversed with M. de Talleyrand, who observed to them, "If
you succeed in your designs you will compromise all who have met in this
hotel since the 1st of April, and the number is not small. For my part,
take no account of me, I am willing to be compromised." I had passed
the evening of this day with M. de Talleyrand, who then observed to the
Emperor Alexander in my presence, "Will you support Bonaparte? No, you
neither can nor will. I have already had the honour to tell your Majesty
that we can have no choice but between Bonaparte and Louis XVIII.;
anything else would be an intrigue, and no intrigue can have power to
support him who may be its object. Bernadotte, Eugène, the Regency,
all those propositions result from intrigues. In present circumstances
nothing but a new principle is sufficiently strong to establish the new
order of things which must be adopted. Louis XVIII. is a principle."
None of the members of the Provisional Government were present at this
conference, for no one was willing to appear to influence in any way
the determination of the chief of the coalition upon the subject of this
important mission. General Dessolles alone, in quality of commander of
the National Guard of Paris, was requested to be present. At length the
Marshals entered the salon where we were, and their appearance created
a sensation which it is impossible to describe; but the expression
of dissatisfaction which we thought we remarked in their countenances
restored the hopes of those who for some hours had been a prey to
apprehensions. Macdonald, with his head elevated, and evidently under
the influence of strong irritation, approached Beurnonville, and thus
addressed him, in answer to a question which the latter had put to him.
"Speak not to me, sir; I have nothing to say to you. You have made me
forget a friendship of thirty years!" Then turning to Dupont, "As for
you, sir," he continued in the same tone, "your conduct towards
the Emperor is not generous. I confess that he has treated you with
severity, perhaps he may even have been unjust to you with respect to
the affair of Baylen, but how long has it been the practice to avenge a
personal wrong at the expense of one's country?"
These remarks were made with such warmth, and in so elevated a tone of
voice, that Caulaincourt thought it necessary to interfere, and said,
"Do not forget, gentlemen, that this is the residence of the Emperor
of Russia." At this moment M. de Talleyrand returned from the interview
with the Emperor which he had had after the departure of the Marshals,
and approaching the group formed round Macdonald, "Gentlemen," said
he, "if you wish to dispute and discuss, step down to my apartments."--
"That would be useless," replied Macdonald; "my comrades and I do
not acknowledge the Provisional Government." The three Marshals, Ney,
Macdonald, and Marmont, then immediately retired with Caulaincourt,
and went to Ney's hotel, there to await the answer which the Emperor
Alexander had promised to give them after consulting the King of
Prussia.
Such was this night-scene; which possessed more dramatic effect than
many which are performed on the stage. In it all was real: on its
denouement depended the political state of France, and the existence of
all those who had already declared themselves in favour of the Bourbons.
It is a remarkable fact, and one which affords a striking lesson to men
who are tempted to sacrifice themselves for any political cause, that
most of those who then demanded the restoration of the Bourbons at the
peril of their lives have successively fallen into disgrace.
When the Marshals and Caulaincourt had retired we were all anxious to
know what had passed between them and the Emperor of Russia. I learned
from Dessolles, who, as I have stated, was present at the conference in
his rank of commander of the National Guard of Paris, that the Marshals
were unanimous in urging Alexander to accede to a Regency. Macdonald
especially supported that proposition with much warmth; and among the
observations he made I recollect Dessolles mentioned the following:--
"I am not authorised to treat in any way for the fate reserved for the
Emperor. We have full powers to treat for the Regency, the army, and
France; but the Emperor has positively forbidden us to specify anything
personally regarding himself." Alexander merely replied, "That does not
astonish me." The Marshals then, resuming the conversation, dwelt much
on the respect which was due to the military glory of France. They
strongly manifested their disinclination to abandon the family of a
man who had so often led them to victory; and lastly, they reminded the
Emperor Alexander of his own declaration, in which he proclaimed, in
his own name as well as on the part of his Allies, that it was not their
intention to impose on France any government whatever.
Dessolles, who had all along declared himself in favour of the Bourbons,
in his turn entered into the discussion with as much warmth as the
partisans of the Regency. He represented to Alexander how many persons
would be compromised for merely having acted or declared their opinions
behind the shield of his promises. He repeated what Alexander had
already been told, that the Regency would, in fact, be nothing but
Bonaparte in disguise. However, Dessolles acknowledged that such was
the effect of Marshal Macdonald's powerful and persuasive eloquence
that Alexander seemed to waver; and, unwilling to give the Marshals a
positive refusal, he had recourse to a subterfuge, by which he would be
enabled to execute the design he had irrevocably formed without seeming
to take on himself alone the responsibility of a change of government.
Dessolles accordingly informed us that Alexander at last gave the
following answer to the Marshals: "Gentlemen, I am not alone; in an
affair of such importance I must consult the King of Prussia, for I have
promised to do nothing without consulting him. In a few hours you shall
know my decision." It was this decision which the Marshals went to wait
for at Ney's.
Most of the members of the Provisional Government attributed the
evasive reply of the Emperor Alexander to the influence of the speech
of Dessolles. For my part, while I do justice to the manner in which
he declared himself on this important occasion, I do not ascribe to his
eloquence the power of fixing Alexander's resolution, for I well know by
experience how easy it is to make princes appear to adopt the advice
of any one when the counsel given is precisely that which they wish
to follow. From the sentiments of Alexander at this time I had not
the slightest doubt as to the course he would finally pursue, and I
considered what he said about consulting the King of Prussia to be
merely a polite excuse, by which he avoided the disagreeable task of
giving the Marshals a direct refusal.
I therefore returned home quite satisfied as to the result of the
Emperor Alexander's visit to the King of Prussia. I knew, from the
persons about the Czar, that he cherished a hatred, which was but too
well justified, towards Bonaparte. Frederick William is of too firm a
character to have yielded to any of the considerations which might on
this subject have been pressed on him as they had been on the Emperor of
Russia. But, besides that the King of Prussia had legitimate reasons
for disliking Napoleon, policy would at that time have required that
he should appear to be his enemy, for to do so was to render himself
popular with his subjects. But the King of Prussia did not need to act
under the dictates of policy; he followed his own opinion in rejecting
the propositions of the Marshals, which he did without hesitation, and
with much energy.
While the Marshals had gone to Paris Bonaparte was anxious to ascertain
whether his Commissioners had passed the advanced posts of the foreign
armies, and in case of resistance he determined to march on Paris, for
he could not believe that he had lost every chance. He sent an aide de
camp to desire Marmont to come immediately to Fontainebleau: such was
Napoleon's impatience that instead of waiting for the return of his
aide de camp he sent off a second and then a third officer on the same
errand. This rapid succession of envoys from the Emperor alarmed the
general who commanded the different divisions of Marmont's corps at
Essonne. They feared that the Emperor was aware of the Convention
concluded that morning with Prince Schwartzenberg, and that he had sent
for Marmont with the view of reprimanding him. The fact was, Napoleon
knew nothing of the matter, for Marmont, on departing for Paris with
Macdonald and Ney, had left orders that it should be said that he had
gone to inspect his lines. Souham; Lebrun des Essarts, and Bordessoulle,
who had given their assent to the Convention with Prince Schwartzenberg,
deliberated in the absence of Marmont, and, perhaps being ignorant that
he was released from his promise, and fearing the vengeance of Napoleon,
they determined to march upon Versailles. On arriving there the troops
not finding the Marshal at their head thought themselves betrayed, and
a spirit of insurrection broke out among them. One of Marmont's aides
de camp, whom he had left at Essonne, exerted every endeavour to prevent
the departure of his general's corps, but, finding all his efforts
unavailing, he hastened to Paris to inform the Marshal of what had
happened. 'When Marmont received this news he was breakfasting at Ney's
with Macdonald and Caulaincourt: they were waiting for the answer which
the Emperor Alexander had promised to send them. The march of his corps
on Versailles threw Marmont into despair. He said to the Marshals, "I
must be off to join my corps and quell this mutiny;" and without losing
a moment he ordered his carriage and directed the coachman to drive with
the utmost speed. He sent forward one of his aides de camp to inform the
troops of his approach.
Having arrived within a hundred paces of the place where his troops were
assembled he found the generals who were under his orders advancing
to meet him. They urged him not to go farther, as the men were in open
insurrection. "I will go into the midst of them," said Marmont. "In a
moment they shall either kill me or acknowledge me as their chief:"
He sent off another aide de camp to range the troops in the order of
battle. Then, alighting from the carriage and mounting a horse, he
advanced alone, and thus harangued his troops: "How! Is there treason
here? Is it possible that you disown me? Am I not your comrade? Have I
not been wounded twenty times among you? . . . Have I not shared your
fatigues and privations? And am I not ready to do so again?" Here
Marmont was interrupted by a general shout of "Vive le Marechal! Vive le
Marechal!"
The alarm caused among the members of the Provisional Government by
the mission of the Marshals was increased by the news of the mutiny
of Marmont's troops. During the whole of the day we were in a state of
tormenting anxiety. It was feared that the insurrectionary spirit might
spread among other corps of the army, and the cause of France again be
endangered. But the courage of Marmont saved everything: It would be
impossible to convey any idea of the manner in which he was received by
us at Talleyrand's when he related the particulars of what had occurred
at Versailles.
On the evening of the day on which Marmont had acted so nobly it was
proposed that the army should adopt the white cockade. In reply to
this proposition the Marshal said, "Gentlemen, I have made my troops
understand the necessity of serving France before all things. They have,
consequently, returned to order, and I can now answer for them. But what
I cannot answer for is to induce them to abandon the colours which have
led them to victory for the last twenty years. Therefore do not count
upon me for a thing which I consider to be totally hostile to the
interests of France. I will speak to the Emperor Alexander on the
subject." Such were Marmont's words. Every one appeared to concur in his
opinion, and the discussion terminated. For my own part, I find by
my notes that I declared myself strongly in favour of Marmont's
proposition.
The Marshal's opinion having been adopted, at least provisionally, an
article was prepared for the Moniteur in nearly the following terms:
The white cockade has been, during the last four days, a badge for
the manifestation of public opinion in favour of the overthrow of an
oppressive Government: it has been the only means of distinguishing
the partisans of the restoration of the old dynasty, to which at
length we are to be indebted for repose. But as the late Government
is at an end, all colours differing from our national colours are
useless: let us, therefore, resume those which have so often led us
to victory.
Such was the spirit of the article, though possibly the above copy may
differ in a few words. It met with the unqualified approbation of every
one present. I was therefore extremely surprised, on looking at the
'Moniteur' next day, to find that the article was not inserted. I knew
not what courtly interference prevented the appearance of the article,
but I remember that Marmont was very ill pleased at its omission. He
complained on the subject to the Emperor Alexander, who promised to
write, and in fact did write, to the Provisional Government to get
the article inserted. However, it did not appear, and in a few days we
obtained a solution of the enigma, as we might perhaps have done before
if we had tried. The Emperor Alexander also promised to write to the
Comte d'Artois, and to inform him that the opinion of France was in
favour of the preservation of the three colours, but I do not know
whether the letter was written, or, if it was, what answer it received.
Marshal Jourdan, who was then at Rouen, received a letter, written
without the knowledge of Marmont, informing him that the latter had
mounted the white cockade in his corps. Jourdan thought he could not
do otherwise than follow Marmont's example, and he announced to the
Provisional Government that in consequence of the resolution of the
Duke of Ragusa he had just ordered his corps to wear the white cockade.
Marmont could now be boldly faced, and when he complained to the
Provisional Government of the non-insertion of the article in the
Moniteur the reply was, "It cannot now appear. You see Marshal Jourdan
has mounted the white cockade: you would not give the army two sets of
colours!"
Marmont could make no answer to so positive a fact. It was not till some
time after that I learned Jourdan had determined to unfurl the white
flag only on the positive assurance that Marmont had already done so.
Thus we lost the colours which had been worn by Louis XVI., which Louis
XVIII., when a Prince, had adopted, and in which the Comte d'Artois
showed himself on his return to the Parisians, for he entered the
capital in the uniform of the National Guard. The fraud played off
by some members of the Provisional Government was attended by fatal
consequences; many evils might have been spared to France had Marmont's
advice been adopted.
At the period of the dissolution of the Empire there might be said to be
three Governments in France, viz. the Provisional Government in Paris,
Napoleon's at Fontainebleau, and the doubtful and ambulatory Regency
of "Maria Louisa." Doubtful and ambulatory the Regency might well be
called, for there was so little decision as to the course to be adopted
by the Empress that it was at first proposed to conduct her to Orleans,
then to Tours, and she went finally to Blois. The uncertainty which
prevailed respecting the destiny of Maria Louisa is proved by a document
which I have in my possession, and of which there cannot be many copies
in existence. It is a circular addressed to the prefects by M. de
Montalivet, the Minister of the Interior, who accompanied the Empress.
In it a blank is left for the seat of the Government, to which the
prefects are desired to send their communications. In the copy I possess
the blank is filled up with the word "Blois" in manuscript.
As soon as Maria Louisa was made acquainted with the events that had
taken place around Paris she sent for the Duc de Cadore, and gave him
a letter addressed to the Emperor of Austria, saying, "Take this to my
father, who must be at Dijon. I rely on you for defending the interests
of France, those of the Emperor, and above all those of my son."
Certainly Maria Louisa's confidence could not be better placed, and
those great interests would have been defended by the Duc de Cadore 'si
defendi possent.'
After the departure of the Duc de Cadore Maria Louisa published the
following proclamation, addressed to the French people:
BY THE EMPRESS REGENT.
A Proclamation
The events of the war have placed the capital in the power of
foreigners. The Emperor has marched to defend it at the head of his
armies, so often victorious. They are face to face with the enemy
before the walls of Paris. From the residence which I have chosen,
and from the Ministers of the Emperor, will emanate the only orders
which you can acknowledge. Every town in the power of foreigners
ceases to be free, and every order which may proceed from them is
the language of the enemy, or that which it suits his hostile views
to propagate. You will be faithful to your oaths. You will listen
to the voice of a Princess who was consigned to your good faith, and
whose highest pride consists in being a Frenchwoman, and in being
united to the destiny of the sovereign whom you have freely chosen.
My son was less sure of your affections in the time of our
prosperity; his rights and his person are under your safeguard.
(By order) MONTALIVET. (Signed) MARIA LOUISA
BLOIS, 3d April 1814.
It is to be inferred that the Regency had within three days adopted the
resolution of not quitting Blois, for the above document presents no
blanks, nor words filled up in writing. The Empress' proclamation,
though a powerful appeal to the feelings of the French people, produced
no effect. Maria Louisa's proclamation was dated the 4th of April, on
the evening of which day Napoleon signed the conditional abdication,
with the fate of which the reader has already been made acquainted.
M. de Montalivet transmitted the Empress' proclamation, accompanied by
another circular, to the prefects, of whom very few received it.
M. de Champagny, having left Blois with the letter he had received from
the Empress, proceeded to the headquarters of the Emperor of Austria,
carefully avoiding those roads which were occupied by Cossack troops.
He arrived, not without considerable difficulty, at Chanseaux, where
Frances II. was expected. When the Emperor arrived the Duc de Cadore was
announced, and immediately introduced to his Majesty. The Duke remained
some hours with Francis II., without being able to obtain from him
anything but fair protestations. The Emperor always took refuge behind
the promise he had given to his Allies to approve whatever measures they
might adopt. The Duke was not to leave the Emperor's headquarters that
evening, and, in the hope that his Majesty might yet reflect on the
critical situation of his daughter, he asked permission to take leave
next morning. He accordingly presented himself to the Emperor's levee,
when he renewed his efforts in support of the claims of Maria Louisa.
"I have a great affection for my daughter, and also for my son-in law,"
said the Emperor. "I bear them both in my heart, and would shed my blood
for them"--"Ah, Sire!" exclaimed M. de Champagny, "such a sacrifice is
not necessary."--"Yes, Duke, I say again I would shed my blood, I would
resign my life for them, but I have given my Allies a promise not to
treat without them, and to approve all that they may do. Besides,"
added the Emperor, "my Minister, M. de Metternich, has gone to their
headquarters, and I will ratify whatever he may sign."
When the Duc de Cadore related to me the particulars of his mission, in
which zeal could not work an impossibility, I remarked that he regarded
as a circumstance fatal to Napoleon the absence of M. de Metternich
and the presence of M. Stadion at the headquarters of the Emperor of
Austria. Though in all probability nothing could have arrested the
course of events, yet it is certain that the personal sentiments of the
two Austrian Ministers towards Napoleon were widely different. I am not
going too far when I affirm that, policy apart, M. de Metternich was
much attached to Napoleon. In support of this assertion I may quote a
fact of which I can guarantee the authenticity:
When M. de Metternich was complimented on the occasion of Maria Louisa's
marriage he replied, "To have contributed to a measure which has
received the approbation of 80,000,000 men is indeed a just subject of
congratulation." Such a remark openly made by the intelligent Minister
of the Cabinet of Vienna was well calculated to gratify the ears of
Napoleon, from whom, however, M. de Metternich in his personal relations
did not conceal the truth. I recollect a reply which was made by M. de
Metternich at Dresden after a little hesitation. "As to you," said the
Emperor, "you will not go to war with me. It is impossible that you can
declare yourself against me. That can never be."--"Sire, we are not now
quite allies, and some time hence we may become enemies." This hint was
the last which Napoleon received from Metternich, and Napoleon must
have been blind indeed not to have profited by it. As to M. Stadion, he
entertained a profound dislike of the Emperor. That Minister knew and
could not forget that his preceding exclusion from the Cabinet of Vienna
had been due to the all-powerful influence of Napoleon.
Whether or not the absence of Metternich influenced the resolution of
Francis II., it is certain that that monarch yielded nothing to the
urgent solicitations of a Minister who conscientiously fulfilled the
delicate mission consigned to him. M. de Champagny rejoined the Empress
at Orleans, whither she had repaired on leaving Blois. He found Maria
Louisa almost deserted, all the Grand Dignitaries of the Empire having
successively returned to Paris after sending in their submissions to the
Provisional Government.
I had scarcely entered upon the exercise of my functions as
Postmaster-General when, on the morning of the 2d of April, I was
surprised to see a Prussian general officer enter my cabinet. I
immediately recognised him as General Blücher. He had commanded the
Prussian army in the battle which took place at the gates of Paris.
"Sir," said he, "I consider it one of my first duties on entering Paris
to thank you for the attention I received from you in Hamburg. I am
sorry that I was not sooner aware of your being in Paris. I assure you
that had I been sooner informed of this circumstance the capitulation
should have been made without a blow being struck. How much blood might
then have been spared!"--"General," said I, "on what do you ground this
assurance?"--"If I had known that you were in Paris I would have
given you a letter to the King of Prussia. That monarch, who knows
the resources and intentions of the Allies, would, I am sure, have
authorised you to decide a suspension of arms before the neighbourhood
of Paris became the theatre of the war."--"But," resumed I, "in spite of
the good intentions of the Allies, it would have been very difficult to
prevent resistance. French pride, irritated as it was by reverses, would
have opposed insurmountable obstacles to such a measure."--"But, good
heavens! you would have seen that resistance could be of no avail
against such immense masses."--"You are right, General; but French
honour would have been defended to the last."--"I am fully aware
of that; but surely you have earned glory enough!"--"Yet our French
susceptibility would have made us look upon that glory as tarnished
if Paris had been occupied without defence ... But under present
circumstances I am well pleased that you were satisfied with my conduct
in Hamburg, for it induces me to hope that you will observe the same
moderation in Paris that I exercised there. The days are past when it
could be said, Woe to the conquered."--"You are right; yet," added
he, smiling, "you know we are called the northern barbarians."--"Then,
General," returned I, "you have a fair opportunity of showing that that
designation is a libel."
Some days after Blücher's visit I had the honour of being admitted to a
private audience of the King of Prussia. Clarke and Berthier were also
received in this audience, which took place at the hotel of Prince
Eugène, where the King of Prussia resided in Paris. We waited for
some minutes in the salon, and when Frederick William entered from
his cabinet I remarked on his countenance an air of embarrassment and
austerity which convinced me that he had been studying his part, as
great personages are in the habit of doing on similar occasions. The
King on entering the salon first noticed Berthier, whom he addressed
with much kindness, bestowing praises on the French troops, and
complimenting the Marshal on his conduct during the war in Germany.
Berthier returned thanks for these well-merited praises, for though he
was not remarkable for strength of understanding or energy of mind, yet
he was not a bad man, and I have known many proofs of his good conduct
in conquered countries.
After saluting Berthier the King of Prussia turned towards Clarke, and
his countenance immediately assumed an expression of dissatisfaction. He
had evidently not forgotten Clarke's conduct in Berlin. He reminded him
that he had rendered the Continental system more odious than it was
in itself, and that he had shown no moderation in the execution of his
orders. "In short," said his Majesty, "if I have any advice to give you,
it is that you never again return to Prussia." The King pronounced
these words in so loud and decided a tone that Clarke was perfectly
confounded. He uttered some unintelligible observations, which, however,
Frederick William did not notice, for suddenly turning towards me he
said, with an air of affability, "Ah! M. de Bourrienne, I am glad to see
you, and I take this opportunity of repeating what I wrote to you from
Gonigsberg. You always extended protection to the Germans, and did
all you could to alleviate their condition. I learned with great
satisfaction what you did for the Prussians whom the fate of war drove
into Hamburg; and I feel pleasure in telling you, in the presence of
these two gentlemen, that if all the French agents had acted as you did
we should not, probably, be here." I expressed, by a profound bow, how
much I was gratified by this complimentary address, and the king, after
saluting us, retired.
About the middle of April Bernadotte arrived in Paris. His situation had
become equivocal, since circumstances had banished the hopes he might
have conceived in his interview with the Emperor Alexander at Åbo.
Besides, he had been represented in some official pamphlets as a traitor
to France, and among certain worshippers of our injured glory there
prevailed a feeling of irritation, and which was unjustly directed
towards Bernadotte.
I even remember that Napoleon, before he had fallen from his power, had
a sort of national protest made by the police against the Prince Royal
of Sweden. This Prince had reserved an hotel in the Rue d'Anjou, and
the words, "Down with the traitor! down with the perjurer," were shouted
there; but this had no result, as it was only considered an outrage
caused by a spirit of petty vengeance.
While Bernadotte was in Paris I saw him every day. He but faintly
disguised from me the hope he had entertained of ruling France; and in
the numerous conversations to which our respective occupations led I
ascertained, though Bernadotte did not formally tell me so, that he once
had strong expectations of succeeding Napoleon.
Pressed at last into his final intrenchments he broke through all
reserve and confirmed all I knew of the interview of Åbo.
I asked Bernadotte what he thought of the projects which were attributed
to Moreau; whether it was true that he had in him a competitor, and
whether Moreau had aspired to the dangerous honour of governing France:
"Those reports," replied the Prince Royal of Sweden, "are devoid of
foundation: at least I can assure you that in the conversations I have
had with the Emperor Alexander, that sovereign never said anything which
could warrant such a supposition. I know that the Emperor of Russia
wished to avail himself of the military talents of Moreau in the great
struggle that had commenced, and to enable the exiled general to return
to his country, in the hope that, should the war prove fortunate, he
would enjoy the honours and privileges due to his past services."
Bernadotte expressed to me astonishment at the recall of the Bourbons,
and assured me that he had not expected the French people would so
readily have consented to the Restoration. I confess I was surprised
that Bernadotte, with the intelligence I knew him to possess, should
imagine that the will of subjects has any influence in changes of
government!
During his stay in Paris Bernadotte evinced for me the same sentiments
of friendship which he had shown me at Hamburg. One day I received from
him a letter, dated Paris, with which he transmitted to me one of the
crosses of the Polar Star, which the King of Sweden had left at his
disposal. Bernadotte was not very well satisfied with his residence in
Paris, in spite of the friendship which the Emperor Alexander constantly
manifested towards him. After a few days he set out for Sweden, having
first taken leave of the Comte d'Artois. I did not see him after his
farewell visit to the Count, so that I know not what was the nature of
the conversation which passed between the two Princes.
VOLUME IV. -- 1814-1821
CHAPTER I.
1814.
Unalterable determination of the Allies with respect to Napoleon--
Fontainebleau included in the limits to be occupied by the Allies--
Alexander's departure from Paris--Napoleon informed of the necessity
of his unconditional abdication--Macdonald and Ney again sent to
Paris--Alleged attempt of Napoleon to poison himself--Farewell
interview between Macdonald and Napoleon--The sabre of Murad Bey--
Signature of the act of unconditional abdication--Tranquillity of
Paris during the change of Government--Ukase of the Emperor of
Russia relative to the Post-office--Religious ceremony on the Place
Louis XV.--Arrival of the Comte d'Artois--His entrance into Paris--
Arrival of the Emperor of Austria--Singular assemblage of sovereigns
in France--Visit of the Emperor of Austria to Maria Louisa--Her
interview with the Emperor Alexander--Her departure for Vienna.
When Marmont left Paris on the receipt of the intelligence from Essonne,
Marshals Macdonald and Ney and the Duke of Vicenza waited upon the
Emperor Alexander to learn his resolution before he could have been
informed of the movement of Marmont's troops. I myself went during the
morning to the hotel of M. de Talleyrand, and it was there I learnt
how what we had hoped for had become fact: the matter was completely
decided. The Emperor Alexander had walked out at six in the morning
to the residence of the King of Prussia in the Rue de Bourbon. The two
sovereigns afterwards proceeded together to M. de Talleyrand's, where
they were when Napoleon's Commissioners arrived. The Commissioners being
introduced to the two sovereigns, the Emperor Alexander, in answer
to their proposition, replied that the Regency was impossible, as
submissions to the Provisional Government were pouring in from all
parts, and that if the army had formed contrary wishes those should
have been sooner made known. "Sire," observed Macdonald,
"that--was--impossible, as none of the Marshals were in Paris, and
besides, who could foresee the turn which affairs have taken? Could
we imagine that an unfounded alarm would have removed from Essonne the
corps of the Duke of Ragusa, who has this moment left us to bring
his troops back to order?" These words produced no change in the
determination of the sovereigns, who would hear of nothing but the
unconditional abdication of Napoleon. Before the Marshals took leave of
the Emperor Alexander they solicited an armistice of forty-eight
hours, which time they said was indispensable to negotiate the act of
abdication with Napoleon. This request was granted without hesitation,
and the Emperor Alexander, showing Macdonald a map of the environs of
Paris, courteously presented him with a pencil, saying, "Here, Marshal,
mark yourself the limits to be observed by the two armies."--"No, Sire,"
replied Macdonald, "we are the conquered party, and it is for you to
mark the line of demarcation." Alexander determined that the right bank
of the Seine should be occupied by the Allied troops, and the left
bank by the French; but it was observed that this arrangement would be
attended with inconvenience, as it would cut Paris in two, and it was
agreed that the line should turn Paris. I have been informed that on a
map sent to the Austrian staff to acquaint Prince Schwartzenberg
with the limits definitively agreed on, Fontainebleau, the Emperor's
headquarters, was by some artful means included within the line. The
Austrians acted so implicitly on this direction that Marshal Macdonald
was obliged to complain on the subject to Alexander, who removed all
obstacles.
When, in discussing the question of the abdication conformably with
the instructions he had received, Macdonald observed to the Emperor
Alexander that Napoleon wished for nothing for himself, "Assure him,"
replied Alexander, "that a provision shall be made for him worthy of the
rank he has occupied. Tell him that if he wishes to reside in my States
he shall be well received, though he brought desolation there. I shall
always remember the friendship which united us. He shall have the
island of Elba, or something else." After taking leave of the Emperor
Alexander, on the 5th of April, Napoleon's Commissioners returned to
Fontainebleau to render an account of their mission. I saw Alexander
that same day, and it appeared to me that his mind was relieved of a
great weight by the question of the Regency being brought to an end. I
was informed that he intended to quit Paris in a few days, and that
he had given full powers to M. Pozzo-di-Borgo, whom he appointed his
Commissioner to the Provisional Government.
On the same day, the 5th of April, Napoleon inspected his troops in
the Palace yard of Fontainebleau. He observed some coolness among his
officers, and even among the private soldiers, who had evinced such
enthusiasm when he inspected them on the 2d of April. He was so much
affected by this change of conduct that he remained but a short time on
the parade, and afterwards retired to his apartments.
About one o'clock on the morning of the 6th of April Ney, Macdonald, and
Caulaincourt arrived at Fontainebleau to acquaint the Emperor with the
issue of their mission, and the sentiments expressed by Alexander
when they took leave of him. Marshal Ney was the first to announce
to Napoleon that the Allies required his complete and unconditional
abdication, unaccompanied by any stipulation, except that of his
personal safety, which should be guaranteed. Marshal Macdonald and the
Duke of Vicenza then spoke to the same effect, but in more gentle terms
than those employed by Ney, who was but little versed in the courtesies
of speech. When Marshal Macdonald had finished speaking Napoleon said
with some emotion, "Marshal, I am sensible of all that you have done for
me, and of the warmth with which you have pleaded the cause of my son.
They wish for my complete and unconditional abdication. . . . Very well.
I again empower you to act on my behalf. You shall go and defend my
interests and those of my family." Then, after a moment's pause,
he added, still addressing Macdonald, "Marshal, where shall I go?"
Macdonald then informed the Emperor what Alexander had mentioned in the
hypothesis of his wishing to reside in Russia. "Sire," added he, "the
Emperor of Russia told me that he destined for you the island of Elba,
or something else."--"Or something else!" repeated Napoleon hastily,
"and what is that something else?"--"Sire, I know not."--"Ah! it is
doubtless the island of Corsica, and he refrained from mentioning it to
avoid embarrassment! Marshal, I leave all to you."
The Marshals returned to Paris as soon as Napoleon furnished them with
new powers; Caulaincourt remained at Fontainebleau. On arriving in Paris
Marshal Ney sent in his adhesion to the Provisional Government, so
that when Macdonald returned to Fontainebleau to convey to Napoleon
the definitive treaty of the Allies, Ney did not accompany him, and the
Emperor expressed surprise and dissatisfaction at his absence. Ney,
as all his friends concur in admitting, expended his whole energy in
battle, and often wanted resolution when out of the field, consequently
I was not surprised to find that he joined us before some other of his
comrades. As to Macdonald, he was one of those generous spirits who may
be most confidently relied on by those who have wronged them.
Napoleon experienced the truth of this. Macdonald returned alone to
Fontainebleau, and when he entered the Emperor's chamber he found him
seated in a small armchair before the fireplace. He was dressed in
a morning-gown of white dimity, and he wore his slippers without
stockings. His elbows rested on his knees and his head was supported
by his hands. He was motionless, and seemed absorbed in profound
reflection. Only two persons were in the apartment, the Duke of Bassano;
who was at a little distance from the Emperor, and Caulaincourt, who was
near the fireplace. So profound was Napoleon's reverie that he did not
hear Macdonald enter, and the Duke of Vicenza was obliged to inform
him of the Marshal's presence. "Sire," said Caulaincourt, "the Duke
of Tarantum has brought for your signature the treaty which is to be
ratified to-morrow." The Emperor then, as if roused from a lethargic
slumber, turned to Macdonald, and merely said, "Ah, Marshal! so you are
here!" Napoleon's countenance was so altered that the Marshal, struck
with the change, said, as if it were involuntarily, "Is your Majesty
indisposed?"--"Yes," answered Napoleon, "I have passed a very bad
night."
The Emperor continued seated for a moment, then rising, he took the
treaty, read it without making any observation, signed it, and returned
it to the Marshal, saying; "I am not now rich enough to reward these
last services."--"Sire, interest never guided my conduct."--"I know
that, and I now see how I have been deceived respecting you. I also
see the designs of those who prejudiced me against you."--"Sire, I have
already told you, since 1809 I am devoted to you in life and death."--"I
know it. But since I cannot reward you as I would wish, let a token of
remembrance, inconsiderable though it be, assure you that I shall
ever bear in mind the services you have rendered me." Then turning to
Caulaincourt Napoleon said, "Vicenza, ask for the sabre which was
given me by Murad Bey in Egypt, and which I wore at the battle of Mount
Thabor." Constant having brought the sabre, the Emperor took it from the
hands of Caulaincourt and presented it to the Marshal "Here, my faithful
friend," said he, "is a reward which I believe will gratify you."
Macdonald on receiving the sabre said, "If ever I have a son, Sire, this
will be his most precious inheritance. I will never part with it as long
as I live."--"Give me your hand," said the Emperor, "and embrace me."
At these words Napoleon and Macdonald affectionately rushed into each
other's arms, and parted with tears in their eyes. Such was the last
interview between Macdonald and Napoleon. I had the above particulars
from the Marshal himself in 1814., a few days after he returned to Paris
with the treaty ratified by Napoleon.
After the clauses of the treaty had been guaranteed Napoleon signed, on
the 11th of April, at Fontainebleau, his act of abdication, which was in
the following terms:--
"The Allied powers having proclaimed that the Emperor Napoleon is the
only obstacle to the re-establishment of peace in Europe, the
Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares that he renounces
for himself and his heirs the thrones of France and Italy, and that
there is no personal sacrifice, even that of life, which he is not
ready to make for the interests of France."
It was not until after Bonaparte had written and signed the above
act that Marshal Macdonald sent to the Provisional Government his
recognition, expressed in the following dignified and simple manner:--
"Being released from my allegiance by the abdication of the Emperor
Napoleon, I declare that I conform to the acts of the Senate and the
Provisional Government."
It is worthy of remark that Napoleon's act of abdication was published
in the 'Moniteur' on the 12th of April, the very day on which the Comte
d'Artois made his entry into Paris with the title of Lieutenant-General
of the Kingdom conferred on him by Louis XVIII. The 12th of April was
also the day on which the Imperial army fought its last battle before
Toulouse, when the French troops, commanded by Soult, made Wellington
purchase so dearly his entrance into the south of France.--[The battle
of Toulouse was fought on the 10th not 12th April D.W.]
Political revolutions are generally stormy, yet, during the great change
of 1814 Paris was perfectly tranquil, thanks to the excellent discipline
maintained by the commanders of the Allied armies, and thanks also to
the services of the National Guard of Paris, who every night patrolled
the streets. My duties as Director-General of the Post-office had of
course obliged me to resign my captain's epaulette.
When I first obtained my appointment I had been somewhat alarmed to
hear that all the roads were covered with foreign troops, especially
Cossacks, who even in time of peace are very ready to capture any horses
that may fall in their way. On my application to the Emperor Alexander
his Majesty immediately issued a ukase, severely prohibiting the seizure
of horses or anything belonging to the Post-office department. The ukase
was printed by order of the Czar, and filed up at all the post-offices,
and it will be seen that after the 20th of March, when I was placed
in an embarrassing situation, one of the postmasters on the Lille road
expressed to me his gratitude for my conduct while I was in the service.
On the 10th of April a ceremony took place in Paris which has been much
spoken of; and which must have had a very imposing effect on those who
allow themselves to be dazzled by mere spectacle. Early in the morning
some regiments of the Allied troops occupied the north side of the
Boulevard, from the site of the old Bastille to the Place Louis XV.,
in the middle of which an altar of square form was erected. Thither the
Allied sovereigns came to witness the celebration of mass according to
the rites of the Greek Church. I went to a window of the hotel of the
Minister of the Marine to see the ceremony. After I had waited from
eight in the morning till near twelve the pageant commenced by the
arrival of half a dozen Greek priests, with long beards, and as richly
dressed as the high priests who figure in the processions of the opera.
About three-quarters of an hour after this first scene the infantry,
followed by the cavalry, entered the place, which, in a few moments
was entirely covered with military. The Allied sovereigns at length
appeared, attended by brilliant staffs. They alighted from their horses
and advanced to the altar. What appeared to me most remarkable was the
profound silence of the vast multitude during the performance of the
mass. The whole spectacle had the effect of a finely-painted panorama.
For my own part, I must confess I was heartily tired of the ceremony,
and was very glad when it was over. I could not admire the foreign
uniforms, which were very inferior to ours. Many of them appeared
fanciful, and even grotesque, and nothing can be more unsoldier-like
than to see a man laced in stays till his figure resembles a wasp. The
ceremony which took place two days after, though less pompous, was much
more French. In the retinue which, on the 12th of April, momentarily
increased round the Comte d'Artos, there were at least recollections for
the old, and hopes for every one.
When, on the departure of the Commissioners whom Napoleon had sent to
Alexander to treat for the Regency, it was finally determined that the
Allied sovereigns would listen to no proposition from Napoleon and
his family, the Provisional Government thought it time to request that
Monsieur would, by his presence, give a new impulse to the partisans
of the Bourbons. The Abby de Montesquieu wrote to the Prince a letter,
which was carried to him by Viscount Sosthenes de la Rochefoucauld, one
of the individuals who, in these difficult circumstances, most zealously
served the cause of the Bourbons. On the afternoon of the 11th Monsieur
arrived at a country-house belonging to Madame Charles de Dames, where
he passed the night. The news of his arrival spread through Paris
with the rapidity of lightning, and every one wished to solemnise his
entrance into the capital. The National Guard formed a double line from
the barrier of Bondy to Notre Dame, whither the Prince was first to
proceed, in observance of an old custom, which, however, had become very
rare in France during the last twenty years.
M. de Talleyrand, accompanied by the members of the Provisional
Government, several Marshals and general officers, and the municipal
body, headed by the prefect of the Seine, went in procession beyond
the barrier to receive Monsieur. M. de Talleyrand, in the name of the
Provisional Government, addressed the Prince, who in reply made that
observation which has been so often repeated, "Nothing is changed in
France: there is only one Frenchman more."
--[These words were never really uttered by the Comte d'Artois, and
we can in this case follow the manufacture of the phrase. The reply
actually made to Talleyrand was, "Sir, and gentlemen, I thank you; I
am too happy. Let us get on; I am too happy." When the day's work
was done, "Let us see," said Talleyrand; "what did Monsieur say? I
did not hear much: he seemed much moved, and desirous of hastening
on, but if what he did say will not suit you (Beugnot), make an
answer for him . . . and I can answer that Monsieur will accept it,
and that so thoroughly that by the end of a couple of days he will
believe he made it, and he will have made it: you will count for
nothing." After repeated attempts, rejected by Talleyrand, Beugnot
at last produced, "No more divisions. Peace and France! At last I
see her once more, and nothing in her is changed, except that here
is one more Frenchman." At last the great critic (Talleyrand) said,
"This time I yield; that is really Monsieur's speech, and I will
answer for you that he is the man who made it." Monsieur did not
disdain to refer to it in his replies, and the prophecy of M. de
Talleyrand was completely realised (Beugnot, vol. ii, p. 119)]--
This remark promised much. The Comte Artois next proceeded on horseback
to the barrier St. Martin. I mingled in the crowd to see the procession
and to observe the sentiments of the spectators. Near me stood an old
knight of St. Louis, who had resumed the insignia of the order, and who
wept for joy at again seeing one of the Bourbons. The procession soon
arrived, preceded by a band playing the air, "Vive Henri Quatre!" I
had never before seen Monsieur, and his appearance had a most pleasing
effect upon me. His open countenance bore the expression of that
confidence which his presence inspired in all who saw him. His staff was
very brilliant, considering it was got together without preparation. The
Prince wore the uniform of the National Guard, with the insignia of the
Order of the Holy Ghost.
I must candidly state that where I saw Monsieur pass, enthusiasm was
chiefly confined to his own retinue, and to persons who appeared to
belong to a superior class of society. The lower order of people seemed
to be animated by curiosity and astonishment rather than any other
feeling. I must add that it was not without painful surprise I saw
a squadron of Cossacks close the procession; and my surprise was the
greater when I learned from General Sacken that the Emperor Alexander
had wished that on that day the one Frenchman more should be surrounded
only by Frenchmen, and that to prove that the presence of the Bourbons
was the signal of reconciliation his Majesty had ordered 20,000 of the
Allied troops to quit Paris. I know not to what the presence of the
Cossacks is to be attributed, but it was an awkward circumstance at the
time, and one which malevolence did not fail to seize upon.
Two days only intervened between Monsieur's entrance into Paris and the
arrival of the Emperor of Austria. That monarch was not popular among
the Parisians. The line of conduct he had adopted was almost generally
condemned, for, even among those who had most ardently wished for the
dethronement of his daughter, through their aversion to the Bonaparte
family, there were many who blamed the Emperor of Austria's behaviour
to Maria Louisa: they would have wished that, for the honour of Francis
II., he had unsuccessfully opposed the downfall of the dynasty, whose
alliance he considered as a safeguard in 1809. This was the opinion
which the mass of the people instinctively formed, for they judged
of the Emperor of Austria in his character of a father and not in his
character of a monarch; and as the rights of misfortune are always
sacred in France, more interest was felt for Maria Louisa when she was
known to be forsaken than when she was in the height of her splendour.
Francis II. had not seen his daughter since the day when she left Vienna
to unite her destiny with that of the master of half of Europe, and I
have already stated how he received the mission with which Maria Louisa
entrusted the Duc de Cadore.
I was then too intent on what was passing in Paris and at Fontainebleau
to observe with equal interest all the circumstances connected with
the fate of Maria Louisa, but I will present to the reader all the
information I was able to collect respecting that Princess during the
period immediately preceding her departure from France. She constantly
assured the persons about her that she could rely on her father. The
following words, which were faithfully reported to me, were addressed
by her to an officer who was at Blois during the mission of M. de
Champagny. "Even though it should be the intention of the Allied
sovereigns to dethrone the Emperor Napoleon, my father will not suffer
it. When he placed me on the throne of France he repeated to me twenty
times his determination to uphold me on it; and my father is an honest
man." I also know that the Empress, both at Blois and at Orleans,
expressed her regret at not having followed the advice of the members of
the Regency, who wished her to stay in Paris.
On leaving Orleans Maria Louisa proceeded to Rambouillet; and it was not
one of the least extraordinary circumstances of that eventful period to
see the sovereigns of Europe, the dethroned sovereigns of France, and
those who had come to resume the sceptre, all crowded together within a
circle of fifteen leagues round the capital. There was a Bourbon at the
Tuileries, Bonaparte at Fontainebleau, his wife and son at Rambouillet,
the repudiated Empress at Malmaison three leagues distant, and the
Emperors of Russia and Austria and the King of Prussia in Paris.
When all her hopes had vanished Maria Louisa left Rambouillet to return
to Austria with her son. She did not obtain permission to see Napoleon
before her departure, though she had frequently expressed a wish to that
effect. Napoleon himself was aware of the embarrassment which might have
attended such a farewell, or otherwise he would no doubt have made a
parting interview with Maria Louisa one of the clauses of the treaty of
Paris and Fontainebleau, and of his definitive act of abdication. I was
informed at the time that the reason which prevented Maria Louisa's wish
from being acceded to was the fear that, by one of those sudden
impulses common to women, she might have determined to unite herself to
Napoleon's fallen fortune, and accompany him to Elba; and the Emperor of
Austria wished to have his daughter back again.
Things had arrived at this point, and there was no possibility of
retracting from any of the decisions which had been formed when the
Emperor of Austria went to see his daughter at Rambouillet. I recollect
it was thought extraordinary at the time that the Emperor Alexander
should accompany him on this visit; and, indeed, the sight of the
sovereign, who was regarded as the head and arbiter of the coalition,
could not be agreeable to the dethroned Empress.
--[Meneval (tome ii. p. 112), then with Maria Louisa as Secretary,
who gives some details of her interview with the Emperor Francis on
the 16th of April, says nothing about the Czar having been there; a
fact he would have been sure to have remarked upon. It was only on
the 19th of April that Alexander visited her, the King of Prussia
coming in his turn on the 22d; but Bourrienne is right in saying
that Maria Louisa complained bitterly of having to receive
Alexander, and considered that she was forced by her father to do
so. The poor little King of Rome, then only three years old, had
also to be seen by the monarchs. He was not taken with his
grandfather, remarking that he was not handsome. Maria Louisa
seems, according to Meneval, to have been at this time really
anxious to join Napoleon (Meneval, tome ii. p. 94). She left
Rambouillet on the 28d of April stopped one day at Grossbois,
receiving there her father and Berthier, and taking farewell of
several persons who came from Paris for that purpose. On the 25th
of April she started for Vienna, and later for Parma, which state
she received under the treaty of 1814 and 1815. She yielded to the
influence brought to bear on her, became estranged from Napoleon,
and eventually married her chamberlain, the Comte de Neipperg, an
Austrian general.]--
The two Emperors set off from Paris shortly after each other. The
Emperor of Austria arrived first at Rambouillet, where he was received
with respect and affection by his daughter. Maria Louisa was happy to
see him, but the many tears she shed were not all tears of joy. After
the first effusion of filial affection she complained of the situation
to which she was reduced. Her father sympathised with her, but could
offer her no consolation, since her misfortunes were irreparable.
Alexander was expected to arrive immediately, and the Emperor of Austria
therefore informed his daughter that the Russian monarch wished to see
her. At first Maria Louisa decidedly refused to receive him, and she
persisted for some time in this resolution. She said to her father,
"Would he too make me a prisoner before your eyes? If he enters here by
force I will retire to my chamber. There, I presume, he will not dare to
follow me while you are here." But there was no time to be lost; Francis
II. heard the equipage of the Emperor of Russia rolling through the
courtyard of Rambouillet, and his entreaties to his daughter became more
and more urgent. At length she yielded, and the Emperor of Austria went
himself to meet his ally and conduct him to the salon where Maria Louisa
remained, in deference to her father. She did not, however, carry her
deference so far as to give a favourable reception to him whom she
regarded as the author of all her misfortunes. She listened with
considerable coldness to the offers and protestations of Alexander, and
merely replied that all she wished for was the liberty of returning to
her family. A few days after this painful interview Maria Louisa and her
son set off for Vienna.
--[A few days after this visit Alexander paid his respects to
Bonaparte's other wife, Josephine. In this great breaking up of
empires and kingdoms the unfortunate Josephine, who had been
suffering agonies on account of the husband who had abandoned her,
was not forgotten. One of the first things the Emperor of Russia
did on arriving at Paris was to despatch a guard for the protection
of her beautiful little palace at Malmaison. The Allied sovereigns
treated her with delicacy and consideration.
"As soon as the Emperor Alexander knew that the Empress Josephine
had arrived at Malmaison he hastened to pay her a visit. It is not
possible to be more amiable than he was to her. When in the course
of conversation he spoke of the occupation of Paris by the Allies,
and of the position of the Emperor Napoleon, it was always in
perfectly measured language: he never forgot for a single instant
that he was speaking before one who had been the wife of his
vanquished enemy. On her side the ex-Empress did not conceal the
tender sentiments, the lively affection she still entertained for
Napoleon. . . . Alexander had certainly something elevated and
magnanimous in his character, which would not permit him to say a
single word capable of insulting misfortune; the Empress had only
one prayer to make to him, and that was for her children."]--
This visit was soon followed by those of the other Allied Princes.
"The King of Prussia and the Princes, his sons, came rather
frequently to pay their court to Josephine; they even dined with her
several times at Malmaison; but the Emperor Alexander come much more
frequently. The Queen Hortense was always with her mother when she
received the sovereigns, and assisted her in doing the honours of
the house. The illustrious strangers exceedingly admired Malmaison,
which seemed to them a charming residence. They were particularly
struck with the fine gardens and conservatories."
From this moment, however, Josephine's health rapidly declined, and
she did not live to see Napoleon's return from Elba. She often said
to her attendant, "I do not know what is the matter with me, but at
times I have fits of melancholy enough to kill me." But on the very
brink of the grave she retained all her amiability, all her love of
dress, and the graces and resources of a drawing-room society. The
immediate cause of her death was a bad cold she caught in taking a
drive in the park of Malmaison on a damp cold day. She expired on
the noon of Sunday, the 26th of May, in the fifty-third year of her
age. Her body was embalmed, and on the sixth day after her death
deposited in a vault in the church of Ruel, close to Malmaison. The
funeral ceremonies were magnificent, but a better tribute to the
memory of Josephine was to be found in the tears with which her
children, her servants, the neighbouring poor, and all that knew her
followed her to the grave. In 1826 a beautiful monument was erected
over her remains by Eugène Beauharnais and his sisters with this
simple inscription:
TO JOSEPHINE.
EUGENE. HORTENSE.
CHAPTER II.
1814.
Italy and Eugène--Siege of Dantzic-Capitulation concluded but not
ratified-Rapp made prisoner and sent to Kiew--Davoust's refusal to
believe the intelligence from Paris--Projected assassination of one
of the French Princes--Departure of Davoust and General Hogendorff
from Hamburg--The affair of Manbreuil--Arrival of the Commissioners
of the Allied powers at Fontainebleau--Preference shown by Napoleon
to Colonel Campbell--Bonaparte's address to General Kohler--His
farewell to his troops--First day of Napoleon's journey--The
Imperial Guard succeeded by the Cossacks--Interview with Augereau--
The first white cockades--Napoleon hanged in effigy at Orgon--His
escape in the disguise of a courier--Scene in the inn of La Calade--
Arrival at Aix--The Princess Pauline--Napoleon embarks for Elba--His
life at Elba.
I must now direct the attention of the reader to Italy, which was the
cradle of Napoleon's glory, and towards which he transported himself in
imagination from the Palace of Fontainebleau. Eugène had succeeded in
keeping up his means of defence until April, but on the 7th of that
month, being positively informed of the overwhelming reverses of France,
he found himself constrained to accede to the propositions of the
Marshal de Bellegarde to treat for the evacuation of Italy; and on the
10th a convention was concluded, in which it was stipulated that the
French troops, under the command of Eugène, should return within the
limits of old France. The clauses of this convention were executed on
the 19th of April.
--[Lord William Bentinck and Sir Edward Pellew had taken Genoa on
the 18th Of April. Murat was in the field with the Austrians
against the French.]--
Eugène, thinking that the Senate of Milan was favourably disposed
towards him, solicited that body to use its influence in obtaining
the consent of the Allied powers to his continuance at the head of the
Government of Italy; but this proposition was rejected by the Senate.
A feeling of irritation pervaded the public mind in Italy, and the army
had not proceeded three marches beyond Mantua when an insurrection broke
out in Milan. The Finance Minister, Pizna, was assassinated, and his
residence demolished, and nothing would have saved the Viceroy from a
similar fate had he been in his capital. Amidst this popular excitement,
and the eagerness of the Italians to be released from the dominion of
the French, the friends of Eugène thought him fortunate in being able to
join his father-in-law at Munich almost incognito.
--[Some time after Eugène visited France and had a long audience of
Louis XVIII. He announced himself to that monarch by his father's
title of Marquis de Beauharnais. The King immediately saluted him
by the title of Monsieur le Marechal, and proposed that he should
reside in France with that rank. But this invitation Eugène
declined, because as a French Prince under the fallen Government he
had commanded the Marshals, and he therefore could not submit to be
the last in rank among those illustrious military chiefs.
Bourrienne.]--
Thus, at the expiration of nine years, fell the iron crown which
Napoleon had placed on his head saying, "Dieu me l'a donne; gare a qui
la touche."
I will now take a glance at the affairs of Germany. Rapp was not
in France at the period of the fall of the Empire. He had, with
extraordinary courage and skill, defended himself against a year's
siege at Dantzic. At length, being reduced to the last extremity,
and constrained to surrender, he opened the gates of the city, which
presented nothing but heaps of ruins. Rapp had stipulated that the
garrison of Dantzic should return to France, and the Duke of Wurtemberg,
who commanded the siege, had consented to that condition; but the
Emperor of Russia having refused to ratify it, Rapp, having no means
of defence, was made prisoner with his troops; and conducted to Kiew,
whence he afterwards returned to Paris, where I saw him.
Hamburg still held out, but at the beginning of April intelligence was
received there of the extraordinary events which had delivered Europe
from her oppressor. Davoust refused to believe this news, which at once
annihilated all his hopes of power and greatness. This blindness was
persisted in for some time at Hamburg. Several hawkers, who were marked
out by the police as having been the circulators of Paris news, were
shot. An agent of the Government publicly announced his design of
assassinating one of the French Princes, in whose service he was said
to have been as a page. He said he would go to his Royal Highness and
solicit to be appointed one of his aides de camp, and that, if the
application were refused, as it probably would be, the refusal would
only confirm him in his purpose.
At length, when the state of things was beyond the possibility of doubt,
Davoust assembled the troops, acquainted them with the dethronement
of the Emperor, hoisted a flag of truce, and sent his adhesion to the
Provisional Government. All then thought of their personal safety,
without losing sight of their honestly-acquired wealth. Diamonds and
other objects of value and small bulk were hastily collected and packed
up. The Governor of Hamburg, Count Hogendorff, who, in spite of some
signal instances of opposition, had too often co-operated in severe
and vexatious measures, was the first to quit the city. He was, indeed,
hurried off by Davoust; because he had mounted the Orange cockade and
wished to take his Dutch troops away with him. After consigning the
command to General Gerard, Davoust quitted Hamburg, and arrived at Paris
on the 18th of June.
I have left Napoleon at Fontainebleau. The period of his departure for
Elba was near at hand: it was fixed for the 17th of April.
On that day Maubreuil, a man who has become unfortunately celebrated,
presented himself at the Post-office, and asked to speak with me. He
showed me some written orders, signed by General Sacken, the Commander
of the Russian troops in Palls, and by Baron Brackenhausen, chief of
the staff. These orders set forth that Maubreuil was entrusted with
an important mission, for the execution of which he was authorised to
demand the assistance of the Russian troops; and the commanders of those
men were enjoined to place at his disposal as many troops as he might
apply for. Maubreuil was also the bearer of similar orders from
General Dupont, the War Minister, and from M. Angles, the Provisional
Commissary-General of the Police, who directed all the other
commissaries to obey the orders they might receive from Maubreuil. On
seeing these documents, of the authenticity of which there was no doubt,
I immediately ordered the different postmasters to provide Maubreuil
promptly with any number of horses he might require.
Some days after I was informed that the object of Maubreuil's mission
was to assassinate Napoleon. It may readily be imagined what was my
astonishment on hearing this, after I had seen the signature of the
Commander of the Russian forces, and knowing as I did the intentions of
the Emperor Alexander. The fact is, I did not, and never can, believe
that such was the intention of Maubreuil. This man has been accused of
having carried off the jewels of the Queen of Westphalia.
Napoleon having consented to proceed to the island of Elba, conformably
with the treaty he had ratified on the 13th, requested to be accompanied
to the place of embarkation by a Commissioner from each of the Allied
powers. Count Schouwaloff was appointed by Russia, Colonel Neil Campbell
by England, General Kohler by Austria, and Count Waldbourg-Truchess by
Prussia. On the 16th the four Commissioners came for the first time to
Fontainebleau, where the Emperor, who was still attended by Generals
Drouot and Bertrand, gave to each a private audience on the following
day.
Though Napoleon received with coldness the Commissioners whom he had
himself solicited, yet that coldness was far from being manifested in an
equal degree to all. He who experienced the best reception was Colonel
Campbell, apparently because his person exhibited traces of wounds.
Napoleon asked him in what battles he had received them, and on
what occasions he had been invested with the orders he wore. He next
questioned him as to the place of his birth, and Colonel Campbell having
answered that he was a Scotchman, Napoleon congratulated him on being
the countryman of Ossian, his favourite author, with whose poetry,
however, he was only acquainted through the medium of wretched
translations. On this first audience Napoleon said to the Colonel, "I
have cordially hated the English. I have made war against you by every
possible means, but I esteem your nation. I am convinced that there is
more generosity in your Government than in any other. I should like to
be conveyed from Toulon to Elba by an English frigate."
The Austrian and Russian Commissioners were received coolly, but without
any marked indications of displeasure. It was not so with the Prussian
Commissioner, to whom he said duly, "Are there any Prussians in my
escort?"--"No, Sire."--"Then why do you take the trouble to accompany
me?"--"Sire, it is not a trouble, but an honour."--"These are mere
words; you have nothing to do here."--"Sire, I could not possibly
decline the honourable mission with which the King my master has
entrusted me." At these words Napoleon turned his back on Count
Truchess.
The Commissioners expected that Napoleon would be ready to set out
without delay; but they were deceived. He asked for a sight of the
itinerary of his route, and wished to make some alterations in it.
The Commissioners were reluctant to oppose his wish, for they had been
instructed to treat him with all the respect and etiquette due to a
sovereign. They therefore suspended the departure, and, as they could
not take upon themselves to acquiesce in the changes wished for by the
Emperor, they applied for fresh orders. On the night of the 18th of
April they received these orders, authorising them to travel by any road
the Emperor might prefer. The departure was then definitively fixed for
the 20th.
Accordingly, at ten on the morning of the 20th, the carriages were in
readiness, and the Imperial Guard was drawn up in the grand court of
the Palace of Fontainebleau, called the Cour du Cheval Blanc. All the
population of the town and the neighbouring villages thronged round the
Palace. Napoleon sent for General Kohler, the Austrian Commissioner,
and said to him, "I have reflected on what I ought to do, and I
am determined not to depart. The Allies are not faithful to their
engagements with me. I can, therefore, revoke my abdication, which was
only conditional. More than a thousand addresses were delivered to me
last night: I am conjured to resume the reins of government. I renounced
my rights to the crown only to avert the horrors of a civil war, having
never had any other object in view than the glory and happiness of
France. But, seeing as I now do, the dissatisfaction inspired by the
measures of the new Government, I can explain to my Guard the reasons
which induced me to revoke my abdication. It is true that the number of
troops on which I can count will scarcely exceed 30,000 men, but it will
be easy for me to increase their numbers to 130,000. Know, then, that
I can also, without injuring my honour, say to my Guard, that having
nothing but the repose and happiness of the country at heart, I renounce
all my rights, and exhort my troops to follow my example, and yield to
the wish of the nation."
I heard these words reported by General Kohler himself, after his return
from his mission. He did not disguise the embarrassment which this
unexpected address had occasioned; and I recollect having remarked at
the time that had Bonaparte, at the commencement of the campaign of
Paris, renounced his rights and returned to the rank of citizen, the
immense masses of the Allies must have yielded to the efforts of France.
General Kohler also stated that Napoleon complained of Maria Louisa not
being allowed to accompany him; but at length, yielding to the reasons
urged by those about him, he added, "Well, I prefer remaining faithful
to my promise; but if I have any new ground of complaint, I will free
myself from all my engagements."
At eleven o'clock Comte de Bussy, one of the Emperor's aides de camp,
was sent by the Grand Marshal (General Bertrand) to announce that all
was ready for departure. "Am I;" said Napoleon, "to regulate my actions
by the Grand Marshal's watch? I will go when I please. Perhaps I may not
go at all. Leave me!"
All the forms of courtly etiquette which Napoleon loved so much were
observed; and when at length he was pleased to leave his cabinet to
enter the salon, where the Commissioners were waiting; the doors were
thrown open as usual, and "The Emperor" was announced; but no sooner was
the word uttered than he turned back again. However, he soon reappeared,
rapidly crossed the gallery, and descended the staircase, and at twelve
o'clock precisely he stood at the head of his Guard, as if at a review
in the court of the Tuileries in the brilliant days of the Consulate and
the Empire.
Then took place a really moving scene--Napoleon's farewell to his
soldiers. Of this I may abstain from entering into any details, since
they are known everywhere, and by everybody, but I may subjoin the
Emperor's last address to his old companions-in-arms, because it belongs
to history. This address was pronounced in a voice as firm and sonorous
as that in which Bonaparte used to harangue his troops in the days of
his triumphs. It was as follows:
"Soldiers of my Old Guard, I bid you farewell. For twenty years I
have constantly accompanied you on the road to honour and glory. In
these latter times, as in the days of our prosperity, you have
invariably been models of courage and fidelity. With men such as
you our cause could not be lost, but the war would have been
interminable; it would have been civil war, and that would have
entailed deeper misfortunes on France. I have sacrificed all my
interests to those of the country. I go; but you, my friends, will
continue to serve France. Her happiness was my only thought.. It
will still be the object of my wishes. Do not regret my fate: if I
have consented to survive, it is to serve your glory. I intend to
write the history of the great achievements we have performed
together. Adieu, my friends. Would I could press you all to my,
heart!"
During the first day cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" resounded along the
road, and Napoleon, resorting to his usual dissimulation, censured the
disloyalty of the people to their legitimate sovereign, which he did
with ill disguised irony. The Guard accompanied him as far as Briars. At
that place Napoleon invited Colonel Campbell to breakfast with him. He
conversed on the last war in Spain, and spoke in complimentary terms of
the English nation and the military talents of Wellington. Yet by that
time he must have heard of the battle of Toulouse.
On the night of the 21st Napoleon slept at Nevers, where he was received
by the acclamations of the people, who here, as in several other towns,
mingled their cries in favour of their late sovereign with imprecations
against the Commissioners of the Allies. He left Nevers at six on the
morning of the 22d. Napoleon was now no longer escorted by the
Guards, who were succeeded by a corps of Cossacks: the cries of "Vive
l'Empereur!" accordingly ceased, and he had the mortification to hear
in its stead, "Vivent les Allies!" However, I have been informed that at
Lyons, through which the Emperor passed on the 23d at eleven at night,
the cry of "Vive l'Empereur!" was still echoed among the groups who
assembled before the post-office during the change of horses.
Augereau, who was still a Republican, though he accepted the title
of Duke of Castiglione from Napoleon, had always been among the
discontented. On the downfall of the Emperor he was one of that
considerable number of persons who turned Royalists not out of love for
the Bourbons but out of hatred to Bonaparte. He held a command in the
south when he heard of the forfeiture of Napoleon pronounced by the
Senate, and he was one of the first to send his recognition to the
Provisional Government. Augereau, who, like all uneducated men, went
to extremes in everything, had published under his name a proclamation
extravagantly violent and even insulting to the Emperor. Whether
Napoleon was aware of this proclamation I cannot pretend to say, but he
affected ignorance of the matter if he was informed of it, for on the
24th, having met Augereau at a little distance from Valence, he stopped
his carriage and immediately alighted. Augereau did the same, and they
cordially embraced in the presence of the Commissioners. It was remarked
that in saluting Napoleon took off his hat and Augereau kept on his.
"Where are you going?", said the Emperor; "to Court?"--"No, I am going
to Lyons."--"You have behaved very badly to me." Augereau, finding that
the Emperor addressed him in the second person singular, adopted the
same familiarity; so they conversed as they were accustomed to do when
they were both generals in Italy. "Of what do you complain?" said he.
"Has not your insatiable ambition brought us to this? Have you not
sacrificed everything to that ambition, even the happiness of France?
I care no more for the Bourbons than for you. All I care for is the
country." Upon this Napoleon turned sharply away from the Marshal,
lifted his hat to him, and then stepped into his carriage. The
Commissioners, and all the persons in Napoleon's suite, were indignant
at seeing Augereau stand in the road still covered, with his hands
behind his back, and instead of bowing, merely making a contemptuous
salutation to Napoleon with his hand. It was at the Tuileries that these
haughty Republicans should have shown their airs. To have done so on the
road to Elba was a mean insult which recoiled upon themselves.
--[The following letter, taken from Captain Bingham's recently
published selections from the Correspondence of the first Napoleon,
indicates in emphatic language the Emperor's recent dissatisfaction
with Marshal Augereau when in command at Lyons during the "death
struggle" of 1814:
To Marshal Augereau.
NOGENT, 21st February, 1814,
....What! six hours after having received the first troops coming
from Spain you were not in the field! Six hours repose was
sufficient. I won the action of Naugis with a brigade of dragoons
coming from Spain which, since it had left Bayonne, had not
unbridled its horses. The six battalions of the division of Nimes
want clothes, equipment, and drilling, say you? What poor reasons
you give me there, Augereau! I have destroyed 80,000 enemies with
conscripts having nothing but knapsacks! The National Guards, say
you, are pitiable; I have 4000 here in round hats, without
knapsacks, in wooden shoes, but with good muskets, and I get a great
deal out of them. There is no money, you continue; and where do you
hope to draw money from! You want waggons; take them wherever you
can. You have no magazines; this is too ridiculous. I order you
twelve hours after the reception of this letter to take the field.
If you are still Augereau of Castiglione, keep the command, but if
your sixty years weigh upon you hand over the command to your senior
general. The country is in danger; and can be saved by boldness and
alacrity alone....
(Signed) NAPOLEON]--
At Valence Napoleon, for the first time, saw French soldiers with the
white cockade in their caps. They belonged to Augereau's corps. At
Orange the air resounded with tunes of "Vive le Roi!" Here the gaiety,
real or feigned, which Napoleon had hitherto evinced, began to forsake
him.
Had the Emperor arrived at Avignon three hours later than he did there
is no doubt that he would have been massacred.--[The Royalist mob of
Avignon massacred Marshal Brune in 1816.]--He did not change horses
at Avignon, through which he passed at five in the morning, but at St.
Andiol, where he arrived at six. The Emperor, who was fatigued with
sitting in the carriage, alighted with Colonel Campbell and General
Bertrand, and walked with them up the first hill. His valet de chambre,
who was also walking a little distance in advance, met one of the mail
couriers, who said to him, "Those are the Emperor's carriages coming
this way?"--"No, they are the equipages of the Allies."--"I say they are
the Emperor's carriages. I am an old soldier. I served in the campaign
of Egypt, and I will save the life of my General."--"I tell you again
they are not the Emperor's carriages."--"Do not attempt to deceive me;
I have just passed through Organ, where the Emperor has been hanged in
effigy. The wretches erected a scaffold and hanged a figure dressed in
a French uniform covered with blood. Perhaps I may get myself into a
scrape by this confidence, but no matter. Do you profit by it." The
courier then set off at full gallop. The valet de chambre took General
Drouot apart, and told him what he had heard. Drouot communicated the
circumstance to General Bertrand, who himself related it to the Emperor
in the presence of the Commissioners. The latter, justly indignant, held
a sort of council on the highway, and it was determined that the Emperor
should go forward without his retinue. The valet de chambre was asked
whether he had any clothes in the carriage. He produced a long blue
cloak and a round hat. It was proposed to put a white cockade in the
hat, but to this Napoleon would not consent. He went forward in the
style of a courier, with Amaudru, one of the two outriders who had
escorted his carriage, and dashed through Orgon. When the Allied
Commissioners arrived there the assembled population were uttering
exclamations of "Down with the Corsican! Down with the brigand!" The
mayor of Orgon (the same man whom I had seen almost on his knees to
General Bonaparte on his return from Egypt) addressed himself to
Pelard, the Emperor's valet de chambre, and said, "Do you follow that
rascal?"--"No," replied Pelard, "I am attached to the Commisairiers of
the Allied powers."--Ah! that is well! I should like to hang the villain
with my own hands.
"Ah! if you knew, sir, how the scoundrel has deceived us! It was I who
received him on his return from Egypt. We wished to take his horses
out and draw his carriage. I should like to avenge myself now for the
honours I rendered him at that time."
The crowd augmented, and continued to vociferate with a degree of fury
which may be imagined by those who have heard the inhabitants of the
south manifest, by cries, their joy or their hatred. Some more violent
than the rest wished to force Napoleon's coachman to cry "Vive le Roi!"
He courageously refused, though threatened with a stroke of a sabre,
when, fortunately; the carriage being ready to start, he whipped the
horses and set off at full gallop. The Commissioners would not
breakfast at Orgon; they paid for what had been prepared, and took some
refreshments away with them. The carriages did not overtake the Emperor
until they came to La Calade, where he had arrived a quarter of an hour
before with Amaudru.
They found him standing by the fire in the kitchen of the inn talking
with the landlady. She had asked him whether the tyrant was soon to pass
that way? "Ah! sir," said she, "it is all nonsense to say we have got
rid of him. I always, have said, and always will say, that we shall
never be sure of being done with him until he be laid at the bottom of
a well, covered over with stones. I wish we had him safe in the well in
our yard. You see, sir, the Directory sent him to Egypt to get rid of
him; but he came back again! And he will come back again, you maybe sure
of that, sir; unless--" Here the good woman, having finished skimming
her pot, looked up and perceived that all the party were standing
uncovered except the individual to whom, she had been speaking. She was
confounded, and the embarrassment she experienced at having spoken so
ill of the Emperor to the Emperor himself banished all her anger, and
she lavished every mark of attention, and respect on Napoleon and his
retinue. A messenger was immediately sent to Aix to purchase ribbons for
making white cockades. All the carriages were brought into the courtyard
of the inn, and the gate was closed; the landlady informed Napoleon that
it would not be prudent for him to venture on passing through Aix, where
a population of more than 20,000 were waiting to stone him.
Meanwhile dinner was served, and Napoleon sat down to table. He
admirably disguised the agitation which he could not fail to experience,
and I have been assured, by some of the individuals who were present on
that remarkable occasion, that he never made himself more agreeable. His
conversation, which was enriched by the resources of his memory and
his imagination, charmed every one, and he remarked, with an air of
indifference which was perhaps affected, "I believe the new French
Government has a design on my life."
The Commissioners, informed of what was going on at Aix, proposed
sending to the Mayor an order for closing the gates and adopting
measures for securing the public tranquillity. About fifty individuals
had assembled round the inn, and one among them offered to carry a
letter to the Mayor of Aix. The Commissioners accepted his services, and
in their letter informed the Mayor that if the gates of the town were
not closed within an hour they would advance with two regiments of
uhlans and six pieces of artillery, and would fire upon all who might
oppose them. This threat had the desired effect; and the Mayor returned
for answer that the gates should be closed, and that he would take upon
himself the responsibility of everything which might happen.
The danger which threatened the Emperor at Aix was thus averted; but
there was another to be braved. During the seven or eight hours he
passed at La Calade a considerable number of people had gathered round
the inn, and manifested every disposition to proceed to some excess.
Most of them had in their hands five-franc pieces, in order to recognise
the Emperor by his likeness on the coin. Napoleon, who had passed two
nights without sleep, was in a little room adjoining the kitchen, where
he had fallen into a slumber, reclining an the shoulder of his valet
de chambre. In a moment of dejection he had said, "I now renounce the
political world forever. I shall henceforth feel no interest about
anything that may happen. At Porto-Ferrajo I may be happy--more happy
than I have ever been! No!--if the crown of Europe were now offered to
me I would not accept it. I will devote myself to science. I was
right never to esteem mankind! But France and the French people--what
ingratitude! I am disgusted with ambition, and I wish to rule no
longer!"
When the moment for departure arrived it was proposed that he should put
on the greatcoat and fur cap of General Kohler, and that he should
go into the carriage of the Austrian Commissioner. The Emperor, thus
disguised, left the inn of La Calade, passing between two lines
of spectators. On turning the walls of Aix Napoleon had again the
mortification to hear the cries of "Down with the tyrant! Down with
Nicolas!" and these vociferations resounded at the distance of a quarter
of a league from the town.
Bonaparte, dispirited by these manifestations of hatred, said, in a tone
of mingled grief and contempt, "These Provencals are the same furious
brawlers that they used to be. They committed frightful massacres at the
commencement of the Revolution. Eighteen years ago I came to this part
of the country with some thousand men to deliver two Royalists who were
to be hanged. Their crime was having worn the white cockade. I saved
them; but it was not without difficulty that I rescued them from the
hands of their assailants; and now, you see, they resume the same
excesses against those who refuse to wear the white cockade.". At about
a league from Aix the Emperor and his retinue found horses and an escort
of gendarmerie to conduct them to the chateau of Luc.
The Princess Pauline was at the country residence of M. Charles, member
of the Legislative Body, near the castle of Luc. On hearing of the
misfortunes of her brother she determined to accompany him to the isle
of Elba, and she proceeded to Fréjus to embark with him. At Fréjus the
Emperor rejoined Colonel Campbell, who had quitted the convoy on the
road, and had brought into the port the English frigate the 'Undaunted'
which was appointed to convey the Emperor to the place of his
destination. In spite of the wish he had expressed to Colonel Campbell
he manifested considerable reluctance to go on board. However, on the
28th of April he sailed for the island of Elba in the English frigate,
in which it could not then be said that Caesar and his fortune were
embarked.
[It was on the 3d of May 1814 that Bonaparte arrived within sight of
Porto-Ferrajo, the capital of his miniature empire; but he did not
land till the next morning. At first he paid a short visit
incognito, being accompanied by a sergeant's party of marines from
the Undaunted. He then returned on board to breakfast, and at about
two o'clock made his public entrance, the 'Undaunted' firing a royal
salute.]
In every particular of his conduct he paid great attention to the
maintenance of his Imperial dignity. On landing he received the keys of
his city of Porto-Ferrajo, and the devoirs of the Governor, prefect, and
other dignitaries, and he proceeded immediately under a canopy of State
to the parish church, which served as a cathedral. There he heard Te
Deum, and it is stated that his countenance was dark and melancholy, and
that he even shed tears.
One of Bonaparte's first cares was to select a flag for the Elbese
Empire, and after some hesitation he fixed on "Argent, on a bend gules,
or three bees," as the armorial ensign of his new dominion. It is
strange that neither he nor any of those whom he consulted should have
been aware that Elba had an ancient and peculiar ensign, and it is still
more remarkable that this ensign should be one singularly adapted to
Bonaparte's situation; being no more than "a wheel,--the emblem," says
M. Bernaud, "of the vicissitudes of human life, which the Elbese had
borrowed from the Egyptian mysteries." This is as curious a coincidence
as any we ever recollect to have met; as the medals of Elba with the
emblem of the wheel are well known, we cannot but suppose that Bonaparte
was aware of the circumstance; yet he is represented as having in vain
made several anxious inquiries after the ancient arms of the island.
During the first months of his residence there his life was, in general,
one of characteristic activity and almost garrulous frankness. He
gave dinners, went to balls, rode all day about his island, planned
fortifications, aqueducts, lazarettos, harbours, and palaces; and the
very second day after he landed fitted out an expedition of a dozen
soldiers to take possession of a little uninhabited island called
Pianosa, which lies a few leagues from Elba; on this occasion he said
good-humouredly, "Toute l'Europe dira que j'ai deja fait une conqute"
(All Europe will say I have already made a conquest). The cause of
the island of Pianosa being left uninhabited was the marauding of the
Corsairs from the coast of Barbary, against whom Bonaparte considered
himself fully protected by the 4th Article of the Treaty of
Fontainebleau.
The greatest wealth of Elba consists in its iron mines, for which the
island was celebrated in the days of Virgil. Soon after his arrival
Napoleon visited the mines in company with Colonel Campbell, and being
informed that they produced annually about 500,000 francs he exclaimed
joyfully, "These, then, are my own!" One of his followers, however,
reminded him that he had long since disposed of that revenue, having
given it to his order of the Legion of Honour, to furnish pensions, etc.
"Where was my head when I made that grant?" said he, "but I have made
many foolish decrees of that sort!"
Sir Walter Scott, in telling a curious fact, makes a very curious
mistake. "To dignify his capital," he says, "having discovered that
the ancient name of Porto-Ferrajo was Comopoli (the city of Como), he
commanded it to be called Cosmopoli, or the city of all nations."
Now the old name of Porto-Ferrajo was in reality not Comopoli, but
Cosmopoli, and it obtained that name from the Florentine Cosmo de'
Medici, to whose ducal house Elba belonged, as an integral part of
Tuscany. The name equally signified the city of Cosmo, or the city of
all nations, and the vanity of the Medici had probably been flattered by
the double meaning of the appellation. But Bonaparte certainly revived
the old name, and did not add a letter to it to dignify his little
capital.
The household of Napoleon, though reduced to thirty-five persons, still
represented an Imperial Court. The forms and etiquette of the Tuileries
and St, Cloud were retained on a diminished scale, but the furniture
and internal accommodations of the palace are represented as having been
meaner by far than those of an English gentleman of ordinary rank. The
Bodyguard of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Elba consisted of about
700 infantry and 80 cavalry, and to this handful of troops Napoleon
seemed to pay almost as much attention as he had formerly given to
his Grande Armee. The men were constantly exercised, particularly
in throwing shot and shells, and he soon began to look out for good
recruits.
He early announced that he would hold a Court and receive ladies twice a
week; the first was on the 7th of May, and a great concourse assembled.
Bonaparte at first paid great attention to the women, particularly those
who possessed personal attractions, and asked them, in his rapid way,
whether they were married? how many children they had, and who their
husbands were? To the last question he received one universal answer; it
happened that every lady was married to a merchant, but when it came
to be further explained that they were merchant butchers and merchant
bakers, his Imperial Majesty permitted some expression of his
dissatisfaction to escape him and hastily retired. On the 4th of June
there was a ball on board the British frigate, in honour of the King's
birthday; the whole beauty and fashion of Elba were assembled, and
dancing with great glee, when, about midnight, Bonaparte came in his
barge, unexpectedly, and masked, to join the festivity. He was very
affable, and visited every part of the ship, and all the amusements
which had been prepared for the different classes of persons. On his
birthday, the 15th of August, he ordered the mayor to give a ball, and
for this purpose a temporary building, capable of holding 300 persons,
was to be erected, and the whole entertainment, building and all, were
to be at the expense of the inhabitants themselves. These were bad
auspices, and accordingly the ball completely failed. Madame Mtire,
Madame Bertrand, and the two ladies of honour, attended, but not above
thirty of the fair islanders, and as the author of the Itineraire
remarks, "Le bal fut triste quoique Bonaparte n'y parut pas."
Having in an excursion reached the summit of one of the highest hills on
the island, where the sea was visible all round him, he shook his head
with affected solemnity, and exclaimed in a bantering tone, "Eh! il faut
avouer que mon ile est bien petite."
On this mountain one of the party saw a little church in an almost
inaccessible situation, and observed that it was a most inconvenient
site for a church, for surely no congregation could attend it. "It is on
that account the more convenient to the parson," replied Bonaparte, "who
may preach what stuff he pleases without fear of contradiction."
As they descended the hill and met some peasants with their goats
who asked for charity, Bonaparte told a story which the present
circumstances brought to his recollection, that when he was crossing
the Great St. Bernard, previously to the battle of Marengo, he had met
a goatherd, and entered into conversation with him. The goatherd, not
knowing to whom he was speaking, lamented his own hard lot, and envied
the riches of some persons who actually had cows and cornfields.
Bonaparte inquired if some fairy were to offer to gratify all his wishes
what he would ask? The poor peasant expressed, in his own opinion, some
very extravagant desires, such as a dozen of cows and a good farmhouse.
Bonaparte afterwards recollected the incident, and astonished the
goatherd by the fulfilment of all his wishes.
But all his thoughts and conversations were not as light and pleasant
as these. Sometimes he would involve himself in an account of the last
campaign, of his own views and hopes, of the defection of his marshals,
of the capture of Paris, and finally of his abdication; on these
he would talk by the hour with great earnestness and almost fury,
exhibiting in very rapid succession traits of eloquence, of military
genius, of indignation; of vanity, and of selfishness. With regard
to the audience to whom he addressed these tirades he was not very
particular.
The chief violence of his rage seemed to be directed against Marshal
Marmont whom, as well as Augereau, he sometimes called by names too
gross for repetition, and charged roundly with treachery. Marmont,
when he could no longer defend Paris by arms, saved it by an honourable
capitulation; he preserved his army for the service of his country and
when everything else was lost stipulated for the safety of Bonaparte.
This last stipulation, however, Bonaparte affected to treat with
contempt and indignation.--[Editor of 1836 edition.]
CHAPTER III.
1814.
Changes produced by time--Correspondence between the Provisional
Government and Hartwell--Louis XVIII's reception in London--
His arrival at Calais--Berthier's address to the King at Compiegne--
My presentation to his Majesty at St. Ouen-Louis--XVIII's entry into
Paris--Unexpected dismissal from my post--M. de Talleyrand's
departure for the Congress of Vienna--Signs of a commotion--
Impossibility of seeing M. de Blacas--The Abby Fleuriel--Unanswered
letters--My letter to M. de Talleyrand at Vienna.
No power is so great as that resulting from the changes produced by
time. Wise policy consists in directing that power, but to do so it is
requisite to know the wants of the age. For this reason Louis XVIII.
appeared, in the eyes of all sensible persons, a monarch expressly
formed for the circumstances in which we stood after the fall of
Napoleon.
In the winter of 1813-14 some Royalist proclamations had been circulated
in Paris, and as they contained the germs of those hopes which the
Charter, had it been executed, was calculated to realise, the police
opposed their circulation, and I recollect that, in order to multiply
the number of copies, my family and I daily devoted some hours to
transcribing them. After the definitive declaration of Alexander a very
active correspondence ensued between the Provisional Government and
Hartwell, and Louis XVIII. was even preparing to embark for Bordeaux
when he learned the events of the 31st of March. That news induced the
King to alter his determination, and he soon quitted his retirement
to proceed to London. Louis XVIII. and the Prince Regent of England
exchanged the orders of the Holy Ghost and the Garter, and I believe I
may affirm that this was the first occasion on which any but a Catholic
Prince was invested with the order of the Holy Ghost.
Louis XVIII. embarked at Dover on board the Royal Sovereign, and landed
at Calais on the 24th of April. I need not enter into any description
of the enthusiasm which his presence excited; that is generally known
through the reports of the journals of the time. It is very certain that
all rational persons saw with satisfaction the Princes of the House
of Bourbon reascend the throne of their ancestors, enlightened by
experience and misfortune, which, as some ancient philosopher observes,
are the best counsellors of kings.
I had received a letter addressed to me from London by the Duc de Duras,
pointing out the route which Louis XVIII. was to pursue from Calais to
Paris: In this he said, "After the zeal, monsieur, you have shown for
the service of the King, I do not doubt your activity to prevent his
suffering in any way at a moment so happy and interesting for every
Frenchman." The King's wishes on this subject were scrupulously
fulfilled, and I recollect with pleasure the zeal with which my
directions were executed by all the persons in the service of the
Postoffice. His Majesty stopped for a short time at Amiens, and then
proceeded to Compiegne, where the Ministers and Marshals had previously
arrived to present to him their homage and the assurance of their
fidelity. Berthier addressed the King in the name of the Marshals, and
said, among other things, "that France, groaning for five and twenty
years under the weight of the misfortunes that oppressed her, had
anxiously looked forward to the happy day which she now saw dawning."
Berthier might justly have said for "ten years"; but at all events, even
had he spoken the truth, it was ill placed in the mouth of a man whom
the Emperor had constantly loaded with favours: The Emperor Alexander
also went to Compiegne to meet Louis XVIII., and the two monarchs dined
together.
I did not go to Compiegne because the business which I had constantly to
execute did not permit me to leave Paris for so long an interval as that
journey would have required, but I was at St. Ouen when Louis XVIII.
arrived on the 2d of May. There I had to congratulate myself on being
remembered by a man to whom I was fortunate enough to render some
service at Hamburg. As the King entered the salon through which he
had to pass to go to the dining-room M. Hue recognising me said to his
Majesty, "There is M. de Bourrienne." The King then stepping up to me
said, "Ah! M. de Bourrienne, I am very glad to see you. I am aware of
the services you have rendered me in Hamburg and Paris, and I shall feel
much pleasure in testifying my gratitude."
At St. Ouen Louis XVIII. promulgated the declaration which preceded the
Charter, and which repeated the sentiments expressed by the King twenty
years before, in the Declaration of Colmar. It was also at St, Ouen that
project of a Constitution was presented to him by the Senate in
which that body, to justify 'in extremis' its title of conservative,
stipulated for the preservation of its revenues and endowments.
On the 3d of May Louis XVIII. made his solemn entrance into Paris, the
Duchess d'Angouleme being in the carriage with the King. His Majesty
proceeded first to Notre Dame. On arriving at the Pont Neuf he saw the
model of the statue of Henri IV. replaced, on the pedestal of which
appeared the following words: 'Ludovico reduce, Henricus redivivus',
which were suggested by M. de Lally-Tollendal, and were greatly
preferable to the long and prolix inscription composed for the bronze
statue.
The King's entrance into Paris did not excite so much enthusiasm as the
entrance of Monsieur. In the places through which I passed on the 3d of
May astonishment seemed to be the prevailing feeling among the people.
The abatement of public enthusiasm was more perceptible a short time
after, when Louis XVIII. restored "the red corps" which Louis XVI. had
suppressed long before the Revolution.
It was not a little extraordinary to see the direction of the Government
consigned to a man who neither had nor could have any knowledge
of France. From the commencement M. de Blacas affected ministerial
omnipotence. When I went on the 11th of May to the Tuileries to present,
as usual, my portfolio to the King, in virtue of my privilege of
transacting business with the sovereign, M. de Blacas wished to take the
portfolio from me, which appeared to me the more surprising as, during
the seven days I had the honour of coming in contact with Louis XVIII.,
his Majesty had been pleased to bestow many compliments upon me. I at
first refused to give up the portfolio, but M. de Blacas told me the
King had ordered him to receive it; I then, of course, yielded the
point.
However, it, was not long before I had experience of a courtier's
revenge, for two days after this circumstance, that is to say, on the
13th of May, on entering my cabinet at the usual hour, I mechanically
took up the 'Moniteur', which I found lying on my desk. On glancing
hastily over it what was my astonishment to find that the Comte Ferrand
had been appointed Director of the Post-office in my stead. Such was the
strange mode in which M. de Blacas made me feel the promised gratitude
of the sovereign. Certainly, after my proofs of loyalty, which a year
afterwards procured for me the honour of being outlawed in quite a
special way, I had reason to complain, and I might have said 'Sic vos
non vobis' as justly as Virgil when he alluded to the unmerited favours
lavished by Augustus on the Maevii and Bavii of his time.
The measures of Government soon excited complaints in every quarter.
The usages of the old system were gradually restored, and ridicule being
mingled with more serious considerations, Paris was speedily inundated
with caricatures and pamphlets. However, tranquillity prevailed until
the month of September, when M. de Talleyrand departed for the Congress
of Vienna. Then all was disorder at the Tuileries. Every one feeling
himself free from restraint, wished to play the statesman, and
Heaven knows how many follies were committed in the absence of the
schoolmaster.
Under a feeble Government there is but one step from discontent to
insurrection, under an imbecile Government like that of France in 1814,
after the departure of M. de Talleyrand, conspiracy has free Scope.
During the summer of 1814 were initiated the events which reached their
climax on the 20th of March 1815. I almost fancy I am dreaming when I
look back on the miraculous incapacity of the persons who were then at
the head of our Government. The emigrants, who, as it has been truly
said, had neither learned nor forgotten anything, came back with all
the absurd pretensions of Coblentz. Their silly vanity reminded one of
a character in one of Voltaire's novels who is continually saying, "Un
homme comme moi!" These people were so engrossed with their pretended
merit that they were blind to everything else. They not only disregarded
the wishes and the wants of France; which in overthrowing the Empire
hoped to regain liberty, but they disregarded every warning they had
received.
I recollect one circumstance which was well calculated to excite
suspicion. Prince Eugène proposed going to the waters of Plombieres
to join his sister Hortense. The horses, the carriages, and one of
the Prince's aides de camp had already arrived at Plombieres, and
his residence was prepared; but he did not go. Eugène had, no doubt,
received intimation of his sister's intrigues with some of the
individuals of the late Court of Napoleon who were then at the
waters, and as he had determined to reside quietly at the Court of his
father-in-law; without meddling with public affairs, he remained at
Munich. This fact, however, passed off unnoticed.
At the end of 1814 unequivocal indications of a great catastrophe were
observable. About that time a man, whom I much esteem, and with whom I
have always been on terms of friendship, said to me, "You see how
things are going on: they are committing fault upon fault. You must
be convinced that such a state of things cannot last long. Between
ourselves, I am of opinion that all will be over in the month of March;
that month will repair the disgrace of last March. We shall then, once
for all, be delivered from fanaticism and the emigrants. You see the
intolerable spirit of hypocrisy that prevails, and you know that the
influence of the priests is, of all things, the most hateful to the
nation. We have gone back a long way within the last eight months. I
fear you will repent of having taken too active a part in affairs at the
commencement of the present year. You see we have gone a very different
way from what you expected. However, as I have often told you before,
you had good reason to complain; and after all, you acted to the best of
your judgment."
I did not attach much importance to this prediction of a change in the
month of March. I deplored, as every one did, the inconceivable
errors of "Ferrand and Company," and I hoped that the Government would
gradually return to those principles which were calculated to conciliate
the feelings of the people. A few days after another of my friends
called on me. He had exercised important functions, and his name had
appeared on a proscription list. He had claims upon the Government,
which was by no means favourably disposed towards him. I asked him how
things were going on, and he replied, "Very well; no opposition is made
to my demands. I have no reason to complain." This reminded me of the
man in the 'Lettres Persanes', who admired the excellent order of
the finances under Colbert because his pension was promptly paid. I
congratulated my friend on the justice which the Government rendered
him, as well as on the justice which he rendered to the Government, and
I remarked that if the same course were adopted towards every one all
parties would speedily be conciliated. "I do not think so," said my
friend. "If the Government persist in its present course it cannot
possibly stand, and we shall have the Emperor back again."--"That," said
I, "would be a very great misfortune; and even if such were the wish of
France, it would be opposed by Europe. You who are so devotedly attached
to France cannot be indifferent to the danger that would threaten her
if the presence of Bonaparte should bring the foreigners back again. Can
you endure to think of the dismemberment of our country?"--"That they
would never dare to attempt. But you and I can never agree on the
question of the Emperor and your Bourbons. We take a totally different
view of the matter. You had cause to complain of Bonaparte, but I had
only reason to be satisfied with him. But tell me, what would you do if
he were to return?"-- "Bonaparte return!"--"Yes."--"Upon my word, the
best thing I could do would be to set off as speedily as I could, and
that is certainly what I should do. I am thoroughly convinced that he
would never pardon me for the part I have taken in the Restoration, and
I candidly confess that I should not hesitate a moment to save my life
by leaving France."--"Well, you are wrong, for I am convinced that if
you would range yourself among the number of his friends you might have
whatever you wished--titles, honours, riches. Of this I could give
you assurance."--"All this, I must tell you, does not tempt me. I love
France as dearly, as you do, and I am convinced that she can never be
happy under Bonaparte. If he should return I will go and live abroad."
This is only part of a conversation which lasted a considerable time,
and, as is often the case after a long discussion, my friend retained
his opinion, and I mine. However, this second warning, this hypothesis
of the return of Bonaparte, made me reflect, and I soon received another
hint which gave additional weight to the preceding ones. An individual
with whom I was well acquainted, and whom I knew from his principles and
connections to be entirely devoted to the royal cause, communicated to
me some extraordinary circumstances which he said alarmed him. Among
other things he said, "The day before yesterday I met Charles de
Labedoyere, who, you know, is my intimate friend. I remarked that he had
an air of agitation and abstraction. I invited him to come and dine with
me, but he declined, alleging as an excuse that we should not be alone.
He then asked me to go and dine with him yesterday, as he wanted to
talk with me. I accepted his invitation, and we conversed a long time on
political affair's and the situation of France. You know my sentiments
are quite the reverse of his, so we disputed and wrangled, though we are
still very good friends. But what alarms me is, that at parting Charles
pressed my hand, saying, 'Adieu; to-morrow I set off for Grenoble. In a
month you will hear something of Charles de Labedoyere.'"
These three successive communications appeared to me very extraordinary.
The two first were made to me by persons interested in the event,
and the third by one who dreaded it. They all presented a striking
coincidence with the intrigues at Plombieres a few months before. In the
month of January I determined to mention the business to M. de Blacas,
who then engrossed all credit and all power, and through whose medium
alone anything could reach the sovereign. I need scarcely add that my
intention was merely to mention to him the facts without naming the
individuals from whom I obtained them. After all, however, M. de
Blacas did not receive me, and I only had the honour of speaking to his
secretary, who, if the fact deserve to be recorded, was an abbe
named Fleuriel. This personage, who was an extraordinary specimen of
impertinence and self-conceit, would have been an admirable study for a
comic poet. He had all the dignity belonging to the great secretary of
a great Minister, and, with an air of indifference, he told me that the
Count was not there; but M. de Blacas was there, and I knew it.
Devoted as I was to the cause of the Bourbons, I thought it my duty to
write that very day to M. de Blacas to request an interview; I received
no answer. Two days after I wrote a second letter, in which I informed
M. de Blacas that I had something of the greatest importance to
communicate to him; this letter remained unnoticed like the first.
Unable to account for this strange treatment I again repaired to the
Pavilion de Flore, and requested the Abbe Fleuriel to explain to me if
he could the cause of his master's silence. "Sir," said he, "I received
your two letters, and laid them before the Count; I cannot tell why he
has not sent you an answer; but Monsieur le Comte is so much engaged. .
. . Monsieur le Comte is so overwhelmed with business that"--"Monsieur
le Comte may, perhaps, repent of it. Good morning, sir!"
I thus had personal experience of the truth of what I had often heard
respecting M. de Blacas. That favourite, who succeeded Comte d'Avaray,
enjoyed the full confidence of the King, and concentrated the
sovereign power in his own cabinet. The only means of transmitting any
communication to Louis XVIII. was to get it addressed to M. de Blacas by
one of his most intimate friends.
Convinced as I was of the danger that threatened France, and unable
to break through the blockade which M. de Blacas had formed round
the person of the King, I determined to write to M. de Talleyrand at
Vienna,' and acquaint him with the communications that had been made to
me. M. de Talleyrand corresponded directly with the King, and I doubt
not that my information at length reached the ears of his Majesty. But
when Louis XVIII. was informed of what was to happen it was too late to
avert the danger.
CHAPTER IV.
1814-1815.
Escape from Elba--His landing near Cannes--March on Paris.
About the middle of summer Napoleon was visited by his mother and his
sister the Princess Pauline. Both these ladies had very considerable
talents for political intrigue, and then natural faculties in this way
had not lain dormant or been injured by want of practice. In Pauline
this finesse was partially concealed by a languor and indecision of
manner and an occasional assumption of 'niaiserie'; or almost infantine
simplicity; but this only threw people the more off their guard, and
made her finesse the more sure in its operation. Pauline was handsome
too, uncommonly graceful, and had all that power of fascination which
has been attributed to the Bonaparte family. She could gain hearts with
ease, and those whom her charms enslaved were generally ready to devote
themselves absolutely to her brother. She went and came between Naples
and Elba, and kept her brother-in-law, Murat, in mind of the fact that
the lion was not yet dead nor so much as sleeping, but merely retiring
the better to spring forward on his quarry.
Having taken this resolution and chosen his time, Napoleon kept the
secret of his expedition until the last moment; and means were found to
privately make the requisite preparations. A portion of the soldiers
was embarked in a brig called the 'Inconstant' and the remainder in
six small craft. It was not till they were all on board that the troops
first conceived a suspicion of the Emperor's purpose: 1000 or 1200 men
had sailed to regain possession of an Empire containing a population of
30,000,000! He commenced his voyage on Sunday the 26th of February 1815,
and the next morning at ten o'clock was not out of sight of the island,
to the great annoyance of the few friends he had left behind. At this
time Colonel Sir Neil Campbell was absent on a tour to Leghorn, but
being informed by the French Consul and by Spanocchi, the Tuscan
Governor of the town, that Napoleon was about to sail for the Continent,
he hastened back, and gave chase to the little squadron in the Partridge
sloop of war, which was cruising in the neighbourhood, but, being
delayed by communicating with a French frigate, reached Antibes too
late.
There were between 400 and 500 men on board the brig (the 'Inconstant')
in which Bonaparte embarked. On the passage they met with a French ship
of war, with which they spoke. The Guards were ordered to pull off their
caps and lie down on the deck or go below while the captain exchanged
some words with the commander of the frigate, whom he afterwards
proposed to pursue and capture. Bonaparte rejected the idea as absurd,
and asked why he should introduce this new episode into his plan.
As they stood over to the coast of France the Emperor was in the highest
spirits. The die was cast, and he seemed to be quite himself again. He
sat upon the deck and amused the officers collected round him with a
narrative of his campaigns, particularly those of Italy and Egypt. When
he had finished he observed the deck to be encumbered with several
large chests belonging to him. He asked the maitre d'hotel what they
contained. Upon being told they were filled with wine he ordered them
to be immediately broken open, saying, "We will divide the booty." The
Emperor superintended the distribution himself, and presented bottle by
bottle to his comrades, till tired of this occupation he called out to
Bertrand, "Grand Marshal, assist me, if you please. Let us help these
gentlemen. They will help us some day." It was with this species of
bonhomie that he captivated when he chose all around him. The following
day he was employed in various arrangements, and among others in
dictating to Colonel Raoul the proclamations to be issued on his
landing. In one of these, after observing, "we must forget that we have
given law to the neighbouring nations," Napoleon stopped. "What have I
said?" Colonel Raoul read the passage. "Stop!" said Napoleon. "Omit the
word 'neighbouring;' say simply 'to nations.'" It was thus his pride
revealed itself; and his ambition seemed to rekindle at the very
recollections of his former greatness.
Napoleon landed without any accident on the 1st of March at Cannes, a
small seaport in the Gulf of St. Juan, not far from Fréjus, where he had
disembarked on his return from Egypt sixteen years before, and where he
had embarked the preceding year for Elba. A small party of the Guards
who presented themselves before the neighbouring garrison of Antibes
were made prisoners by General Corsin, the Governor of the place. Some
one hinted that it was not right to proceed till they had released their
comrades, but the Emperor observed that this was poorly to estimate the
magnitude of the undertaking; before them were 30,000,000 men uniting to
be set free! He, however, sent the Commissariat Officer to try what he
could do, calling out after him, "Take care you do not get yourself made
prisoner too!"
At nightfall the troops bivouacked on the beach. Just before a
postillion, in a splendid livery, had been brought to Napoleon. It
turned out that this man had formerly been a domestic of the Empress
Josephine, and was now in the service of the Prince of Monaco,
who himself had been equerry to the Empress. The postillion, after
expressing his great astonishment at finding the Emperor there, stated,
in answer to the questions that were put to him, that he had just come
from Paris; that all along the road, as far as Avignon, he had heard
nothing but regret for the Emperor's absence; that his name was
constantly echoed from mouth to mouth; and that, when once fairly
through Provence, he would find the whole population ready to rally
round him. The man added that his laced livery had frequently rendered
him the object of odium and insult on the road. This was the testimony
of one of the common class of society: it was very gratifying to the
Emperor, as it entirely corresponded with his expectations. The Prince
of Monaco himself, on being presented to the Emperor, was less explicit.
Napoleon refrained from questioning him on political matters. The
conversation therefore assumed a more lively character, and turned
altogether on the ladies of the former Imperial Court, concerning whom
the Emperor was very particular in his inquiries.
As soon as the moon had risen, which was about one or two in the morning
of the 2d, the bivouacs were broken up, and Napoleon gave orders for
proceeding to Grasse. There he expected to find a road which he had
planned during the Empire, but in this he was disappointed, the
Bourbons having given up all such expensive works through want of money.
Bonaparte was therefore obliged to pass through narrow defiles filled
with snow, and left behind him in the hands of the municipality his
carriage and two pieces of cannon, which had been brought ashore. This
was termed a capture in the bulletins of the day. The municipality of
Grasse was strongly in favour of the Royalist cause, but the sudden
appearance of the Emperor afforded but little time for hesitation, and
they came to tender their submission to him. Having passed through
the town he halted on a little height some way beyond it, where he
breakfasted. He was soon surrounded by the whole population of the
place; and he heard the same sentiments and the same prayers as before
he quitted France. A multitude of petitions had already been drawn up,
and were presented to him, just as though he had come from Paris and was
making a tour through the departments. One complained that his pension
had not been paid, another that his cross of the Legion of Honour had
been taken from him. Some of the more discontented secretly informed
Napoleon that the authorities of the town were very hostile to him, but
that the mass of the people were devoted to him, and only waited till
his back was turned to rid themselves of the miscreants. He replied,
"Be not too hasty. Let them have the mortification of seeing our triumph
without having anything to reproach us with." The Emperor advanced
with all the rapidity in his power. "Victory," he said, "depended on
my speed. To me France was in Grenoble. That place was a hundred miles
distant, but I and my companions reached it in five days; and with what
weather and what roads! I entered the city just as the Comte d'Artois,
warned by the telegraph, was quitting the Tuileries."
Napoleon himself was so perfectly convinced of the state of affairs that
he knew his success in no way depended on the force he might bring with
him. A 'piquet' of 'gens d'armes', he said, was all that was necessary.
Everything turned out as he foresaw. At first he owned he was not
without some degree of uncertainty and apprehension. As he advanced,
however, the whole population declared themselves enthusiastically in
his favour: but he saw no soldiers. It was not till he arrived between
Mure and Vizille, within five or six leagues from Grenoble, and on the
fifth day after his landing, that he met a battalion. The commanding
officer refused to hold even a parley. The Emperor, without hesitation,
advanced alone, and 100 grenadiers marched at some distance behind him,
with their arms reversed. The sight of Napoleon, his well-known costume,
and his gray military greatcoat, had a magical effect on the soldiers,
and they stood motionless. Napoleon went straight up to them and baring
his breast said, "Let him that has the heart kill his Emperor!" The
soldiers threw down their arms, their eyes moistened with tears, and
cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" resounded on every side. Napoleon ordered
the battalion to wheel round to the right, and all marched on together.
At a short distance from Grenoble Colonel Labedoyere, who had been sent
at the head of the 7th regiment to oppose his passage, came to join
the Emperor. The impulse thus given in a manner decided the question.
Labedoyere's superior officer in vain interfered to restrain his
enthusiasm and that of his men. The tri-coloured cockades, which had
been concealed in the hollow of a drum, were eagerly distributed by
Labedoyere among them, and they threw away the white cockade as a badge
of their nation's dishonour. The peasantry of Dauphiny, the cradle of
the Revolution, lined the roadside: they were transported and mad with
joy. The first battalion, which has just been alluded to, had shown some
signs of hesitation, but thousands of the country people crowded round
it, and by their shouts of "Vive l'Empereur!" endeavoured to urge
the troops to decision, while others who followed in Napoleon's rear
encouraged his little troop to advance by assuring them that they would
meet with success. Napoleon said he could have taken 2,000,000 of these
peasants with him to Paris, but that then he would have been called "the
King of the Jaequerie."
Napoleon issued two proclamations on the road. He at first regretted
that he had not had them printed before he left Elba; but this could
not have been done without some risk of betraying his secret designs. He
dictated them on board the vessel, where every man who could write was
employed in copying them. These copies soon became very scarce; many of
them were illegible; and it was not till he arrived at Gap, on the 5th
of March, that he found means to have them printed. They were from that
time circulated and read everywhere with the utmost avidity.
The address to the army was considered as being still more masterly
and eloquent, and it was certainly well suited to the taste of French
soldiers, who, as Bourrienne remarks, are wonderfully pleased with
grandiloquence, metaphor, and hyperbole, though they do not always
understand what they mean. Even a French author of some distinction
praises this address as something sublime. "The proclamation to the
army," says he, "is full of energy: it could not fail to make all
military imaginations vibrate. That prophetic phrase, 'The eagle, with
the national colours, will fly from church steeple to church steeple,
till it settles on the towers of Notre Dame,' was happy in the extreme."
These words certainly produced an immense effect on the French soldiery,
who everywhere shouted, "Vive l'Empereur!" "Vive le petit Caporal!" "We
will die for our old comrade!" with the most genuine enthusiasm.
It was some distance in advance of Grenoble that Labedoyere joined, but
he could not make quite sure of the garrison of that city, which was
commanded by General Marchand, a man resolved to be faithful to his
latest master. The shades of night had fallen when Bonaparte arrived in
front of the fortress of Grenoble, where he stood for some minutes in a
painful state of suspense and indecision.
It was on the 7th of March, at nightfall, that Bonaparte thus stood
before the walls of Grenoble. He found the gates closed, and the
commanding officer refused to open them. The garrison assembled on the
ramparts shouted "Vive l'Empereur!" and shook hands with Napoleon's
followers through the wickets, but they could not be prevailed on to do
more. It was necessary to force the gates, and this was done under the
mouths of ten pieces of artillery, loaded with grapeshot. In none of his
battles did Napoleon ever imagine himself to be in so much danger as at
the entrance into Grenoble. The soldiers seemed to turn upon him with
furious gestures: for a moment it might be supposed that they were going
to tear him to pieces. But these were the suppressed transports of
love and joy. The Emperor and his horse were both borne along by the
multitude, and he had scarcely time to breathe in the inn where he
alighted when an increased tumult was heard without; the inhabitants
of Grenoble came to offer him the broken gates of the city, since they
could not present him with the keys.
From Grenoble to Paris Napoleon found no further opposition. During the
four days of his stay at Lyons, where he had arrived on the 10th, there
were continually upwards of 20,000 people assembled before his windows;
whose acclamations were unceasing. It would never have been supposed
that the Emperor had even for a moment been absent from the country. He
issued orders, signed decrees, reviewed the troops, as if nothing had
happened. The military corps, the public bodies, and all classes
of citizens, eagerly came forward to tender their homage and their
services. The Comte d'Artois, who had hastened to Lyons, as the Duc and
Duchesse d'Augouleme had done to Bourdeaux, like them in vain attempted
to make a stand. The Mounted National Guard (who were known Royalists)
deserted him at this crisis, and in his flight only one of them chose
to follow him. Bonaparte refused their services when offered to him, and
with a chivalrous feeling worthy of being recorded sent the decoration
of the Legion of Honour to the single volunteer who had thus shown his
fidelity by following the Duke.
As soon as the Emperor quitted Lyons he wrote to Ney, who with his army
was at Lons-le-Saulnier, to come and join him. Ney had set off from the
Court with a promise to bring Napoleon, "like a wild beast in a cage,
to Paris." Scott excuses Ney's heart at the expense of his head, and
fancies that the Marshal was rather carried away by circumstances, by
vanity, and by fickleness, than actuated by premeditated treachery, and
it is quite possible that these protestations were sincerely uttered
when Ney left Paris, but, infected by the ardour of his troops, he
was unable to resist a contagion so much in harmony with all his
antecedents, and to attack not only his leader in many a time of peril,
but also the sovereign who had forwarded his career through every grade
of the army.
The facts of the case were these:--
On the 11th of March Ney, being at Besancon, learned that Napoleon was
at Lyons. To those who doubted whether his troops would fight against
their old comrades he said, "They shall fight! I will take a musket from
a grenadier and begin the action myself! I will run my sword to the hilt
in the body of the first man who hesitates to fire." At the same time he
wrote to the Minister of War at Paris that he hoped to see a fortunate
close to this mad enterprise.
He then advanced to Lons-le-Saulnier, where, on the night between
the 13th and 14th of March, not quite three days after his vehement
protestations of fidelity, he received, without hesitation, a letter
from Bonaparte, inviting him, by his old appellation of the "Bravest of
the Brave," to join his standard. With this invitation Ney complied, and
published an order of the day that declared the cause of the Bourbons,
which he had sworn to defend, lost for ever.
It is pleaded in extenuation of Ney's defection that both his officers
and men were beyond his control, and determined to join their old
Master; but in that case he might have given up his command, and retired
in the same honourable way that Marshals Macdonald and Marmont and
several other generals did. But even among his own officers Ney had an
example set him, for many of them, after remonstrating in vain, threw up
their commands. One of them broke his sword in two and threw the pieces
at Ney's feet, saying, "It is easier for a man of honour to break iron
than to break his word."
Napoleon, when at St. Helena, gave a very different reading to these
incidents. On this subject he was heard to say, "If I except Labedoyere,
who flew to me with enthusiasm and affection, and another individual,
who, of his own accord, rendered me important services, nearly all
the other generals whom I met on my route evinced hesitation and
uncertainty; they yielded only to the impulse about them, if indeed they
did not manifest a hostile feeling towards me. This was the case with
Ney, with Massena, St. Cyr, Soult, as well as with Macdonald and the
Duke of Belluno, so that if the Bourbons had reason to complain of the
complete desertion of the soldiers and the people, they had no right to
reproach the chiefs of the army with conspiring against them, who had
shown themselves mere children in politics, and would be looked upon as
neither emigrants nor patriots."
Between Lyons and Fontainebleau Napoleon often travelled several miles
ahead of his army with no other escort than a few Polish lancers. His
advanced guard now generally consisted of the troops (miscalled Royal)
who happened to be before him on the road whither they had been sent to
oppose him, and to whom couriers were sent forward to give notice of the
Emperor's approach, in order that they might be quite ready to join him
with the due military ceremonies. White flags and cockades everywhere
disappeared; the tri-colour resumed its pride of place. It was spring,
and true to its season the violet had reappeared! The joy of the
soldiers and the lower orders was almost frantic, but even among
the industrious poor there were not wanting many who regretted this
precipitate return to the old order of things--to conscription, war, and
bloodshed, while in the superior classes of society there was a pretty
general consternation. The vain, volatile soldiery, however, thought of
nothing but their Emperor, saw nothing before them but the restoration
of all their laurels, the humiliation of England, and the utter defeat
of the Russians, Prussians, and Austrians.
On the night between the 19th and 20th of March Napoleon reached
Fontainebleau, and again paused, as had formerly been his custom, with
short, quick steps through the antiquated but splendid galleries of that
old palace. What must have been his feelings on revisiting the chamber
in which, the year before, it is said he had attempted suicide!
Louis XVIII., left the Palace of the Tuileries at nearly the same hour
that Bonaparte entered that of Fontainebleau.
The most forlorn hope of the Bourbons was now in a considerable army
posted between Fontainebleau and Paris. Meanwhile the two armies
approached each other at Melun; that of the King was commanded by
Marshal Macdonald. On the 20th his troops were drawn up in three
lines to receive the invaders, who were said to be advancing from
Fontainebleau. There was a long pause of suspense, of a nature which
seldom fails to render men more accessible to strong and sudden
emotions. The glades of the forest, and the acclivity which leads to it,
were in full view of the Royal army, but presented the appearance of
a deep solitude. All was silence, except when the regimental bands of
music, at the command of the officers, who remained generally faithful,
played the airs of "Vive Henri Quatre," "O Richard," "La Belle
Gabrielle," and other tunes connected with the cause and family of
the Bourbons. The sounds excited no corresponding sentiments among the
soldiers.
At length, about noon, a galloping of horse was heard. An open carriage
appeared, surrounded by a few hussars, and drawn by four horses. It came
on at full speed, and Napoleon, jumping from the vehicle, was in the
midst of the ranks which had been formed to oppose him. His escort threw
themselves from their horses, mingled with their ancient comrades, and
the effect of their exhortations was instantaneous on men whose minds
were already half made up to the purpose which they now accomplished.
There was a general shout of "Vive Napoleon!" The last army of the
Bourbons passed from their side, and no further obstruction existed
betwixt Napoleon and the capital, which he was once more--but for a
brief space--to inhabit as a sovereign.
Louis, accompanied only by a few household troops, had scarcely turned
his back on the capital of his ancestors when Lavalette hastened from
a place of concealment and seized on the Post-office in the name
of Napoleon. By this measure all the King's proclamations' were
intercepted, and the restoration of the Emperor was announced to all the
departments. General Excelmans, who had just renewed his oath to Louis,
pulled down with his own hands the white flag that was floating over the
Tuileries, and hoisted the three-coloured banner.
It was late in the evening of the 20th that Bonaparte entered Paris in
an open carriage, which was driven straight to the gilded gates of the
Tuileries. He received the acclamations of the military and of the lower
classes of the suburbs, but most of the respectable citizens looked on
in silent wonderment. It was quite evident then that he was recalled
by a party--a party, in truth, numerous and powerful, but not by
the unanimous voice of the nation. The enthusiasm of his immediate
adherents, however, made up for the silence and lukewarmness of others.
They filled and crammed the square of the Carrousel, and the courts and
avenues of the Tuileries; they pressed so closely upon him that he was
obliged to cry out, "My friends, you stifle me!" and his aides de camp
were compelled to carry him in their arms up the grand staircase, and
thence into the royal apartments. It was observed, however, that amongst
these ardent friends were many men who had been the first to desert him
in 1814, and that these individuals were the most enthusiastic in their
demonstrations, the loudest in their shouts!
And thus was Napoleon again at the Tuileries, where, even more than
at Fontainebleau, his mind was flooded by the deep and painful
recollections of the past! A few nights after his return thither he sent
for M. Horan, one of the physicians who had attended Josephine during
her last illness. "So, Monsieur Horan," said he, "you did not leave the
Empress during her malady?"--"No, Sire."
"What was the cause of that malady?"--"Uneasiness of mind . . .
grief."--"You believe that?" (and Napoleon laid a strong emphasis on the
word believe, looking steadfastly in the doctor's face). He then asked,
"Was she long ill? Did she suffer much?"--"She was ill a week, Sire; her
Majesty suffered little bodily pain."--"Did she see that she was dying?
Did she show courage?"--"A sign her Majesty made when she could
no longer express herself leaves me no doubt that she felt her end
approaching; she seamed to contemplate it without fear."--"Well!--well!"
and then Napoleon much affected drew close to M. Horan, and added, "You
say that she was in grief; from what did that arise?"--"From passing
events, Sire; from your Majesty's position last year."--"Ah! she used to
speak of me then?"--"Very often." Here Napoleon drew his hand across
his eyes, which seemed filled with tears. He then went on. "Good
woman!--Excellent Josephine! She loved me truly--she--did she not? . .
. Ah! She was a Frenchwoman!"--"Yes, Sire, she loved you, and she would
have proved it had it not been for dread of displeasing you: she had
conceived an idea."--"How? . . . What would she have done?" "She one day
said that as Empress of the French she would drive through Paris with
eight horses to her coach, and all her household in gala livery, to go
and rejoin you at Fontainebleau, and never quit you more."--"She would
have done it--she was capable of doing it!"
Napoleon again betrayed deep emotion, on recovering from which he asked
the physician the most minute questions about the nature of Josephine's
disease, the friends and attendants who were around her at the hour of
her death, and the conduct of her two children, Eugène and Hortense.
CHAPTER V.
1815.
Message from the Tuileries--My interview with the King--
My appointment to the office of Prefect of the Police--Council at
the Tuileries--Order for arrests--Fouches escape--Davoust
unmolested--Conversation with M. de Blacas--The intercepted letter,
and time lost--Evident understanding between Murat and Napoleon--
Plans laid at Elba--My departure from Paris--The post-master of
Fins--My arrival at Lille--Louis XVIII. detained an hour at the
gates--His majesty obliged to leave France--My departure for
Hamburg--The Duc de Berri at Brussels.
Those who opposed the execution of the treaty concluded with Napoleon
at the time of his abdication were guilty of a great error, for they
afforded him a fair pretext for leaving the island of Elba. The details
of that extraordinary enterprise are known to every one, and I shall not
repeat what has been told over and over again. For my own part, as soon
as I saw with what rapidity Bonaparte was marching upon Lyons, and the
enthusiasm with which he was received by the troops and the people, I
prepared to retire to Belgium, there to await the denouement of this new
drama.
Every preparation for my departure was completed on the evening of the
13th of March, and I was ready to depart, to avoid the persecutions of
which I expected I should be the object, when I received a message from
the Tuileries stating that the King desired to see me. I of course lost
no time in proceeding to the Palace, and went straight to M. Hue to
inquire of him why I had been sent for. He occupied the apartments in
which I passed the three most laborious and anxious years of my life.
M. Hue, perceiving that I felt a certain degree of uneasiness at being
summoned to the Tuileries at that hour of the night, hastened to
inform me that the King wished to appoint me Prefect of the Police. He
conducted me to the King's chamber, where his Majesty thus addressed me
kindly, but in an impressive manner, "M. de Bourrienne, can we rely
upon you? I expect much from your zeal and fidelity."--"Your Majesty,"
replied I, "shall have no reason to complain of my betraying your
confidence."--"Well, I re-establish the Prefecture of the Police, and I
appoint you Prefect. Do your best, M. de Bourrienne, in the discharge of
your duties; I count upon you."
By a singular coincidence, on the very day (the 13th of March) when I
received this appointment Napoleon, who was at Lyons, signed the decree
which excluded from the amnesty he had granted thirteen individuals,
among whose names mine was inscribed. This decree confirmed me in the
presentiments I had conceived as soon as I heard of the landing of
Bonaparte. On returning home from the Tuileries after receiving my
appointment a multitude of ideas crowded on my mind. At the first moment
I had been prompted only by the wish to serve the cause of the King, but
I was alarmed when I came to examine the extent of the responsibility
I had taken upon myself. However, I determined to meet with courage the
difficulties that presented themselves, and I must say that I had every
reason to be satisfied with the manner in which I was seconded by M.
Foudras, the Inspector-General of the Police.
Even now I am filled with astonishment when I think of the Council that
was held at the Tuileries on the evening of the 13th of March in M.
de Blacas' apartments. The ignorance of the members of that Council
respecting our situation, and their confidence in the useless measures
they had adopted against Napoleon, exceed all conception.
Will it be believed that those great statesmen, who had the control
of the telegraph, the post-office, the police and its agents, money-in
short, everything which constitutes power--asked me to give them
information respecting the advance of Bonaparte? What could I say to
them? I could only repeat the reports which were circulated on the
Exchange, and those which I had collected here and there during the last
twenty-four hours. I did not conceal that the danger was imminent, and
that all their precautions would be of no avail. The question then arose
as to what course should be adapted by the King. It was impossible that
the monarch could remain at the Capital, and yet, where was he to go?
One proposed that he should go to Bordeaux, another to La Vendée, and
a third to Normandy, and a fourth member of the Council was of opinion
that the King should be conducted to Melun. I conceived that if a battle
should take place anywhere it would probably be in the neighbourhood of
that town, but the councillor who made this last suggestion assured us
that the presence of the King in an open carriage and eight horses would
produce a wonderful effect on the minds of the troops. This project
was merely ridiculous; the others appeared to be dangerous and
impracticable. I declared to the Council that, considering the situation
of things, it was necessary to renounce all idea of resistance by force
of arms; that no soldier would fire a musket, and that it was madness
to attempt to take any other view of things. "Defection," said I, "is
inevitable. The soldiers are drinking in their barracks the money which
you have been giving them for some days past to purchase their fidelity.
They say Louis XVIII., is a very decent sort of man, but 'Vive le petit
Caporal!'"
Immediately on the landing of Napoleon the King sent an extraordinary
courier to Marmont, who was at Chatillon whither he had gone to take a
last leave of his dying mother. I saw him one day after he had had an
interview with the King; I think it was on the 6th or 7th of March.
After some conversation on the landing of Napoleon, and the means of
preventing him from reaching Paris, Marmont said to me, "This is what I
dwelt most strongly upon in the interview I have just had with the King.
'Sire,' said I, 'I doubt not Bonaparte's intention of coming to Paris,
and the best way to prevent him doing so would be for your Majesty
to remain here. It is necessary to secure the Palace of the Tuileries
against a surprise, and to prepare it for resisting a siege, in which it
would be indispensable to use cannon. You must shut yourself up in your
palace, with the individuals of your household and the principal public
functionaries, while the Duc d'Angoulome should go to Bordeaux, the Duc
de Berri to La Vendée, and Monsieur to, the Franche-Comte; but they
must set off in open day, and announce that they are going to collect
defenders for your Majesty.--[Monsieur, the brother of the King, the
Comte d'Artois later Charles X.]
". . . This is what I said to the King this morning, and I added that I
would answer for everything if my advice were followed. I am now going
to direct my aide de camp, Colonel Fabvier, to draw up the plan of
defence." I did not concur in Marmont's opinion. It is certainly
probable that had Louis XVIII. remained in his palace the numerous
defections which took place before the 20th of March would have been
checked and some persons would not have found so ready an excuse for
breaking their oaths of allegiance. There can be little doubt, too, but
Bonaparte would have reflected well before he attempted the siege of the
Tuileries.
--[Marmont (tome vii. p. 87) gives the full details of his scheme
for provisioning and garrisoning the Tuileries which the King was to
hold while his family spread themselves throughout the provinces.
The idea had nothing strange in it, for the same advice was given by
General Mathieu Dumas (Souvenirs, tome iii. p. 564), a man not
likely to suggest any rash schemes. Jaucourt, writing to
Talleyrand, obviously believed in the wisdom of the King's
remaining, as did the Czar; see Talleyrand's Correspondence, vol.
ii. pp. 94, 122, 129. Napoleon would certainly have been placed
in a strange difficulty, but a king capable of adopting such a
resolution would never have been required to consider it.]--
Marmont supported his opinion by observing that the admiration and
astonishment excited by the extraordinary enterprise of Napoleon and his
rapid march to Paris would be counterbalanced by the interest inspired
by a venerable monarch defying his bold rival and courageously defending
his throne. While I rendered full justice to the good intentions of the
Duke of Ragusa, yet I did not think that his advice could be adopted.
I opposed it as I opposed all the propositions that were made in the
Council relative to the different places to which the King should
retire. I myself suggested Lille as being the nearest, and as presenting
the greatest degree of safety, especially in the first instance.
It was after midnight when I left the Council of the Tuileries. The
discussion had terminated, and without coming to any precise resolution
it was agreed that the different opinions which had been expressed
should be submitted to Louis XVIII. in order that his Majesty might
adopt that which should appear to him the best. The King adopted my
opinion, but it was not acted upon until five days after.
My appointment to the Prefecture of the Police was, as will be seen, a
late thought of measure, almost as late indeed as Napoleon's proposition
to send me as his Minister Plenipotentiary to Switzerland. In now
accepting office I was well convinced of the inutility of any effort
that might be made to arrest the progress of the fast approaching and
menacing events. Being introduced into the King's cabinet his Majesty
asked me what I thought of the situation of affairs. "I think, Sire,
that Bonaparte will be here in five or six days."--"What, sir?"--"Yes,
Sire."--"But proper measures are taken, the necessary orders given, and
the Marshals are faithful to me."--"Sire, I suspect no man's fidelity;
but I can assure your Majesty that, as Bonaparte has landed, he will be
here within a week. I know him, and your Majesty cannot know him as
well as I do; but I can venture to assure your Majesty with the same
confidence that he will not be here six months hence. He will be hurried
into acts of folly which will ruin him."--"De Bourrienne, I hope the
best from events, but if misfortune again compel me to leave France, and
your second prediction be fulfilled, you may rely on me." During this
short conversation the King appeared perfectly tranquil and resigned.
The next day I again visited the Tuileries, whither I had at those
perilous times frequent occasion to repair. On that day I received a
list of twenty-five persons whom I was ordered to arrest. I took the
liberty to observe that such a proceeding was not only useless but
likely to produce a very injurious effect at that critical moment.
The reasons I urged had not all the effect I expected. However, some
relaxation as to twenty-three of the twenty-five was conceded, but it
was insisted that Fouché and Davoust should be arrested without delay.
The King repeatedly said, "I wish you to arrest Fouché."--"Sire, I
beseech your Majesty to consider the inutility of such a measure."--"I
am resolved upon Fouches arrest. But I am sure you will miss him, for
Andre could not catch him."
My nocturnal installation as Prefect of the Police took place some time
after midnight. I had great repugnance to the arrest of Fouché, but
the order having been given, there was no alternative but to obey it. I
communicated the order to M. Foudras, who very coolly observed, "Since
we are to arrest him you need not be afraid, we shall have him fast
tomorrow."
The next day my agents repaired to the Duke of Otranto's hotel, in the
Rue d'Artois. On showing their warrant Fouché said, "What does this
mean? Your warrant is of no force; it is mere waste-paper. It purports
to come from the Prefect of the Police, but there is no such Prefect."
In my opinion Fouché was right, for my appointment, which took place
during the night, had not been legally announced. Be that as it may, on
his refusal to surrender, one of my agents applied to the staff of the
National Guard, requesting the support, in case of need, of an armed
force. General Dessolles repaired to the Tuileries to take the
King's orders on the subject. Meanwhile Fouché, who never lost his
self-possession, after talking to the police officers who remained with
him, pretended to step aside for some indispensable purpose, but the
door which he opened led into a dark passage through which he slipped,
leaving my unfortunate agents groping about in the obscurity. As for
himself, he speedily gained the Rue Taitbout, where he stepped into a
coach, and drove off. This is the whole history of the notable arrest of
Fouché.
As for Davoust, I felt my hands tied with respect to him. I do not mean
to affect generosity, for I acknowledge the enmity I bore him; but I did
not wish it to be supposed that I was acting towards him from a spirit
of personal vengeance. I therefore merely ordered him to be watched.
The other twenty-three were to me in this matter as if they had never
existed; and some of them, perhaps, will only learn in reading my
Memoirs what dangerous characters they were thought to be.
On the 15th of March, after the conversation which, as I have already
related, I had with Louis XVIII, I went to M. de Blacas and repeated to
him what I had stated to the King on the certainty of Bonaparte's speedy
arrival in Paris. I told him that I found it necessary to devote
the short time still in our power to prevent a reaction against the
Royalists, and to preserve public tranquillity until the departure of
the Royal family, and that I would protect the departure of all persons
who had reasons for withdrawing themselves from the scene of the
great and perhaps disastrous events that might ensue. "You may readily
believe, Count," added I, "that considering the great interests with
which I am entrusted, I am not inclined to lose valuable time in
arresting the persons of whose names I have received a list. The
execution of such a measure would be useless; it would lead to nothing,
or rather it would serve to irritate public feeling. My conviction of
this fact has banished from me all idea of keeping under restraint for
four or five days persons whose influence, whether real or supposed,
is nil, since Bonaparte is at Auxerre. Mere supervision appears to
me sufficient, and to that I propose confining myself."--"The King,"
replied M. de Blacas, "relies on you. He knows that though only
forty-eight hours have elapsed since you entered upon your functions,
you have already rendered greater services than you are perhaps
aware of." I then asked M. de Blacas whether he had not received any
intimation of Bonaparte's intended departure from the island of Elba
by letters or by secret agents. "The only positive information we
received," answered the Minister, "was an intercepted letter, dated
Elba, 6th February. It was addressed to M. -----, near Grenoble. I will
show it you." M. de Blacas opened a drawer of his writing-table and
took out the letter, which he gave to me. The writer thanked his
correspondent for the information he had transmitted to "the inhabitant
of Elba." He was informed that everything was ready for departure, and
that the first favourable opportunity would be seized, but that it would
be desirable first to receive answers to some questions contained in
the letter. These questions related to the regiments which had been
sent into the south, and the places of their cantonment. It was inquired
whether the choice of the commanders was conformable to what had been
agreed on in Paris, and whether Labedoyere was at his post. The letter
was rather long and it impressed me by the way in which the plan of a
landing on the coast of Provence was discussed. Precise answers were
requested on all these points. On returning the letter to M. de Blacas I
remarked that the contents of the letter called for the adoption of some
decided measures, and I asked him what had been done. He answered, "I
immediately sent a copy of the letter to M. d'Andre, that he might give
orders for arresting the individual to whom it was addressed."
Having had the opportunity of closely observing the machinery of a
vigilant and active Government, I was, I must confess, not a little
amazed at the insufficiency of the measures adopted to defeat this
well-planned conspiracy. When M. de Blacas informed me of all that had
been done, I could not repress an exclamation of surprise. "Well," said
he, "and what would you have done?"--"In the first place I would not
have lost twenty-four hours, which were an age in such a crisis." I then
explained the plan I would have adopted. A quarter of an hour after the
receipt of the letter I would have sent trustworthy men to Grenoble, and
above all things I would have taken care not to let the matter fall
into the hands of the police. Having obtained all information from the
correspondent at Grenoble, I would have made him write a letter to his
correspondent at Elba to quiet the eagerness of Napoleon, telling him
that the movement of troops he spoke of had not been made, that it
would take eight days to carry it out, and that it was necessary to the
success of the enterprise to delay the embarkation for some days. While
Bonaparte was thus delayed I would have sent to the coast of Provence
a sufficient body of men devoted to the Royal cause, sending off
in another direction the regiments whose chiefs were gained over by
Napoleon, as the correspondence should reveal their names. "You are
perhaps right, sir," said M. de Blacas, "but what could I do? I am
new here. I had not the control of the police, and I trusted to M.
d'Andre."--"Well," said I, "Bonaparte will be here on the 20th of
March." With these words I parted from M. de Blacas. I remarked a
great change in him. He had already lost a vast deal of that hauteur of
favouritism which made him so much disliked.
When I entered upon my duties in the Prefecture of Police the evil was
already past remedy. The incorrigible emigres required another lesson,
and the temporary resurrection of the Empire was inevitable. But,
if Bonaparte was recalled, it was not owing to any attachment to him
personally; it was not from any fidelity to the recollections of the
Empire. It was resolved at any price to get rid of those imbecile
councillors, who thought they might treat France like a country
conquered by the emigrants. The people determined to free themselves
from a Government which seemed resolved to trample on all that was
dear to France. In this state of things some looked upon Bonaparte as a
liberator, but the greater number regarded him as an instrument. In
this last character he was viewed by the old Republicans, and by a new
generation, who thought they caught a glimpse of liberty in promises,
and Who were blind enough to believe that the idol of France would be
restored by Napoleon.
In February 1815, while everything was preparing at Elba for the
approaching departure of Napoleon, Murat applied to the Court of Vienna
for leave to march through the Austrian Provinces of Upper Italy an army
directed on France. It was on the 26th of the same month that Bonaparte
escaped from Elba. These two facts were necessarily connected together,
for, in spite of Murat's extravagant ideas, he never could have
entertained the expectation of obliging the King of France, by the mere
force of arms, to acknowledge his continued possession of the throne of
Naples. Since the return of Louis XVIII. the Cabinet of the Tuileries
had never regarded Murat in any other light than as a usurper, and
I know from good authority that the French Plenipotentiaries at the
Congress of Vienna were especially instructed to insist that the
restoration of the throne of Naples in favour of the Bourbons of the
Two Sicilies should be a consequence of the restoration of the throne of
France. I also know that the proposition was firmly opposed on the part
of Austria, who had always viewed with jealousy the occupation of three
thrones of Europe by the single House of Bourbon.
According to information, for the authenticity of which I can vouch,
the following were the plans which Napoleon conceived at Elba. Almost
immediately after his arrival in France he was to order the Marshals
on whom he could best rely to defend to the utmost the entrances to the
French territory and the approaches to Paris, by pivoting on the triple
line of fortresses which gird the north and east of France. Davoust
was 'in petto' singled out for the defence of Paris. He, was to arm
the inhabitants of the suburbs, and to have, besides, 20,000 men of
the National Guard at his disposal. Napoleon, not being aware of the
situation of the Allies, never supposed that they could concentrate
their forces and march against him so speedily as they did. He hoped to
take them by surprise, and defeat their projects, by making Murat march
upon Milan, and by stirring up insurrections in Italy. The Po being once
crossed, and Murat approaching the capital of Lombardy, Napoleon with
the corps of Suchet, Brune, Grouchy, and Massena, augmented by
troops sent, by forced marches, to Lyons, was to cross the Alps and
revolutionise Piedmont. There, having recruited his army and joined
the Neapolitans in Milan, he was to proclaim the independence of Italy,
unite the whole country under a single chief, and then march at the head
of 100,000 men on Vienna, by the Julian Alps, across which victory had
conducted him in 1797. This was not all: numerous emissaries scattered
through Poland and Hungary were to foment discord and raise the cry
of liberty and independence, to alarm Russia and Austria. It must be
confessed it would have been an extraordinary spectacle to see Napoleon
giving liberty to Europe in revenge for not having succeeded in
enslaving her.
By means of these bold manoeuvres and vast combinations Napoleon
calculated that he would have the advantage of the initiative in
military operations. Perhaps his genius was never more fully developed
than in this vast conception. According to this plan he was to extend
his operations over a line of 500 leagues, from Ostend to Vienna, by the
Alps and Italy, to provide himself with immense resources of every
kind, to prevent the Emperor of Austria from marching his troops
against France, and probably force him to terminate a war from which
the hereditary provinces would have exclusively suffered. Such was the
bright prospect which presented itself to Napoleon when he stepped on
board the vessel which was to convey him from Elba to France. But the
mad precipitation of Murat put Europe on the alert, and the brilliant
illusion vanished like a dream.
After being assured that all was tranquil, and that the Royal family
was secure against every danger, I myself set out at four o'clock on
the morning of the 20th of March, taking the road to Lille.--Nothing
extraordinary occurred until I arrived at the post-office of Fins, in
front of which were drawn up a great number of carriages, which
had arrived before mine, and the owners of which, like myself, were
impatiently waiting for horses. I soon observed that some one called
the postmaster aside in a way which did not appear entirely devoid of
mystery, and I acknowledge I felt some degree of alarm. I was in
the room in which the travellers were waiting, and my attention was
attracted by a large bill fixed against the wall. It was printed in
French and Russian, and it proved to be the order of the day which I
had been fortunate enough to obtain from the Emperor Alexander to exempt
posthorses, etc., from the requisitions of the Allied troops.
I was standing looking at the bill when the postmaster came into the
room and advanced towards me. "Sir," said he, "that is an order of the
day which saved me from ruin."--"Then surely you would not harm the man
by whom it is signed?"--"I know you, sir, I recognised you immediately.
I saw you in Paris when you were Director of the Post-office, and you
granted a just claim which I had upon you. I have now come to tell you
that they are harnessing two horses to your calash, and you may set
off at full speed." The worthy man had assigned to my use the only two
horses at his disposal; his son performed the office of postilion, and
I set off to the no small dissatisfaction of some of the travellers who
had arrived before me, and who, perhaps, had as good reasons as I to
avoid the presence of Napoleon.
We arrived at Lille at eleven o'clock on the night of the 21st. Here I
encountered another vexation, though not of an alarming kind. The gates
of the town were closed, and I was obliged to content myself with a
miserable night's lodging in the suburb.
I entered Lille on the 22d, and Louis XVIII. arrived on the 23d. His
Majesty also found the gates closed, and more than an hour elapsed
before an order could be obtained for opening them, for the Duke of
Orleans, who commanded the town, was inspecting the troops when his
Majesty arrived. The King was perfectly well received at Lille. There
indeed appeared some symptoms of defection, but it must be acknowledged
that the officers of the old army had been so singularly sacrificed to
the promotion of the returned emigrants that it was very natural the
former should hail the return of the man who had so often led them to
victory. I put up at the Hotel de Grand, certainly without forming any
prognostic respecting the future residence of the King. When I saw his
Majesty's retinue I went down and stood at the door of the hotel, where
as soon as Louis XVIII. perceived me he distinguished me from among all
the persons who were awaiting his arrival, and holding out his hand for
me to kiss he said, "Follow me, M. de Bourrienne."
On entering the apartments prepared for him the King expressed to me his
approval of my conduct since the Restoration, and especially during the
short interval in which I had discharged the functions of Prefect of
the Police. He did me the honour to invite me to breakfast with him. The
conversation naturally turned on the events of the day, of which every
one present spoke according to his hopes or fears. Observing that Louis
XVIII. concurred in Berthier's discouraging view of affairs, I ventured
to repeat what I had already said at the Tuileries, that, judging from
the disposition of the sovereigns of Europe and the information which I
had received, it appeared very probable that his Majesty would be again
seated on his throne in three months. Berthier bit his nails as he did
when he wanted to leave the army of Egypt and return to Paris to the
object of his adoration. Berthier was not hopeful; he was always one of
those men who have the least confidence and the most depression. I
could perceive that the King regarded my observation as one of those
compliments which he was accustomed to receive, and that he had no great
confidence in the fulfilment of my prediction. However, wishing to seem
to believe it, he said, what he had more than hinted before, "M. de
Bourrienne, as long as I am King you shall be my Prefect of the Police."
It was the decided intention of Louis XVIII. to remain in France as long
as he could, but the Napoleonic fever, which spread like an epidemic
among the troops, had infected the garrison of Lille. Marshal Mortier,
who commanded at Lille, and the Duke of Orleans, expressed to me their
well-founded fears, and repeatedly recommended me to urge the King to
quit Lille speedily, in order to avoid any fatal occurrence. During
the two days I passed with his Majesty I entreated him to yield to the
imperious circumstances in which he was placed. At length the King, with
deep regret, consented to go, and I left Lille the day before that fixed
for his Majesty's departure.
In September 1814 the King had appointed me charge d'affaires from
France to Hamburg, but not having received orders to repair to my post I
have not hitherto mentioned this nomination. However, when Louis XVIII.
was on the point of leaving France he thought that my presence in
Hamburg might be useful for the purpose of making him acquainted with
all that might interest him in the north of Germany. But it was not
there that danger was to be apprehended. There were two points to be
watched--the headquarters of Napoleon and the King's Council at Ghent.
I, however, lost no time in repairing to a city where I was sure of
finding a great many friends. On passing through Brussels I alighted at
the Hotel de Bellevue, where the Duc de Berri arrived shortly after me.
His Royal Highness then invited me to breakfast with him, and conversed
with me very confidentially. I afterwards continued my journey.
CHAPTER VI.
1815.
Message to Madame de Bourrienne on the 20th of March--Napoleon's
nocturnal entrance into Paris--General Becton sent to my family by
Caulaincourt--Recollection of old persecutions--General Driesen--
Solution of an enigma--Seals placed on my effects--Useless searches
--Persecution of women--Madame de Stael and Madame de Recamier--
Paris during the Hundred Days--The federates and patriotic songs--
Declaration of the Plenipotentiaries at Vienna.
At Lille, and again at Hamburg, I received letters from my family, which
I had looked for with great impatience. They contained particulars of
what had occurred relative to me since Bonaparte's return to Paris.
Two hours after my departure Madame de Bourrienne also left Paris,
accompanied by her children, and proceeded to an asylum which had been
offered her seven leagues from the capital. She left at my house in
Paris her sister, two of her brothers, and her friend the Comtesse de
Neuilly, who had resided with us since her return from the emigration.
On the very morning of my wife's departure (namely, the 20th of March) a
person, with whom I had always been on terms of friendship, and who was
entirely devoted to Bonaparte, sent to request that Madame de Bourrienne
would call on him, as he wished to speak to her on most important and
urgent business. My sister-in-law informed the messenger that my wife
had left Paris, but, begging a friend to accompany her, she went herself
to the individual, whose name will be probably guessed, though I do not
mention it. The person who came with the message to my house put many
questions to Madame de Bourrienne's sister respecting my absence, and
advised her, above all things, to conjure me not to follow the King,
observing that the cause of Louis XVIII. was utterly lost, and that I
should do well to retire quietly to Burgundy, as there was no doubt of
my obtaining the Emperor's pardon.
Nothing could be more gloomy than Bonaparte's entrance into Paris. He
arrived at night in the midst of a thick fog. The streets were almost
deserted, and a vague feeling of terror prevailed almost generally in
the capital.
At nine o'clock on the same evening, the very hour of Bonaparte's
arrival at the Tuileries, a lady, a friend, of my family, and whose
son served in the Young Guard, called and requested to see Madame de
Bourrienne. She refused to enter the house lest she should be seen,
and my sister-in-law went down to the garden to speak to her without
a light. This lady's brother had been on the preceding night to
Fontainebleau to see Bonaparte, and he had directed his sister to desire
me to remain in Paris, and to retain my post in the Prefecture of the
Police, as I was sure of a full and complete pardon.
On the morning of the 21st General Becton, who has since been the victim
of his mad enterprises, called at my house and requested to speak with
me and Madame de Bourrienne. He was received by my wife's sister and
brothers, and stated that he came from M. de Caulaincourt to renew
the assurances of safety which had already been given to me. I was, I
confess, very sensible of these proofs of friendship when they came
to my knowledge, but I did not for a single moment repent the course I
adopted. I could not forget the intrigues of which I had been the object
since 1811, nor the continual threats of arrest which, during that year,
had not left me a moment's quiet; and since I now revert to that time, I
may take the opportunity of explaining how in 1814 I was made acquainted
with the real causes of the persecution to which I had been a prey. A
person, whose name prudence forbids me mentioning, communicated to me
the following letter, the original copy of which is in my possession:
MONSIEUR LE DUC DE BASSANO--I send you some very important documents
respecting the Sieur Bourrienne, and beg you will make me a
confidential report on this affair. Keep these documents for
yourself alone. This business demands the utmost secrecy.
Everything induces me to believe that Bourrienne has carried a
series of intrigues with London. Bring me the report on Thursday.
I pray God, etc.
(Signed) NAPOLEON
PARIS, 25th December 1811.
I could now clearly perceive what to me had hitherto been enveloped in
obscurity; but I was not, as yet, made acquainted with the documents
mentioned in Napoleon's epistle. Still, however, the cause of his
animosity was an enigma which I was unable to guess, but I obtained its
solution some time afterwards.
General Driesen, who was the Governor of Mittau while Louis XVIII.
resided in that town, came to Paris in 1814. I had been well acquainted
with him in 1810 at Hamburg, where he lived for a considerable time.
While at Mittau he conceived a chivalrous and enthusiastic friendship
for the King of France. We were at first distrustful of each other,
but afterwards the most intimate confidence arose between us. General
Driesen looked forward with certainty to the return of the Bourbons to
France, and in the course of our frequent conversations on his favourite
theme he gradually threw off all reserve, and at length disclosed to me
that he was maintaining a correspondence with the King.
He told me that he had sent to Hartwell several drafts of proclamations,
with none of which, he said, the King was satisfied. On allowing me the
copy of the last of these drafts I frankly told him that I was quite
of the King's opinion as to its unfitness. I observed that if the King
should one day return to France and act as the general advised he would
not keep possession of his throne six months. Driesen then requested me
to dictate a draft of a proclamation conformably with my ideas. This I
consented to do on one condition, viz. that he would never mention my
name in connection with the business, either in writing or conversation.
General Driesen promised this, and then I dictated to him a draft which
I would now candidly lay before the reader if I had a copy of it. I
may add that in the different proclamations of Louis XVIII. I remarked
several passages precisely corresponding with the draft I had dictated
at Hamburg.
During the four years which intervened between my return to Paris and
the downfall of the Empire it several times occurred to me that General
Driesen had betrayed my secret, and on his very first visit to me after
the Restoration, our conversation happening to turn on Hamburg, I asked
him whether he had not disclosed what I wished him to conceal? "Well,"
said he, "there is no harm in telling the truth now. After you had left
Hamburg the King wrote to me inquiring the name of the author of the
last draft I had sent him, which was very different from all that
had preceded it. I did not answer this question, but the King having
repeated it in a second letter, and having demanded an answer, I was
compelled to break my promise to you, and I put into the post-office of
Gothenberg in Sweden a letter for the King, in which I mentioned your
name."
The mystery was now revealed to me. I clearly saw what had excited in
Napoleon's mind the suspicion that I was carrying on intrigues with
England. I have no doubt as to the way in which the affair came to his
knowledge. The King must have disclosed my name to one of those persons
whose situations placed them above the suspicion of any betrayal of
confidence, and thus the circumstance must have reached the ear of
Bonaparte. This is not a mere hypothesis, for I well know how promptly
and faithfully Napoleon was informed of all that was said and done at
Hartwell.
Having shown General Driesen Napoleon's accusatory letter, he begged
that I would entrust him with it for a day or two, saying he would show
it to the King at a private audience. His object was to serve me, and to
excite Louis XVIII.'s interest in my behalf, by briefly relating to him
the whole affair. The general came to me on leaving the Tuileries,
and assured me that the King after perusing the letter, had the great
kindness to observe that I might think myself very happy in not having
been shot. I know not whether Napoleon was afterwards informed of the
details of this affair, which certainly had no connection with any
intrigues with England, and which, after all, would have been a mere
peccadillo in comparison with the conduct I thought it my duty to adopt
at the time of the Restoration.
Meanwhile Madame de Bourrienne informed me by an express that seals were
to be placed on the effects of all the persons included in the decree
of Lyons, and consequently upon mine. As soon as my wife received
information of this she quitted her retreat and repaired to Paris to
face the storm. On the 29th of March, at nine in the evening, the
police agents presented themselves at my house. Madame de Bourrienne
remonstrated against the measure and the inconvenient hour that
was chosen for its execution; but all was in vain, and there was no
alternative but to submit.
But the matter did not end with the first formalities performed by
Fouché's alguazils. During the month of May seven persons were appointed
to examine, my papers, and among the inquisitorial septemvirate were two
men well known and filling high situations. One of these executed his
commission, but the other, sensible of the odium attached to it, wrote
to say he was unwell, and never came. The number of my inquisitors, 'in
domo', was thus reduced to six. They behaved with great rudeness, and
executed their mission with a rigour and severity exceedingly painful to
my family. They carried their search so far as to rummage the pockets of
my old clothes, and even to unrip the linings. All this was done in the
hope of finding something that would commit me in the eyes of the new
master of France. But I was not to be caught in that way, and before
leaving home I had taken such precautions as to set my mind perfectly at
ease.
However, those who had declared themselves strongly against Napoleon
were not the only persons who had reason to be alarmed at his return.
Women even, by a system of inquisition unworthy of the Emperor, but
unfortunately quite in unison with his hatred of all liberty, were
condemned to exile, and had cause to apprehend further severity. It
is for the exclusive admirers of the Chief of the Empire to approve
of everything which proceeded from him, even his rigour against a
defenceless sex; it is for them to laugh at the misery of a woman, and a
writer of genius, condemned without any form of trial to the most
severe punishment short of death. For my part, I saw neither justice
nor pleasantry in the exile of Madame de Chevreuse for having had the
courage (and courage was not common then even among men) to say that
she was not made to be the gaoler of the Queen of Spain. On Napoleon's
return from. the isle of Elba, Madame de Stael was in a state of
weakness, which rendered her unable to bear any sudden and violent
emotion. This debilitated state of health had been produced by her
flight from Coppet to Russia immediately after the birth of the son who
was the fruit of her marriage with M. Rocca. In spite of the danger of
a journey in such circumstances she saw greater danger in staying where
she was, and she set out on her new exile. That exile was not of long
duration, but Madame de Stael never recovered from the effect of the
alarm and fatigue it occasioned her.
The name of the authoress of Corinne, naturally calls to mind that of
the friend who was most faithful to her in misfortune, and who was not
herself screened from the severity of Napoleon by the just and universal
admiration of which she was the object. In 1815 Madame Recamier did not
leave Paris, to which she had returned in 1814, though her exile was not
revoked. I know positively that Hortense assured her of the pleasure she
would feel in receiving her, and that Madame Recamier, as an excuse for
declining the perilous honour, observed that she had determined
never again to appear in the world as long as her friends should be
persecuted. The memorial de Sainte Helene, referring to the origin of
the ill-will of the Chief of the Empire towards the society of Madame
de Stael and Madame Recamier, etc., seems to reproach Madame Recamier,
"accustomed," says the Memorial, "to ask for everything and to
obtain everything," for having claimed nothing less than the complete
reinstatement of her father. Whatever may have been the pretensions
of Madame Recamier, Bonaparte, not a little addicted to the custom he
complains of in her, could not have, with a good grace, made a crime
of her ingratitude if he on his side had not claimed a very different
sentiment from gratitude. I was with the First Consul at the time M.
Bernard, the father of Madame Reamier, was accused, and I have not
forgotten on what conditions the re-establishment would have been
granted.
The frequent interviews between Madame Recamier and Madame de Stael
were not calculated to bring Napoleon to sentiments and measures of
moderation. He became more and more irritated at this friendship between
two women formed for each other's society; and, on the occasion of one
of Madame Recamier's journeys to Coppet he informed her, through
the medium of Fouché, that she was perfectly at liberty to go to
Switzerland, but not to return to Paris. "Ah, Monseigneur! a great man
may be pardoned for the weakness of loving women, but not for fearing
them." This was the only reply of Madame Recamier to Fouché when she set
out for Coppet. I may here observe that the personal prejudices of the
Emperor would not have been of a persevering and violent character if
some of the people who surrounded him had not sought to foment them. I
myself fell a victim to this. Napoleon's affection for me would perhaps
have got the upper hand if his relenting towards me had not been
incessantly combated by my enemies around him.
I had no opportunity of observing the aspect of Paris during that
memorable period recorded in history by the name of the Hundred Days,
but the letters which I received at the time, together with all that,
I afterwards heard, concurred in assuring me that the capital never
presented so melancholy a picture as: during those three months. No one
felt any confidence in Napoleon's second reign, and it was said, without
any sort of reserve, that Fouché, while serving the cause of usurpation,
would secretly betray it. The future was viewed with alarm, and the
present with dissatisfaction. The sight of the federates who paraded the
faubourgs and the boulevards, vociferating, "The Republic for ever!" and
"Death to the Royalists!" their sanguinary songs, the revolutionary airs
played in our theatres, all tended to produce a fearful torpor in
the public mind, and the issue of the impending events was anxiously
awaited.
One of the circumstances which, at the commencement of the Hundred Days,
most contributed to open the eyes of those who were yet dazzled by the
past glory of Napoleon, was the assurance with which he declared
that the Empress and his son would be restored to him, though nothing
warranted that announcement. It was evident that he could not count on
any ally; and in spite of the prodigious activity with which a new army
was raised those persons must have been blind indeed who could imagine
the possibility of his triumphing over Europe, again armed to oppose
him. I deplored the inevitable disasters which Bonaparte's bold
enterprise would entail, but I had such certain information respecting
the intentions of the Allied powers, and the spirit which animated the
Plenipotentiaries at Vienna, that I could not for a moment doubt the
issue of the conflict: Thus I was not at all surprised when I received
at Hamburg the minutes of the conferences at Vienna in May 1815.
When the first intelligence of Bonaparte's landing was received at
Vienna it must be confessed that very little had been done at the
Congress, for measures calculated to reconstruct a solid and durable
order of things could only be framed and adopted deliberately, and upon
mature reflection. Louis XVIII. had instructed his Plenipotentiaries to
defend and support the principles of justice and the law of nations, so
as to secure the rights of all parties and avert the chances of a
new war. The Congress was occupied with these important objects when
intelligence was received of Napoleon's departure from Elba and his
landing at the Gulf of Juan. The Plenipotentiaries then signed the
protocol of the conferences to which I have above alluded.
[ANNEX TO THE PRECEDING CHAPTER.] The following despatch of Napoleon's to Marshal Davoust (given in Captain Bingham's Translation, vol. iii. p. 121), though not strictly bearing upon the subject of the Duke of Bassano's inquiry (p. 256), may perhaps find a place here, as indicative of the private feeling of the Emperor towards Bourrienne. As the reader will remember, it has already been alluded to earlier in the work:
To MARSHAL DAVOUST. COMPIEGNE, 3d September 1811.
I have received your letter concerning the cheating of Bourrienne at
Hamburg. It will be important to throw light upon what he has done. Have
the Jew, Gumprecht Mares, arrested, seize his papers, and place him
in solitary confinement. Have some of the other principal agents of
Bourrienne arrested, so as to discover his doings at Hamburg, and the
embezzlements he has committed there. (Signed) NAPOLEON.
CHAPTER VII.
--[By the Editor of the 1836 edition]--
1815.
Napoleon at Paris--Political manoeuvres--The meeting of the
Champ-de-Mai--Napoleon, the Liberals, and the moderate
Constitutionalists--His love of arbitrary power as strong as ever--
Paris during the Cent Jours--Preparations for his last campaign--
The Emperor leaves Paris to join the army--State of Brussels--
Proclamation of Napoleon to the Belgians--Effective strength of the
French and Allied armies--The Emperor's proclamation to the French
army.
Napoleon was scarcely reseated on his throne when he found he could not
resume that absolute power he had possessed before his abdication at
Fontainebleau. He was obliged to submit to the curb of a representative
government, but we may well believe that he only yielded, with a mental
reservation that as soon as victory should return to his standards and
his army be reorganised he would send the representatives of the people
back to their departments, and make himself as absolute as he had ever
been. His temporary submission was indeed obligatory.
The Republicans and Constitutionalists who had assisted, or not opposed
his return, with Carnot, Fouché, Benjamin Constant, and his own brother
Lucien (a lover of constitutional liberty) at their head, would support
him only on condition of his reigning as a constitutional sovereign; he
therefore proclaimed a constitution under the title of "Acte additionnel
aux Constitutions de l'Empire," which greatly resembled the charter
granted by Louis XVIII. the year before. An hereditary Chamber of Peers
was to be appointed by the Emperor, a Chamber of Representatives chosen
by the Electoral Colleges, to be renewed every five years, by which
all taxes were to be voted, ministers were to be responsible, judges
irremovable, the right of petition was acknowledged, and property was
declared inviolable. Lastly, the French nation was made to declare that
they would never recall the Bourbons.
Even before reaching Paris, and while resting on his journey from Elba
at Lyons, the second city in France, and the ancient capital of the
Franks, Napoleon arranged his ministry, and issued sundry decrees, which
show how little his mind was prepared for proceeding according to the
majority of votes in representative assemblies.
Cambacérès was named Minister of Justice, Fouché Minister of Police (a
boon to the Revolutionists), Davoust appointed Minister of War. Decrees
upon decrees were issued with a rapidity which showed how laboriously
Bonaparte had employed those studious hours at Elba which he was
supposed to have dedicated to the composition of his Memoirs. They
were couched in the name of "Napoleon, by the grace of God, Emperor of
France," and were dated on the 13th of March, although not promulgated
until the 21st of that month. The first of these decrees abrogated all
changes in the courts of justice and tribunals which had taken place
during the absence of Napoleon. The second banished anew all emigrants
who had returned to France before 1814 without proper authority, and
displaced all officers belonging to the class of emigrants introduced
into the army by the King. The third suppressed the Order of St. Louis,
the white flag, cockade, and other Royal emblems, and restored the
tri-coloured banner and the Imperial symbols of Bonaparte's authority.
The same decree abolished the Swiss Guard and the Household troops of
the King. The fourth sequestered the effects of the Bourbons. A similar
Ordinance sequestered the restored property of emigrant families.
The fifth decree of Lyons suppressed the ancient nobility and feudal
titles, and formally confirmed proprietors of national domains in
their possessions. (This decree was very acceptable to the majority of
Frenchmen). The sixth declared sentence of exile against all emigrants
not erased by Napoleon from the list previously to the accession of the
Bourbons, to which was added confiscation of their property. The seventh
restored the Legion of Honour in every respect as it had existed under
the Emperor; uniting to its funds the confiscated revenues of the
Bourbon order of St. Louis. The eighth and last decree was the most
important of all. Under pretence that emigrants who had borne arms
against France had been introduced into the Chamber of Peers, and that
the Chamber of Deputies had already sat for the legal time, it dissolved
both Chambers, and convoked the Electoral Colleges of the Empire,
in order that they might hold, in the ensuing month of May, an
extraordinary assembly--the Champ-de-Mai.
This National Convocation, for which Napoleon claimed a precedent in the
history of the ancient Franks, was to have two objects: first, to
make such alterations and reforms in the Constitution of the Empire
as circumstances should render advisable; secondly, to assist at the
coronation of the Empress Maria Louisa. Her presence, and that of
her son, was spoken of as something that admitted of no doubt, though
Bonaparte knew there was little hope of their return from Vienna. These
various enactments were well calculated to serve Napoleon's cause. They
flattered the army, and at the same time stimulated their resentment
against the emigrants, by insinuating that they had been sacrificed by
Louis to the interest of his followers. They held out to the Republicans
a prospect of confiscation, proscription, and, revolution of government,
while, the Imperialists were gratified with a view of ample funds for
pensions, offices, and honorary decorations. To proprietors of the
national domains security was promised, to the Parisians the grand
spectacle of the Champ-de-Mai, and to. France peace and tranquillity,
since the arrival of the Empress and her son, confidently asserted to be
at hand, was taken as a pledge of the friendship of Austria.
Napoleon at the same time endeavoured to make himself popular with the
common people--the mob of the Faubourg St. Antoine and other obscure
quarters of Paris. On the first evening of his return, as he walked
round the glittering circle met to welcome him, in the State apartments
of the Tuileries, he kept repeating, "Gentlemen, it is to the poor and
disinterested mass of the people that I owe everything; it is they who
have brought me back to the capital. It is the poor subaltern officers
and common soldiers that have done all this. I owe everything to the
common people and the ranks of the army. Remember that! I owe everything
to the army and the people!" Some time after he took occasional rides
through the Faubourg St. Antoine, but the demonstrations of the mob gave
him little pleasure, and, it was easy to detect a sneer in his
addresses to them. He had some slight intercourse with the men of the
Revolution--the fierce, blood-thirsty Jacobins--but even now he could
not conceal his abhorrence of them, and, be it said to his honour, he
had as little to do with them as possible.
When Napoleon, departed for the summer campaign he took care beforehand
to leave large sums of money for the 'federes'; in the hands of the
devoted Real; under whose management the mob was placed. These sums were
to be distributed at appropriate seasons, to make the people cry in
the streets of Paris, "Napoleon or death." He also left in the hands of
Davoust a written authority for the publication of his bulletins, many
clauses of which were written long before the battles were fought
that they were to describe. He gave to the same Marshal a plan of his
campaign, which he had arranged for the defensive. This was not confided
to him without an injunction of the strictest secrecy, but it is said
that Davoust communicated the plan to Fouché. Considering Davoust's
character this is very unlikely, but if so, it is far from improbable
that Fouché communicated the plan to the Allies with whom, and more
particularly with Prince Metternich, he is well known to have been
corresponding at the time.
Shortly after the Emperor's arrival in Paris Benjamin Constant, a
moderate and candid man, was deputed by the constitutional party to
ascertain Napoleon's sentiments and intentions. Constant was a lover of
constitutional liberty, and an old opponent of Napoleon, whose headlong
career of despotism, cut out by the sword, he had vainly endeavoured to
check by the eloquence of his pen.
The interview took place at the Tuileries. The Emperor, as was his wont,
began the conversation, and kept it nearly all to himself during the
rest of the audience. He did not affect to disguise either his past
actions or present dispositions.
"The nation," he said, "has had a respite of twelve years from every
kind of political agitation, and for one year has enjoyed a respite
from war. This double repose has created a craving after activity. It
requires, or fancies it requires, a Tribune and popular assemblies. It
did not always require them. The people threw themselves at my feet when
I took the reins of government. You ought to recollect this, who made a
trial of opposition. Where was your support--your strength? Nowhere. I
assumed less authority than I was invited to assume. Now all is changed.
A feeble government, opposed to the national interests, has given to
these interests the habit of standing on the defensive and evading
authority. The taste for constitutions, for debates, for harangues,
appears to have revived. Nevertheless it is but the minority that wishes
all this, be assured. The people, or if you like the phrase better; the
multitude, wish only for me. You would say so if you had only seen this
multitude pressing eagerly on my steps, rushing down from the tops of
the mountains, calling on me, seeking me out, saluting me. On my way
from Cannes hither I have not conquered--I have administered. I am not
only (as has been pretended) the Emperor of the soldiers; I am that of
the peasants of the plebeians of France. Accordingly, in spite of all
that has happened, you see the people come back to me. There is sympathy
between us. It is not as with the privileged classes. The noblesse have
been in my service; they thronged in crowds into my antechambers. There
is no place that they have not accepted or solicited. I have had the
Montmorencys, the Noailles, the Rohans, the Beauveaus, the Montemarts,
in my train. But there never was any cordiality between us. The steed
made his curvets--he was well broken in, but I felt him quiver under me.
With the people it is another thing. The popular fibre responds to mine.
I have risen from the ranks of the people: my voice sets mechanically
upon them. Look at those conscripts, the sons of peasants: I never
flattered them; I treated them roughly. They did not crowd round me the
less; they did not on that account cease to cry, 'Vive l'Empereur!' It
is that between them and me there is one and the same nature. They look
to me as their support, their safeguard against the nobles. I have but
to make a sign, or even to look another way, and the nobles would be
massacred in every province. So well have they managed matters in the
last ten months! but I do not desire to be the King of a mob. If there
are the means to govern by a constitution well and good. I wished for
the empire of the world, and to ensure it complete liberty of action
was necessary to me. To govern France merely it is possible that a
constitution may be better. I wished for the empire of the world, as who
would not have done in my place? The world invited me to rule over it.
Sovereigns and subjects alike emulously bowed the neck under my
sceptre. I have seldom met with opposition in France, but still I have
encountered more of it from some obscure and unarmed Frenchmen than from
all these Kings so resolute, just now, no longer to have a man of the
people for their equal! See then what appears to you possible; let
me know your ideas. Public discussion, free elections, responsible
ministers, the liberty of the press, I have no objection to all that,
the liberty of the press especially; to stifle it is absurd. I am
convinced on this point. I am the man of the people: if the people
really wish for liberty let them have it. I have acknowledged their
sovereignty. It is just that I should lend an ear to their will, nay,
even to their caprices. I have never been disposed to oppress them for
my pleasure. I conceived great designs; but fate has been against me; I
am no longer a conqueror, nor can I be one. I know what is possible
and what is not.--I have no further object than to raise up France and
bestow on her a government suitable to her. I have no hatred to liberty,
I have set it aside when it obstructed my path, but I understand what
it means; I was brought up in its school: besides, the work of fifteen
years is overturned, and it is not possible to recommence it. It would
take twenty years, and the lives of 2,000,000 of men to be sacrificed to
it. As for the rest, I desire peace, but I can only obtain it by means
of victory. I would not inspire you with false expectations. I permit it
to be said that negotiations are going on; there are none. I foresee
a hard struggle, a long war. To support it I must be seconded by the
nation, but in return I believe they will expect liberty. They shall
have it: the circumstances are new. All I desire is to be informed of
the truth. I am getting old. A man is no longer at forty-five what he
was at thirty. The repose enjoyed by a constitutional king may suit me:
it will still more certainly be the best thing, for my son."
From this remarkable address. Benjamin Constant concluded that no
change had taken place in Bonaparte's views or feelings in matters of
government, but, being convinced that circumstances had changed, he had
made up his mind to conform to them. He says, and we cannot doubt it,
"that he listened to Napoleon with the deepest interest, that there was
a breadth and grandeur of manner as he spoke, and a calm serenity seated
on a brow covered with immortal laurels."
Whilst believing the utter incompatibility of Napoleon and
constitutional government we cannot in fairness omit mentioning that the
causes which repelled him from the altar and sanctuary of freedom
were strong: the real lovers of a rational and feasible liberty--the
constitutional monarchy men were few--the mad ultra-Liberals, the
Jacobins, the refuse of one revolution and the provokers of another,
were numerous, active, loud, and in pursuing different ends these two
parties, the respectable and the disreputable, the good and the bad, got
mixed and confused with one another.
On the 14th of May, when the 'federes' were marshalled in processional
order and treated with what was called a solemn festival, as they moved
along the boulevards to the Court of the Tuileries, they coupled the
name of Napoleon with Jacobin curses and revolutionary songs. The airs
and the words that had made Paris tremble to her very centre during
the Reign of Terror--the "Marseillaise," the "Carmagnole," the "Jour
du depart," the execrable ditty, the burden of which is, "And with the
entrails of the last of the priests let us strangle the last of the
kings," were all roared out in fearful chorus by a drunken, filthy, and
furious mob. Many a day had elapsed since they had dared to sing these
blasphemous and antisocial songs in public. Napoleon himself as soon as
he had power enough suppressed them, and he was as proud of this feat
and his triumph over the dregs of the Jacobins as he was of any of
his victories; and in this he was right, in this he proved himself the
friend of humanity. As the tumultuous mass approached the triumphal
arch and the grand entrance to the Palace he could not conceal his
abhorrence. His Guards were drawn up under arms, and numerous pieces of
artillery, already loaded were turned out on the Place du Carrousel.
He hastily dismissed these dangerous partisans with some praise, some
money, and some drink. On coming into close contact with such a mob
he did not feel his fibre respond to that of the populace! Like
Frankenstein, he loathed and was afraid of the mighty monster he had put
together.
But it was not merely the mob that checked the liberalism or
constitution of Napoleon, a delicate and doubtful plant in itself, that
required the most cautious treatment to make it really take root and
grow up in such a soil: Some of his councillors, who called themselves
"philosophical statesmen," advised him to lay aside the style of
Emperor, and assume that of High President or Lord General of the
Republic! Annoyed with such puerilities while the enemy was every day
drawing nearer the frontiers he withdrew from the Tuileries to the
comparatively small and retired palace of the Elysee, where he escaped
these talking-dreamers, and felt himself again a sovereign: Shut up with
Benjamin Constant and a few other reasonable politicians, he drew up
the sketch of a new constitution, which was neither much better nor much
worse than the royal charter of Louis XVIII. We give an epitome of its
main features.
The Emperor was to have executive power, and to exercise legislative
power in concurrence with the two Chambers. The Chamber of Peers was
to be hereditary, and nominated by the Emperor, and its number was
unlimited. The Second Chamber was to be elected by the people, and to
consist of 629 members; none to be under the age of twenty-five. The
President was to be appointed by the members, but approved of by the
Emperor. Members were to be paid at the rate settled by the Constituent
Assembly, which was to be renewed every five years. The Emperor might
prorogue, adjourn, or dissolve the House of Representatives, whose
sittings were to be public. The Electoral Colleges were maintained. Land
tax and direct taxes were to be voted only for a year, indirect taxes
might be imposed for several years. No levy of men for the army nor
any exchange of territory was to be made but by a law. Taxes were to be
proposed by the Chamber of Representatives. Ministers to be responsible.
Judges to be irremovable. Juries to be established. Right of petition,
freedom of worship, inviolability of property, were recognised. Liberty
of the press was given under legal responsibility, and press offences
were to be judged with a jury. No place or part of the territory could
be placed in a state of siege except in case of foreign invasion
or civil troubles. Finally, the French people declared that in the
delegation it thus made of its powers it was not to be taken as giving
the right to propose the re-establishment of the Bourbons, or of any
Prince of that family on the throne, even in case of the extinction of
the imperial dynasty. Any such proposal was formally interdicted to the
Chambers or to the citizens, as well as any of the following measures,
viz. the re-establishment of the former, feudal nobility, of the
feudal and seignorial rights, of tithes, of any privileged and
dominant religion, as well as of the power of making any attack on the
irrevocability of the sale of the national goods.
Shortly after the return of Napoleon from Elba, believing it to
be impossible to make the Emperor of Austria consent to his wife's
rejoining him (and Maria Louisa had no inclination to a renewal of
conjugal intercourse), Napoleon had not been many days in Paris when he
concocted a plan for carrying off from Vienna both his wife and his son:
In this project force was no less necessary than stratagem. A number of
French of both sexes much devoted to the Emperor, who, had given them
rank and fortune, had accompanied Maria Louisa in 1814 from Paris to
Blois and thence to Vienna. A correspondence was opened with these
persons, who embarked heart and soul in the plot; they forged passports,
procured relays, of horses; and altogether arranged matters so well that
but for a single individual--one who revealed the whole project a few
days previously to that fixed upon for carrying it into effect--there
is little room to doubt that the plan would have succeeded, and that the
daughter of Austria and the titular King of home would have given
such, prestige as their presence could give at the Tuileries and the
Champs-de-Mai. No sooner had the Emperor of Austria discovered this
plot, which, had it been successful, would have placed him in a very
awkward predicament, than he dismissed all the French people about his
daughter, compelled her to lay aside the armorial bearings and liveries
of Napoleon, and even to relinquish the title of Empress of the French:
No force, no art, no police could conceal these things from the people
of Paris; who, moreover, and at nearly the same time; were made very
uneasy by the failure of Murat's attempt in Italy, which greatly
increased the power and political influence of Austria. Murat being
disposed of, the Emperor Francis was enabled to concentrate all his
forces in Italy, and to hold them in readiness for the re-invasion of
France.
"Napoleon," says Lavallette, "had undoubtedly expected that the Empress
and his son would be restored to him; he had published his wishes as a
certainty, and to prevent it was, in fact, the worst injury the Emperor
of Austria could have done, him. His hope was, however, soon destroyed.
"One evening I was summoned to the palace. I found the Emperor in a
dimly-lighted closet, warming himself in a corner of the fireplace, and
appearing to suffer already from the complaint which never afterwards
left him. 'Here is a letter,' he said, 'which the courier from Vienna
says is meant for you--read it.' On first casting my eyes on the letter
I thought I knew the handwriting, but as it was long I read it slowly,
and came at last to the principal object. The writer said that we ought
not to reckon upon the Empress, as she did not even attempt to conceal
her dislike of the Emperor, and was disposed to approve all the measures
that could be taken against him; that her return was not to be thought
of, as she herself would raise the greatest obstacles in the way of it;
in case it should be proposed; finally, that it was not possible for him
to dissemble his indignation that the Empress, wholly enamoured of ----,
did not even take pains to hide her ridiculous partiality for him. The
handwriting of the letter was disguised, yet not so much but that I was
able to discover whose it was. I found; however, in the manner in which
the secret was expressed a warmth of zeal and a picturesque style that
did not belong to the author of the letter. While reading it, I all of
a sudden suspected it was a counterfeit, and intended to mislead the
Emperor. I communicated this idea to him, and the danger I perceived in
this fraud. As I grew more and more animated I found plausible reasons
enough to throw the Emperor himself into some uncertainty. 'How is it
possible,' I said, 'that ------ should have been imprudent enough to
write such things to me, who am not his friend, and who have had so
little connection with him? How can one suppose that the Empress should
forget herself, in such circumstances, so far as to manifest aversion
to you, and, still more, to cast herself away upon a man who undoubtedly
still possesses some power to please, but who is no longer young, whose
face is disfigured, and whose person, altogether, has nothing agreeable
in it?' 'But,' answered the Emperor, ----- is attached to me; and though
he is not your friend, the postscript sufficiently explains the motive
of the confidence he places in you.' The following words were, in
fact, written at the bottom of the letter: 'I do not think you ought to
mention the truth to the Emperor, but make whatever use of it you think
proper.' I persisted, however, in maintaining that the letter was a
counterfeit; and the Emperor then said to me, 'Go to Caulaincourt.
He possesses a great many others in the same handwriting. Let the
comparison decide between your opinion and mine.'
"I went to Caulaincourt, who said eagerly to me, 'I am sure the letter
is from -----, and I have not the least doubt of the truth of the
particulars it contains. The best thing the Emperor can do is to be
comforted; there is no help to be expected from that side.'
"So sad a discovery was very painful to the Emperor, for he was
sincerely attached to the Empress, and still hoped again to see his son,
whom he loved most tenderly.'
"Fouché had been far from wishing the return of the Emperor. He was
long tired of obeying, and had, besides, undertaken another plan, which
Napoleon's arrival had broken off. The Emperor, however, put him
again at the head of the police, because Savary was worn out in that
employment, and a skillful man was wanted there. Fouché accepted the
office, but without giving up his plan of deposing the Emperor, to put
in his place either his son or a Republic under a President. He had
never ceased to correspond with Prince Metternich, and, if he is to be
believed, he tried to persuade the Emperor to abdicate in favour of
his son. That was also my opinion; but; coming from such a quarter,
the advice was not without danger for the person to whom it was given.
Besides, that advice having been rejected, it: was the duty of the
Minister either to think no more of his plan or to resign his
office. Fouché, however, remained in the Cabinet; and continued his
correspondence. The Emperor, who placed but little confidence in him;
kept a careful eye upon him. One evening the Emperor: had a great deal
of company at the Elysee, he told me not to go home, because he wished
to speak to me. When everybody was gone the Emperor stopped with Fouché
in the apartment next to the one I was in. The door remained half open.
They walked up and down together talking very calmly. I was therefore
greatly astonished when, after a quarter of, an hour, I heard the
Emperor say to him' gravely, 'You are a traitor! Why do you remain
Minister of the Police if you wish to betray me? It rests with me to
have you hanged, and everybody would rejoice at your death!' I did not
hear Fouché's reply, but the conversation lasted above half an hour
longer, the parties all the time walking up and down. When Fouché went
away he bade me cheerfully, good-night, and said that the Emperor had
gone back to his apartments.
"The next day the Emperor spoke to me of the previous night's
conversation. 'I suspected,' he said, 'that the wretch was in
correspondence with Vienna. I have had a banker's clerk arrested on his
return from that city. He has acknowledged that he brought a letter for
Fouché from Metternich, and that the answer was to be sent at a fixed
time to Bale, where a man was to wait for the bearer on the bridge:
I sent for Fouché a few days ago, and kept him three hours long in my
garden, hoping that in the course of a friendly conversation he would
mention that letter to me, but he said nothing. At last, yesterday
evening, I myself opened the subject.' (Here the Emperor repeated to me
the words I had heard the night before, 'You are a traitor,' etc.) He
acknowledged, in fact, continued the Emperor, 'that he had received such
a letter, but that it was not signed and that he had looked upon it as a
mystification. He showed it me. Now that letter was evidently an answer,
in which the writer again declared that he would listen to nothing more
concerning the Emperor, but that, his person excepted, it would be easy
to agree to all the rest. I expected that the Emperor would conclude his
narrative by expressing his anger against Fouché, but our conversation
turned on some other subject, and he talked no more of him.
"Two days afterwards I went to Fouché to solicit the return to Paris of
an officer of musqueteers who had been banished far from his family.
I found him at breakfast, and sat down next to him. Facing him sat a
stranger. 'Do you see this man?' he said to me; pointing with his spoon
to the stranger; 'he is an aristocrat, a Bourbonist, a Chouan; it is the
Abbe -----, one of the editors of the Journal des Debats--a sworn enemy
to Napoleon, a fanatic partisan of the Bourbons; he is one of our men.
I looked, at him. At every fresh epithet of the Minister the Abbe
bowed his head down to his plate with a smile of cheerfulness and
self-complacency, and with a sort of leer. I never saw a more ignoble
countenance. Fouché explained to me, on leaving the breakfast table, in
what manner all these valets of literature were men of his, and while
I acknowledged to myself that the system might be necessary, I scarcely
knew who were really more despicable--the wretches who thus sold
themselves to the highest bidder, or the minister who boasted of having
bought them, as if their acquisition were a glorious conquest. Judging
that the Emperor had spoken to me of the scene I have described above,
Fouché said to me, 'The Emperor's temper is soured by the resistance
he finds, and he thinks it is my fault. He does not know that I have
no power but by public opinion. To morrow I might hang before my door
twenty persons obnoxious to public opinion, though I should not be able
to imprison for four-and-twenty hours any individual favoured by it. As
I am never in a hurry to speak I remained silent, but reflecting on what
the Emperor had said concerning Fouché I found the comparison of their
two speeches remarkable. The master could have his minister hanged with
public applause, and the minister could hang--whom? Perhaps the master
himself, and with the same approbation. What a singular situation!--and
I believe they were both in the right; so far public opinion, equitable
in regard to Fouché, had swerved concerning the Emperor."
The wrath of Napoleon was confined to the Lower House, the Peers, from
the nature of their composition, being complacent and passive enough.
The vast majority of them were in fact mere shadows gathered round
the solid persons of Joseph, Lucien, Louis, and Jerome Bonaparte, and
Sieyès, Carnot, and the military men of the Revolution. As a political
body Napoleon despised them himself, and yet he wanted the nation to
respect them. But respect was impossible, and the volatile Parisians
made the Peers a constant object of their witticisms. The punsters of
Paris made the following somewhat ingenious play upon words. Lallemand,
Labedogure, Drouot, and Ney they called Las Quatre Pairs fides
(perfides), which in pronunciation may equally mean the four faithful
peers or the four perfidious men. The infamous Vandamme and another
were called Pair-siffles, the biased peers, or the biased pair, or
(persiffles) men made objects of derision. It was thus the lower orders
behaved while the existence of France was at stake.
By this time the thunder-cloud of war had gathered and was ready to
burst. Short as the time at his disposal was Napoleon prepared to meet
it with his accustomed energy. Firearms formed one of the most important
objects of attention. There were sufficient sabres, but muskets were
wanting. The Imperial factories could, in ordinary times, furnish
monthly 20,000 stands of new arms; by the extraordinary activity and
inducements offered this number was doubled. Workmen were also employed
in repairing the old muskets. There was displayed at this momentous
period the same activity in the capital as in 1793, and better directed,
though without the same ultimate success. The clothing of the army was
another difficulty, and this was got over by advancing large sums of
money to the cloth manufacturers beforehand. The contractors delivered
20,000 cavalry horses before the 1st of June, 10,000 trained horses had
been furnished by the dismounted gendarmerie. Twelve thousand artillery
horses were also delivered by the 1st of June, in addition to 6000 which
the army already had.
The facility with which the Ministers of Finance and of the Treasury
provided for all these expenses astonished everybody, as it was
necessary to pay for everything in ready money. The system of public
works was at the same time resumed throughout France. "It is easy to
see," said the workmen, "that 'the great contractor' is returned; all
was dead, now everything revives."
"We have just learnt," says a writer who was at Brussels at this time,
"that Napoleon had left the capital of France on the 12th; on the 15th
the frequent arrival of couriers excited extreme anxiety, and towards
evening General Muffing presented himself at the hotel of the Duke of
Wellington with despatches from Blücher. We were all aware that the
enemy was in movement, and the ignorant could not solve the enigma of
the Duke going tranquilly to the ball at the Duke of Richmond's--his
coolness was above their comprehension. Had he remained at his own hotel
a panic would have probably ensued amongst the inhabitants, which would
have embarrassed the intended movement of the British division of the
army.
"I returned home late, and we were still talking over our uneasiness
when we heard the trumpets sound. Before the sun had risen in full
splendour I heard martial music approaching, and soon beheld from
my windows the 5th reserve of the British army passing; the Highland
brigade were the first in advance, led by their noble thanes, the
bagpipes playing their several pibrochs; they were succeeded by the
28th, their bugles' note falling more blithely upon the ear. Each
regiment passed in succession with its band playing."
The gallant Duke of Brunswick was at a ball at the assembly-rooms in the
Rue Ducale on the night of the 15th of June when the French guns, which
he was one of the first to hear, were clearly distinguished at Brussels.
"Upon receiving the information that a powerful French force was
advancing in the direction of Charleroi. 'Then it is high time for me to
be off,' he exclaimed, and immediately quitted, the ball-room."
"At four the whole disposable force under the Duke of Wellington was
collected together, but in such haste that many of the officers had no
time to change their silk stockings and dancing-shoes; and some, quite
overcome by drowsiness, were seen lying asleep about the ramparts, still
holding, however, with a firm hand, the reins of their horses, which
were grazing by their sides.
"About five o'clock the word march' was heard in all directions, and
instantly the whole mass appeared to move simultaneously. I conversed
with several of the officers previous to their departure, and not one
appeared to have the slightest idea of an approaching engagement.
"The Duke of Wellington and his staff did not quit Brussels till past
eleven o'clock, and it was not till some time after they were gone that
it was generally known the whole French army, including a strong corps
of cavalry, was within a few miles of Quatre Bras."
CHAPTER VIII.
--[Like the preceding, this chapter first appeared in the 1836
edition, and is not from the pen of M. de Bourrienne.]--
1815.
THE BATTLES OF LIGNY AND QUATRE BRAS.
The moment for striking a decisive blow had now come, and accordingly, early on the morning of the 15th, the whole of the French army was in motion. The 2d corps proceeded to Marchiennes to attack the Prussian outposts at Thuin and Lobes, in order to secure the communication across the Sambre between those places. The 3d corps, covered by General Pajol's cavalry, advanced upon Charleroi, followed by the Imperial Guard and the 6th corps, with the necessary detachments of pontoniers. The remainder of the cavalry, under Grouchy, also advanced upon Charleroi, on the flanks of the 3d and 6th corps. The 4th corps was ordered to march upon the bridge of Chatelet.
On the approach of the French advanced guards an incessant skirmish
was maintained during the whole morning with the Prussians, who, after
losing many men, were compelled to yield to superior numbers. General
Zieten, finding it impossible, from the extent of frontier he had to
cover, to check the advance of the French, fell back towards Fleurus by
the road to Charleroi, resolutely contesting the advance of the enemy
wherever it was possible. In the repeated attacks sustained by him
he suffered considerable loss. It was nearly mid-day before a passage
through Charleroi was secured by the French army, and General Zieten
continued his retreat upon Fleurus, where he took up his position for
the night. Upon Zieten's abandoning, in the course of his retreat, the
chaussee which leads to Brussels through Quatre Bras, Marshal Ney, who
had only just been put in command on the left of the French army, was
ordered to advance by this road upon Gosselies, and found at Frasnes
part of the Duke of Wellington's army, composed of Nassau troops
under the command of Prince Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, who, after some
skirmishing, maintained his position. "Notwithstanding all the exertions
of the French at a moment when time was of such importance, they had
only been able to advance about fifteen English miles during the day,
with nearly fifteen hours of daylight."
It was the intention of Napoleon during his operations on this day to
effect a separation between the English and Prussian armies, in which
he had nearly succeeded. Napoleon's plan for this purpose, and the
execution of it by his army, were alike admirable, but it is hardly
probable that the Allied generals were taken by surprise, as it was
the only likely course which Napoleon could have taken. His line
of operation was on the direct road to Brussels, and there were no
fortified works to impede his progress, while from the nature of the
country his numerous and excellent cavalry could be employed with great
effect.
In the French accounts Marshal Ney was much blamed for not occupying
Quatre Bras with the whole of his force on the evening of the 16th. "Ney
might probably have driven back the Nassau troops at Quatre Bras, and
occupied that important position, but hearing a heavy cannonade on his
right flank, where General Zieten had taken up his position, he thought
it necessary to halt and detach a division in the direction of Fleurus.
He was severely censured by Napoleon for not having literally followed
his orders and pushed on to Quatre Bras." This accusation forms a
curious contrast with that made against Grouchy, upon whom Napoleon
threw the blame of the defeat at Waterloo, because he strictly fulfilled
his orders, by pressing the Prussians at Wavre, unheeding the cannonade
on his left, which might have led him to conjecture that the more
important contest between the Emperor and Wellington was at that moment
raging.
It was at six o'clock in the evening of the 16th that the Duke of
Wellington received the first information of the advance of the French
army; but it was not, however, until ten o'clock that positive news
reached him that the French army had moved upon the line of the Sambre.
This information induced him to push forward reinforcements on Quatre
Bras, at which place he himself arrived at an early hour on the 16th,
and immediately proceeded to Bry, to devise measures with Marshal
Blücher in order to combine their efforts. From the movement of
considerable masses of the French in front of the Prussians it was
evident that their first grand attack would be directed against them.
That this was Napoleon's object on the 16th maybe seen by his orders
to Ney and Grouchy to turn the right of the Prussians, and drive the
British from their position at Quatre Bras, and then to march down the
chaussee upon Bry in order effectually to separate the two armies. Ney
was accordingly detached for this purpose with 43,000 men. In the event
of the success of Marshal Ney he would have been enabled to detach a
portion of his forces for the purpose of making a flank attack upon
the Prussians in the rear of St. Amend, whilst Napoleon in person was
directing his main efforts against that village the strongest in the
Prussian position. Ney's reserve was at Frasnes, disposable either
for the purpose of supporting the attack on Quatre Bras or that at St.
Amand; and in case of Ney's complete success to turn the Prussian right
flank by marching on Bry.
CHAPTER IX.
1815
THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. One of the most important struggles of modern times was now about to commence--a struggle which for many years was to decide the fate of Europe. Napoleon and Wellington at length stood opposite one another. They had never met; the military reputation of each was of the highest kind,
--[For full details of the Waterloo campaign see Siborne's History
of the War in France and Belgium in 1815, giving the English
contemporary account; Chesney's Waterloo Lectures, the best English
modern account, which has been accepted by the Prussians as pretty
nearly representing their view; and Waterloo by Lieutenant-Colonel
Prince Edouard de la Tour d'Auvergne (Paris, Plon, 1870), which may
be taken as the French modern account.
In judging this campaign the reader must guard himself from looking
on it as fought by two different armies-the English and the
Prussian-whose achievements are to be weighed against one another.
Wellington and Blücher were acting in a complete unison rare even
when two different corps of the same nation are concerned, but
practically unexampled in the case of two armies of different
nations. Thus the two forces became one army, divided into two
wings, one, the left (or Prussian wing) having been defeated by the
main body of the French at Ligny on the 16th of June, the right (or
English wing) retreated to hold the position at Waterloo, where the
left (or Prussian wing) was to join it, and the united force was to
crush the enemy. Thus there is no question as to whether the
Prussian army saved the English by their arrival, or whether the
English saved the Prussians by their resistance at Waterloo. Each
army executed well and gallantly its part in a concerted operation.
The English would never have fought at Waterloo if they had not
relied on the arrival of the Prussians. Had the Prussians not come
up on the afternoon of the 18th of June the English would have been
exposed to the same great peril of having alone to deal with the
mass of the French army, as the Prussians would have had to face if
they had found the English in full retreat. To investigate the
relative performances of the two armies is much the same as to
decide the respective merits of the two Prussian armies at Sadowa,
where one held the Austrians until the other arrived. Also in
reading the many interesting personal accounts of the campaign it
most be remembered that opinions about the chance of success in a
defensive struggle are apt to warp with the observer's position, as
indeed General Grant has remarked in answer to criticisms on his
army's state at the end of the first day of the battle of Shiloh or
Pittsburg Landing. The man placed in the front rank or fighting
line sees attack after attack beaten off. He sees only part of his
own losses, and most of the wounded disappear, and he also knows
something of the enemy's loss by seeing the dead in front of him.
Warmed by the contest, he thus believes in success. The man placed
in rear or advancing with reinforcements, having nothing of the
excitement of the struggle, sees only the long and increasing column
of wounded, stragglers, and perhaps of fliers. He sees his
companion fall without being able to answer the fire. He sees
nothing of the corresponding loss of the enemy, and he is apt to
take a most desponding view of the situation. Thus Englishmen
reading the accounts of men who fought at Waterloo are too ready to
disbelieve representations of what was taking place in the rear of
the army, and to think Thackeray's life-like picture in Vanity Fair
of the state of Brussels must be overdrawn. Indeed, in this very
battle of Waterloo, Zieten began to retreat when his help was most
required, because one of his aides de camp told him that the right
wing of the English was in full retreat. "This inexperienced young
man," says Muffling, p. 248, "had mistaken the great number of
wounded going, or being taken, to the rear to be dressed, for
fugitives, and accordingly made a false report." Further, reserves
do not say much of their part or, sometimes, no part of the fight,
and few people know that at least two English regiments actually
present on the field of Waterloo hardly fired a shot till the last
advance.
The Duke described the army as the worst he ever commanded, and said
that if he had had his Peninsular men, the fight would have been
over much sooner. But the Duke, sticking to ideas now obsolete, had
no picked corps. Each man, trusting in and trusted by his comrades,
fought under his own officers and under his own regimental colours.
Whatever they did not know, the men knew how to die, and at the end
of the day a heap of dead told where each regiment and battery had
stood.]--
the career of both had been marked by signal victory; Napoleon had
carried his triumphant legions across the stupendous Alps, over the
north of Italy, throughout Prussia, Austria, Russia, and even to the
foot of the Pyramids, while Wellington, who had been early distinguished
in India, had won immortal renown in the Peninsula, where he had
defeated, one after another, the favourite generals of Napoleon. He was
now to make trial of his prowess against their Master.
Among the most critical events of modern times the battle of Waterloo
stands conspicuous. This sanguinary encounter at last stopped the
torrent of the ruthless and predatory ambition of the French, by which
so many countries had been desolated. With the peace which immediately
succeeded it confidence was restored to Europe.
CHAPTER X.
1815
Interview with Lavallette--Proceedings in the French Chambers--
Second abdication of Napoleon--He retires to Rochefort, negotiates
with Captain Maitland, and finally embarks in the 'Bellerophon'.
One of the first public men to see Napoleon after his return from
Waterloo was Lavallette. "I flew," says he, "to the Elysee to see the
Emperor: he summoned me into his closet, and as soon as he saw me, he
came to meet me with a frightful epileptic 'laugh. 'Oh, my God!' he
said, raising his eyes to heaven, and walking two or three times up and
down the room. This appearance of despair was however very short. He
soon recovered his coolness, and asked me what was going forward in
the Chamber of Representatives. I could not attempt to hide that party
spirit was there carried to a high pitch, and that the majority seemed
determined to require his abdication, and to pronounce it themselves
if he did not concede willingly. 'How is that?' he said. 'If proper
measures are not taken the enemy will be before the gates of Paris
in eight days. Alas!' he added, 'have I accustomed them to such great
victories that they knew not how to bear one day's misfortune? What will
become of poor France? I have done all I could for her!' He then heaved
a deep sigh. Somebody asked to speak to him, and I left him, with a
direction to come back at a later hour.
"I passed the day in seeking information among all my friends and
acquaintances. I found in all of them either the greatest dejection or
an extravagant joy, which they disguised by feigned alarm and pity for
myself, which I repulsed with great indignation. Nothing favourable was
to be expected from the Chamber of Representatives. They all said they
wished for liberty, but, between two enemies who appeared ready to
destroy it, they preferred the foreigners, the friends of the Bourbons,
to Napoleon, who might still have prolonged the struggle, but that
he alone would not find means to save them and erect the edifice of
liberty. The Chamber of Peers presented a much sadder spectacle. Except
the intrepid Thibaudeau, who till, the last moment expressed himself
with admirable energy against the Bourbons, almost all the others
thought of nothing else but getting out of the dilemma with the least
loss they could. Some took no pains to hide their wish of bending again
under the Bourbon yoke."
On the evening of Napoleon's return to Paris he sent for Benjamin
Constant to come to him at the Elysee about seven o'clock. The Chambers
had decreed their permanence, and proposals for abdication had reached
the Emperor. He was serious but calm. In reply to some words on the
disaster of Waterloo he said, "The question no longer concerns me,
but France. They wish me to abdicate. Have they calculated upon the
inevitable consequences of this abdication? It is round me, round my
name, that the army rallies: to separate me from it is to disband it.
If I abdicate to-day, in two days' time you will no longer have an army.
These poor fellows do not understand all your subtleties. Is it believed
that axioms in metaphysics, declarations of right, harangues from the
tribune, will put a stop to the disbanding of an army? To reject me when
I landed at Cannes I can conceive possible; to abandon me now is what I
do not understand. It is not when the enemy is at twenty-five leagues'
distance that any Government can be overturned with impunity. Does any
one imagine that the Foreign Powers will be won over by fine words? If
they had dethroned me fifteen days ago there would have been some spirit
in it; but as it is, I make part of what strangers attack, I make part,
then, of what France is bound to defend. In giving me up she gives up
herself, she avows her weakness, she acknowledges herself conquered,
she courts the insolence of the conqueror. It is not the love of liberty
which deposes me, but Waterloo; it is fear, and a fear of which your
enemies will take advantage. And then what title has the Chamber to
demand my abdication? It goes out of its lawful sphere in doing so; it
has no authority. It is my right, it is my duty to dissolve it."
"He then hastily ran over the possible consequences of such a step.
Separated from the Chambers, he could only be considered as a military
chief: but the army would be for him; that would always join him who
can lead it against foreign banners, and to this might be added all that
part of the population which is equally powerful and easily, led in such
a state of things. As if chance intended to strengthen Napoleon in this
train of thought, while he was speaking the avenue of Marigny resounded
with the cries of 'Vive l'Empereur!' A crowd of men, chiefly of the
poor and labouring class, pressed forward into the avenue, full of wild
enthusiasm, and trying to scale the walls to make an offer to
Napoleon to rally round and defend him. Bonaparte for some time looked
attentively at this group. 'You see it is so,' said he; 'those are not
the men whom I have loaded with honours and riches. What do these people
owe me? I found them--I left them--poor. The instinct of necessity
enlightens them; the voice of the country speaks by their months; and if
I choose, if I permit it, in an hour the refractory Chambers will have
ceased to exist. But the life of a man is not worth purchasing at such
a price: I did not return from the Isle of Elba that Paris should be
inundated with blood: He did not like the idea of flight.' 'Why should I
not stay here?' he repeated. 'What do you suppose they would do to a man
disarmed like me? I will go to Malmaison: I can live there in retirement
with some friends, who most certainly will come to see me only for my
own sake.'
"He then described with complacency and even with a sort of gaiety this
new kind of life. Afterwards, discarding an idea which sounded like mere
irony, he went on. 'If they do not like me to remain in France, where am
I to go? To England? My abode there would be ridiculous or disquieting.
I should be tranquil; no one would believe it. Every fog would be
suspected of concealing my landing on the coast. At the first sign of
a green coat getting out of a boat one party would fly from France, the
other would put France out of the pale of the law. I should compromise
everybody, and by dint of the repeated "Behold he comes!" I should feel
the temptation to set out. America would be more suitable; I could live
there with dignity. But once more, what is there to fear? What sovereign
can, without injuring himself, persecute me? To one I have restored half
his dominions; how often has the other pressed my hand, calling me
a great man! And as to the third, can he find pleasure or honour in
humiliation of his son-in-law? Would they wish to proclaim in the face
of the world that all they did was through fear? As to the rest, I shall
see: I do not wish to employ open force. I came in the hope of combining
our last resources: they abandoned me; they do so with the same facility
with which they received me back. Well, then, let them efface, if
possible, this double stain of weakness and levity! Let them cover it
over with some sacrifice, with some glory! Let them do for the country
what they will not do for me. I doubt it. To-day, those who deliver up
Bonaparte say that it is to save France: to-morrow, by delivering up
France, they will prove that it was to save their own heads.'"
The humiliating scenes which rapidly succeeded one another; and which
ended in Napoleon's unconditional surrender, may be briefly told.
As soon as possible after his arrival at Paris he assembled his
counsellors, when he declared himself in favour of still resisting.
The question, however, was, whether the Chambers would support him; and
Lafayette being treacherously informed, it is said by Fouché, that it
was intended to dissolve the Chambers, used his influence to get the
chambers to adopt the propositions he laid before them. By these the
independence of the nation was asserted to be in danger; the sittings
of the Chamber were declared permanent, and all attempts to dissolve it
were pronounced treasonable. The propositions were adopted, and being
communicated to the Chamber of Peers, that body also declared itself
permanent. Whatever might have been the intentions of Bonaparte, it was
now manifest that there were no longer any hopes of his being able to
make his will the law of the nation; after some vacillation, therefore,
on 22d June he published the following declaration:
TO THE FRENCH PEOPLE
FRENCHMEN!--In commencing war for maintaining the national
independence, I relied on the union of all efforts, of all wills,
and the concurrence of all the national authorities. I had reason
to hope for success, and I braved all the declarations of the powers
against me. Circumstances appear to me changed. I offer myself a
sacrifice to the hatred of the enemies of France. May they prove
sincere in their declarations, and really have directed them only
against my power. My political life is terminated, and I proclaim
my son under the title of:
NAPOLEON II.,
EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH.
The present Ministers will provisionally form the Council of the
Government. The interest which I take in my son induces me to
invite the Chambers to form without delay the Regency by a law.
Unite all for the public safety, that you may continue an
independent nation.
(Signed) NAPOLEON.
This declaration was conveyed to both the Chambers, which voted
deputations to the late Emperor, accepting this abdication, but in their
debates the nomination of his son to the succession was artfully eluded.
The Chamber of Representatives voted the nomination of a Commission of
five persons, three to be chosen from that Chamber, and two from the
Chamber of Peers, for the purpose of provisionally exercising the
functions of Government, and also that the Ministers should continue
their respective functions under the authority of this Commission. The
persons chosen by the Chamber of Representatives were Carnot, Fouché,
and Grenier, those nominated by the Peers were the Duke of Vicenza
(Caulaincourt) and Baron Quinette. The Commission nominated five persons
to the Allied army for the purpose of proposing peace. These proceedings
were, however, rendered of little importance by the resolution of the
victors to advance to Paris.
Napoleon's behaviour just before and immediately after the crisis is
well described by Lavallette. "The next day," he observes, "I returned
to the Emperor. He had received the most positive accounts of the state
of feeling in the Chamber of Representatives. The reports had, however,
been given to him with some little reserve, for he did not seem to
me convinced that the resolution was really formed to pronounce his
abdication, I was better informed on the matter, and I came to him
without having the least doubt in my mind that the only thing he could
do was to descend once more from the throne. I communicated to him all
the particulars I had just received, and I did not hesitate to advise
him to follow the only course worthy of him. He listened to me with a
sombre air, and though he was in some measure master of himself, the
agitation of his mind and the sense of his position betrayed themselves
in his face and in all his motions. 'I know,' said I, 'that your Majesty
may still keep the sword drawn, but with whom, and against whom? Defeat
has chilled the courage of every one; the army is still in the greatest
confusion. Nothing is to be expected from Paris, and the coup d'etat
of the 18th Brumaire cannot be renewed.'--'That thought,' he replied,
stopping, 'is far from my mind. I will hear nothing more about myself.
But poor France!' At that moment Savary and Caulaincourt entered, and
having drawn a faithful picture of the exasperation of the Deputies,
they persuaded him to assent to abdication. Some words he uttered proved
to us that he would have considered death preferable to that step; but
still he took it.
"The great act of abdication being performed, he remained calm during
the whole day, giving his advice on the position the army should take,
and on the manner in which the negotiations with the enemy ought to be
conducted. He insisted especially on the necessity of proclaiming his
son Emperor, not so much for the advantage of the child as with a
view to concentrate all the power of sentiments and affections.
Unfortunately, nobody would listen to him. Some men of sense and courage
rallied found that proposition in the two Chambers, but fear swayed the
majority; and among those who remained free from it many thought that
a public declaration of liberty, and the resolution to defend it at any
price, would make the enemy and the Bourbons turn back. Strange delusion
of weakness and want of experience! It must, however, be respected, for
it had its source in love of their country; but, while we excuse it, can
it be justified? The population of the metropolis had resumed its usual
appearance, which was that of complete indifference, with a resolution
to cry 'Long live the King!' provided the King arrived well escorted;
for one must not judge of the whole capital by about one-thirtieth part
of the inhabitants, who called for arms, and declared themselves warmly
against the return of the exiled family.
"On the 23d I returned to the Elysee. The Emperor had been for two hours
in his bath. He himself turned the discourse on the retreat he ought
to choose, and spoke of the United States. I rejected the idea without
reflection, and with a degree of vehemence that surprised him. 'Why
not America?' he asked. I answered, 'Because Moreau retired there.'
The observation was harsh, and I should never have forgiven myself
for having expressed it; if I had not retracted my advice a few days
afterwards. He heard it without any apparent ill-humour, but I have no
doubt that it must have made an unfavourable impression on his mind. I
strongly urged on his choosing England for his asylum.
"The Emperor went to Malmaison. He was accompanied thither by the
Duchesse de St. Leu, Bertrand and his family, and the Duc de Bassano.
The day that he arrived there he proposed to me to accompany him abroad.
Drouot,' he said, 'remains in France. I see the Minister of War wishes
him not to be lost to his country. I dare not complain, but it is a
great loss for me; I never met with a better head, or a more upright
heart. That man was formed to be a prime minister anywhere.' I declined
to accompany him at the time, saying, 'My wife is enceinte; I cannot
make up my mind to leave her. Allow me some time, and I will join you
wherever you may be. I have remained faithful to your Majesty in better
times, and you may reckon upon me now. Nevertheless, if my wife did not
require all my attention, I should do better to go with you, for I have
sad forebodings respecting my fate."
"The Emperor made no answer; but I saw by the expression of his
countenance that he had no better augury of my fate than I had. However,
the enemy was approaching, and for the last three days he had solicited
the Provisional Government to place a frigate at his disposal, with
which he might proceed to America. It had been promised him; he was even
pressed to set off; but he wanted to be the bearer of the order to
the captain to convey him to the United States, and that order did
not arrive. We all felt that the delay of a single hour might put his
freedom in jeopardy.
"After we had talked the subject over among ourselves, I went to him
and strongly pointed out to him how dangerous it might be to prolong
his stay. He observed that he could not go without the order. 'Depart,
nevertheless,' I replied; your presence on board the ship will still
have a great influence over Frenchmen; cut the cables, promise money
to the crew, and if the captain resist have him put on shore, and hoist
your sails. I have no doubt but Fouché has sold you to the Allies.'--
'I believe it also; but go and make the last effort with the Minister
of Marine.' I went off immediately to M. Decres. He was in bed, and
listened to me with an indifference that made my blood boil. He said to
me, 'I am only a Minister. Go to Fouché; speak to the Government. As for
me, I can do nothing. Good-night.' And so saying he covered himself up
again in his blankets. I left him; but I could not succeed in speaking
either to Fouché or to any of the others. It was two o'clock in the
morning when I returned to Malmaison; the Emperor was in bed. I was
admitted to his chamber, where I gave him an account of the result of
my mission, and renewed my entreaties. He listened to me, but made no
answer. He got up, however, and spent a part of the night in walking up
and down the room.
"The following day was the last of that sad drama. The Emperor had gone
to bed again, and slept a few hours. I entered his cabinet at about
twelve o'clock. 'If I had known you were here,' he said, 'I would have
had you called in.' He then gave me, on a subject that interested him
personally, some instructions which it is needless for me to repeat.
Soon after I left him, full of anxiety respecting his fate, my heart
oppressed with grief, but still far from suspecting the extent to which
both the rigour of fortune and the cruelty of his enemies would be
carried."
All the morning of the 29th of June the great road from St. Germain
rung with the cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" proceeding from the troops who
passed under the walls of Malmaison. About mid-day General Becker, sent
by the Provisional Government, arrived. He had been appointed to attend
Napoleon. Fouché knew that General Becker had grievances against the
Emperor, and thought to find in him willing agent. He was greatly
deceived, for the General paid to the Emperor a degree of respect highly
to his honour. Time now became pressing. The Emperor, at the moment of
departure, sent a message by General Becker himself to the Provisional
Government, offering to march as a private citizen at the head of the
troops. He promised to repulse Blücher, and afterwards to continue
his route. Upon the refusal of the Provisional Government he quitted
Malmaison on the 29th. Napoleon and part of his suite took the road to
Rochefort. He slept at Rambouillet on the 29th of June, on the 30th at
Tours, on the 1st of July he arrived at Niort, and on the 3d reached
Rochefort, on the western coast of France, with the intention of
escaping to America; but the whole western seaboard was so vigilantly
watched by British men-of-war that, after various plans and devices,
he was obliged to abandon the attempt in despair. He was lodged at the
house of the prefect, at the balcony of which he occasionally showed
himself to acknowledge the acclamations of the people.
During his stay here a French naval officer, commanding a Danish
merchant vessel, generously offered to some of Napoleon's adherents to
further his escape. He proposed to take Napoleon alone, and undertook
to conceal his person so effectually as to defy the most rigid scrutiny,
and offered to sail immediately to the United States of America. He
required no other compensation than a small sum to indemnify the owners
of his ship for the loss this enterprise might occasion them. This was
agreed to by Bertrand upon certain stipulations.
On the evening of the 8th of July Napoleon reached Fouras, receiving
everywhere testimonies of attachment. He proceeded on board the Saale,
one of the two frigates appointed by the Provisional Government to
convey him to the United States, and slept on board that night. Very
early on the following morning he visited the fortifications of that
place, and returned to the frigate for dinner. On the evening of the
9th of July he despatched Count Las Cases and the Duke of Rovigo to
the commander of the English squadron, for the purpose of ascertaining
whether the passports promised by the Provisional Government to enable
him to proceed to America had been received. A negative answer was
returned; it was at the same time signified that the Emperor would be
attacked by the English squadron if he attempted to sail under a flag of
truce, and it was intimated that every neutral vessel would be examined,
and probably sent into an English port. Las Cases affirms that Napoleon
was recommended to proceed to England by Captain Maitland, who assured
him that he would experience no ill-treatment there. The English ship
'Bellerophon' then anchored in the Basque roads, within sight of the
French vessels of war. The coast being, as we have stated, entirely
blockaded by the English squadron, the Emperor was undecided as to the
course he should pursue. Neutral vessels and 'chasse-marees', manned by
young naval officers, were proposed, and many other plans were devised.
Napoleon disembarked on the 12th at the Isle of Aix with acclamations
ringing on every side. He had quitted the frigates because they refused
to sail, owing either to the weakness of character of the commandant,
or in consequence of his receiving fresh orders from the Provisional
Government. Many persons thought that the enterprise might be undertaken
with some probability of success; the wind, however, remained constantly
in the wrong quarter.
Las Cases returned to the Bellerophon at four o'clock in the morning
of the 14th, to inquire whether any reply had been received to the
communication made by Napoleon. Captain Maitland stated that he expected
to receive it every moment, and added that, if the Emperor would then
embark for England, he was authorized to convey him thither. He added,
moreover, that in his own opinion, and many other officers present
concurred with him, he had no doubt Napoleon would be treated in England
with all-possible attention and respect; that in England neither
the King nor Ministers exercised the same arbitrary power as on the
Continent; that the English indeed possessed generosity of sentiment and
a liberality of opinions superior even to those of the King. Las Cases
replied that he would make Napoleon acquainted with Captain Maitland's
offer, and added, that he thought the Emperor would not hesitate to
proceed to England, so as to be able to continue his voyage to the
United States. He described France, south of the Loire, to be in
commotion, the hopes of the people resting on Napoleon as long as he was
present; the propositions everywhere made to him, and at every moment;
his decided resolution not to become the pretext of a civil war; the
generosity he had exhibited in abdicating, in order to render the
conclusion of a peace more practicable; and his settled determination
to banish himself, in order to render that peace more prompt and more
lasting.
The messengers returned to their Master, who, after some doubt and
hesitation, despatched General Gourgaud with the following well-known
letter to the Prince Regent:--
ROCHEFORT, 13th July 1815.
ROYAL HIGHNESS--A victim to the factions which divide my country,
and to the hostility of the greatest Powers of Europe, I have
terminated my political career, and come, like Themistocles, to
share the hospitality of the British people. I place myself under
the protection of their laws, and I claim that from your Royal
Highness as the most powerful, the most constant, and the most
generous of my enemies.
(Signed) NAPOLEON.
About four P.M. Las Cases and Savory returned to the 'Bellerophon',
where they had a long conversation with Captain Maitland, in the
presence of Captains Sartorius and Gambler, who both declare that
Maitland repeatedly warned Napoleon's adherents not to entertain the
remotest idea that he was enabled to offer any pledge whatever to their
Master beyond the simple assurance that he would convey him in safety
to the English coast, there to await the determination of the British
Government.
Napoleon had begun to prepare for his embarkation before daylight on the
15th. It was time that he did so, for a messenger charged with orders to
arrest him had already arrived at Rochefort from the new Government. The
execution of this order was delayed by General Becker for a few hours
in order to allow Napoleon sufficient time to escape. At daybreak, he
quitted the 'Epervier', and was enthusiastically cheered by the ship's
company so long as the boat was within hearing. Soon after six he was
received on board the 'Bellerophon' with respectful silence, but without
those honours generally paid to persons of high rank. Bonaparte was
dressed in the uniform of the 'chasseurs a cheval' of the Imperial
Guard, and wore the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour.
On entering the vessel he took off his hat, and addressing Captain
Maitland, said, "I am come to throw myself on the protection of the laws
of England." Napoleon's manner was well calculated to make a favourable
impression on those with whom he conversed. He requested to be
introduced to the officers of the ship, and put various questions to
each. He then went round the ship, although he was informed that the men
were cleaning and scouring, and remarked upon anything which struck
him as differing from what he had seen on French vessels. The clean
appearance of the men surprised him. "He then observed," says Captain
Maitland, to whose interesting narrative we refer, "'I can see no
sufficient reason why your ships should beat the French ones with so
much ease. The finest men-of-war in your service are French; a French
ship is heavier in every respect than one of yours; she carries more
guns, and those guns are of a larger calibre, and she has a great
many more men.'" His inquiries, which were minute, proved that he had
directed much attention to the French navy.
On the first morning Napoleon took breakfast in the English fashion,
but observing that his distinguished prisoner did not eat much, Captain
Maitland gave direction that for the future a hot breakfast should be
served up after the French manner. 'The Superb', the Admiral's ship,
which had been seen in the morning, was now approaching. Immediately on
her anchoring Captain Maitland went on board to give an account of all
that had happened, and received the Admiral's approbation of what he
had done. In the afternoon Admiral Sir Henry Hotham was introduced to
Napoleon, and invited by him to dinner. This was arranged, in order to
make it more agreeable to him, by Bonaparte's maitre d'hotel. On dinner
being announced Napoleon led the way, and seated himself in the centre
at one side of the table, desiring Sir Henry Hotham to take the seat
on his right, and Madame Bertrand that on his left hand. On this day
Captain Maitland took his seat at the end of the table, but on the
following day, by Napoleon's request, he placed himself on his right
hand, whilst General Bertrand took the top. Two of the ship's officers
dined with the Emperor daily, by express invitation. The conversation
of Napoleon was animated. He made many inquiries as to the family and
connections of Captain Maitland, and in alluding to Lord Lauderdale, who
was sent as ambassador to Paris during the administration of Mr. Fox,
paid that nobleman some compliments and said of the then Premier, "Had
Mr. Fox lived it never would have come to this; but his death put an end
to all hopes of peace."
On one occasion he ordered his camp-bed to be displayed for the
inspection of the English officers. In two small leather packages were
comprised the couch of the once mighty ruler of the Continent. The steel
bedstead which, when folded up, was only two feet long, and eighteen
inches wide, occupied one case, while the other contained the mattress
and curtains. The whole was so contrived as to be ready for use in three
minutes.
Napoleon spoke in terms of high praise of the marines on duty in the
Bellerophon, and on going through their ranks exclaimed to Bertrand,
"How much might be done with a hundred thousand such soldiers as these!"
In putting them through their exercise he drew a contrast between
the charge of the bayonet as made by the English and the French, and
observed that the English method of fixing the bayonet was faulty, as
it might easily be twisted off when in close action. In visiting
Admiral Hotham's flag-ship, the 'Superb', he manifested the same active
curiosity as in former instances, and made the same minute inquiries
into everything by which he was surrounded. During breakfast one of
Napoleon's suite, Colonel Planat, was much affected, and even wept, on
witnessing the humiliation of his Master.
On the return of Bonaparte from the Superb to the 'Bellerophon' the
latter ship was got under weigh and made sail for England. When passing
within a cable's length of the 'Superb' Napoleon inquired of Captain
Maitland if he thought that distance was sufficient for action. The
reply of the English officer was characteristic; he told the Emperor
that half the distance, or even less, would suit much better. Speaking
of Sir Sidney Smith, Bonaparte repeated the anecdote connected with his
quarrel at St. Jean d'Acre with that officer, which has already been
related in one of the notes earlier in these volumes. Patting Captain
Maitland on the shoulder, he observed, that had it not been for the
English navy he would have been Emperor of the East, but that wherever
he went he was sure to find English ships in the way.
The 'Bellerophon', with Bonaparte on board, sighted the coast of England
on Sunday, the 23d of July 1815, and at daybreak on the 24th the vessel
approached Dartmouth. No sooner had the ship anchored than an order from
Loral Keith was delivered to Captain Maitland, from which the following
is an extract:
Extract of an Order from Admiral Viscount Keith, G. C. B., addressed
to Captain Maitland, of H. M. S. "Bellerophon," dated Ville de
Paris, Hamoaze, 23d July 1815.
Captain Sartorius, of His Majesty's ship 'Slaney', delivered to me
last night, at eleven o'clock, your despatch of the 14th instant,
acquainting me that Bonaparte had proposed to embark on board the
ship you command, and that you had acceded thereto, with the
intention of proceeding to Torbay, there to wait for further orders.
I lost no time in forwarding your letter by Captain Sartorius to the
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, in order that their Lordships
might, through him, be acquainted with every circumstance that had
occurred on an occasion of so much importance; and you may expect
orders from their Lordships for your further guidance. You are to
remain in Torbay until you receive such orders; and in the meantime,
in addition to the directions already in your possession, you are
most positively ordered to prevent every person whatever from coming
on board the ship you command, except the officers and men who
compose her crew; nor is any person whatever, whether in His
Majesty's service or not, who does not belong, to the ship, to be
suffered to come on board, either for the purpose of visiting the
officers, or on any pretence whatever, without express permission
either from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty or from me. As
I understand from Captain Sartorius that General Gourgaud refused to
deliver the letter with which he was charged for the Prince Regent
to any person except His Royal Highness, you are to take him out of
the 'Slaney' into the ship you command, until you receive directions
from the Admiralty on the subject, and order that ship back to
Plymouth Sound, when Captain Sartorius returns from London.
It was stated about this time, in some of the English newspapers, that
St. Helena would be the place of exile of the ex-Emperor, the bare
report of which evidently caused great pain to Napoleon and his suite.
General Gourgaud was obliged to return to the 'Bellerophon', not having
been suffered to go on shore to deliver the letter from Bonaparte to the
Prince Regent with which he had been entrusted. The ship which bore the
modern Alexander soon became a natural object of attraction to the
whole neighbourhood, and was constantly surrounded by crowds of boats.
Napoleon frequently showed himself to the people from shore with a
view of gratifying their curiosity. On the 25th of July the number of
guard-boats which surrounded the vessel was greatly increased; and the
alarm of the captives became greater as the report was strengthened as
to the intention of conveying Bonaparte to St. Helena.
In conversation with Captain Maitland, Napoleon, who seemed to be aware
that the English fishermen united the occupation of smugglers to their
usual trade; stated that many of them had been bribed by him, and
had assisted in the escape of French prisoners of war. They had even
proposed to deliver Louis XVIII. into his power, but as they would .not
answer for the safety of his life, Napoleon refused the offer. Upon the
arrival of despatches from London the 'Bellerophon' got under weigh for
Plymouth Sound on the 26th of July. This movement tended still
further to disconcert the ex-Emperor and his followers. In passing the
breakwater Bonaparte could not withhold his admiration of that work,
which he considered highly honourable to the public spirit of the
nation, and, alluding to his own improvements at Cherbourg, expressed
his apprehensions that they would now be suffered to fall into decay.
Captain Maitland was directed by Lord Keith to observe the utmost
vigilance to prevent the escape of his prisoners, and with this view
no boat was permitted to approach the Bellerophon; the 'Liffey' and
'Eurotas' were ordered to take up an anchorage on each side of the ship,
and further precautions were adopted at night.
On the 27th of July Captain Maitland proceeded to Lord Keith, taking
with him Bonaparte's original letter to the Prince Regent, which,
as General Gourgaud had not been permitted to deliver it personally,
Napoleon now desired to be transmitted through the hands of the Admiral.
As Lord Keith had now received instructions from his Government as
to the manner in which Napoleon was to be treated, he lost no time in
paying his respects to the fallen chief.
On the 31st of July the anxiously-expected order of the English
Government arrived. In this document, wherein the ex-Emperor was styled
"General Bonaparte," it was notified that he was to be exiled to St.
Helena, the place of all others most dreaded by him and his devoted
adherents. It was, moreover, specified that he might be allowed to take
with him three officers, and his surgeon, and twelve servants. To his
own selection was conceded the choice of these followers, with the
exclusion, however, of Savary and Lallemand, who were on no account to
be permitted any further to share his fortunes. This prohibition gave
considerable alarm to those individuals, who became excessively anxious
as to their future disposal, and declared that to deliver them up to the
vengeance of the Bourbons would be a violation of faith and honour.
Napoleon himself complained bitterly on the subject of his destination,
and said, "The idea, of it is horrible to me. To be placed for life on
an island within the tropics, at an immense distance from any land, cut
off from all communication with the world, and everything that I hold
dear in it!--c'est pis que la cage de fer de Tamerlan. I would prefer
being delivered up to the Bourbons. Among other insults," said he,--"but
that is a mere bagatelle, a very secondary consideration--they style
me General! They can have no right to call me General; they may as well
call me 'Archbishop,' for I was Head of the Church as well as of the
Army. If they do not acknowledge me as Emperor they ought as First
Counsul; they have sent ambassadors to me as such; and your King, in
his letters, styled me 'Brother.' Had they confined me in the Tower of
London, or one of the fortresses in England (though not what I had hoped
from the generosity of the English people), I should not have so much
cause of complaint; but to banish me to an island within the tropics!
They might as well have signed my death-warrant at once, for it is
impossible a man of my habit of body can live long in such a climate."
Having so expressed himself, he wrote a second letter to the Prince
Regent, which was forwarded through Lord Keith. It was the opinion of
Generals Montholon and Gourgaud that Bonaparte would sooner kill himself
than go to St. Helena. This idea arose from his having been heard
emphatically to exclaim, "I will not go to St. Helena!" The generals,
indeed, declared that were he to give his own consent to be so exiled
they would themselves prevent him. In consequence of this threat Captain
Maitland was instructed by Lord Keith to tell those gentlemen that as
the English law awarded death to murderers, the crime they meditated
would inevitably conduct them to the gallows.
Early on the morning of the 4th of August the 'Bellerophon' was ordered
to be ready at a moment's notice for sea. The reason of this was
traced to a circumstance which is conspicuous among the many remarkable
incidents by which Bonaparte's arrival near the English coast was
characterised. A rumour reached Lord Keith that a 'habeas corpus' had
been procured with a view of delivering Napoleon from the custody he was
then in. This, however, turned out to be a subpoena for Bonaparte as a
witness at a trial in the Court of King's Bench; and, indeed, a person
attempted to get on board the Bellerophon to serve the document; but
he was foiled in his intention; though, had he succeeded, the subpoena
would, in the situation wherein the ex-Emperor then stood, have been
without avail.
On the 5th Captain Maitland, having been summoned to the flag-ship of
Lord Keith, acquainted General Bertrand that he would convey to the
Admiral anything which Bonaparte (who had expressed an urgent wish to
see his lordship) might desire to say to him. Bertrand requested the
captain to delay his departure until a document, then in preparation,
should be completed: the "PROTEST OF HIS MAJESTY THE LATE EMPEROR OF THE
FRENCH, ETC."
Captain Maitland denied that any snare was laid for Bonaparte, either
by himself or by the English Government, and stated that the precautions
for preventing the escape of Napoleon from Rochefort were so well
ordered that it was impossible to evade them; and that the fugitive was
compelled to surrender himself to the English ship.
On the 7th of August Bonaparte, with the suite he had selected, was
transferred from the 'Bellerophon' to the 'Northumberland'. Lord Keith's
barge was prepared for his conveyance to the latter vessel, and his
lordship was present on the occasion. A captain's guard was turned out,
and as Napoleon left the 'Bellerophon' the marines presented arms, and
the drum was beaten as usual in saluting a general officer. When he
arrived on board the Northumberland the squadron got under weigh, and
Napoleon sailed for the place of his final exile and grave.'
--[For the continuation of Napoleon's voyage see Chapter XIII.]--
CHAPTER XI.
1815.
My departure from Hamburg-The King at St. Denis--Fouché appointed
Minister of the Police--Delay of the King's entrance into Paris--
Effect of that delay--Fouché's nomination due to the Duke of
Wellington--Impossibility of resuming my post--Fouché's language
with respect to the Bourbons--His famous postscript--Character of
Fouché--Discussion respecting the two cockades--Manifestations of
public joy repressed by Fouché--Composition of the new Ministry--
Kind attention of Blücher--The English at St. Cloud--Blücher in
Napoleon's cabinet--My prisoner become my protector--Blücher and the
innkeeper's dog--My daughter's marriage contract--Rigid etiquette--
My appointment to the Presidentship of the Electoral College of the
Yonne--My interview with Fouché--My audience of the King--His
Majesty made acquainted with my conversation with Fouché--The Duke
of Otranto's disgrace--Carnot deceived by Bonaparte--My election as
deputy--My colleague, M. Raudot--My return to Paris--Regret caused
by the sacrifice of Ney--Noble conduct of Macdonald--A drive with
Rapp in the Bois de Boulogne--Rapp's interview with Bonaparte in
1815--The Duc de Berri and Rapp--My nomination to the office of
Minister of State--My name inscribed by the hand of Louis XVIII.--
Conclusion.
The fulfilment of my prediction was now at hand, for the result of the
Battle of Waterloo enabled Louis XVIII. to return to his dominions. As
soon as I heard of the King's departure from Ghent I quitted Hamburg,
and travelled with all possible haste in the hope of reaching Paris in
time to witness his Majesty's entrance. I arrived at St. Denis on the
7th of July, and, notwithstanding the intrigues that were set on foot,
I found an immense number of persons assembled to meet the King. Indeed,
the place was so crowded that it was with the greatest difficulty I
could procure even a little garret for my lodging.
Having resumed my uniform of a captain of the National Guard, I
proceeded immediately to the King's palace. The salon was filled with
ladies and gentlemen who had come to congratulate the King on his
return. At St. Denis I found my family, who, not being aware that I had
left Hamburg, were much surprised to see me.
They informed me that the Parisians were all impatient for the return of
the King--a fact of which I could judge by the opposition manifested to
the free expression of public feeling. Paris having been declared in a
state of blockade, the gates were closed, and no one was permitted to
leave the capital, particularly by the Barriere de la Chapelle. It is
true that special permission might be obtained, and with tolerable ease,
by those who wished to leave the city; but the forms to be observed for
obtaining the permission deterred the mass of the people from proceeding
to St. Denis, which, indeed, was the sole object of the regulation. As
it had been resolved to force Fouché and the tri-coloured cockade upon
the King, it was deemed necessary to keep away from his Majesty all who
might persuade him to resist the proposed measures. Madame de Bourrienne
told me that on her arrival at St. Denis she called upon M. Hue and M.
Lefebvre, the King's physician, who both acquainted her with those fatal
resolutions. Those gentlemen, however, assured her that the King would
resolutely hold out against the tri-coloured cockade, but the nomination
of the ill-omened man appeared inevitable.
Fouché Minister of the Police! If, like Don Juan, I had seen a statue
move, I could not have been more confounded than when I heard this news.
I could not credit it until it was repeated to me by different persons.
How; indeed, could I think that at the moment of a reaction the King
should have entrusted the most important ministerial department to a
man to whose arrest he had a hundred days before attached so much
consequence? to a man, moreover, whom Bonaparte had appointed, at Lyons,
to fill the same office! This was inconceivable! Thus, in less than
twenty-four hours, the same man had been entrusted to execute measures
the most opposite, and to serve interests the most contradictory. He
was one day the minister of usurpation, and the next the minister of
legitimacy! How can I express what I felt when Fouché took the oath
of fidelity to Louis XVIII. when I saw the King clasp in his hands the
hands of Fouché! I was standing near M. de Chateaubriand, whose feelings
must have been similar to mine, to judge from a passage in his admirable
work, 'La Monarchie selon la Charte'. "About nine in the evening," he
says, "I was in one of the royal antechambers. All at once the door
opened, and I saw the President of the Council enter leaning on the arm
of the new minister. Oh, Louis-le-Desire! Oh, my unfortunate master! you
have proved that there is no sacrifice which your people may not expect
from your paternal heart!"
Fouché was resolved to have his restoration as well as M. de Talleyrand,
who had had his the year before; he therefore contrived to retard
the King's entry into Paris for four days. The prudent members of the
Chamber of Peers, who had taken no part in the King's Government in
1814, were the first to declare that it was for the interest of France
to hasten his Majesty's entrance into Paris, in order to prevent
foreigners from exercising a sort of right of conquest in a city which
was a prey to civil dissension and party influence. Blücher informed
me that the way in which Fouché contrived to delay the King's return
greatly contributed to the pretensions of the foreigners who, he
confessed, were very well pleased to see the population of Paris divided
in opinion, and to hear the alarming cries raised by the confederates of
the Faubourgs when the King was already at St. Denis.
I know for a fact that Louis XVIII. wished to have nothing to do
with Fouché, and indignantly refused to appoint him when he was first
proposed. But he had so nobly served Bonaparte during the Hundred Days
that it was necessary he should be rewarded. Fouché, besides, had gained
the support of a powerful party among the emigrants of the Faubourg St.
Germain, and he possessed the art of rendering himself indispensable.
I have heard many honest men say very seriously that to him was due
the tranquillity of Paris. Moreover, Wellington was the person by whose
influence in particular Fouché was made one of the counsellors of the
King. After all the benefits which foreigners had conferred upon us
Fouché was indeed an acceptable present to France and to the King.
I was not ignorant of the Duke of Wellington's influence upon the
affairs of the second Restoration, but for a long time I refused to
believe that his influence should have outweighed all the serious
considerations opposed to such a perfect anomaly as appointing Fouché
the Minister of a Bourbon. But I was deceived. France and the King owed
to him Fouché's introduction into the Council, and I had to thank him
for the impossibility of resuming a situation which I had relinquished
for the purpose of following the King into Belgium. Could I be Prefect
of Police under a Minister whom a short time before I had received
orders to arrest, but who eluded my agents? That was impossible. The
King could not offer me the place of Prefect under Fouché, and if he had
I could not have accepted it. I was therefore right in not relying on
the assurances which had been given me; but I confess that if I had been
told to guess the cause why they could not be realised I never should
have thought that cause would have been the appointment of Fouché as
a Minister of the King of France. At first, therefore, I was of course
quite forgotten, as is the custom of courts when a faithful subject
refrains from taking part in the intrigues of the moment.
I have already frequently stated my opinion of the pretended talent of
Fouché; but admitting his talent to have been as great as was supposed,
that would have been an additional reason for not entrusting the general
police of the kingdom to him. His principles and conduct were already
sufficiently known. No one could be ignorant of the language he held
respecting the Bourbons, and in which he indulged as freely after he
became the Minister of Louis XVIII. as when he was the Minister of
Bonaparte. It was universally known that in his conversation the
Bourbons were the perpetual butt for his sarcasms, that he never
mentioned them but in terms of disparagement, and that he represented
them as unworthy of governing France. Everybody must have been aware
that Fouché, in his heart, favoured a Republic, where the part of
President might have been assigned to him. Could any one have forgotten
the famous postscript he subjoined to a letter he wrote from Lyons to
his worthy friend Robespierre: "To celebrate the fete of the Republic
suitably, I have ordered 250 persons to be shot?" And to this man, the
most furious enemy of the restoration of the monarchy, was consigned
the task of consolidating it for the second time! But it would require
another Claudian to describe this new Rufinus!
Fouché never regarded a benefit in any other light than as the means of
injuring his benefactor. The King, deceived, like many other persons,
by the reputation which Fouché's partisans had conjured up for him, was
certainly not aware that Fouché had always discharged the functions
of Minister in his own interest, and never for the interest of the
Government which had the weakness to entrust him with a power always
dangerous in his hands. Fouché had opinions, but he belonged to no
party, and his political success is explained by the readiness with
which he always served the party he knew must triumph, and which he
himself overthrew in its turn. He maintained himself in favour from the
days of blood and terror until the happy time of the second Restoration
only by abandoning and sacrificing those who were attached to him; and
it might be said that his ruling passion was the desire of continual
change. No man was ever characterised by greater levity or inconstancy
of mind. In all things he looked only to himself, and to this egotism he
sacrificed both subjects and Governments. Such were the secret causes of
the sway exercised by Fouché during the Convention, the Directory, the
Empire, the Usurpation, and after the second return of the Bourbons.
He helped to found and to destroy every one of those successive
Governments. Fouché's character is perfectly unique. I know no other
man who, loaded with honours, and almost escaping disgrace, has passed
through so many eventful periods, and taken part in so many convulsions
and revolutions.
On the 7th of July the King was told that Fouché alone could smooth the
way for his entrance into Paris, that he alone could unlock the gates of
the capital, and that he alone had power to control public opinion. The
reception given to the King on the following day afforded an opportunity
of judging of the truth of these assertions. The King's presence was the
signal for a feeling of concord, which was manifested in a very decided
way. I saw upon the boulevards, and often in company with each other,
persons, some of whom had resumed the white cockade, while others
still retained the national colours, and harmony was not in the least
disturbed by these different badges.
Having returned to private life solely on account of Fouché's presence
in the Ministry, I yielded to that consolation which is always left to
the discontented. I watched the extravagance and inconsistency that were
passing around me, and the new follies which were every day committed;
and it must be confessed that a rich and varied picture presented itself
to my observation. The King did not bring back M. de Blacas. His Majesty
had yielded to prudent advice, and on arriving at Mons sent the unlucky
Minister as his ambassador to Naples. Vengeance was talked of, and there
were some persons inconsiderate enough to wish that advantage should
be taken of the presence of the foreigners in order to make what they
termed "an end of the Revolution," as if there were any other means of
effecting that object than frankly adopting whatever good the Revolution
had produced. The foreigners observed with satisfaction the disposition
of these shallow persons, which they thought might be turned to
their own advantage. The truth is, that on the second Restoration our
pretended allies proved themselves our enemies.
But for them, but for their bad conduct, their insatiable exactions, but
for the humiliation that was felt at seeing foreign cannon planted in
the streets of Paris, and beneath the very windows of the Palace, the
days which followed the 8th of July might have been considered by the
Royal Family as the season of a festival. Every day people thronged
to the garden of the Tuileries, and expressed their joy by singing and
dancing under the King's windows.
This ebullition of feeling might perhaps be thought absurd, but it
at least bore evidence of the pleasure caused by the return of the
Bourbons.
This manifestation of joy by numbers of persons of both sexes, most of
them belonging to the better classes of society, displeased Fouché, and
he determined to put a stop to it. Wretches were hired to mingle with
the crowd and sprinkle corrosive liquids on the dresses of the females
some of them were even instructed to commit acts of indecency, so that
all respectable persons were driven from the gardens through the fear of
being injured or insulted: As it was wished to create disturbance under
the very eyes of the King, and to make him doubt the reality of the
sentiments so openly expressed in his favour, the agents of the Police
mingled the cry of "Vive l'Empereur!" with that of "Vive le Roi!" and
it happened oftener than once that the most respectable persons were
arrested and charged by Fouché's infamous agents with having uttered
seditious cries. A friend of mine, whose Royalist opinions were well
known, and whose father had been massacred during the Revolution, told
me that while walking with two ladies he heard some individuals near
him crying out "Vive l'Empereur!" This created a great disturbance. The
sentinel advanced to the spot, and those very individuals themselves
had the audacity to charge my friend with being guilty of uttering the
offensive cry. In vain the bystanders asserted the falsehood of the
accusation; he was seized and dragged to the guard-house, and after
being detained for some hours he was liberated on the application of
his friends. By dint of such wretched manoeuvres Fouché triumphed. He
contrived to make it be believed that he was the only person capable of
preventing the disorders of which he himself was the sole author: He got
the Police of the Tuileries under his control. The singing and dancing
ceased, and the Palace was the abode of dulness.
While the King was at St. Denis he restored to General Dessoles the
command of the National Guard. The General ordered the barriers to be
immediately thrown open. On the day of his arrival in Paris the King
determined, as a principle, that the throne should be surrounded by a
Privy Council, the members of which were to be the princes and persons
whom his Majesty might appoint at a future period. The King then named
his new Ministry, which was thus composed:
Prince Talleyrand, peer of France, President of the Council of
Ministers, and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Baron Louis, Minister of Finance.
The Duke of Otranto, Minister of the Police.
Baron Pasquier, Minister of Justice, and Keeper of the Seals.
Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, War Minister.
Comte de Jaucourt, peer of France, Minister of the Marine.
The Duc de Richelieu, peer of France, Minister of the King's Household.
The portfolio of the Minister of the Interior, which was not immediately
disposed of, was provisionally entrusted to the Minister of Justice. But
what was most gratifying to the public in the composition of this
new ministry was that M. de Blacas, who had made himself so odious to
everybody, was superseded by M. de Richelieu, whose name revived the
memory of a great Minister, and who, by his excellent conduct throughout
the whole course of his career, deserves to be distinguished as a model
of honour and wisdom.
General satisfaction was expressed on the appointment of Marshal
Macdonald to the post of Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honour in
lieu of M. de Pradt. M. de Chabrol resumed the Prefecture of the Seine,
which, during the Hundred Days, had been occupied by M. de Bondi, M.
de Mole was made Director-General of bridges and causeways. I was
superseded in the Prefecture of Police by M. Decazes, and M. Beugnot
followed M. Ferrand as Director-General of the Post-office.
I think it was on the 10th of July that I went to St. Cloud to pay
a visit of thanks to Blücher. I had been informed that as soon as he
learned I had a house at St. Cloud he sent a guard to protect it.
This spontaneous mark of attention was well deserving of grateful
acknowledgment, especially at a time when there was so much reason to
complain of the plunder practised by the Prussians. My visit to Blücher
presented to observation a striking instance of the instability of human
greatness. I found Blücher residing like a sovereign in the Palace of
St. Cloud, where I had lived so long in the intimacy of Napoleon, at
a period when he dictated laws to the Kings of Europe before he was a
monarch himself.
--[The English occupied St. Cloud after the Prussians. My large
house, in which the children of the Comte d'Artois were inoculated,
was respected by them, but they occupied a small home forming part
of the estate. The English officer who commanded the troops
stationed a guard at the large house. One morning we were informed
that the door had been broken open and a valuable looking-glass
stolen. We complained to the commanding officer, and on the affair
being inquired into it was discovered that the sentinel himself had
committed the theft. The man was tried by a court-martial, and
condemned to death, a circumstance which, as may naturally be
supposed, was very distressing to us. Madame de Bourrienne applied
to the commanding officer for the man's pardon, but could only
obtain his reprieve. The regiment departed some weeks after, and we
could never learn what was the fate of the criminal.--Bourrienne.]--
In that cabinet in which Napoleon and I had passed so many busy hours,
and where so many great plans had their birth, I was received by the man
who had been my prisoner at Hamburg. The Prussian General immediately
reminded me of the circumstance. "Who could have foreseen," said he,
"that after being your prisoner I should become the protector of your
property? You treated me well at Hamburg, and I have now an opportunity
of repaying your kindness. Heaven knows what will be the result of all
this! One thing, however, is certain, and that is, that the Allies will
now make such conditions as will banish all possibility of danger for
a long time to come. The Emperor Alexander does not wish to make the
French people expiate too dearly the misfortunes they have caused us. He
attributes them to Napoleon, but Napoleon cannot pay the expenses of the
war, and they must be paid by some one. It was all very well for once,
but we cannot pay the expense of coming back a second time. However,"
added he, "you will lose none of your territory; that is a point on
which I can give you positive assurance. The Emperor Alexander has
several times repeated in my presence to the King my master, 'I honour
the French nation, and I am determined that it shall preserve its old
limits.'"
The above are the very words which Blücher addressed to me. Profiting by
the friendly sentiments he expressed towards me I took the opportunity
of mentioning the complaints that were everywhere made of the bad
discipline of the troops under his command. "What can I do?" said he.
"I cannot be present everywhere; but I assure you that in future and at
your recommendation I will severely punish any misconduct that may come
to my knowledge."
Such was the result of my visit to Blücher; but, in spite of his
promises, his troops continued to commit the most revolting excesses.
Thus the Prussian troops have left in the neighbourhood of Paris
recollections no less odious than those produced by the conduct of
Davoust's corps in Prussia.--Of this an instance now occurs to my
memory, which I will relate here. In the spring of 1816, as I was going
to Chevreuse, I stopped at the Petit Bicetre to water my horse. I seated
myself for a few minutes near the door of the inn, and a large dog
belonging to the innkeeper began to bark and growl at me. His master, a
respectable-looking old man, exclaimed, "Be quiet, Blücher!"--"How came
you to give your dog that name?" said I.--"Ah, sir! it is the name of
a villain who did a great deal of mischief here last year. There is my
house; they have left scarcely anything but the four walls. They said
they came for our good; but let them come back again . . . we will watch
them, and spear them like wild boars in the wood." The poor man's house
certainly exhibited traces of the most atrocious violence, and he shed
tears as he related to me his disasters.
Before the King departed for Ghent he had consented to sign the contract
of marriage between one of my daughters and M. Massieu de Clerval,
though the latter was at that time only a lieutenant in the navy. The
day appointed for the signature of the contract happened to be Sunday,
the 19th of March, and it may well be imagined that in the critical
circumstances in which we then stood, a matter of so little importance
could scarcely be thought about. In July I renewed my request to his
Majesty; which gave rise to serious discussions in the Council of
Ceremonies. Lest any deviation from the laws of rigid etiquette should
commit the fate of the monarchy, it was determined that the marriage
contract of a lieutenant in the navy could be signed only at the petty
levee. However, his Majesty, recollecting the promise he had given me,
decided that the signature should be given at the grand levee. Though
all this may appear exceedingly ludicrous, yet I must confess that the
triumph over etiquette was very gratifying to me.
A short time after the King appointed me a Councillor of State; a title
which I had held under Bonaparte ever since his installation at the
Tuileries, though I had never fulfilled the functions of the office. In
the month of August; the King having resolved to convoke a new Chamber
of Deputies, I was appointed President of the Electoral College of the
department of the Yonne. As soon as I was informed of my nomination I
waited on M. de Talleyrand for my instructions, but he told me that, in
conformity with the King's intentions, I was to receive my orders from
the Minister of Police. I observed to M. de Talleyrand that I must
decline seeing Fouché, on account of the situation in which we stood
with reference to each other. "Go to him, go to him," said M. de
Talleyrand, "and be assured Fouché will say to you nothing on the
subject."
I felt great repugnance to see Fouché, and consequently I went to
him quite against my inclination. I naturally expected a very cold
reception. What had passed between us rendered our interview exceedingly
delicate. I called on Fouché at nine in the morning, and found him
alone, and walking in his garden. He received me as a man might be
expected to receive an intimate friend whom he had not seen for a long
time. On reflection I was not very much surprised at this, for I was
well aware that Fouché could make his hatred yield to calculation. He
said not a word about his arrest, and it may well be supposed that I did
not seek to turn the conversation on that subject. I asked him whether
he had any information to give me respecting the elections of the Yonne.
"None at all," said he; "get yourself nominated if you can, only use
your endeavours to exclude General Desfouinaux. Anything else is
a matter of indifference to me."--"What is your objection to
Desfournaux?"--"The Ministry will not have him."
I was about to depart when Fouché; called me back saying, "Why are you
in such haste? Cannot you stay a few minutes longer?" He then began to
speak of the first return of the Bourbons, and asked me how I could so
easily bring myself to act in their favour. He then entered into details
respecting the Royal Family which I conceive it to be my duty to pass
over in silence: It may be added, however, that the conversation lasted
a long time, and to say the least of it, was by no means in favour of
"divine right."
I conceived it to be my duty to make the King acquainted with this
conversation, and as there was now no Comte de Blacas to keep truth and
good advice from his Majesty's ear, I was; on my first solicitation,
immediately admitted to, the Royal cabinet. I cautiously suppressed the
most startling details, for, had I literally reported what Fouché
said, Louis XVIII. could not possibly have given credit to it. The King
thanked me for my communication, and I could perceive he was convinced
that by longer retaining Fouché in office he would become the victim of
the Minister who had been so scandalously forced upon him on the 7th of
July. The disgrace of the Duke of Otranto speedily followed, and I had
the satisfaction of having contributed to repair one of the evils with
which the Duke of Wellington visited France.
Fouché was so evidently a traitor to the cause he feigned to serve, and
Bonaparte was so convinced of this,--that during the Hundred Days, when
the Ministers of the King at Ghent were enumerated in the presence of
Napoleon, some one said, "But where is the Minister of the Police?"
"E-h! Parbleu," said Bonaparte, "that is Fouché?" It was not the same
with Carnot, in spite of the indelible stain of his vote: if he had
served the King, his Majesty could have depended on him, but nothing
could shake the firmness of his principles in favour of liberty. I
learned, from a person who had the opportunity of being well informed,
that he would not accept the post of Minister of the Interior which was
offered to him at the commencement of the Hundred Days until he had a
conversation with Bonaparte, to ascertain whether he had changed his
principles. Carnot placed faith in the fair promises of Napoleon, who
deceived him, as he had deceived others.
Soon after my audience with the King I set off to discharge my duties in
the department of the Yonne, and I obtained the honour of being elected
to represent my countrymen in the Chamber of Deputies. My colleague was
M. Raudot, a man who, in very trying circumstances, had given proofs of
courage by boldly manifesting his attachment to the King's Government.
The following are the facts which I learned in connection with this
episode, and which I circulated as speedily as possible among the
electors of whom I had the honour to be President. Bonaparte, on his way
from Lyons to Paris, after his landing at the gulf of Juan, stopped
at Avalon, and immediately sent for the mayor, M. Raudot. He instantly
obeyed the summons. On coming into Napoleon's presence he said, "What
do you want, General?" This appellation displeased Napoleon, who
nevertheless put several questions to M. Raudot, who was willing to
oblige him as a traveller, but not to serve him as an Emperor. Napoleon
having given him some orders, this worthy servant of the King replied,
"General, I can receive no orders from you, for I acknowledge no
sovereign but the King, to whom I have sworn allegiance." Napoleon then
directed M. Raudot, in a tone of severity, to withdraw, and I need not
add that it was not long before he was dismissed from the mayoralty of
Avalon.
The elections of the Yonne being over, I returned to Paris, where I took
part in public affairs only as an amateur, while waiting for the opening
of the session. I was deeply grieved to see the Government resort to
measures of severity to punish faults which it would have been better
policy to attribute only to the unfortunate circumstances of the times.
No consideration can ever make me cease to regret the memory of Ney, who
was the victim of the influence of foreigners. Their object, as Blücher
intimated to me at St. Cloud, was to disable France from engaging in
war for a long time to come, and they hoped to effect that object by
stirring up between the Royal Government and the army of the Loire that
spirit of discord which the sacrifice of Ney could not fail to produce.
I have no positive proofs of the fact, but in my opinion Ney's life was
a pledge of gratitude which Fouché thought he must offer to the foreign
influence which had made him Minister.
About this time I learned a fact which will create no surprise, as it
affords another proof of the chivalrous disinterestedness of Macdonald's
character. When in 1815 several Marshals claimed from the Allied powers
their endowments in foreign countries, Madame Moreau, to whom the King
had given the honorary title of 'Madame la Marechale', and who was the
friend of the Duke of Tarentum, wrote, without Macdonald's knowledge,
to M. de Blacas; our ambassador at Naples, begging him to endeavour to
preserve for the Marshal the endowment which had been given him in
the Kingdom of Naples. As soon as Macdonald was informed of this
circumstance he waited upon Madame Moreau, thanked her for her kind
intentions, but at the same time informed her that he should disavow all
knowledge of her letter, as the request it contained was entirely averse
to his principles. The Marshal did, in fact, write the following letter
to M. de Blacas:--"I hasten to inform you, sir, that it was not with my
consent that Madame Moreau wrote to you, and I beg you will take no
step that might expose me to a refusal. The King of Naples owes me no
recompense for having beaten his army, revolutionised his kingdom, and
forced him to retire to Sicily." Such conduct was well worthy of the man
who was the last to forsake Napoleon in, 1814, and the first to rejoin
him, and that without the desire of accepting any appointment in 1815.
M. de Blacas, who was himself much surprised at Macdonald's letter,
communicated it to the King of Naples, whose answer deserves to be
recorded. It was as follows:--"If I had not imposed a law upon myself
to acknowledge none of the French endowments, the conduct of Marshal
Macdonald would have induced me to make an exception in his favour." It
is gratifying to see princes such scrupulous observers of the laws they
make for themselves!
About the end of August 1815, as I was walking on the Boulevard des
Capucines, I had the pleasure of meeting Rapp, whom I had not seen for
a long time. He had just come out of the house of Lagrenee, the artist,
who was painting his portrait. I was on foot, and Rapp's carriage was
waiting, so we both stepped into it, and set off to take a drive in the
Bois de Boulogne. We had a great deal to say to each other, for we had
not met since the great events of the two Restorations. The reason of
this was, that in 1814 I passed a part of the year at Sens, and since
the occurrences of March 1815 Rapp himself had been absent from Paris.
I found him perfectly resigned to his change of condition, though
indulging in a few oaths against the foreigners. Rapp was not one of
those, generals who betrayed the King on the 20th of March. He told
me that he remained at the head of the division which he commanded at
Ecouen, under the orders of the Duc de Berry, and that he did not
resign it to the War Minister until after the King's departure. "How did
Napoleon receive you?" I inquired. "I waited till he sent for me. You
know what sort of fellow I am: I know nothing about politics; not I. I
had sworn fidelity to the King. I know my duty, and I would have fought
against the Emperor."--"Indeed!"--"Yes, certainly I would, and I told
him so myself."--"How! did you venture so far?"--"To be sure. I told him
that my resolution was definite. 'Pshaw! . . . replied he angrily. 'I
knew well that you were opposed to me. If we had come to an action I
should have sought you out on the field of battle. I would have shown
you the Medusa's head. Would you have dared to fire on me?'--'Without
doubt,' I replied. 'Ah! parbleu this is too much,' he said. 'But your
troops would not have obeyed you. They had preserved all their affection
for me.'--'What could I do?' resumed I. 'You abdicated, you left France,
you recommended us to serve the King--and then you return! Besides; I
tell you frankly, I do not augur well of what will happen. We shall have
war again. France has had enough of that.' Upon this," continued Rapp,
"he assured me that he had other thoughts; that he had no further desire
for war; that he wished to govern in peace, and devote himself solely to
the happiness of his people. When I hinted opposition on the part of the
Foreign Powers, he said that he had made alliances. He then spoke to me
of the King, and I said I had been much pleased with him; indeed, the
King gave me a very gratifying reception on my return from Kiew, and I
see no reason why I should complain, when I am so well used. During
the conversation the Emperor much extolled the conduct of the Duke of
Orleans. He then gave me some description of his passage from the Isle
of Elba and his journey to Paris. He complained of being accused of
ambition; and observing that I looked astonished and doubtful--'What?'
he continued, 'am I ambitious then?' And patting his belly with both his
hands, 'Can a man,' he asked, 'so fat as I am be ambitious?' I could not
for my soul help saying, 'Ah! Sire, your Majesty is surely joking.' He
pretended, however, to be serious, and after a few moments, noticing my
decorations, he began to banter me about the Cross of St. Louis and the
Cross of the Lily, which I still wore."
I asked Rapp whether all was true that had been said about the
enthusiasm which was manifested along the whole of Napoleon's route from
the Gulf of Juan to Paris. "Ma foi!" he replied, "I was not there any
more than you, but all those who accompanied him have assured me of the
truth of the details which have been published; but I recollect having
heard Bertrand say that on one occasion he was fearful for the safety
of the Emperor, in case any assassin should have presented himself. At
Fossard, where the Emperor stopped to breakfast on his way to Paris,
his escort was so fatigued as to be unable to follow, so that he was
for some time almost alone on the road, until a squadron which was
in garrison at Melun met him and escorted him to Fontainebleau. As to
anything else, from all I have heard, the Emperor was exposed to no
danger."
We then began to talk of our situation, and the singular chances of our
fortune. Rapp told me how, within a few days only, he had ceased to
be one of the discontented; for the condition of the generals who had
commanded army corps in the campaign of Waterloo was very different in
1815 from what it had been in 1814. "I had determined," he said, "to
live a quiet life, to meddle with nothing, and not even to wear my
uniform. I had, therefore, since the King's return never presented
myself at Court; when, a week ago, while riding on horseback two or
three hundred paces from this spot, I saw a group of horsemen on the
other side of the avenue, one of whom galloped towards me. I immediately
recognised the Duc de Berry, 'How, Monseigneur, is it you?' I exclaimed.
'It is, my dear General; and since you will not come to us, I must
come to you. Will you breakfast with me tomorrow morning?'--'Ma foi!"
continued Rapp, "what could I do? The tone of kindness in which he gave
this invitation quite charmed me. I went, and I was treated so well
that I shall go again. But I will ask for nothing: I only want these
Prussians and English rascals out of the way!" I complimented Rapp
on his conduct, and told him that it was impossible that so loyal and
honest a man as he should not, at some time or other, attract the King's
notice. I had the happiness to see this prediction accomplished. Since
that time I regularly saw Rapp whenever we both happened to be in Paris,
which was pretty often.
I have already mentioned that in the month of August the King named me
Councillor of State. On the 19th of the following month I was appointed
Minister of State and member of the Privy Council. I may close these
volumes by relating a circumstance very flattering to me, and connected
with the last-mentioned nomination. The King had directed M. de
Talleyrand to present to him, in his official character of President
of the Council of Ministers, a list of the persons who might be deemed
suitable as members of the Privy Council. The King having read the list,
said to his Minister, "But, M. de Talleyrand, I do not see here
the names of two of our best friends, Bourrienne and Alexis de
Noailles."--"Sire, I thought their nomination would seem more flattering
in coming directly from your Majesty." The King then added my name to
the list, and afterwards that of the Comte Alexis de Noailles, so that
both our names are written in Louis XVIII.'s own hand in the original
Ordinance.
I have now brought to a conclusion my narrative of the extraordinary
events in which I have taken part, either as a spectator or an actor,
during the course of a strangely diversified life, of which nothing now
remains but recollections.
--[I discharged the functions of Councillor of State until 1818, at
which time an Ordinance appeared declaring those functions
Incompatible with the title of Minister of State--Bourrienne.]--
CHAPTER XII.
THE CENT JOURS.
The extraordinary rapidity of events during the Cent fours, or Hundred
Days of Napoleon's reign in 1815, and the startling changes in the parts
previously filled by the chief personages, make it difficult to consider
it as an historical period; it more resembles a series of sudden
theatrical transformations, only broken by the great pause while the
nation waited for news from the army.
The first Restoration of the Bourbons had been so unexpected, and was
so rapidly carried out, that the Bonapartists, or indeed all France,
had hardly realized the situation before Napoleon was again in the
Tuileries; and during the Cent Jours both Bonapartists and Royalists
were alike rubbing their eyes, asking whether they were awake, and
wondering which was the reality and which the dream, the Empire or the
Restoration.
It is both difficult and interesting to attempt to follow the history
of the chief characters of the period; and the reader must pardon some
abrupt transitions from person to person, and from group to group, while
the details of some subsequent movements of the Bonaparte family must
be thrown in to give a proper idea of the strange revolution in their
fortunes. We may divide the characters with which we have to deal into
five groups,--the Bonaparte family, the Marshals, the Statesmen of the
Empire, the Bourbons, and the Allied Monarchs. One figure and one name
will be missing, but if we omit all account of poor, bleeding, mutilated
France, it is but leaving her in the oblivion in which she was left at
the time by every one except by Napoleon.
The disaster of 1814 had rather dispersed than crushed the Bonaparte
family, and they rallied immediately on the return from Elba. The final
fall of the Empire was total ruin to them. The provisions of the Treaty
of Fontainebleau, which had been meant to ensure a maintenance to them,
had not been carried out while Napoleon was still a latent power, and
after 1815 the Bourbons were only too happy to find a reason for not
paying a debt they had determined never to liquidate; it was well for
any of the Bourbons in their days of distress to receive the bounty of
the usurper, but there was a peculiar pleasure in refusing to pay the
price promised for his immediate abdication.
The flight of the Bonapartes in 1815 was rapid. Metternich writes
to Maria Louisa in July 1815: "Madame Mere and Cardinal Fesch left
yesterday for Tuscany. We do not know exactly where Joseph is. Lucien
is in England under a false name, Jerome in Switzerland, Louis at Rome.
Queen Hortense has set out for Switzerland, whither General de Flahault
and his mother will follow her. Murat seems to be still at Toulon; this,
however, is not certain." Was ever such an account of a dynasty given?
These had all been among the great ones of Europe: in a moment they were
fugitives, several of them having for the rest of their lives a bitter
struggle with poverty. Fortunately for them the Pope, the King of
Holland, and the Grand-Duke of Tuscany, were not under heavy obligations
to Napoleon, and could thus afford to give to his family the protection
denied them by those monarchs who believed themselves bound to redeem
their former servility.
When Napoleon landed Maria Louisa was in Austria, and she was eager to
assist in taking every precaution to prevent her son, the young King
of Rome, being spirited off to join his father, whose fortunes she had
sworn to share: She herself was fast falling under the influence of the
one-eyed Austrian General, Neipperg, just then left a widower, who
was soon to be admitted to share her bed. By 1823 she seemed to have
entirely forgotten the different members of the Bonaparte family,
speaking of her life in France as "a bad dream." She obtained the
Grand-Duchy of Parma, where she reigned till 1847, marrying a third
time, it is said, the Count Bombellea, and dying, just too soon to be
hunted from her Duchy by the Revolution of 1848.
There is something very touching in most that we know of the poor young
King of Rome, from his childish but strangely prescient resistance to
his removal from Paris to Blois on the approach of the Allies in 1814,
to the message of remembrance sent in after years to the column of the
Place Vendome, "his only friend in Paris."
At four years of age Meneval describes him as gentle, but quick in
answering, strong, and with excellent health. "Light curly hair in
ringlets set off a fresh face, while fine blue eyes lit up his regular
features: He was precociously intelligent, and knew more than most
children older than himself." When Meneval--the former secretary of his
father, giving up his post in Austria with Maria Louisa, as he was about
to rejoin Napoleon--took farewell of the Prince in May 1815, the poor
little motherless child drew me towards the window, and, giving me a
touching look, said in a low tone, "Monsieur Meva, tell him (Napoleon)
that I always love him dearly." We say "motherless," because Maria
Louisa seems to have yielded up her child at the dictates of policy to
be closely guarded as easily as she gave up her husband. "If," wrote
Madame de Montesquieu, his governess, "the child had a mother, I would
leave him in her hands, and be happy, but she is nothing like a mother,
she is more indifferent to his fate than the most utter stranger in her
service." His grandfather, the Emperor Francis, to do him justice, seems
to have been really kind to the lad, and while, in 1814, 1816, and
in 1830, taking care to deprive him of all chance of, his glorious
inheritance, still seems to have cared for him personally, and to
have been always kind to him. There is no truth in the story that
the Austrians neglected his education and connived at the ruin of his
faculties. Both his tutor, the Count Maurice Dietrichstein, and Marshal
Marmont, who conversed with him in 1831, agree in speaking highly of
him as full of promise: Marmont's evidence being especially valuable as
showing that the Austrians did not object to the Duke of Reichstadt (as
he had been created by his grandfather in 1818), learning all he could
of his father's life from one of the Marshals. In 1831 Marmont describes
him: "I recognised his father's look in him, and in that he most
resembled Napoleon. His eyes, not so large as those of Napoleon, and
sunk deeper in their sockets, had the same expression, the same fire,
the same energy. His forehead was like that of his father, and so was
the lower part of his face and his chin. Then his complexion was that of
Napoleon in his youth, with the same pallor and the same colour of the
skin, but all the rest of his face recalled his mother and the House of
Austria. He was taller than Napoleon by about three inches."
As long as the Duke lived his name was naturally the rallying-point
of the Bonapartes, and was mentioned in some of the many conspiracies
against the Bourbons. In 1830 Joseph Bonaparte tried to get the sanction
of the Austrians to his nephew being put forward as a claimant to the
throne of France, vacant by the flight of Charles X., but they held
their captive firmly. A very interesting passage is given in the
'Memoirs of Charles Greville', who says that Prince Esterhazy told him
a great deal about the Duke of Reichstadt, who, if he had lived, would
have probably played a great part in the world. He died of a premature
decay, brought on, apparently, by over-exertion and over-excitement; his
talents were very conspicuous, he was 'petri d'ambition', worshipped the
memory of his father, and for that reason never liked his mother; his
thoughts were incessantly turned towards France, and when he heard of
the Days of July (overthrow of Charles X.) he said, "Why was I not
there to take my chance? He evinced great affection and gratitude to
his grandfather, who, while he scrupulously observed all his obligations
towards Louis Philippe, could not help feeling a secret pride in the
aspiring genius of Napoleon's son. He was well educated, and day
and night pored over the history of his father's glorious career. He
delighted in military exercises, and not only shone at the head of his
regiment, but had already acquired the hereditary art of ingratiating
himself with the soldiers." Esterhazy went on to describe how the Duke
abandoned everything at a ball when he met there Marshals Marmont and
Maison. "He had no eyes or ears but for them; from nine in the evening
to five the next morning he devoted himself to these Marshals." There
was the true Napoleonic ring in his answer to advice given by Marmont
when the Duke said that he would not allow himself to be put forward by
the Sovereigns of Europe. "The son of Napoleon should be too great to
serve as an instrument; and in events of that nature I wish not to be an
advanced guard, but a reserve,--that is, to come as a succour, recalling
great memories."
His death in 1832, on the 22d of July, the anniversary of the battle
of Salamanca, solved many questions. Metternich visited the Duke on his
deathbed: "It was a heartrending sight. I never remember to have seen a
more mournful picture of decay." When Francis was told of the death of
his grandson he answered, "I look upon the Duke's death as a blessing
for him. Whether it be detrimental or otherwise to the public good I do
not know. As for myself, I shall ever lament the loss of my grandson."
Josephine was in her grave at Rueil when Napoleon returned. She had died
on the 29th of May 1814, at Malmaison, while the Allies were exhibiting
themselves in Paris. It seems hard that she should not have lived
to enjoy a triumph, however brief, over her Austrian rival. "She, at
least," said Napoleon truly, "would never have abandoned me."
Josephine's daughter, Hortense, separated from her husband, Louis
Bonaparte, and created Duchess of St Leu by Louis XVIII., was in Paris,
much suspected by the Bourbons, but really engaged in a lawsuit with her
husband about the custody of her sons. She had to go into hiding when
the news of the landing arrived, but her empty house, left unwatched,
became very useful for receiving the Bonapartists, who wished for a
place of concealment, amongst them, as we shall see, being, of all
people, Fouché! Hortense was met by Napoleon with some reproaches for
accepting a title from the Bourbons, but she did the honours of the
Elysee for him, and it is creditable to both of them that, braving the
vile slanders about their intercourse, she was with him to the end;
and that one of the last persons to embrace him at Malmaison before
he started for the coast was his adopted daughter, the child of his
discarded wife. Hortense's presence in Paris was thought to be too
dangerous by the Prussian Governor; and she was peremptorily ordered to
leave. An appeal to the Emperor Francis received a favourable answer,
but Francis always gave way where any act against his son-in-law was
in question, and she had to start at the shortest notice on a wandering
life to Aix, Baden, and Constance, till the generosity of the small
but brave canton of Thurgau enabled her to get a resting-place at the
Chateau of Arenenberg.
In 1831 she lost her second son, the eldest then surviving, who died
from fever in a revolutionary attempt in which he and his younger
brother, the future Napoleon. III., were engaged. She was able to visit
France incognito, and even to see Louis Philippe and his Queen; but her
presence in the country was soon thought dangerous, and she was urged to
leave. In 1836 Hortense's last child, Louis Napoleon, made his attempt
at an 'emeule' at Strasburg, and was shipped off to America by the
Government. She went to France to plead for him, and then, worn out by
grief and anxiety, returned to Arenenberg, which her son, the future
Emperor, only succeeded in reaching in time to see her die in October
1837. She was laid with Josephine at Rueil.
Hortense's brother, Prince Eugène, the Viceroy of Italy, was at Vienna
when Napoleon returned, and fell under the suspicion of the Allies of
having informed the Emperor of the intention of removing him from Elba.
He was detained in Bavaria by his father-in-law the King, to whose Court
he retired, and who in 1817 created him Duke of Leuchtenberg and Prince
of Eichstadt. With the protection of Bavaria he actually succeeded in
wringing from the Bourbons some 700,000 francs of the property of his
mother. A first attack of apoplexy struck him in 1823, and he died from
a second in February 1824 at Munich. His descendants have intermarried
into the Royal Families of Portugal, Sweden, Brazil, Russia, 'and
Wartemberg; his grandson now (1884) holds the title of Leuchtenberg.
Except Louis, an invalid, all the brothers of the Emperor were around
him in the Cent Jours, the supreme effort of their family. Joseph had
left Spain after Vittoria, and had remained in an uncomfortable and
unrecognised state near Paris until in 1814 he was again employed, and
when, rightly or not, he urged the retreat of the Regency from Paris to
Blois. He then took refuge at his chateau of Prangins in the canton Vaud
in Switzerland, closely watched by the Bourbonists, who dreaded danger
from every side except the real point, and who preferred trying to
hunt the Bonapartists from place to place, instead of making their life
bearable by carrying out the engagements with them.
In 1816, escaping from the arrest with which he was threatened, after
having written to urge Murat to action with fatal effect, Joseph joined
Napoleon in Paris, and appeared at the Champ de Mai, sitting also in the
Chamber of Peers, but, as before, putting forward ridiculous pretensions
as to his inherent right to the peerage, and claiming a special seat.
In fact, he never could realise how entirely he owed any position to the
brother he wished to treat as an equal.
He remained in Paris during the brief campaign, and after Waterloo
was concealed in the house of the Swedish Ambassador, where his
sister-in-law, the Crown Princess of Sweden, the wife of Bernadotte, was
living. Muffling, the Prussian Governor of Paris, wished to arrest him,
but as the Governor could not violate the domicile of an Ambassador,
he had to apply to the Czar, who arranged for the escape of the ex-King
before the Governor could seize him Joseph went to the coast, pretty
much following the route of Napoleon. He was arrested once at Saintes,
but was allowed to proceed, and he met his brother on the 4th of July,
at Rochefort.
It is significant as to the possibility of the escape of Napoleon that
Joseph succeeded in getting on the brig Commerce as "M. Bouchard," and,
though the ship was thrice searched by the English, he got to New York
on the 28th of August, where he was mistaken for Carnot. He was well
received, and, taking the title of Comte de Survilliers, he first lived
at Lansdowne, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, where he afterwards always
passed part of the year while he was in America. He also bought the
property of Point Breeze, at Bordentown, on the Delaware, where he built
a house with a fine view of the river. This first house was burnt
down, but he erected another, where he lived in some state and in great
comfort, displaying his jewels and pictures to his admiring neighbours,
and showing kindness to impecunious nephews.
The news of the Revolution of July in 1830, which drove Charles X. from
the throne, excited Joseph's hopes for the family of which he considered
himself the Regent, and he applied to Metternich to get the Austrian
Government to allow or assist in the placing his nephew, the Duke of
Reichstadt, on the throne of France. Austria would not even answer.
In July 1832 Joseph crossed to England, where he met Lucien, just
arrived from Italy, bringing the news of the death of his nephew.
Disappointed, he stayed in England for some time, but returned to
America in 1836. In he finally left America, and again came to England,
where he had a paralytic stroke, and in 1843 he went to Florence, where
he met his wife after a long separation.
Joseph lived long enough to see the two attempts of another nephew,
Louis Napoleon, at Strasburg in 1836, and at Boulogne in 1840, which
seem to have been undertaken without his knowledge, and to have much
surprised him. He died in Florence in 1844; his body was buried first
in Santa Croce, Florence, but was removed to the Invalides in 1864. His
wife the ex-Queen, had retired in 1815 to Frankfort and to Brussels,
where she was well received by the King, William, and where she stayed
till 1823, when she went to Florence, dying there in 1845. Her monument
is in the Cappella Riccardi, Santa Croce, Florence.
Lucien had retired to Rome in 1804, on the creation of the Empire, and
had continued embroiled with his brother, partly from his so-called
Republican principles, but chiefly from his adhering to his marriage,
his second one, with Madame Jouberthon,--a union which Napoleon steadily
refused to acknowledge, offering Lucien anything, a kingdom or the hand
of a queen (if we take Lucien's account), if he would only consent to
the annulment of the contract.
In August 1810, affecting uneasiness as Napoleon stretched his power
over Rome, Lucien embarked for America, but he was captured by the
English and taken, first to Malta and then to England, where he passed
the years till 1814 in a sort of honourable captivity, first at Ludlow
and then at Thorngrove, not far from that town.
In 1814 Lucien was released, when he went to Rome, where he was welcomed
by the kindly old Pope, who remembered the benefits conferred by
Napoleon on the Church, while he forgot the injuries personal to
himself; and the stiff-necked Republican, the one-time "Brutus"
Bonaparte, accepted the title of Duke of Musignano and Prince of Canino.
In 1815 Lucien joined his brother, whom he wished to abdicate at the
Champ de Mai in favour of the King of Rome, placing his sword only at
the disposal of France. This step was seriously debated, but, though
it might have placed the Allies in a more difficult position, it would
certainly have been disregarded by them, at least unless some great
victory had given the dynasty firmer footing. After Waterloo he was
in favour of a dissolution of the Chambers, but Napoleon had become
hopeless and almost apathetic, while Lucien himself, from his former
connection with the 18th and 19th Brumaire, was looked on with great
distrust by the Chambers, as indeed he was by his brother. Advantage was
taken of his Roman title to taunt him with not being a Frenchman; and
all his efforts failed. At the end he fled, and failing to cross to
England or to get to Rochefort, he reached Turin on the 12th of July
only to find himself arrested. He remained there till the 15th of
September, when he was allowed to go to Rome. There he was interned and
carefully watched; indeed in 1817 the Pope had to intervene to prevent
his removal to the north of Germany, so anxious were the Allies as to
the safety of the puppet they had put on the throne of France.
The death of Napoleon in 1821 released Lucien and the Bonaparte family
from the constant surveillance exercised over them till then. In 1830 he
bought a property, the Croce del Biacco, near Bologna. The flight of the
elder branch of the Bourbons from France in 1830 raised his hopes, and,
as already said, he went to England in 1832 to meet Joseph and to plan
some step for raising Napoleon II. to the throne. The news of the death
of his nephew dashed all the hopes of the family, and after staying in
England for some time he returned to Italy, dying at Viterbo in 1840,
and being buried at Canino, where also his second wife lies. Lucien had
a taste for literature, and was the author of several works, which a
kindly posterity will allow to die.
Louis Bonaparte had fled from his Kingdom of Holland in 1810, after a
short reign of four years, disgusted with being expected to study the
interests of the brother to whom he owed his throne, and with being
required to treat his wife Hortense with ordinary consideration. He had
taken refuge in Austria, putting that Court in great anxiety how to
pay him the amount of attention to be expected by the brother of the
Emperor, and at the same time the proper coldness Napoleon might wish
shown to a royal deserter. Thanks to the suggestions of Metternich, they
seem to have been successful in this task. Taking the title of Comte de,
St. Len from an estate in France; Louis went first to Toplitz, then to
Gratz, and in 1813 he took refuge in Switzerland. In 1814 he went to
Rome; and then to Florence, where the Grand-Duke Ferdinand received any
of the family who came there with great kindness.
Louis was the least interesting of the family, and it is difficult to
excuse his absence from France in 1815. After all, the present of a
kingdom is not such an unpardonable offence as to separate brothers for
ever, and Napoleon seems to have felt deeply the way in which he was
treated by a brother to whom he had acted as a father; still ill-health
and the natural selfishness of invalids may account for much. While his
son Louis Napoleon was flying about making his attempts on France, Louis
remained in the Roman Palace of the French Academy, sunk in anxiety
about his religious state. He disclaimed his son's proceedings, but this
may have been due to the Pope, who sheltered him. Anyhow, it is strange
to mark the difference between the father and his two sons who came of
age, and who took to revolution so kindly.
In 1846 Louis was ill at Leghorn when his son escaped from Ham, where he
had been imprisoned after his Boulogne attempt. Passports were refused
to the son to go from Italy to his father, and Louis died alone on the
25th of July 1846. He was buried at Santa Croce, Florence, but the body
was afterwards removed to the village church of St. Leu Taverny, rebuilt
by his son Napoleon III.
Jerome, the youngest of the whole family, the "middy," as Napoleon liked
to call him, had been placed in the navy, in which profession he passed
as having distinguished himself, after leaving his admiral in rather a
peculiar manner, by attacking an English convoy, and eventually escaping
the English by running into the port of Concarneau, believed to be
inaccessible. At that time it was an event for a French man-of-war to
reach home.
Jerome had incurred the anger of Napoleon by marrying a beautiful young
lady of Baltimore, a Mica Paterson, but, more obedient than Lucien, he
submitted to have this marriage annulled by his all-powerful brother,
and in reward he received the brand-new Kingdom of Westphalia, and the
hand of a daughter of the King of Wartemberg, "the cleverest King in
Europe," according to Napoleon. Jerome is said to have ruled rather more
as a Heliogabalus than a Solomon, but the new Kingdom had the advantage
of starting with good administrators, and with the example of "the
Code."
In 1812 Jerome was given the command of the right wing of the Grand Army
in its advance against Russia, but he did not fulfil the expectations
of his brother, and Davoust took the command instead. Every king feels
himself a born general: whatever else they cannot do, war is an art
which comes with the crown, and Jerome, unwilling to serve under a mere
Marshal, withdrew in disgust. In 1813 he had the good feeling and the
good sense to refuse the treacherous offer of the Allies to allow him
to retain his kingdom if he joined them against his brother, a snare his
sister Caroline fell into at Naples.
On the downfall of Napoleon, Jerome, as the Count of Gratz, went to
Switzerland, and then to Gratz and Trieste.
His wife, the ex-Queen Catherine, fell into the hands of Maubreuil, the
officer sent on a mysterious mission, believed to be intended for
the murder of Napoleon, but which only resulted in the robbery of the
Queen's jewels and of some 80,000 francs. The jewels were for the most
part recovered, being fished up from the bed of the Seine, but not the
cash.
In 1815 Jerome joined his brother, and appeared at the Champ de Mai. A
true Bonaparte, his vanity was much hurt, however, by having--he, a real
king--to sit on the back seat of the carriage, while his elder brother
Lucien; a mere Roman-prince, occupied a seat of honour by the side
of Napoleon. In the Waterloo campaign he was given the 6th division,
forming part of Reille's corps, General Guilleminot being sent with him
to prevent any of the awkwardnesses of 1812. His division was engaged
with the Prussians on the 15th of June, and at Quatre Bras he was
severely wounded. At Waterloo his division formed the extreme left of
the French infantry, opposite Hougomont, and was engaged in the struggle
for that post. Whatever his failings may have been, he is acknowledged
to have fought gallantly. After the battle he was given the command
of the army by his brother, and was told to cover the retreat to Laon,
which he reached on the 21st of June, with 18,000 infantry, 3000 cavalry
and two batteries which he had rallied. This, be it observed, is a
larger force than Ney told the Chambers even Grouchy (none of whose men
are included) could have, and Jerome's strength had swollen to 25,000
infantry and 6000 cavalry when he handed over the army to Soult at Laon.
Napoleon had intended to leave Jerome with the command of the army, but
he eventually took him to Paris.
When Napoleon left the country Jerome was assured by the ambassador
of Wurtemberg that he would find a refuge in the dominions of his
father-in-law; but when he arrived there he was informed that if he
did not wish to be, according to the original intentions of the Allies,
handed over to the Prussians, and separated from his wife, he must sign
an engagement to remain in Wurtemberg under strict surveillance. He was
then imprisoned at Guppingen, and afterwards at Ellwangen, where he was
not even allowed to write or receive letters except through the captain
of the chateau.
Part of Jerome's troubles came from the conduct of his wife Catherine,
who had the idea that, as she had been given in marriage by her father
to Jerome, as she had lived for seven years as his wife, and as she had
borne a child to him, she was really his wife, and bound to remain
with him in his misfortunes! The royal family of Wurtemberg, however,
following the illustrious example of that of Austria, looked on her past
life as a mere state of concubinage, useful to the family, and to be
respected while her husband could retain his kingdom, but which should
end the moment there was nothing more to be gained from Napoleon or his
brother. It was all proper and decorous to retain the title of King of
Wurtemberg, which the former Duke and then Elector had owed to the exile
of St. Helena, but King Frederick, and still less his son William, who
succeeded him in 1816, could not comprehend Catherine's clinging to her
husband when he had lost his kingdom. "I was a Queen; I am still a
wife and mother," wrote the Princess to her disgusted father. Another
complaint against this extraordinary Princess was that she actually saw
Las Cases on his return from St. Helena, and thus obtained news of the
exile.
After constant ill treatment Jerome and his wife, as the Count and
Countess of Montfort, a rank the King of Wurtemberg afterwards raised
to Prince, were allowed to proceed to Hainburg near Vienna, then to
Florence, and, later to Trieste, where Jerome was when his sister Elisa
died. In 1823 they were permitted to go to Rome, and in 1835 they went
to Lausanne, where his true-hearted wife died the same year. Jerome went
to Florence, and lived to see the revival of the Empire, and to once
more enjoy the rank of a French Prince. He died in 1860 at the chateau
of Villegenis in France, and was buried in the Invalides.
The mother of the Emperor, Letitia, in 1814, had retained her title
of Imperatrice Mere, and had retired to Rome. She then went to Elba
in June, and stayed there with her daughter Pauline until Napoleon had
sailed for France. On 2d March 1814 she went from Elba to San Vicenzo
near Leghorn, and then to Rome. Her son sent a frigate for her, the
'Melpomene', which was captured by the English 'Rivoli'; another vessel,
the 'Dryade', brought her to France, and she joined Napoleon in Paris.
We must have a regard for this simple old lady, who was always careful
and saving, only half believing in the stability of the Empire; and,
like a true mother, always most attentive to the most unfortunate of her
children. Her life had been full of startling changes; and it must have
been strange for the woman who had been hunted out of Corsica, flying
from her house just in time to save her life from the adherents of
Paoli, to find herself in grandeur in Paris. She saw her son just
before he left, as she thought, for America, and then retired to the
Rinuccini--now the Bonaparte-Palace at Rome, where she died in 1836.
She had been anxious to join Napoleon at St. Helena, and had refused, as
long as Napoleon was alive, to forgive her daughter Caroline, the wife
of Murat, for her abandonment of her brother. She was buried at Albano.
Letitia's youngest daughter, the beautiful but frail Pauline, Duchess of
Guastalla, married first to General Leclerc, and then to Prince Camille
Borgelle, was at Nice when her brother abdicated in 1814. She retired
with her mother to Rome, and in October 1814 went to Elba, staying there
till Napoleon left, except when she was sent to Naples with a message of
forgiveness for Murat. There was a characteristic scene between her and
Colonel Campbell when the English Commissioner arrived to find Napoleon
gone. Pauline professed ignorance till the last of her brother's
intentions, and pressed the Colonel's hand to her heart that he might
feel how agitated she was. "She did not appear to be so," says the
battered old Colonel, who seems to have been proof against her charms.
She then went to Rome, and later to Pisa. Her health was failing, and,
unable to join her brother in France, she sent him her only means of
assistance, her jewels, which were captured at Waterloo. Her offer to go
to St. Helena, repeated several times, was never accepted by Napoleon.
She died in 1825 at Florence, from consumption, reconciled to her
husband, from whom she had been separated since 1807. She was buried at
Sta Maria Maggiore, Rome.
Elisa, the eldest sister of Napoleon, the former Grand Duchess of
Tuscany, which Duchy she had ruled well, being a woman of considerable
talent, was the first of all to die. In 1814 she had been forced to fly
from her Government, and, accompanied by her husband, she had attempted
to reach France. Finding herself cut off by the Austrians; she took
shelter with Augereau's army, and then returned to Italy. She took the
title of Comtesse de Campignana, and retired to Trieste, near which
town, at the Chateau of Sant Andrea, under a wearisome surveillance,
she expired in 1820, watched by her husband, Felix Baeciocchi, and
her sister Caroline. Her monument is in the Bacciocchi Chapel in San
Petronio, Bologna.
Caroline, the wife of Murat, was the only one of the family untrue to
Napoleon. Very ambitious, and forgetting how completely she owed
her Kingdom of Naples to her brother, she had urged Murat in 1814 to
separate from Napoleon, and, still worse, to attack Eugène, who held the
north of Italy against the Austrians. She relied on the formal treaty
with Austria that Murat should retain his Kingdom of Naples, and she may
also have trusted to the good offices of her former admirer Metternich.
When the Congress of Vienna met, the French Minister, Talleyrand, at
once began to press for the removal of Murat. A trifling treaty was
not considered an obstacle to the Heaven-sent deliverers of Europe, and
Murat, believing his fate sealed, hearing of Napoleon's landing, and
urged on by a misleading letter from Joseph Bonaparte, at once marched
to attack the Austrians. He was easily routed by the Austrians under
Neipperg, the future husband of Maria Louisa. Murat fled to France, and
Caroline first took refuge in an English man-of-war, the 'Tremendous',
being, promised a free passage to England. She was, however, handed over
to the Austrians; who kept her in confinement at Hainburg near Vienna.
In October 1815 Murat landed in Calabria in a last wild attempt to
recover his throne. He was arrested and immediately shot. After his
murder Caroline, taking the title of Countess of Lipona (an anagram of
Napoli), was permitted to retire to Trieste with Elisa, Jerome, and his
wife. Caroline was almost without means of existence, the Neapolitan
Bourbons refusing even to give up the property she had brought there.
She married a General Macdonald. When Hortense was buried at Rueil
Caroline obtained permission to attend the sad ceremony. In 1838 she
went to France to try to obtain a pension, and succeeded in getting one
of 100,000 francs. She died from cancer in the stomach in 1839, and was
buried in the Campo Santo, Bologna.
Cardinal Fesch, the half-uncle of Napoleon, the Archbishop of Lyons, who
had fallen into disgrace with Napoleon for taking the side of the Pope
and refusing to accept the see of Paris, to which he was nominated by
Napoleon, had retired to Rome in 1814, where he remained till the
return of Napoleon, when he went to Paris, and accepted a peerage. After
Waterloo he again sought the protection of the Pope, and he remained at
Rome till his death in 1839, a few days before Caroline Bonaparte's. He
was buried in S. Lorenzo in Lucina, Rome. He had for years been a great
collector of pictures, of which he left a large number (1200) to the
town of Ajaccio. The Cardinal, buying at the right time when few men had
either enough leisure or money to think of pictures, got together a most
valuable collection. This was sold in 1843-44 at Rome. Its contents now
form some of the greatest treasures in the galleries of Dudley House
and of the Marquis of Hertford, now Sir Richard Wallace's. In a large
collection there are generally some daubs, but it is an amusing instance
of party spirit to find the value of his pictures run down by men who
are unwilling to allow any one connected with Napoleon to have even
taste in art. He always refused the demands of the Restoration that he
should resign his see of Lyons, though under Louis Philippe he offered
to do so, and leave his pictures to France, if the Bonaparte family were
allowed to enter France: this was refused.
It can hardly be denied that the fate of the Bonapartes was a hard one.
Napoleon had been undisputed sovereign of France for fourteen years,
Louis had been King of Holland for four years, Jerome was King of
Westphalia for six years, Caroline was Queen of Naples for seven years.
If Napoleon had forfeited all his rights by leaving Elba after the
conditions of his abdication had been broken by the Allies, still there
was no reason why the terms stipulated for the other members of the
family should not have been carried out, or at least an ordinary income
insured to them. With all Napoleon's faults he was always ready to
shower wealth on the victims of his policy:--The sovereigns of the
Continent had courted and intermarried with the Bonapartes in the fame
of that family's grandeur: there was neither generosity nor wisdom
in treating them as so many criminals the moment fortune had declared
against them. The conduct of the Allies was not influenced simply by the
principle of legitimacy, for the King of Saxony only kept his throne
by the monarchs falling out over the spoil. If sovereigns were to
be respected as of divine appointment, it was not well to make their
existence only depend on the fate of war.
Nothing in the history of the Cent Jours is more strange than the small
part played in it by the Marshals, the very men who are so identified
in our minds with the Emperor, that we might have expected to find that
brilliant band playing a most prominent part in his last great struggle,
no longer for mere victory, but for very existence. In recording how the
Guard came up the fatal hill at Waterloo for their last combat, it would
seem but natural to have to give a long roll of the old historic names
as leading or at least accompanying them; and the reader is apt to
ask, where were the men whose very titles recalled such glorious
battle-fields, such achievements, and such rewards showered down by the
man who, almost alone at the end of the day, rode forward to invite that
death from which it was such cruel kindness to save him?
Only three Marshals were in Belgium in 1815, and even of them one did
but count his promotion from that very year, so it is but natural for
French writers to dream of what might have been the course of the battle
if Murat's plume had waved with the cavalry, if Mortier had been with
the Guard, and if Davoust or one of his tried brethren had taken the
place of Grouchy. There is, however, little real ground for surprise at
this absence of the Marshals. Death, time, and hardships had all done
their work amongst that grand array of commanders. Some were old men,
veterans of the Revolutionary wars, when first created Marshals in 1804;
others, such as Massena, were now but the wreck of themselves; and even
before 1812 Napoleon had been struck with the failing energy of some of
his original companions: indeed, it might have been better for him if
he had in 1813, as he half resolved, cast away his dislike to new faces,
and fought his last desperate campaigns with younger men who still had
fortunes to win, leaving "Berthier to hunt at Grosbois," and the other
Marshals to enjoy their well-deserved rest in their splendid hotels at
Paris.
Davoust, Duke of Auerstadt, Prince of Eckmuhl, whose name should be
properly spelt Davout, was one of the principal personages at the end
of the Cent Jours. Strict and severe, having his corps always in good
order, and displaying more character than most of the military men under
Napoleon, one is apt to believe that the conqueror at Auerstadt bade
fair to be the most prominent of all the Marshals. In 1814 he had
returned from defending Hamburg to find himself under a cloud of
accusations, and the Bourbons ungenerously and unwisely left him
undefended for acts which they must have known were part of his duty
as governor of a besieged place. At the time he was attacked as if
his first duty was not to hold the place for France, but to organise
a system of outdoor relief for the neighbouring population, and to
surrender as soon as he had exhausted the money in the Government chest
and the provisions in the Government stores. Sore and discontented,
practically proscribed, still Davoust would not join in the too hasty
enterprise of the brothers Lallemand, who wished him to lead the
military rising on the approach of Napoleon; but he was with the Emperor
on the day after his arrival in Paris.
Davoust might have expected high command in the army, but, to his
annoyance, Napoleon fixed on him as War Minister. For several years the
War Minister had been little more than a clerk, and neither had nor was
expected to have much influence with the army. Napoleon now wanted a man
of tried devotion, and of stern enough character to overawe the capital
and the restless spirits in the army. Much against his will Davoust was
therefore forced to content himself with the organisation of the
forces being hastily raised, but he chafed in his position; and it is
characteristic of him that Napoleon was eventually forced to send him
the most formal orders before the surly Minister would carry out the
Emperor's unlucky intention of giving a command to Bourmont, whom
Davoust strongly and rightly suspected of treachery. When Napoleon left
the capital Davoust became its governor, and held his post unmoved
by the intrigues of the Republicans and the Royalists. When Napoleon
returned from the great disaster Davoust gave his voice for the only
wise policy,--resistance and the prorogation of the factious Chambers.
On the abdication of Napoleon the Provisional Government necessarily
gave Davoust the command of the army which was concentrated round Paris.
If Davoust had restricted himself less closely to his duty as a soldier,
if he had taken more on himself, with the 100,000 men he soon had under
him, he might have saved France from much of her subsequent humiliation,
or at least he might have preserved the lives of Ney and of the brave
men whom the Bourbons afterwards butchered. Outwitted by Fouché,
and unwilling to face the hostility of the Chambers, Davoust at last
consented to the capitulation of Paris, though he first gave the
Prussian cavalry a sharp lesson. While many of his comrades were engaged
in the great struggle for favour or safety, the stern Marshal gave
up his Ministry, and, doing the last service in his power to France,
stopped all further useless bloodshed by withdrawing the army, no easy
task in their then humour, behind the Loire, where he kept what the
Royalists called the "Brigands of the Loire" in subjection till relieved
by Macdonald. He was the only one of the younger Marshals who had not
been tried in Spain, and so far he was fortunate; but, though he was not
popular with the army, his character and services seem to point him
out as the most fit of all the Marshals for an independent command.
Had Napoleon been successful in 1812, Davoust was to have received the
Viceroyalty of Poland; and he would probably have left a higher name in
history than the other men placed by Napoleon to rule over his outlying
kingdoms. In any case it was fortunate for France and for the Allies
that a man of his character ruled the army after Napoleon abdicated;
there would otherwise have been wild work round Paris, as it was only
with the greatest difficulty and by the force of his authority and
example that Davoust succeeded in getting the army to withdraw from the
capital, and to gradually adopt the white cockade. When superseded by
Macdonald he had done a work no other man could have accomplished. He
protested against the proscription, but it was too late; his power had
departed. In 1819 he was forgiven for his services to France, and was
made a peer, but he died in 1823, only fifty-three years old.
Among the Marshals who gave an active support to Napoleon Ney takes the
leading part in most eyes; if it were only for his fate, which is too
well known for much to be said here concerning it. In 1815 Ney was
commanding in Franche-Comte, and was called up to Paris and ordered to
go to Besancon to march so as to take Napoleon in flank. He started off,
not improbably using the rough brags afterwards attributed to him as
most grievous sins, such as that "he would bring back Napoleon in an
iron cage." It had been intended to have sent the Duc de Berry, the
second son of the Comte d'Artois, with Ney; and it was most unfortunate
for the Marshal that this was not done. There can be no possible doubt
that Ney spoke and acted in good faith when he left Paris. One point
alone seems decisive of this. Ney found under him in command, as General
of Division, Bourmont, an officer of well-known Royalist opinions, who
had at one time served with the Vendean insurgents, and who afterwards
deserted Napoleon just before Waterloo, although he had entreated to be
employed in the campaign. Not only did Ney leave Bourmont in command,
but, requiring another Divisional General, instead of selecting a
Bonapartist, he urged Lecourbe to leave his retirement and join him.
Now, though Lecourbe was a distinguished General, specially famed for
mountain warfare--witness his services in 1799 among the Alps above
Lucerne--he had been long left unemployed by Napoleon on account of
his strong Republican opinions and his sympathy with Moreau. These
two Generals, Bourmont and Lecourbe, the two arms of Ney as commander,
through whom alone he could communicate with the troops, he not only
kept with him, but consulted to the last, before he declared for
Napoleon. This would have been too dangerous a thing for a tricky
politician to have attempted as a blind, but Ney was well known to be
only too frank and impulsive. Had the Duc de Berry gone with him, had
Ney carried with him such a gage of the intention of the Bourbons to
defend their throne, it is probable that he would have behaved like
Macdonald; and it is certain that he would have had no better
success. The Bonapartists themselves dreaded what they called the
wrong-headedness of Ney. It was, however, thought better to keep the Duc
de Berry in safety.
Ney found himself put forward singly, as it were, to oppose the man whom
all France was joining; he found, as did every officer sent on a similar
mission, that the soldiers were simply waiting to meet Napoleon; and
while the Princes sought security, while the soldiers plotted against
their leaders, came the calls of the Emperor in the old trumpet tone.
The eagle was to fly--nay, it was flying from tower to tower, and
victory was advancing with a rush. Was Ney to be the one man to shoot
down his old leader? could he, as he asked, stop the sea with his hands?
On his trial his subordinate, Bourmont, who had by that time shown
his devotion to the Bourbons by sacrificing his military honour, and
deserting to the Allies, was asked whether Ney could have got the
soldiers to act against the Emperor. He could only suggest that if Ney
had taken a musket and himself charged, the men would have followed his
example. "Still," said Bourmont, "I would not dare to affirm that he
(the Marshal) would have won." And who was Ney to charge? We know how
Napoleon approached the forces sent to oppose him: he showed himself
alone in the front of his own troops. Was Ney to deliberately kill his
old commander? was any general ever expected to undergo such a test?
and can it be believed that the soldiers who carried off the reluctant
Oudinot and chased the flying Macdonald, had such a reverence for the
"Rougeot," as they called him, that they would have stood by while he
committed this murder? The whole idea is absurd: as Ney himself said at
his trial, they would have "pulverized" him. Undoubtedly the honourable
course for Ney would have been to have left his corps when he lost
control over them; but to urge, as was done afterwards, that he had
acted on a preconceived scheme, and that his example had such weight,
was only malicious falsehood. The Emperor himself knew well how little
he owed to the free will of his Marshal, and he soon had to send him
from Paris, as Ney, sore at heart, and discontented with himself and
with both sides, uttered his mind with his usual freedom. Ney was first
ordered to inspect the frontier from Dunkirk to Bale, and was then
allowed to go to his home. He kept so aloof from Napoleon that when he
appeared on the Champ de Mai the Emperor affected surprise, saying that
he thought Ney had emigrated. At the last moment Marshal Mortier fell
ill. Ney had already been sent for. He hurried up, buying Mortier's
horses (presumably the ill-fated animals who died under him at
Waterloo), and reached the army just in time to be given the command of
the left wing.
It has been well remarked that the very qualities which made Ney
invaluable for defence or for the service of a rear-guard weighed
against him in such a combat as Quatre Bras. Splendid as a corps leader,
he had not the commander's eye to embrace the field and surmise the
strength of the enemy at a glance. At Bautzen in 1818 his staff had been
unable to prevent him from leaving the route which would have brought
him on the very rear of the enemy, because seeing the foe, and unable
to resist the desire of returning their fire, he turned off to engage
immediately. At Quatre Bras, not seeing the force he was engaged with,
believing he had the whole English army on his hands from the first, he
let himself at the beginning of the day be imposed upon by a mere screen
of troops.
We cannot here go into Ney's behaviour at Waterloo except to point out
that too little importance is generally given to the fact of the English
cavalry having, in a happy moment, fallen on and destroyed the artillery
which was being brought up to sweep the English squares at close
quarters. At Waterloo, as in so many other combats, the account of
Ney's behaviour more resembles that of a Homeric hero than of a modern
general. To the ideal commander of to-day, watching the fight at a
distance, calmly weighing its course, undisturbed except by distant
random shots, it is strange to compare Ney staggering through the gate
of Konigsberg all covered with blood; smoke and snow, musket in hand,
announcing himself as the rear-guard of France, or appearing, a second
Achilles, on the ramparts of Smolensko to encourage the yielding troops
on the glacis, or amidst the flying troops at Waterloo, with uncovered
head and broken sword, black with powder, on foot, his fifth horse
killed under him, knowing that life, honour, and country were lost,
still hoping against hope and attempting one more last desperate rally.
If he had died--ah! if he had died there--what a glorious tomb might
have risen, glorious for France as well as for him, with the simple
inscription, "The Bravest of the Brave."
Early on the 19th June a small band of officers retreating from the
field found Ney asleep at Marchiennes, "the first repose he had had for
four days," and they did not disturb him for orders. "And indeed what
order could Marshal Ney have given?" The disaster of the day, the
overwhelming horror of the flight of the beaten army, simply crushed Ney
morally as well as physically. Rising in the Chambers he denounced all
attempt at further resistance. He did not know, he would not believe,
that Grouchy was safe, and that the army was fast rallying. Fresh from
the field, with all its traces on him, the authority of Ney was too
great for the Government. Frightened friends, plotting Royalists, echoed
the wild words of Ney brave only against physical dangers. Instead of
dying on the battle-field, he had lived to ensure the return of the
Bourbons, the fall of Bonaparte, his own death, and the ruin of France.
Before his exception from the amnesty was known Ney left Paris on
the 6th of July, and went into the country with but little attempt at
concealment, and with formal passports from Fouché. The capitulation of
Paris seemed to cover him, and he was so little aware of the thirst of
the Royalists for his blood that he let his presence be known by leaving
about a splendid sabre presented to him by the Emperor on his marriage,
and recognised by mere report by an old soldier as belonging to Ney or
Murat; and Ney himself let into the house the party sent to arrest
him on the 5th of August, and actually refused the offer of Excelmans,
through whose troops he passed, to set him free. No one at the time,
except the wretched refugees of Ghent, could have suspected, after the
capitulation, that there was any special danger for Ney, and it is very
difficult to see on what principle the Bourbons chose their victims or
intended victims. Drouot, for example, had never served Louis XVIII., he
had never worn the white cockade, he had left France with Napoleon for
Elba, and had served the Emperor there. In 1815 he had fought under his
own sovereign. After Waterloo he had exerted all his great influence,
the greater from his position, to induce the Guard to retire behind the
Loire, and to submit to the Bourbons. It was because Davoust so needed
him that Drouot remained with the army. Stilt Drouot was selected for
death, but the evidence of his position was too strong to enable the
Court to condemn him. Cambronne, another selection, had also gone with
Napoleon to Elba. Savory, another selection, had, as was eventually
acknowledged, only joined Napoleon when he was in full possession of the
reins of Government. Bertrand, who was condemned while at St. Helena,
was in the same position as Drouot. In fact, if any one were to draw up
a list of probable proscriptions and compare it with those of the 24th
of July 1815, there would probably be few names common to both except
Labedoyere, Mouton Duvernet, etc. The truth is that the Bourbons, and,
to do them justice, still more the rancorous band of mediocrities who
surrounded them, thirsted for blood. Even they could feel the full
ignominy of the flight to Ghent.
While they had been chanting the glories of the Restoration, the
devotion of the people, the valour of the Princes, Napoleon had landed,
the Restoration had vanished like a bad dream, and the Princes were the
first to lead the way to the frontier. To protest that there had been a
conspiracy, and that the conspirators must suffer, was the only possible
cloak for the shame of the Royalists, who could not see that the only
conspiracy was the universal one of the nation against the miserable men
who knew not how to govern a high-spirited people.
Ney, arrested on the 5th of August, was first brought before a Military
Court on the 9th of November composed of Marshal Jourdan (President),
Marshals Massena, Augereau, and Mortier, Lieutenants-General Gazan,
Claparede, and Vilatte (members). Moncey had refused to sit, and Massena
urged to the Court his own quarrels with Ney in Spain to get rid of
the task, but was forced to remain. Defended by both the Berryers, Ney
unfortunately denied the jurisdiction of the court-martial over him as
a peer. In all probability the Military Court would have acquitted him.
Too glad at the moment to be free from the trial of their old comrade,
not understanding the danger of the proceeding, the Court, by a majority
of five against two, declared themselves non-competent, and on the 21st
of November Ney was sent before the Chamber of Peers, which condemned
him on the 6th of December.
To beg the life of his brave adversary would have been such an obvious
act of generosity on the part of the Duke of Wellington that we maybe
pardoned for examining his reasons for not interfering. First, the
Duke seems to have laid weight on the fact that if Ney had believed the
capitulation had covered him he would not have hidden. Now, even before
Ney knew of his exception from the amnesty, to appear in Paris would
have been a foolish piece of bravado. Further, the Royalist reaction was
in full vigour, and when the Royalist mobs, with the connivance of the
authorities, were murdering Marshal Brune and attacking any prominent
adherents of Napoleon, it was hardly the time for Ney to travel in full
pomp. It cannot be said that, apart from the capitulation, the Duke had
no responsibility. Generally a Government executing a prisoner, may,
with some force, if rather brutally, urge that the fact of their being
able to try and execute him in itself shows their authority to do
so. The Bourbons could not even use this argument. If the Allies had
evacuated France Louis le Desiree would have ordered his carriage and
have been at the frontier before they had reached it. If Frenchmen
actually fired the shots which killed Ney, the Allies at least shared
the responsibility with the French Government. Lastly, it would seem
that the Duke would have asked for the life of Ney if the King, clever
at such small artifices, had not purposely affected a temporary coldness
to him. Few men would have been so deterred from asking for the life of
a dog. The fact is, the Duke of Wellington was a great general, he was
a single-hearted and patriotic statesman, he had a thousand virtues,
but he was never generous. It cannot be said that he simply shared
the feelings of his army, for there was preparation among some of his
officers to enable Ney to escape, and Ney had to be guarded by men of
good position disguised in the uniform of privates. Ney had written to
his wife when he joined Napoleon, thinking of the little vexations the
Royalists loved to inflict on the men who had conquered the Continent.
"You will no longer weep when you leave the Tuileries." The unfortunate
lady wept now as she vainly sought some mercy for her husband. Arrested
on the 5th of August, sentenced on the 6th of December, Ney was shot on
the 7th of December, and the very manner of his execution shows that, in
taking his life there was much more of revenge than of justice.
If Ney were to be shot, it is obvious that it should have been as a high
act of justice. If neither the rank nor the services of the criminal
were to save him, his death could not be too formal, too solemn, too
public. Even an ordinary military execution is always carried out with
grave and striking forms: there is a grand parade of the troops, that
all may see with their own eyes the last act of the law. After the
execution the troops defile past the body, that all may see the criminal
actually dead: There was nothing of all this in the execution of Ney.
A few chance passers, in the early morning of the 7th of December 1815,
saw a small body of troops waiting by the wall of the garden of the
Luxemburg. A fiacre drove up, out of which got Marshal Ney in plain
clothes, himself surprised by the everyday aspect of the place. Then,
when the officer of the firing party (for such the spectators now knew
it to be) saw whom it was he was to fire on, he became, it is said,
perfectly petrified; and a peer, one of the judges of Ney, the Duke de
la Force, took his place. Ney fell at the first volley with six balls
in his breast, three in the head and neck, and one in the arm, and in
a quarter of an hour the body was removed; "plain Michel Ney" as he had
said to the secretary enunciating his title in reading his sentence,
"plain Michel Ney, soon to be a little dust."
The Communists caught red-handed in the streets of Paris in 1870 died
with hardly less formality than was observed at the death-scene of the
Prince of the Moskowa and Duke of Elchingen, and the truth then became
plain. The Bourbons could not, dared not, attempt to carry out the
sentence of the law with the forms of the law. The Government did not
venture to let the troops or the people face the Marshal. The forms of
the law could not be carried out, the demands of revenge could be. And
if this be thought any exaggeration, the proof of the ill effects of
this murder, for its form makes it difficult to call it anything else,
is ready to our hands. It was impossible to get the public to believe
that Ney had really been killed in this manner, and nearly to this day
we have had fresh stories recurring of the real Ney being discovered in
America. The deed, however, had really been done. The Marshals now knew
that when the Princes fled they themselves must remain to die for the
Royal cause; and Louis had at last succeeded in preventing his return
to his kingdom amongst the baggage waggons of the Allies from being
considered as a mere subject for jeers. One detail of the execution of
Ney, however, we are told nothing of: we do not know if his widow, like
Madame Labedoyere, had to pay three francs a head to the soldiers of
the firing party which shot her husband. Whatever were the faults of the
Bourbons, they at least carried out their executions economically.
The statesmen of France, distinguished as they were, certainly did not
rise to a level with the situation either in 1814 or in 1815. In 1814,
it is true, they were almost stunned by the crash of the Empire, and
little as they foresaw the restoration of the Bourbons, still less
could they have anticipated the extraordinary follies which were to be
perpetrated. In 1815 there was less excuse for their helplessness, and,
overawed as they were by the mass of foes which was pouring on them to
complete the disaster of Waterloo, still it is disappointing to find
that there was no one to seize the helm of power, and, confronting the
Allies, to stipulate proper terms for France, and for the brave men who
had fought for her. The Steady Davoust was there with his 100,000 men
to add weight to their language, and the total helplessness of the older
line of the Bourbons had been too evidently displayed to make their
return a certainty, so that there is no reason to doubt that a
firm-hearted patriot might have saved France from much of the
degradation and loss inflicted on her when once the Allies had again got
her at their mercy. At-the least the Bourbons might have been deprived
of the revenge they sought for in taking some of the best blood of
France. Better for Ney and his comrades to have fallen in a last
struggle before Paris than to be shot by Frenchmen emboldened by the
presence of foreign troops.
Talleyrand, the most prominent figure among the statesmen, was away. His
absence at Vienna during the first Restoration was undoubtedly the cause
of many of the errors then committed. His ability as displayed under
Napoleon has been much exaggerated, for, as the Duke of Wellington said,
it was easy enough to be Foreign Minister to a Government in military
possession of Europe, but at least he was above the petty trivialities
and absurdities of the Bourbon' Court. On the receipt of the news of the
landing of Napoleon he really seems to have believed that the enterprise
would immediately end in disaster, and he pressed on the outlawing of
the man who had overwhelmed him with riches, and who had, at the worst,
left him when in disgrace in quiet possession of all his ill-gotten
wealth. But, as the power of Napoleon became more and more displayed,
as perhaps Talleyrand found that the Austrians were not quite so firm as
they wished to be considered, and as he foresaw the possible chances of
the Orleans family, he became rather lukewarm in his attention to
the King, to whom he had recently been bewailing the hardships of his
separation from his loved monarch. He suddenly found that, after a
Congress, the first duty of a diplomatist was to look after his liver,
and Carlsbad offered an agreeable retreat where he could wait till he
might congratulate the winner in the struggle.
Louis deeply resented this conduct of his Foreign Minister, and when
Talleyrand at last joined him with all his doubts resolved, the
King took the first opportunity of dismissing him, leaving the calm
Talleyrand for once stuttering with rage. Louis soon, however, found
that he was not the free agent he believed. The Allies did not want to
have to again replace their puppet on the throne, and they looked
on Talleyrand and Fouché as the two necessary men. Talleyrand was
reinstated immediately, and remained for some time at the head of the
Ministry. He was, however, not the man for Parliamentary Government,
being too careless in business, and trying to gain his ends more by
clever tricks than straightforward measures. As for the state into which
he let the Government fall, it was happily characterised by M.
Beugnot. "Until now," said he, "we have only known three sorts of
governments--the Monarchical, the Aristocratic, and the Republican.
Now we have invented a new one, which has never been heard of
before,--Paternal Anarchy."
In September 1815 the elections to the Chamber were bringing in deputies
more Royalist than the King, and Talleyrand sought to gain popularity
by throwing over Fouché. To his horror it appeared that, well contented
with this step, the deputies next asked when the former Bishop was to be
dismissed. Taking advantage of what Talleyrand conceived to be a happy
way of eliciting a strong expression of royal support by threatening to
resign, the King replaced him by the Duc de Richelieu. It was well to
cut jokes at the Duke and say that he was the man in France who knew
most of the Crimea (the Duke had been long in the Russian service, with
the approval of Napoleon), but Talleyrand was overwhelmed. He received
the same office at Court which he had held under Napoleon, Grand
Chamberlain, and afterwards remained a sardonic spectator of events,
a not unimposing figure attending at the Court ceremonials and at the
heavy dinners of the King, and probably lending a helping hand in 1830
to oust Charles X. from the throne. The Monarchy of July sent him as
Ambassador to England, where he mixed in local politics, for example,
plotting against Lord Palmerston, whose brusque manners he disliked; and
in 1838 he ended his strange life with some dignity, having, as one of
his eulogists puts it, been faithful to every Government he had served
as long as it was possible to save them.
With the darker side of Talleyrand's character we have nothing to do
here; it is sufficient for our purposes to say that the part the leading
statesman of France took during the Cent Jours was simply nil. In 1814,
he had let the reins slip through his hands; 1815 he could only follow
the King, who even refused to adopt his advice as to the proper way
in which to return to France, and though he once more became Chief
Minister, Talleyrand, like Louis XVIII., owed his restoration in 1815
solely to the Allies.
The Comte d'Artois, the brother of the King, and later King himself as
Charles X., was sent to Lyons, to which place the Duc d'Orleans followed
him, and where the two Princes met Marshal Macdonald. The Marshal did
all that man could do to keep the soldiers true to the Bourbons, but he
had to advise the Princes to return to Paris, and he himself had to
fly for his life when he attempted to stop Napoleon in person. The
Duc d'Orleans was then sent to the north to hold Lille, where the King
intended to take refuge, and the Comte d'Artois remained with the Court.
The Court was very badly off for money, the King, and Clarke, Duke of
Feltre, the War Minister, were the only happy possessors of carriages.
They passed their time, as the Abbe Louis once bitterly remarked, in
saying foolish things till they had a chance of doing them.
The Comte d'Artois, who, probably wisely, certainly cautiously, had
refused to go with De Vitrolles to stir up the south until he had placed
the King in safety, had ended by going to Ghent too, while the Duc de
Berry was at Alost, close by, with a tiny army composed of the remains
of the Maison du Roi, of which the most was made in reports. The Duc
d'Orleans, always an object of suspicion to the King, had left France
with the Royal party, but had refused to stay in Belgium, as he alleged
that it was an enemy's country. He crossed to England where he remained,
greatly adding to the anxiety of Louis by refusing to join him.
The end of these Princes is well known. Louis died in 1824, leaving his
throne to his brother; but Charles only held it till 1830, when after
the rising called "the three glorious days of July," he was civilly
escorted from France, and took shelter in England. The Duc Angouleme
died without issue. The Duc de Berry was assassinated in 1820, but his
widow gave birth to a posthumous son the Duc de Bordeaux, or, to fervid
Royalists, Henri V., though better known to us as the Comte de Chambord,
who died in 1883 without issue, thus ending the then eldest line of
Bourbons, and transmitting his claims to the Orleans family. On the fall
of Charles X. the Duc d'Orleans became King of the French, but he was
unseated by the Revolution of 1848, and died a refugee in England. As
the three Princes of the House of Condé, the Prince de Condé, his son,
the Duc de Bourbon, and his: grandson, the Duc d'Enghien, all died
without further male issue, that noble line is extinct.
When the news of the escape of Napoleon from Elba reached Vienna on
the 7th of March 1815, the three heads of the Allies, the Emperors of
Austria and Russia, and the King of Prussia, were still there. Though
it was said that the Congress danced but did not advance, still a great
deal of work had really been done, and the news of Napoleon's landing
created a fresh bond of union between the Allies which stopped all
further chances of disunion, and enabled them to practically complete
their work by the 9th of June 1815, though the treaties required
cobbling for some years afterwards.
France, Austria, and England had snatched the greater part of Saxony
from the jaws of Prussia, and Alexander had been forced to leave the
King of Saxony to reign over half of his former subjects, without, as
he wished, sparing him the pain of such a degradation by taking all
from him. Russia had to be contented with a large increase of her Polish
dominions, getting most of the Grand-Duchy of Westphalia. Austria had,
probably unwisely, withdrawn from her former outlying provinces in
Swabia and the Netherlands, which had before the Revolution made her
necessarily the guardian of Europe against France, preferring to take
her gains in Italy, gains which she has gradually lost in our days;
while Prussia, by accepting the Rhine provinces, completely stepped into
the former post of Austria. Indeed, from the way in which Prussia was,
after 1815, as it were, scattered across Germany, it was evident that
her fate must be either to be crushed by France, or else, by annexing
the states enclosed in her dominions, to become the predominating power
in Germany. It was impossible for her to remain as she was left.
The Allies tightly bound France. They had no desire to have again to
march on Paris to restore Louis to the subjects who had such unfortunate
objections to being subjected to that desirable monarch. By the second
Treaty of Paris, on the 20th of November 1815, France was to be occupied
by an Allied force, in military positions on the frontier, not to exceed
150,000 men, to be taken from all the Allied armies, under a commander
who was eventually the Duke of Wellington. Originally the occupation was
not to exceed five years, but in February 1817 the army was reduced
by 30,000 men, one-fifth of each contingent; and by the Treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle of 9th October 1818, France was to-be evacuated by the
30th of November 1818.
The three monarchs were probably not sorry to get the Congress over
on any terms. Alexander had had his fill of displaying himself in the
salons in his favourite part of an Agamemnon generous towards Troy, and
he had worn out his first popularity. He was stung by finding some of
his favourite plans boldly opposed by Talleyrand and by Metternich,
and, indeed, was anxious to meet the last in open combat. Francis had
required all the firmness of what he called his Bohemian head to resist
the threats, entreaties, and cajoleries employed to get him to acquiesce
in the dethronement of the King of Saxony, and the wiping out of the
Saxon nationality by the very alliance which professed to fight only for
the rights of nations and of their lawful sovereigns.
All three monarchs had again the satisfaction of entering Paris, but
without enjoying the full glories of 1814. "Our friends, the enemies"
were not so popular then in France, and the spoliation of the Louvre was
not pleasant even to the Royalists. The foreign monarchs soon returned
to their own drained and impoverished States.
The Emperor Francis had afterwards a quiet reign to his death in 1835,
having only to assist his Minister in snuffing out the occasional
flashes of a love of freedom in Germany.
The King of Prussia returned in a triumph well won by his sturdy
subjects, and, in the light of his new honours, the Countess Von Voss
tells us he was really handsome. He was now at leisure to resume the
discussions on uniform, and the work of fastening and unfastening the
numerous buttons of his pantaloons, in which he had been so roughly
interrupted by Jena. The first institution of the Zollverein, or
commercial union with several States, gradually extended, was a
measure which did much for the unification of Germany. With his brother
sovereigns he revisited Paris at the end of the military occupation
in 1818, remaining there longer than the others, "because," said the
Parisians, "he had discovered an actor at a small theatre who achieved
the feat of making him laugh." He died in 1840. His Queen--heartbroken,
it was said--had died in 1810.
Alexander was still brimming over with the best and most benevolent
intentions towards every one. The world was to be free, happy, and
religious; but he had rather vague ideas as to how his plans were to be
carried out. Thus it is characteristic that when his successor desired
to have a solemn coronation as King of Poland it was found that
Alexander had not foreseen the difficulties which were met with in
trying to arrange for the coronation of a Sovereign of the Greek Church
as King of a Roman Catholic State. The much-dreaded but very misty Holy
Alliance was one of the few fruits of Alexander's visions. His mind
is described as passing through a regular series of stages with
each influence under which he acted. He ended his life, tired out,
disillusioned, "deceived in everything, weighed down with regret;"
obliged to crush the very hopes of his people he had encouraged, dying
in 1825 at Taganrog, leaving his new Polish Kingdom to be wiped out
by-his successors.
The minor sovereigns require little mention. They retained any titles
they had received from Napoleon, while they exulted, at being free from
his heavy hand and sharp superintendence. Each got a share, small or
great, of the spoil except the poor King of Denmark, who, being assured
by Alexander on his departure that he carried away all hearts, answered,
"Yes, but not any souls."
The reintroduction of much that was bad in the old system (one country
even going so far as to re-establish torture), the steady attack on
liberty and on all liberal ideas, Wurtemberg being practically the
only State which grumbled at the tightening of the reins so dear to
Metternich,--all formed a fitting commentary on the proclamations by
which the Sovereigns had hounded on their people against the man they
represented as the one obstacle to the freedom and peace of Europe. In
gloom and disenchantment the nations sat down to lick their wounds: The
contempt shown by the monarchs for everything but the right of conquest,
the manner in which they treated the lands won from Napoleon as a
gigantic "pool" which was to be shared amongst them, so many souls to
each; their total failure to fulfil their promises to their subjects of
granting liberty,--all these slowly bore their fruits in after years,
and their effects are not even yet exhausted. The right of a sovereign
to hold his lands was now, by the public law of Europe, to be decided
by his strength, The rights of the people were treated as not existing.
Truly, as our most gifted poetess has sung--
"The Kings crept out--the peoples sat at home,
And finding the long invocated peace
(A pall embroidered with worn images
Of rights divine) too scant to cover doom
Such as they suffered, nursed the corn that grew
Rankly to bitter bread, on Waterloo."
CHAPTER XIII
--[This chapter; by the editor of the 1836 edition, is based upon
the 'Memorial', and O'Meara's and Antommarchi's works.]--
1815-1821.
Voyage to St. Helena--Personal traits of the Emperor--Arrival at
James Town--Napoleon's temporary residence at The Briars--Removal to
Longwood--The daily routine there-The Campaign of Italy--The arrival
of Sir Hudson Lowe--Unpleasant relations between the Emperor and the
new Governor--Visitors at St. Helena--Captain Basil Hall's interview
with Napoleon--Anecdotes of the Emperor--Departure of Las Cases and
O'Meara--Arrivals from Europe--Physical habits of the Emperor--Dr.
Antommarchi--The Emperor's toilet--Creation of a new bishopric--
The Emperor's energy with the spade--His increasing illness--
Last days of Napoleon--His Death--Lying in state--Military funeral--
Marchand's account of the Emperor's last moments--Napoleon's last
bequests--The Watch of Rivoli.
The closing scenes in the life of the great Emperor only now remain
to be briefly touched upon. In a previous chapter we have narrated the
surrender of Napoleon, his voyage to England, and his transference from
the Bellerophon to the Northumberland. The latter vessel was in great
confusion from the short notice at which she had sailed, and for the two
first days the crew was employed in restoring order. The space abaft the
mizenmast contained a dining-room about ten feet broad, and extending
the whole width of the ship, a saloon, and two cabins. The Emperor
occupied the cabin on the left; in which his camp-bedstead had been
put up; that on the right was appropriated to the Admiral. It was
peremptorily enjoined that the saloon should be in common. The form of
the dining-table resembled that of the dining-room. Napoleon sat with
his back to the saloon; on his left sat Madame Bertrand, and on his
right the Admiral, who, with Madame de Montholon, filled up one side
of the table. Next that lady, but at the end of the table, was Captain
Ross, who commanded the ship, and at the opposite end M. de Montholon;
Madame Bertrand, and the Admiral's secretary. The side of the table
facing the Emperor was occupied by the Grand-Marshal, the Colonel of the
field Regiment, Las Cases, and Gourgaud. The Admiral invited one or
two of the officers to dinner every day, and the band of the 53d,
newly-formed, played during dinner-time.
On the 10th of August the Northumberland cleared the Channel, and lost
sight of land. The course of the ship was shaped to cross the Bay of
Biscay and double Cape Finisterre. The wind was fair, though light, and
the heat excessive. Napoleon breakfasted in his own cabin at irregular
hours. He sent for one of his attendants every morning to know the
distance run, the state of the wind, and other particulars connected
with their progress. He read a great deal, dressed towards four o'clock,
and then came into the public saloon; here he played at chess with one
of the party; at five o'clock the Admiral announced that dinner was on
the table. It is well known that Napoleon was scarcely ever more than
fifteen minutes at dinner; here the two courses alone took up nearly
an hour and a half. This was a serious annoyance to him, though his
features and manner always evinced perfect equanimity. Neither the
new system of cookery nor the quality of the dishes ever met with his
censure. He was waited on by two valets, who stood behind his chair.
At first the Admiral was in the habit of offering several dishes to the
Emperor, but the acknowledgment of the latter was expressed so coldly
that the practice was given up. The Admiral thenceforth only pointed out
to the servants what was preferable. Napoleon was generally silent, as
if unacquainted with the language, though it was French. If he spoke,
it was to ask some technical or scientific question, or to address a few
words to those whom the Admiral occasionally asked to dinner.
The Emperor rose immediately after coffee had been handed round,
and went on deck, followed by the Grand-Marshal and Las Cases. This
disconcerted Admiral Cockburn, who expressed his surprise to his
officers; but Madame Bertrand, whose maternal language was English,
replied with spirit, "Do not forget, sir, that your guest is a man who
has governed a large portion of the world, and that kings once contended
for the honour of being admitted to his table."--"Very true," rejoined
the Admiral; and from that time he did his utmost to comply with
Napoleon's habits. He shortened the time of sitting at table, ordering
coffee for Napoleon and those who accompanied him even before the rest
of the company had finished their dinner. The Emperor remained walking
on deck till dark. On returning to the after-cabin he sat down to play
vingt et un with some of his suite, and generally retired in about
half an hour. On the morning of the 15th of August all his suite asked
permission to be admitted to his presence. He was not aware of the cause
of this visit; it was his birthday, which seemed to have altogether
escaped his recollection.
On the following day they doubled Cape Finisterre, and up to the 21st,
passing off the Straits of Gibraltar, continued their course along the
coast of Africa towards Madeira. Napoleon commonly remained in his
cabin the whole morning, and from the extreme heat he wore a very
slight dress. He could not sleep well, and frequently rose in the night.
Reading was his chief occupation. He often sent for Count Las Cases to
translate whatever related to St. Helena or the countries by which
they were sailing. Napoleon used to start a subject of conversation; or
revive that of some preceding day, and when he had taken eight or nine
turns the whole length of the deck he would seat himself on the second
gun from the gangway on the larboard side. The midshipmen soon observed
this habitual predilection, so that the cannon was thenceforth called
the Emperor's gun. It was here that Napoleon often conversed for hours
together.
On the 22d of August they came within sight of Madeira, and at
night arrived off the port. They stopped for a day or two to take in
provisions. Napoleon was indisposed. A sudden gale arose and the air was
filled with small particles of sand and the suffocating exhalations from
the deserts of Africa. On the evening of the 24th they got under weigh
again, and progressed smoothly and rapidly. The Emperor added to his
amusements a game at piquet. He was but an indifferent chess-player, and
there was no very good one on board. He asked, jestingly, "How it was
that he frequently beat those who beat better players than himself?"
Vingt et un was given up, as they played too high at it; and Napoleon
had a great aversion to gaming. One night a negro threw himself
overboard to avoid a flogging, which occasioned a great noise and
bustle. A young midshipman meeting Las Cases descending into the cabin,
and thinking he was going to inform Napoleon, caught hold of his coat
and in a tone of great concern exclaimed, "Ah sir, do not alarm the
Emperor! Tell him the noise is owing to an accident!" In general the
midshipmen behaved with marked respect and attention to Bonaparte, and
often by signs or words directed the sailors to avoid incommoding him:
He sometimes noticed this conduct, and remarked that youthful hearts
were always prone to generous instincts.
On the 1st of September they found themselves in the latitude of the
Cape de Verd Islands. Everything now promised a prosperous passage,
but the time hung heavily. Las Cases had undertaken to teach his son
English, and the Emperor also expressed a wish to learn. He, however,
soon grew tired and laid it aside, nor was it resumed until long
afterwards. His manners and habits were always the same; he invariably
appeared contented, patient, and good-humoured. The Admiral gradually
laid aside his reserve, and took an interest in his great captive. He
pointed out the danger incurred by coming on deck after dinner, owing to
the damp of the evening: the Emperor, would then sometimes take his arm
and prolong the conversation, talking sometimes on naval affairs, on
the French resources in the south, and on the improvements he had
contemplated in the ports and harbours of the Mediterranean, to all
which the Admiral listened with deep attention.
Meanwhile Napoleon observed that Las Cases was busily employed, and
obtained a sight of his journal, with which he was not displeased. He,
however, noticed that some of the military details and anecdotes gave
but a meagre idea of the subject of war: This first led to the proposal
of his writing his own Memoirs. At length the Emperor came to a
determination, and on Saturday, the 9th of September he called his
secretary into his cabin and dictated to him some particulars of
the siege of Toulon. On approaching the line they fell in with the
trade-winds, that blow here constantly from the east. On the 16th there
was a considerable fall of rain, to the great joy of the sailors,
who were in want of water. The rain began to fall heavily just as the
Emperor had got upon deck to take his afternoon walk. But this did not
disappoint him of his usual exercise; he merely called for his famous
gray greatcoat, which the crew regarded with much interest.
On the 23d of September they passed the line. This was a day of great
merriment and disorder among the crew: it was the ceremony which the
English sailors call the "christening." No one is spared; and the
officers are generally more roughly handled than any one else. The
Admiral, who had previously amused himself by giving an alarming
description of this ceremony, now very courteously exempted his
guests from the inconvenience and ridicule attending it. Napoleon was
scrupulously respected through the whole of this Saturnalian festivity.
On being informed of the decorum which had been observed with regard
to him he ordered a hundred Napoleons to be presented to the grotesque
Neptune and his crew; which the Admiral opposed, perhaps from motives of
prudence as well as politeness.
Owing to the haste with which they had left England the painting of
the ship had been only lately finished, and this circumstance confined
Napoleon, whose sense of smell was very acute, to his room for two days.
They were now, in the beginning of October, driven into the Gulf of
Guinea, where they met a French vessel bound for the Isle of Bourbon.
They spoke with the captain, who expressed his surprise and regret when
he learnt that Napoleon was on board. The wind was unfavourable, and the
ship made little progress. The sailors grumbled at the Admiral, who had
gone out of the usual course. At length they approached the termination
of their voyage. On the 14th of October the Admiral had informed them
that he expected to come within sight of St. Helena that day. They had
scarcely risen from table when their ears were saluted with the cry of
"land!" This was within a quarter of an hour of the time that had been
fixed on. The Emperor went on the forecastle to see the island; but it
was still hardly distinguishable. At daybreak next morning they had a
tolerably clear view of it.
At length, about seventy days after his departure from England, and a
hundred and ten after quitting Paris, Napoleon reached St. Helena. In
the harbour were several vessels of the squadron which had separated
from them, and which they thought they had left behind. Napoleon,
contrary to custom, dressed early and went upon deck: he went forward to
the gangway to view the island. He beheld a kind of village surrounded
by numerous barren hills towering to the clouds. Every platform, every
aperture, the brow of every hill was planted with cannon. The Emperor
viewed the prospect through his glass. His countenance underwent no
change. He soon left the deck; and sending for Las Cases, proceeded to
his day's work. The Admiral, who had gone ashore very early, returned
about six much fatigued. He had been walking over various parts of the
island, and at length thought he had found a habitation that would suit
his captives. The place stood in need of repairs, which might occupy
two months. His orders were not to let the French quit the vessel till a
house should be prepared to receive them. He, however, undertook, on his
own responsibility, to set them on shore the next day.
On the 16th, after dinner, Napoleon, accompanied by the Admiral and the
Grand-Marshal, Bertrand, got into a boat to go ashore. As he passed, the
officers assembled on the quarter-deck, and the greater part of the crew
on the gangways. The Emperor, before he stepped into the boat, sent for
the captain of the vessel, and took leave of him, desiring him at the
same time to convey his thanks to the officers and crew. These words
appeared to produce the liveliest sensation in all by whom they were
understood, or to whom they were interpreted. The remainder of his suite
landed about eight. They found the Emperor in the apartments which
had been assigned to him, a few minutes after he went upstairs to his
chamber. He was lodged in a sort of inn in James Town, which consists
only, of one short street, or row of houses built in a narrow valley
between two rocky hills.
The next day the Emperor, the Grand-Marshal, and the Admiral, riding out
to visit Longwood, which had been chosen for the Emperor's residence,
on their return saw a small villa, with a pavilion attached to it, about
two miles from the town, the residence of Mr. Balcombe; a merchant of
the island. This spot pleased Napoleon, and the Admiral was of opinion
that it would be better for him to remain here than to return to the
town, where the sentinels at his door, with the crowds collected round
it, in a manner confined him to his chamber. The pavilion was a sort of
summer-house on a pyramidal eminence, about thirty or forty paces from
the house, where the family were accustomed to resort in fine weather:
this was hired for the temporary abode of the Emperor, and he took
possession of it immediately. There was a carriage-road from the town,
and the valley was in this part less rugged in its aspect. Las Cases was
soon sent for. As he ascended the winding path leading to the pavilion
he saw Napoleon standing at the threshold of the door. His body was
slightly bent, and his hands behind his back: he wore his usual plain
and simple uniform and the well-known hat. The Emperor was alone. He
took a fancy to walk a little; but there was no level ground on any side
of the pavilion, which was surrounded by huge pieces of rock. Taking
the arm of his companion, however, he began to converse in a cheerful
strain. When Napoleon was about to retire to rest the servants found
that one of the windows was open close to the bed: they barricaded it
as well as they could, so as to exclude the air, to the effects of which
the Emperor was very susceptible. Las Cases ascended to an upper
room. The valets de chambres lay stretched in their cloaks across the
threshold of the door. Such was the first night Napoleon passed at the
Briars.
An English officer was lodged with them in the house as their guard,
and two non-commissioned officers were stationed near the house to watch
their movements. Napoleon the next day proceeded with his dictation,
which occupied him for several hours, and then took a walk in the
garden, where he was met by the two Misses Balcombe, lively girls about
fourteen years of age, who presented him with flowers, and overwhelmed
him with whimsical questions. Napoleon was amused by their familiarity,
to which he had been little accustomed. "We have been to a masked ball,"
said he, when the young ladies had taken their leave.
The next day a chicken was brought for breakfast, which the Emperor
undertook to carve himself, and was surprised at his succeeding so well,
it being a long time since he had done so much. The coffee he considered
so bad that on tasting it he thought himself poisoned, and sent it away.
The mornings were passed in business; in the evening Napoleon sometimes
strolled to the neighbouring villa, where the young ladies made him
play at whist. The Campaign of Italy was nearly finished, and Las Cases
proposed that the other followers of Napoleon who were lodged in the
town should come up every morning to assist in transcribing The Campaign
of Egypt, the History of the Consulate, etc. This suggestion pleased
the ex-Emperor, so that from that time one or two of his suite came
regularly every day to write to his dictation, and stayed to dinner. A
tent, sent by the Colonel of the 53d Regiment, was spread out so as to
form a prolongation of the pavillion. Their cook took up his abode at
the Briars. The table linen was taken from the trunks, the plate was set
forth, and the first dinner after these new arrangements was a sort of
fete.
One day at dinner Napoleon, casting his eye on one of the dishes of his
own campaign-service, on which the-arms of the King had been engraved,
"How they have spoiled that!" he exclaimed; and he could not refrain
from observing that the King was in great haste to take possession of
the Imperial plate, which certainly did not belong to him. Amongst the
baggage was also a cabinet in which were a number of medallions, given
him by the Pope and other potentates, some letters of Louis XVIII. which
he had left behind him on his writing-table in the suddenness of his
flight from the Tuileries on the 20th of March, and a number of other
letters found in the portfolio of M. De Blacas intended to calumniate
Napoleon.
The Emperor never dressed until about four o'clock, he then walked in
the garden, which was particularly agreeable to him on account of its
solitude--the English soldiers having been removed at Mr. Balcombe's
request. A little arbour was covered with canvas; and a chair and table
placed in it, and here Napoleon dictated a great part of his Memoirs. In
the evening, when he did not go out, he generally contrived to prolong
the conversation till eleven or twelve o'clock.
Thus time passed with little variety or interruption. The weather in the
winter became delightful. One day, his usual task being done; Napoleon
strolled out towards the town, until he came within sight of the road
and shipping. On his return he met Mrs. Balcombe and a Mrs. Stuart, who
was on her way back from Bombay to England. The Emperor conversed with
her on the manners and customs of India, and on the inconveniences of a
long voyage at sea, particularly to ladies. He alluded to Scotland,
Mrs. Stuart's native country, expatiated on the genius of Ossian, and
congratulated his fair interlocutor on the preservation of her clear
northern complexion. While the parties were thus engaged some heavily
burdened slaves passed near to them. Mrs. Balcombe motioned them to
make a detour; but Napoleon interposed, exclaiming, "Respect the burden,
madam!" As he said this the Scotch lady, who had been very eagerly
scanning the features of Napoleon, whispered to her friend, "Heavens!
what a character, and what an expression of countenance! How different
to the idea I had formed of him!"
Napoleon shortly after repeated the same walk, and went into the
house of Major Hudson. This visit occasioned considerable alarm to the
constituted authorities.
The Governor gave a ball, to which the French were invited; and Las
Cases about the same time rode over to Longwood to see what advance had
been made in the preparations for their reception. His report on his
return was not very favourable. They had now been six weeks at the
Briars, during which Napoleon had been nearly as much confined as if on
board the vessel. His health began to be impaired by it. Las Cases gave
it as his opinion that the Emperor did not possess that constitution of
iron which was usually ascribed to him; and that it was the strength of
his mind, not of his body, that carried him through the labours of the
field and of the cabinet. In speaking on this subject Napoleon himself
observed that nature had endowed him with two peculiarities: one was
the power of sleeping at any hour or in any place; the other, his being
incapable of committing any excess either in eating or drinking: "If,"
said he, "I go the least beyond my mark my stomach instantly revolts."
He was subject to nausea from very slight causes, and to colds from any
change of air.
The prisoners removed to Longwood on the 10th of December 1815. Napoleon
invited Mr. Balcombe to breakfast with him that morning, and conversed
with him in a very cheerful manner. About two Admiral Cockburn was
announced; he entered with an air of embarrassment. In consequence of
the restraints imposed upon him at the Briars, and the manner in which
those of his suite residing in the town had been treated, Bonaparte had
discontinued receiving the visits of the Admiral; yet on the present
occasion he behaved towards him as though nothing had happened. At
length they left the Briars and set out for Longwood. Napoleon rode the
horse, a small, sprightly, and tolerably handsome animal, which had been
brought for him from the Cape. He wore his uniform of the Chasseurs
of the Guard, and his graceful manner and handsome countenance were
particularly remarked. The Admiral was very attentive to him. At the
entrance of Longwood they found a guard under arms who rendered the
prescribed honours to their illustrious captive. His horse, unaccustomed
to parades, and frightened by the roll of the drum, refused to pass the
gate till spurred on by Napoleon, while a significant look passed among
the escort. The Admiral took great pains to point out the minutest
details at Longwood. He had himself superintended all the arrangements,
among which was a bath-room. Bonaparte was satisfied with everything,
and the Admiral seemed highly pleased. He had anticipated petulance and
disdain, but Napoleon manifested perfect good-humour.
The entrance to the house was through a room which had been just built
to answer the double purpose of an ante-chamber and a dining-room. This
apartment led to the drawing-room; beyond this was a third room
running in a cross direction and very dark. This was intended to be
the depository of the Emperor's maps and books, but it was afterwards
converted into the dining-room. The Emperor's chamber opened into this
apartment on the right hand side, and was divided into two equal parts,
forming a cabinet and sleeping-room; a little external gallery served
for a bathing-room: Opposite the Emperor's chamber, at the other
extremity of the building, were the apartments of Madame Montholon, her
husband, and her son, afterward used as the Emperors library. Detached
from this part of the house was a little square room on the ground
floor, contiguous to the kitchen, which was assigned to Las Cases. The
windows and beds had no curtains. The furniture was mean and scanty.
Bertrand and his family resided at a distance of two miles, at a place
called Rut's Gate. General Gourgaud slept under a tent, as well as Mr.
O'Meara, and the officer commanding the guard. The house was surrounded
by a garden. In front, and separated by a tolerably deep ravine, was
encamped the 53d Regiment, different parties of which were stationed on
the neighbouring heights.
The domestic establishment of the Emperor consisted of eleven persons.
To the Grand-Marshal was confided the general superintendence; to M.
de Montholon the domestic details; Las Cases was to take care of the
furniture and property, and General Gourgaud to have the management
of the stables. These arrangements, however, produced discontent among
Napoleon's attendants. Las Cases admits that they were no longer the
members of one family, each using his best efforts to promote the
advantage of all. They were far from practising that which necessity
dictated. He says also, "The Admiral has more than once, in the midst of
our disputes with him, hastily exclaimed that the Emperor was decidedly
the most good-natured, just, and reasonable of the whole set."
On his first arrival he went to visit the barracks occupied by some
Chinese living on the island, and a place called Longwood Farm. He
complained to Las Cases that they had been idle of late; but by degrees
their hours and the employment of them became fixed and regular.
The Campaign of Italy being now finished, Napoleon corrected it, and
dictated on other subjects. This was their morning's work. They dined
between eight and nine, Madame Montholon being seated on Napoleon's
right; Las Cases on his left, and Gourgaud, Montholon, and Las Cases'
son sitting opposite. The smell of the paint not being yet gone off,
they remained not more than ten minutes at table, and the dessert was
prepared in the adjoining apartment, where coffee was served up and
conversation commenced. Scenes were read from Molière, Racine, and
Voltaire; and regret was always expressed at their not having a copy of
Corneille. They then played at 'reversis', which had been Bonaparte's
favourite game in his youth. The recollection was agreeable to him, and
he thought he could amuse himself at it for any length of time, but was
soon undeceived. His aim was always to make the 'reversis', that is, to
win every trick. Character is displayed in the smallest incidents.
Napoleon read a libel on himself, and contrasted the compliments
which had passed between him and the Queen of Prussia with the
brutal-behaviour ascribed to him in the English newspapers. On the
other hand, two common sailors had at different times, while he was at
Longwood and at the Briars, in spite of orders and at all risks, made
their way through the sentinels to gain a sight of Napoleon. On seeing
the interest they took in him he exclaimed, "This is fanaticism! Yes,
imagination rules the world!"
The instructions of the English Ministers with regard to the treatment
of Napoleon at St. Helena had been prepared with the view completely to
secure his person. An English officer was to be constantly at his table.
This order, however, was not carried into effect. An officer was also
to accompany Napoleon in all his rides; this order was dispensed with
within certain prescribed limits, because Napoleon had refused to ride
at all on such conditions. Almost everyday brought with it some new
cause of uneasiness and complaint. Sentinels were posted beneath
Napoleon's windows and before his doors. This order was, however,
doubtless given to prevent his being annoyed by impertinent curiosity.
The French were certainly precluded from all free communication with
the inhabitants of the island; but this precaution was of unquestionable
necessity for the security of the Emperor's person. Las Cases complains
that the passwords were perpetually changed, so that they lived
in constant perplexity and apprehension of being subjected to some
unforeseen insult. "Napoleon," he continues, "addressed a complaint to
the Admiral, which obtained for him no redress. In the midst of these
complaints the Admiral wished to introduce some ladies (who had
arrived in the Doric) to Napoleon; but he declined, not approving this
alternation of affronts and civilities." He, however, consented, at the
request of their Colonel, to receive the officers of the 53d Regiment.
After this officer took his leave, Napoleon prolonged his walk in the
garden. He stopped awhile to look at a flower in one of the beds, and
asked his companion if it was not a lily. It was indeed a magnificent
one. The thought that he had in his mind was obvious. He then spoke of
the number of times he had been wounded; and said it had been thought he
had never met with these accidents from his having kept them secret as
much as possible.'
It was near the end of December. One day, after a walk and a tumble in
the mud, Bonaparte returned and found a packet of English newspapers,
which the Grand-Marshal translated to him. This occupied him till late,
and he forgot his dinner in discussing their contents. After dinner had
been served Las Cases wished to continue the translation, but Napoleon
would not suffer him to proceed, from consideration for the weak
state of his eyes. "We must wait till to-morrow," said he. A few days
afterwards the Admiral came in person to visit him, and the interview
was an agreeable one. After some animated discussion it was arranged
that Napoleon should henceforth ride freely about the island; that the
officer should follow him only at a distance; and that visitors should
be admitted to him, not with the permission of the Admiral as the
Inspector of Longwood, but with that of the Grand-Marshal, who was to do
the honours of the establishment. These concessions were, however, soon
recalled. On the 30th of this month Piontkowsky, a Pole; who had been
left behind, but whose entreaties prevailed upon the English Government,
joined Bonaparte. On New-Year's Day all their little party was collected
together, and Napoleon, entering into the feelings of the occasion,
begged that they might breakfast and pass it together. Every day
furnished some new trait of this kind.
On the 14th of April 1816 Sir Hudson Lowe, the new Governor, arrived
at St. Helena. This epoch is important, as making the beginning of a
continued series of accusations, and counter-accusations, by which the
last five years of Napoleon's life were constantly occupied, to the
great annoyance of himself and all connected with him, and possibly to
the shortening of his own existence.
It would be tedious to detail the progress of this petty war, but, as a
subject which has formed so great a portion of the life of Napoleon,
it must not be omitted. To avoid anything which may appear like a bias
against Napoleon, the details, unless when otherwise mentioned, will be
derived from Las Cases, his devoted admirer.
On the first visit of the new Governor; which was the 16th of April,
Napoleon refused to admit him, because he himself was ill, and also
because the Governor had not asked beforehand for an audience. On the
second visit the Governor, was admitted to an audience, and Napoleon
seems to have taken a prejudice at first sight, as he remarked to his
suite that the Governor was "hideous, and had a most ugly countenance,"
though he allowed he ought not to judge too hastily. The spirit of the
party was shown by a remark made, that the first two days had been days
of battle.
The Governor saw Napoleon again on the 30th April, and the interview was
stormy. Napoleon argued with the Governor on the conduct of the Allies
towards him, said they had no right to dispose of him, who was their
equal and sometimes their master. He then declaimed on the eternal
disgrace the English had inflicted on themselves by sending him to St.
Helena; they wished to kill him by a lingering death: their conduct was
worse than that of the Calabrians in shooting Murat. He talked of the
cowardliness of suicide, complained of the small extent and horrid
climate of St. Helena, and said it would be an act of kindness to
deprive him of life at once. Sir H. Lowe said that a house of wood,
fitted up with every possible accommodation, was then on its way from
England for his use. Napoleon refused it at once, and exclaimed that
it was not a house but an executioner and a coffin that he wanted;
the house was a mockery, death would be a favour. A few minutes after
Napoleon took up some reports of the campaigns of 1814, which lay on the
table, and asked Sir H. Lowe if he had written them. Las Cases, after
saying that the Governor replied in the affirmative, finishes his
account of the interview, but according to O'Meara, Napoleon said they
were full of folly and falsehood. The Governor, with a much milder reply
than most men would have given, retired, and Napoleon harangued upon
the sinister expression of his countenance, abused him in the coarsest
manner, and made his servant throw a cup of coffee out of the window
because it had stood a moment on a table near the Governor.
It was required that all persons who visited at Longwood or at Hut's
Gate should make a report to the Governor, or to Sir Thomas Reade, of
the conversations they had held with the French. Several additional
sentinels were posted around Longwood House and grounds.
During some extremely wet and foggy weather Napoleon did not go out for
several days. Messengers and letters continually succeeded one another
from Plantation House. The Governor appeared anxious to see Napoleon,
and was evidently distrustful, although the residents at Longwood were
assured of his actual presence by the sound of his voice. He had some
communications with Count Bertrand on the necessity that one of his
officers should see Napoleon daily. He also went to Longwood frequently
himself, and finally, after some difficulty, succeeded in obtaining an
interview with Napoleon in his bedchamber, which lasted about a quarter
of an hour. Some days before he sent for Mr. O'Meara, asked a variety of
questions concerning the captive, walked round the house several times
and before the windows, measuring and laying down the plan of a new
ditch, which he said he would have dug in order to prevent the cattle
from trespassing.
On the morning of the 5th of May Napoleon sent for his surgeon O'Meara
to come to him. He was introduced into Napoleon's bed-chamber, a
description of which is thus given: "It was about fourteen feet by
twelve, and ten or eleven feet in height. The walls were lined with
brown nankeen, bordered and edged with common green bordering paper, and
destitute of skirting. Two small windows without pulleys, one of which
was thrown up and fastened by a piece of notched wood, looked towards
the camp of the 53d Regiment. There were window-curtains of white
long-cloth, a small fire-place, a shabby grate and fire-irons to match,
with a paltry mantelpiece of wood, painted white, upon which stood a
small marble bust of his son. Above the mantelpiece hung the portrait
of Maria Louisa, and four or five of young Napoleon, one of which was
embroidered by the hands of his mother. A little more to the right
hung also the portrait of the Empress Josephine; and to the left was
suspended the alarm chamber-watch of Frederick the Great, obtained by
Napoleon at Potsdam; while on the right the Consular watch, engraved
with the cipher B, hung, by a chain of the plaited hair of Maria Louisa,
from a pin stuck in the nankeen lining. In the right-hand corner was
placed the little plain iron camp-bedstead, with green silk curtains,
on which its master had reposed on the fields of Marengo and Austerlitz.
Between the windows there was a chest of drawers, and a bookcase
with green blinds stood on the left of the door leading to the next
apartment. Four or five cane-bottomed chairs painted green were standing
here and there about the room. Before the back door there was a
screen covered with nankeen, and between that and the fireplace an
old-fashioned sofa covered with white long-cloth, on which Napoleon
reclined, dressed in his white morning-gown, white loose trousers and
stockings all in one, a chequered red handkerchief upon his head, and
his shirt-collar open without a cravat. His air was melancholy and
troubled. Before him stood a little round table, with some books, at the
foot of which lay in confusion upon the carpet a heap of those which he
had already perused, and at the opposite side of the sofa was suspended
Isabey's portrait of the Empress Maria Louisa, holding her son in her
arms. In front of the fireplace stood Las Cases with his arms folded
over his breast and some papers in one of his hands. Of all the former
magnificence of the once mighty Emperor of France nothing remained but
a superb wash-hand-stand containing a silver basin and water-jug of the
same metal, in the lefthand corner." The object of Napoleon in sending
for O'Meara on this occasion was to question him whether in their future
intercourse he was to consider him in the light of a spy and a tool
of the Governor or as his physician? The doctor gave a decided and
satisfactory answer on this point.
"During the short interview that this Governor had with me in my
bedchamber, one of the first things he proposed was to send you away,"
said Napoleon to O'Meara, "and that I should take his own surgeon in
your place. This he repeated, and so earnest was he to gain his object
that, though I gave him a flat refusal, when he was going out he turned
about and again proposed it."
On the 11th a proclamation was issued by the Governor, "forbidding any
persons on the island from sending letters to or receiving them from
General Bonaparte or his suite, on pain of being immediately arrested
and dealt with accordingly." Nothing escaped the vigilance of Sir Hudson
Lowe. "The Governor," said Napoleon, "has just sent an invitation to
Bertrand for General Bonaparte to come to Plantation House to meet Lady
Moira. I told Bertrand to return no answer to it. If he really wanted me
to see her he would have put Plantation House within the limits, but
to send such an invitation, knowing I must go in charge of a guard if I
wished to avail myself of it, was an insult."
Soon after came the Declaration of the Allies and the Acts of Parliament
authorising the detention of Napoleon Bonaparte as a prisoner of war and
disturber of the peace of Europe. Against the Bill, when brought into
the House of Lords, there were two protests, those of Lord Holland and
of the Duke of Sussex. These official documents did not tend to soothe
the temper or raise the spirits of the French to endure their captivity.
In addition to the misery of his own captivity, Napoleon had to contend
with the unmanageable humours of his own followers. As often happens
with men in such circumstances, they sometimes disagreed among
themselves, and part of their petulance and ill-temper fell upon their
Chief. He took these little incidents deeply to heart. On one occasion
he said in bitterness, "I know that I am fallen; but to feel this among
you! I am aware that man is frequently unreasonable and susceptible of
offence. Thus, when I am mistrustful of myself I ask, should I have been
treated so at the Tuileries? This is my test."
A great deal of pains has been taken by Napoleon's adherents and others
to blacken the character of Sir Hudson Lowe, and to make it appear that
his sole object was to harass Napoleon and to make his life miserable.
Now, although it may be questioned whether Sir Hudson Lowe was the
proper person to be placed in the delicate situation of guard over the
fallen Emperor, there is no doubt that quarrels and complaints began
long before that officer reached the island; and the character of
those complaints will show that at best the prisoners were persons very
difficult to satisfy. Their detention at the Briars was one of the first
causes of complaint. It was stated that the Emperor was very ill there,
that he was confined "in a cage" with no attendance, that his suite was
kept from him, and that he was deprived of exercise. A few pages farther
in the journal of Las Cases we find the Emperor in good health, and as
soon as it was announced that Longwood was ready to receive him, then it
was urged that the gaolers wished to compel him to go against his will,
that they desired to push their authority to the utmost, that the smell
of the paint at Longwood was very disagreeable, etc. Napoleon himself
was quite ready to go, and seemed much vexed when Count Bertrand and
General Gourgaud arrived from Longwood with the intelligence that the
place was as yet uninhabitable. His displeasure, however, was much
more seriously excited by the appearance of Count Montholon with the
information that all was ready at Longwood within a few minutes after
receiving the contrary accounts from Bertrand and Gourgaud. He probably
perceived that he was trifled with by his attendants, who endeavoured
to make him believe that which suited their own convenience. We may also
remark that the systematic opposition which was carried to such a great
length against Sir Hudson Lowe had begun during the stay of Admiral
Cockburn. His visits were refused; he was accused of caprice, arrogance,
and impertinence, and he was nicknamed "the Shark" by Napoleon himself;
his own calmness alone probably prevented more violent ebullitions.
The wooden house arrived at last, and the Governor waited on Napoleon
to consult with him how and where it should be erected. Las Cases,
who heard the dispute in an adjoining room, says that it was long and
clamorous.
He gives the details in Napoleon's own words, and we have here the
advantage of comparing his statement with the account transmitted by
Sir Hudson Lowe to the British Government, dated 17th May 1816. The two
accounts vary but little. Napoleon admits that he was thrown quite out
of temper, that he received the Governor with his stormy countenance,
looked furiously at him, and made no reply to his information of the
arrival of the house but by a significant look. He told him that
he wanted nothing, nor would receive anything at his hands; that he
supposed he was to be put to death by poison or the sword; the poison
would be difficult to administer, but he had the means of doing it with
the sword. The sanctuary of his abode should not be violated, and the
troops should not enter his house but by trampling on his corpse. He
then alluded to an invitation sent to him by Sir Hudson Lows to meet
Lady Loudon at his house, and said there could not be an act of
more refined cruelty than inviting him to his table by the title of
"General," to make him an object of ridicule or amusement to his guests.
What right had he to call him "General" Bonaparte? He would not
be deprived of his dignity by him, nor by any one in the world. He
certainly should have condescended to visit Lady Loudon had she been
within his limits, as he did not stand upon strict etiquette with a
woman, but he should have deemed that he was conferring an honour upon
her. He would not consider himself a prisoner of war, but was placed in
his present position by the most horrible breach of trust. After a few
more words he dismissed the Governor without once more alluding to the
house which was the object of the visit. The fate of this unfortunate
house may be mentioned here. It was erected after a great many disputes,
but was unfortunately surrounded by a sunk fence and ornamental railing.
This was immediately connected in Napoleon's mind with the idea of a
fortification; it was impossible to remove the impression that the
ditch and palisade were intended to secure his person. As soon as the
objection was made known, Sir Hudson Lowe ordered the ground to be
levelled and the rails taken away. But before this was quite completed
Napoleon's health was too much destroyed to permit his removal, and the
house was never occupied.
Napoleon seems to have felt that he had been too violent in his conduct.
He admitted, when at table with his suite a few days after, that he had
behaved very ill, and that in any other situation he should blush for
what he had done. "I could have wished, for his sake," he said, "to see
him evince a little anger, or pull the door violently after him when
he went away." These few words let us into a good deal of Napoleon's
character: he liked to intimidate, but his vehement language was
received with a calmness and resolute forbearance to which he was quite
unaccustomed, and he consequently grew more angry as his anger was less
regarded.
The specimens here given of the disputes with Sir Hudson Lowe may
probably suffice: a great many more are furnished by Las Cases, O'Meara,
and other partisans of Napoleon, and even they always make him the
aggressor. Napoleon himself in his cooler moments seemed to admit this;
after the most violent quarrel with the Governor, that of the 18th of
August 1816, which utterly put an end to anything like decent civility
between the parties; he allowed that he had used the Governor very ill,
that he repeatedly and purposely offended him, and that Sir Hudson Lowe
had not in a single instance shown a want of respect, except perhaps
that he retired too abruptly.
Great complaints were made of the scanty way in which the table of the
exiles was supplied; and it was again and again alleged by them that
they had scarcely anything to eat. The wine, too, was said to be
execrable, so bad that in fact it could not be drunk; and, of such
stuff as it was, only one bottle a day was allowed to each person--an
allowance which Las Cases calls ridiculously small. Thus pressed, but
partly for effect, Napoleon resolved to dispose of his plate in monthly
proportions; and as he knew that some East India captains had offered
as much as a hundred guineas for a single plate, in order to preserve a
memorial of him, he determined that what was sold should be broken up,
the arms erased, and no trace left which could show that they had ever
been his. The only portions left uninjured were the little eagles with
which some of the dish-covers were mounted. These last fragments were
objects of veneration for the attendants of Napoleon, they were looked
upon as relics, with a feeling at once melancholy and religious. When
the moment came for breaking up the plate Las Cases bears testimony to
the painful emotions and real grief produced among the servants. They
could not, without the utmost reluctance, bring themselves to apply the
hammer to those objects of their veneration.
The island of St. Helena was regularly visited by East India ships on
the return voyage, which touched there to take in water, and to leave
gunpowder for the use of the garrison. On such occasions there were
always persons anxious to pay a visit to the renowned captive. The
regulation of those visits was calculated to protect Napoleon from being
annoyed by the idle curiosity of strangers, to which he professed a
great aversion. Such persons as wished to wait upon him were, in the
first place, obliged to apply to the Governor, by whom their names were
forwarded to Count Bertrand. This gentleman, as Grand-Marshal of the
household, communicated the wishes of those persons to Napoleon, and in
case of a favourable reply fixed the hour for an interview.
Those visitors whom Napoleon admitted were chiefly persons of rank
and distinction, travellers from distant countries, or men who had
distinguished themselves in the scientific world, and who could
communicate interesting information in exchange for the gratification
they received. Some of those persons who were admitted to interviews
with him have published narratives of their conversation, and all agree
in extolling the extreme grace, propriety, and appearance of benevolence
manifested by Bonaparte while holding these levees. His questions were
always put with great tact, and on some subject with which the person
interrogated was well acquainted, so as to induce him to bring forth any
new or curious information of which he might be possessed.
Captain Basil Hall, in August 1817, when in command of the Lyra, had
an interview with the Emperor, of whom he says: "Bonaparte struck me as
differing considerably from the pictures and busts' I had seen of him.
His face and figure looked much broader and more square--larger, indeed,
in every way than any representation I had met with. His corpulency,
at this time universally reported to be excessive, was by no means
remarkable. His flesh looked, on the contrary, firm and muscular. There
was not the least trace of colour in his cheeks; in fact his skin
was more like marble than ordinary flesh. Not the smallest trace of a
wrinkle was discernible on his brow, nor an approach to a furrow on
any part of his countenance. His health and spirits, judging from
appearances, were excellent, though at this period it was generally
believed in England that he was fast sinking under a complication
of diseases, and that his spirits were entirely gone. His manner of
speaking was rather slow than otherwise, and perfectly distinct; he
waited with great patience and kindness for my answers to his questions,
and a reference to Count Bertrand was necessary only once during the
whole conversation. The brilliant and sometimes dazzling expression
of his eye could not be overlooked. It was not, however, a permanent
lustre, for it was only remarkable when he was excited by some point of
particular interest. It is impossible to imagine an expression of more
entire mildness, I may almost call it of benignity and kindness, than
that which played over his features during the whole interview. If,
therefore he were at this time out of health and in low spirits, his
power of self-command must have been even more extraordinary than is
generally supposed, for his whole deportment, his conversation, and the
expression of his countenance indicated a frame in perfect health and a
mind at ease."
The manner assumed by Napoleon in the occasional interviews he had
with such visitors was so very opposite to that which he constantly
maintained towards the authorities in whose custody he was placed, that
we can scarcely doubt he was acting a part in one of those situations.
It was suggested by Mr. Ellis that he either wished, by means of his
continual complaints, to keep alive his interest in England, where
he flattered himself there was a party favourable to him, or that his
troubled mind found an occupation in the annoyance which he caused to
the Governor. Every attempt at conciliation on the part of Sir Hudson
Lowe furnished fresh causes for irritation. He sent fowling-pieces to
Longwood, and the thanks returned were a reply from Napoleon that it was
an insult to send fowling-pieces where there was no game. An invitation
to a ball was resented vehemently, and descanted upon by the French
party as a great offence. Sir Hudson Lowe at one time sent a variety of
clothes and other articles received from England which he imagined
might be useful at Longwood. Great offence was taken at this; they were
treated, they said, like paupers; the articles, ought to have been left
at the Governor's house, and a list sent respectfully to the household,
stating that such things were at their command if they wanted them.
An opinion has already been expressed that much of this annoyance was
due to the offended pride of Napoleon's attendants, who were at first
certainly far more captious than himself. He admitted as much himself
on one occasion in a conversation with O'Meara. He said, "Las Cases
certainly was greatly irritated against Sir Hudson, and contributed
materially towards forming the impressions existing in my mind." He
attributed this to the sensitive mind of Las Cases, which he said was
peculiarly alive to the ill-treatment Napoleon and himself had been
subjected to. Sir Hudson Lowe also felt this, and remarked, like
Sir George Cockburn, on more than one occasion, that he always found
Napoleon himself more reasonable than the persons about him.
A fertile source of annoyance was the resolution of Napoleon not upon
any terms to acknowledge himself a prisoner, and his refusal to submit
to such regulations as would render his captivity less burdensome. More
than once the attendance of an officer was offered to be discontinued if
he would allow himself to be seen once every day, and promise to take no
means of escaping. "If he were to give me the whole of the island," said
Napoleon, "on condition that I would pledge my word not to attempt
an escape, I would not accept it; because it would be equivalent to
acknowledging myself a prisoner, although at the same time I would not
make the attempt. I am here by force, and not by right. If I had been
taken at Waterloo perhaps I might have had no hesitation in accepting
it, although even in that case it would be contrary to the law of
nations, as now there is no war. If they were to offer me permission
to reside in England on similar conditions I would refuse it." The very
idea of exhibiting himself to an officer every day, though but for a
moment, was repelled with indignation. He even kept loaded pistols to
shoot any person who should attempt an intrusion on his privacy. It is
stated in a note in O'Meara's journal that "the Emperor was so firmly
impressed with the idea that an attempt would be made forcibly to
intrude on his privacy, that from a short time after the departure of
Sir George Cockburn he always kept four or five pairs of loaded pistols
and some swords in his apartment, with which he was determined to
despatch the first who entered against his will." It seems this practice
was continued to his death.
Napoleon continued to pass the mornings in dictating his Memoirs and the
evenings in reading or conversation. He grew fonder of Racine, but his
favourite was Corneille. He repeated that, had he lived in his time, he
would have made him a prince. He had a distaste to Voltaire, and
found considerable fault with his dramas, perhaps justly, as conveying
opinions rather than sentiments. He criticised his Mahomet, and said he
had made him merely an impostor and a tyrant, without representing him
as a great man. This was owing to Voltaire's religious and political
antipathies; for those who are free from common prejudices acquire
others of their own in their stead, to which they are equally bigoted,
and which they bring forward on all occasions. When the evening passed
off in conversation without having recourse to books he considered it a
point gained.
Some one having asked the Emperor which was the greatest battle that he
had fought, he replied it was difficult to answer that question without
inquiring what was implied by the greatest battle. "Mine," continued
he, "cannot be judged of separately: they formed a portion of extensive
plans. They must therefore be estimated by their consequences. The
battle of Marengo, which was so long undecided, procured for us the
command of all Italy. Ulm annihilated a whole army; Jena laid the whole
Prussian monarchy at our feet; Friedland opened the Russian empire to
us; and Eckmuhl decided the fate of a war. The battle of the Moskwa
was that in which the greatest talent was displayed, and by which we
obtained the fewest advantages. Waterloo, where everything failed,
would, had victory crowned our efforts, have saved France and given
peace to Europe."
Madame Montholon having inquired what troops he considered the best,
"Those which are victorious, madam," replied the Emperor. "But," added
he, "soldiers are capricious and inconstant, like you ladies. The best
troops were the Carthaginians under Hannibal, the Romans under the
Scipios, the Macedonians under Alexander, and the Prussians under
Frederick." He thought, however, that the French soldiers were of all
others those which could most easily be rendered the best, and preserved
so. "With my complete guard of 40,000 or 50,000 men I would have
undertaken to march through Europe. It is perhaps possible to produce
troops as good as those that composed my army of Italy and Austerlitz,
but certainly none can ever surpass them."
The anniversary of the battle of Waterloo produced a visible
impression on the Emperor. "Incomprehensible day!" said he, dejectedly;
"concurrence of unheard-of fatalities! Grouchy, Ney, D'Erlon--was there
treachery or was it merely misfortune? Alas! poor France!" Here he
covered his eyes with his hands. "And yet," said he, "all that human
skill could do was accomplished! All was not lost until the moment when
all had succeeded." A short time afterwards, resuming the subject, he
exclaimed, "In that extraordinary campaign, thrice, in less than a week,
I saw the certain triumph of France slip through my fingers. Had it not
been for a traitor I should have annihilated the enemy at the outset of
the campaign. I should have destroyed him at Ligny if my left wing had
only done its duty. I should have destroyed him again at Waterloo if my
right had seconded me. Singular defeat, by which, notwithstanding the
most fatal catastrophe, the glory of the conquered has not suffered."
We shall here give Napoleon's own opinion of the battle of Waterloo.
"The plan of the battle," said he, "will not in the eyes of the
historian reflect any credit on Lord Wellington as a general. In the
first place, he ought not to have given battle with the armies divided.
They ought to have been united and encamped before the 15th. In the
next, the choice of ground was bad; because if he had been beaten he
could not have retreated, as there was only one road leading through the
forest in his rear. He also committed a fault which might have proved
the destruction of all his army, without its ever having commenced
the campaign, or being drawn out in battle; he allowed himself to be
surprised. On the 15th I was at Charleroi, and had beaten the Prussians
without his knowing anything about it. I had gained forty-eight hours
of manoeuvres upon him, which was a great object; and if some of my
generals had shown that vigour and genius which they had displayed on
other occasions, I should have taken his army in cantonments without
ever fighting a battle. But they were discouraged, and fancied that they
saw an army of 100,000 men everywhere opposed to them. I had not time
enough myself to attend to the minutiae of the army. I counted upon
surprising and cutting Wellington up in detail. I knew of Bulow's
arrival at eleven o'clock, but I did not regard it. I had still eighty
chances out of a hundred in my favour. Notwithstanding the great
superiority of force against me I was convinced that I should obtain the
victory, I had about 70,000 men, of whom 15,000 were cavalry. I had also
260 pieces of cannon; but my troops were so good that I esteemed
them sufficient to beat 120,000. Of all those troops, however, I only
reckoned the English as being able to cope with my own. The others I
thought little of. I believe that of English there were from 35,000 to
40,000. These I esteemed to be as brave and as good as my own troops;
the English army was well known latterly on the Continent, and besides,
your nation possesses courage and energy. As to the Prussians, Belgians,
and others, half the number of my troops, were sufficient to beat them.
I only left 34,000 men to take care of the Prussians. The chief causes
of the loss of that battle were, first of all, Grouchy's great tardiness
and neglect in executing his orders; next, the 'grenadiers a cheval' and
the cavalry under General Guyot, which I had in reserve, and which were
never to leave me, engaged without orders and without my knowledge; so
that after the last charge, when the troops were beaten and the English
cavalry advanced, I had not a single corps of cavalry in reserve to
resist them, instead of one which I esteemed to be equal to double their
own number. In consequence of this the English attacked, succeeded, and
all was lost. There was no means of rallying. The youngest general
would not have committed the fault of leaving an army entirely without
reserve, which, however, occurred here, whether in consequence of
treason or not I cannot say. These were the two principal causes of the
loss of the battle of Waterloo."
"If Lord Wellington had intrenched himself," continued Napoleon, "I
would not have attacked him. As a general, his plan did not show talent.
He certainly displayed great courage and obstinacy; but a little must
be taken away even from that when you consider that he had no means of
retreat, and that had he made the attempt not a man of his army would
have escaped. First, to the firmness and bravery of his troops, for
the English fought with the greatest courage and obstinacy, he is
principally indebted for the victory, and not to his own conduct as a
general; and next, to the arrival of Blücher, to whom the victory is
more to be attributed than to Wellington, and more credit is due as
a general; because he, although beaten the day before, assembled
his troops, and brought them into action in the evening. I believe,
however," continued Napoleon, "that Wellington is a man of great
firmness. The glory of such a victory is a great thing; but in the eye
of the historian his military reputation will gain nothing by it."
"I always had a high opinion of your seamen," said Napoleon one day to
O'Meara, in a conversation arising out of the expedition to Algiers.
"When I was returning from Holland along with the Empress Maria Louisa
we stopped to rest at Givet. During the night a violent storm of wind
and rain came on, which swelled the Meuse so much that the bridge
of boats over it was carried away. I was very anxious to depart, and
ordered all the boatmen in the place to be assembled that I might be
enabled to cross the river. They said that the waters were so high that
it would be impossible to pass before two or three days. I questioned
some of them, and soon discovered that they were fresh-water seamen. I
then recollected that there were English prisoners in the barracks, and
ordered that some of the oldest and best seamen among them should be
brought before me to the banks of the river. The waters were very high,
and the current rapid and dangerous. I asked them if they could join a
number of boats together so that I might pass over. They answered
that it was possible, but hazardous. I desired them to set about it
instantly. In the course of a few hours they succeeded in effecting what
the others had pronounced to be impossible, and I crossed before the
evening was over. I ordered those who had worked at it to receive a sum
of money each, a suit of clothes, and their liberty. Marchand was with
me at the time."
In December 1816 Las Cases was compelled to leave St. Helena. He had
written a letter to Lucien Bonaparte, and entrusted it to a mulatto
servant to be forwarded to Europe. He was detected; and as he was thus
endeavouring to carry on (contrary to the regulations of the island) a
clandestine correspondence with Europe, Las Cases and his son were sent
off, first to the Cape and then to England, where they were only allowed
to land to be sent to Dover and shipped off to Ostend.
Not long after their arrival at St. Helena, Madame Bertrand gave birth
to a son, and when Napoleon went to visit her she said, "I have the
honour of presenting to your Majesty the first French subject who has
entered Longwood without the permission of Lord Bathurst."
It has been generally supposed that Napoleon was a believer in the
doctrine of predestination. The following conversation with Las Cases
clearly decides that point. "Pray," said he, "am I not thought to be
given to a belief in predestination?"--"Yes, Sire; at least by many
people."--"Well, well! let them say what they please, one may sometimes
be tempted to set a part, and it may occasionally be useful. But what
are men? How much easier is it to occupy their attention and to strike
their imaginations by absurdities than by rational ideas! But can a
man of sound sense listen for one moment to such a doctrine? Either
predestination admits the existence of free-will, or it rejects it.
If it admits it, what kind of predetermined result can that be which a
simple resolution, a step, a word, may alter or modify ad infinitum? If
predestination, on the contrary, rejects the existence of free-will it
is quite another question; in that case a child need only be thrown into
its cradle as soon as it is born, there is no necessity for bestowing
the least care upon it, for if it be irrevocably decreed that it is to
live, it will grow though no food should be given to it. You see that
such a doctrine cannot be maintained; predestination is but a word
without meaning. The Turks themselves, the professors of predestination,
are not convinced of the doctrine, for in that case medicine would not
exist in Turkey, and a man residing in a third floor would not take the
trouble of going down stairs, but would immediately throw himself out of
the window. You see to what a string of absurdities that will lead?"
The following traits are characteristic of the man. In the common
intercourse of life, and his familiar conversation, Napoleon mutilated
the names most familiar to him, even French names; yet this would not
have occurred on any public occasion. He has been heard many times
during his walks to repeat the celebrated speech of Augustus in
Corneille's tragedy, and he has never missed saying, "Take a seat,
Sylla," instead of Cinna. He would frequently create names according to
his fancy, and when he had once adopted them they remained fixed in his
mind, although they were pronounced properly a hundred times a day in
his hearing; but he would have been struck if others had used them as he
had altered them. It was the same thing with respect to orthography;
in general he did not attend to it, yet if the copies which were made
contained any faults of spelling he would have complained of it. One day
Napoleon said to Las Cases, "Your orthography is not correct, is it?"
This question gave occasion to a sarcastic smile from a person who stood
near, who thought it was meant to convey a reproach. The Emperor, who
saw this, continued, "At least I suppose it is not, for a man occupied
with important public business, a minister, for instance, cannot and
need not attend to orthography. His ideas must flow faster than his hand
can trace them, he has only time to dwell upon essentials; he must put
words in letters, and phrases in words, and let the scribes make it out
afterwards." Napoleon indeed left a great deal for the copyists to
do; he was their torment; his handwriting actually resembled
hieroglyphics--he often could not decipher it himself. Las Cases' son
was one day reading to him a chapter of The Campaign of Italy; on a
sudden he stopped short, unable to make out the writing. "The little
blockhead," said Napoleon, "cannot read his own handwriting."--"It is
not mine, Sire."--"And whose, then?"--"Your Majesty's."--"How so,
you little rogue; do you mean to insult me?" The Emperor took the
manuscript, tried a long while to read it, and at last threw it down,
saying, "He is right; I cannot tell myself what is written." He has
often sent the copyists to Las Cases to read what he had himself been
unable to decipher.
We are now approaching the last melancholy epoch of Napoleon's life,
when he first felt the ravages of that malady which finally put a period
to his existence. Occasional manifestations of its presence had been
exhibited for some years, but his usual health always returned after
every attack, and its fatal nature was not suspected, although Napoleon
himself had several times said that he should die of a scirrhus in the
pylorus, the disease which killed his father, and which the physicians
of Montpelier declared would be hereditary in his family. About the
middle of the year 1818 it was observed that his health grew gradually
worse, and it was thought proper by O'Meara to report to the Governor
the state in which he was. Even on these occasions Napoleon seized the
opportunity for renewing his claim to the title of Emperor. He insisted
that the physician should not send any bulletin whatever unless he
named him in it by his Imperial designation. O'Meara explained that
the instructions of his Government and the orders of Sir Hudson Lowe
prohibited him from using the term; but it was in vain. After some
difficulty it was agreed upon that the word "patient" should be used
instead of the title of General, which caused so much offence, and this
substitution got rid of the difficulty.
O'Meara afterwards proposed to call in the assistance of Dr. Baxter, the
principal medical officer of the island, but this offer Napoleon refused
at once, alleging that, although "it was true he looked like an honest
man, he was too much attached to that hangman" (Lows), he also persisted
in rejecting the aid of medicine, and determined to take no exercise
out-of-doors as long as he should be subjected to the challenge of
sentinels. To a representation that his determination might convert
a curable to a fatal malady, he replied, "I shall at least have the
consolation that my death will be an eternal dishonour to the English
nation who sent me to this climate to die under the hands of . . ."
An important incident in Napoleon's monotonous life was the removal
of O'Meara, who had attended him as his physician from the time of his
arrival on the island. The removal of this gentleman, was occasioned
by the suspicion of similar conduct to that which brought about the
dismissal of Las Cases twenty months previously, namely, the carrying
on secret correspondence with persons out of the island. Napoleon
complained bitterly of the loss of his medical attendant, though he had
most assuredly very seldom attended to his advice, and repelled as an
insult the proffered assistance of Dr. Baxter, insinuating that the
Governor wished to have his life in his power. Some time after Dr.
Stokes, a naval surgeon, was called in, but withdrawn and eventually
tried by court-martial for furnishing information to the French at
Longwood. After this Napoleon expressed his determination to admit no
more visits from any English physician whatever, and Cardinal Fesch was
requested by the British Ministry to select some physician of reputation
in Italy who should be sent to St. Helena to attend on Napoleon. The
choice fell on Dr. Antommarchi, a young surgeon, who was accordingly
sent to St. Helena in company with two Catholic priests, the Abbes
Buonavita and Vignale, and two domestics, in compliance with the wish of
Napoleon to that effect. The party reached the island on 10th September
1819.
On his first visit the Emperor overwhelmed Antommarchi with questions
concerning his mother and family, the Princess Julie (wife of Joseph),
and Las Cases, whom Antommarchi had seen in passing through Frankfort,
expatiated with satisfaction on the retreat which he had at one time
meditated in Corsica, entered into some discussions with the doctor on
his profession, and then directed his attention to the details of his
disorder. While he examined the symptoms the Emperor continued his
remarks. They were sometimes serious, sometimes lively; kindness,
indignation, gaiety, were expressed by turns in his words and in his
countenance. "Well, doctor!" he exclaimed, "what is your opinion? Am I
to trouble much longer the digestion of Kings?"--"You will survive them,
Sire."--"Aye, I believe you; they will not be able to subject to the
ban of Europe the fame of our victories, it will traverse ages, it will
proclaim the conquerors and the conquered, those who were generous
and those who were not so; posterity will judge, I do not dread its
decision."--"This after-life belongs to you of right. Your name will
never be repeated with admiration without recalling those inglorious
warriors so basely leagued against a single man. But you are not near
your end, you have yet a long career to run."--"No, Doctor! I
cannot hold out long under this frightful climate."--"Your excellent
constitution is proof against its pernicious effects."--"It once did not
yield to the strength of mind with which nature has endowed me, but the
transition from a life of action to a complete seclusion has ruined all.
I have grown fat, my energy is gone, the bow is unstrung." Antommarchi
did not try to combat an opinion but too well-founded, but diverted the
conversation to another subject. "I resign myself," said Napoleon, "to
your direction. Let medicine give the order, I submit to its decisions.
I entrust my health to your care. I owe you the detail of the habits I
have acquired, of the affections to which I am subject.
"The hours at which I obey the injunctions of nature are in general
extremely irregular. I sleep, I eat according to circumstances or
the situation in which I am placed; my sleep is ordinarily sound and
tranquil. If pain or any accident interrupt it I jump out of bed, call
for a light, walk, set to work, and fix my attention on some subject;
sometimes I remain in the dark, change my apartment, lie down in another
bed, or stretch myself on the sofa. I rise at two, three, or four in
the morning; I call for some one to keep me company, amuse myself with
recollections or business, and wait for the return of day. I go out as
soon as dawn appears, take a stroll, and when the sun shows itself I
reenter and go to bed again, where I remain a longer or shorter time,
according as the day promises to turn out. If it is bad, and I feel
irritation and uneasiness, I have recourse to the method I have just
mentioned. I change my posture, pass from my bed to the sofa, from the
sofa to the bed, seek and find a degree of freshness. I do not describe
to you my morning costume; it has nothing to do with the sufferings I
endure, and besides, I do not wish to deprive you of the pleasure of
your surprise when you see it. These ingenious contrivances carry me on
to nine or ten o'clock, sometimes later. I then order the breakfast
to be brought, which I take from time to time in my bath, but most
frequently in the garden. Either Bertrand or Montholon keep me company,
often both of them. Physicians have the right of regulating the table;
it is proper that I should give you an account of mine. Well, then, a
basin of soup, two plates of meat, one of vegetables, a salad when I
can take it, compose the whole service; half a bottle of claret; which I
dilute with a good deal of water, serves me for drink; I drink a
little of it pure towards the end of the repast. Sometimes, when I feel
fatigued, I substitute champagne for claret, it is a certain means of
giving a fillip to the stomach."
The doctor having expressed his surprise at Napoleon's temperance, he
replied, "In my marches with the army of Italy I never failed to put
into the bow of my saddle a bottle of wine, some bread, and a cold fowl.
This provision sufficed for the wants of the day,--I may even say that
I often shared it with others. I thus gained time. I eat fast, masticate
little, my meals do not consume my hours. This is not what you will
approve the most, but in my present situation what signifies it? I
am attacked with a liver complaint, a malady which is general in this
horrible climate."
Antommarchi, having gained his confidence, now became companion as well
as physician to the Emperor, and sometimes read with him. He eagerly
turned over the newspapers when they arrived, and commented freely on
their contents. "It is amusing," he would say, "to see the sage measures
resorted to by the Allies to make people forget my tyranny!" On one
occasion he felt more languid than ordinary, and lighting on the
'Andromache' of Racine; he took up the book, began to read, but soon
let it drop from his hands. He had come to the famous passage where the
mother describes her being allowed to see her son once a day.
He was moved, covered his face with his hands, and, saying that he
was too much affected, desired to be left alone. He grew calmer, fell
asleep, and when he awoke, desired Antommarchi to be called again. He
was getting ready to shave, and the doctor was curious to witness the
operation. He was in his shirt, his head uncovered, with two valets at
his side, one holding the glass and a towel, the other the rest of the
apparatus. The Emperor spread the soap over one side of his face, put
down the brush, wiped his hands and mouth, took a razor dipped in hot
water and shaved the right side with singular dexterity. "Is it done,
Noverraz?"--"Yes, Sire."--"Well, then, face about. Come, villain, quick,
stand still." The light fell on the left side, which, after applying
the lather, he shaved in the same manner and with the same dexterity.
He drew his hand over his chin. "Raise the glass. Am I quite right?"--
"Quite so."--"Not a hair has escaped me: what say you?"--"No, Sire,"
replied the valet de chambre. "No! I think I perceive one. Lift up the
glass, place it in a better light. How, rascal! Flattery? You deceive me
at St. Helena? On this rock? You, too, are an accomplice." With this he
gave them both a box on the ear, laughed, and joked in the most pleasant
manner possible.
An almost incredible instance of the determination of the exiles to make
as many enemies as they possibly could was exhibited to Antommarchi on
his arrival at Longwood. He states that before he was permitted to enter
on his functions as surgeon he was required to take an oath that
he would not communicate with the English, and that he would more
especially avoid giving them the least information respecting the
progress of Napoleon's disorder. He was not allowed to see his
illustrious patient until the oath was taken. After exacting such an
oath from his physician the attendants of Bonaparte had little right to
complain, as they did, that the real state of his disorder was purposely
concealed from the world by the English Government. It is more than
probable that the constant attempts observed to throw mystery and
secrecy around them must have tended to create the suspicion of escape,
and to increase the consequent rigour of the regulations maintained by
the Governor.
Soon after the arrival of the priests Napoleon determined, we may
suppose partly in jest, to elevate one of them to the dignity of bishop,
and he chose for a diocese the Jumna. "The last box brought from Europe
had been broken open," says Antommarchi; "it contained the vases and
church ornaments. "Stop," said Napoleon, "this is the property of St.
Peter; have a care who touches it; send for the abbes--but talking of
the abbes, do you know that the Cardinal [Fesch] is a poor creature? He
sends me missionaries and propagandists, as if I were a penitent, and
as if a whole string of their Eminences had not always attended at my
chapel. I will do what he ought to have done; I possess the right of
investiture, and I shall use it." Abbe Buonavita was just entering the
room, "I give you the episcopal mitre."--"Sire!"--"I restore it to you;
you shall wear it in spite of the heretics; they will not again take
it from you."-- "But, Sire!"--"I cannot add to it so rich a benefice as
that of Valencia, which Suchet had given you, but at any rate your
see shall be secure from the chances of battles. I appoint you Bishop
of--let me see--of the Jumna. The vast countries through which that
river flows were on the point of entering into alliance with me--all
was in readiness, all were going to march. We were about to give the
finishing blow to England." The speech concluded with an order to Count
Montholon to procure the necessary dress for the abbe in order to strike
with awe all the heretics. The upshot of the whole was, that the scarlet
and violet coloured clothes necessary to furnish the new bishop with
the only valuable portion of his temporalities, his dress, could not be
procured in the island, and the abbe remained an abbe in spite of the
investiture, and the whole farce was forgotten.
We occasionally see the Exile in better moods, when he listened to the
voice of reason, and thought less of the annoyances inseparable from
the state to which his ambition, or as he himself always averred, his
destiny, had reduced him. He had for a long time debarred himself from
all exercise, having, as he expressed it, determined not to expose
himself to the insult of being accompanied on his ride by a British
officer; or the possibility of being challenged by a sentinel. One
day when he complained of his inactive life his medical attendant
recommended the exercise of digging the ground; the idea was instantly
seized upon by Napoleon with his characteristic ardour. Noverraz, his
chasseur, who had been formerly accustomed to rural occupations, was
honoured with the title of head gardener, and under his directions
Napoleon proceeded to work with great vigour. He sent for Antommarchi
to witness his newly acquired dexterity in the use of the spade. "Well,
Doctor," said he to him, "are you satisfied with your patient--is he
obedient enough? This is better than your pills, Dottoraccio; you shall
not physic me any more." At first he soon got fatigued, and complained
much of the weakness of his body and delicacy of his hands; but "never
mind," said he, "I have always accustomed my body to bend to my will,
and I shall bring it to do so now, and inure it to the exercise." He
soon grew fond of his new employment, and pressed all the inhabitants of
Longwood into the service. Even the ladies had great difficulty to avoid
being set to work. He laughed at them, urged them, entreated them, and
used all his arts of persuasion, particularly with Madame Bertrand. He
assured her that the exercise of gardening was much better than all the
doctor's prescriptions--that it was in fact one of his prescriptions.
But in this instance his eloquence failed in its effect, and he was
obliged, though with much reluctance, to desist from his attempts to
make lady gardeners.
But in recompense he had willing labourers on the part of the gentlemen.
Antommarchi says, "The Emperor urged us, excited us, and everything
around us soon assumed a different aspect. Here was an excavation, there
a basin or a road. We made alleys, grottoes, cascades; the appearance
of the ground had now some life and diversity. We planted willows, oaks,
peach-trees, to give a little shade round the house. Having completed
the ornamental part of our labours we turned to the useful. We divided
the ground, we manured it, and sowed it with abundance of beans, peas,
and every vegetable that grows in the island." In the course of their
labours they found that a tank would be of great use to hold water,
which might be brought by pipes from a spring at a distance of 3000
feet.
For this laborious attempt it was absolutely necessary to procure
additional forces, and a party of Chinese, of whom there are many on
the island, was engaged to help them. These people were much amused at
Napoleon's working-dress, which was a jacket and large trousers, with
an enormous straw hat to shield him from the sun, and sandals. He pitied
those poor fellows who suffered from the heat of the sun, and made each
of them a present of a large hat like his own. After much exertion the
basin was finished, the pipes laid, and the water began to flow into it.
Napoleon stocked his pond with gold-fish, which he placed in it with
his own hands. He would remain by the pond for hours together, at a time
when he was so weak that he could hardly support himself. He would amuse
himself by following the motion of the fishes, throwing bread to
them, studying their ways, taking an interest in their loves and
their quarrels, and endeavouring with anxiety to find out points of
resemblance between their motives and those of mankind. He often sent
for his attendants to communicate his remarks to them, and directed
their observations to any peculiarities he had observed. His favourites
at last sickened, they struggled, floated on the water, and died
one after another. He was deeply affected by this, and remarked to
Antommarchi, "You see very well that there is a fatality attached to me.
Everything I love, everything that belongs to me, is immediately struck:
heaven and mankind unite to persecute me." From this time he visited
them daily in spite of sickness or bad weather, nor did his anxiety
diminish until it was discovered that a coppery cement, with which the
bottom of the basin was plastered, had poisoned the water. The fish
which were not yet dead were then taken out and put into a tub.
Napoleon appears to have taken peculiar interest in observing the
instincts of animals, and comparing their practices and propensities
with those of men. A rainy day, during which the digging of the tank
could not be proceeded with, gave occasion for some observations on
the actions of a number of ants, which had made a way into his bedroom,
climbed upon a table on which some sugar usually stood, and taken
possession of the sugar-basin. He would not allow the industrious little
insects to be disturbed in their plans; but he now and then moved the
sugar, followed their manoeuvres, and admired the activity and industry
they displayed until they found it again; this they had been sometimes
even two or three days in effecting, though they always succeeded
at last. He then surrounded the basin with water, but the ants still
reached it; he finally employed vinegar, and the insects were unable to
get through the new obstacle.
But the slight activity of mind that now remained to him was soon to be
exchanged for the languor and gloom of sickness, with but few intervals
between positive suffering and the most distressing lowness of spirits.
Towards the end of the year 1820 he walked with difficulty, and required
assistance even to reach a chair in his garden. He became nearly
incapable of the slightest action; his legs swelled; the pains in his
side and back were increased; he was troubled with nausea, profuse
sweats, loss of appetite, and was subject to frequent faintings. "Here
I am, Doctor," said he one day, "at my last cast. No more energy and
strength left: I bend under the load . . . I am going. I feel that my
hour is come."
Some days after, as he lay on his couch, he feelingly expressed to
Antommarchi the vast change which had taken place within him. He
recalled for a few moments the vivid recollection of past times, and
compared his former energy with the weakness which he was then sinking
under.
The news of the death of his sister Elisa also affected him deeply.
After a struggle with his feelings, which had nearly overpowered him,
he rose, supported himself on Antommarchi's arm; and regarding him
steadfastly, said, "Well, Doctor! you see Elisa has just shown me the
way. Death, which seemed to have forgotten my family, has begun to
strike it; my turn cannot be far off. What think you?"--"Your Majesty
is in no danger: you are still reserved for some glorious enterprise."--
"Ah, Doctor! I have neither strength nor activity nor energy; I am no
longer Napoleon. You strive in vain to give me hopes, to recall life
ready to expire. Your care can do nothing in spite of fate: it is
immovable: there is no appeal from its decisions. The next person of
our family who will follow Elisa to the tomb is that great Napoleon who
hardly exists, who bends under the yoke, and who still, nevertheless
keeps Europe in alarm. Behold, my good friend, how I look on my
situation! As for me, all is over: I repeat it to you, my days will soon
close on this miserable rock."--"We returned," says Antommarchi, "into
his chamber. Napoleon lay down' in bed. 'Close my windows,' he said;
leave me to myself; I will send for you by-and-by. What a delightful
thing rest is! I would not exchange it for all the thrones in the world!
What an alteration! How I am fallen! I, whose activity was boundless,
whose mind never slumbered, am now plunged into a lethargic stupor,
so that it requires an effort even to raise my eyelids. I sometimes
dictated to four or five secretaries, who wrote as fast as words could
be uttered, but then I was NAPOLEON--now I am no longer anything. My
strength--my faculties forsake me. I do not live--I merely exist.'"
From this period the existence of Napoleon was evidently drawing to a
close, his days were counted. Whole hours, and even days, were either
passed in gloomy silence or spent in pain, accompanied by distressing
coughs, and all the melancholy signs of the approach of death. He made
a last effort to ride a few miles round Longwood on the 22d of January
1821, but it exhausted his strength, and from that time his only
exercise was in the calash. Even that slight motion soon became too
fatiguing.
He now kept his room, and no longer stirred out. His disorder and his
weakness increased upon him. He still was able to eat something, but
very little, and with a worse appetite than ever. "Ah! doctor," he
exclaimed, "how I suffer! Why did the cannon-balls spare me only to
die in this deplorable manner? I that was so active, so alert, can now
scarcely raise my eyelids!"
His last airing was on the 17th of March. The disease increased,
and Antommarchi, who was much alarmed, obtained with some difficulty
permission to see an English physician. He held a consultation, on the
26th of March, with Dr. Arnott of the 20th Regiment; but Napoleon still
refused to take medicine, and often repeated his favourite saying:
"Everything that must happen is written down, our hour is marked, and
it is not in our power to take from time a portion which nature refuses
us." He continued to grow worse, and at last consented to see Dr.
Arnott, whose first visit was on the 1st of April. He was introduced
into the chamber of the patient, which was darkened, and into which
Napoleon did not suffer any light to be brought, examined his pulse and
the other symptoms, and was requested to repeat his visit the next
day. Napoleon was now within a month of his death, and although he
occasionally spoke with the eloquence and vehemence he had so often
exhibited, his mind was evidently giving way. The reported appearance of
a comet was taken as a token of his death. He was excited, and exclaimed
with emotion, "A comet! that was the precursor of the death of Caesar."
On the 3d of April the symptoms of the disorder had become so alarming
that Antommarchi informed Bertrand and Montholon he thought Napoleon's
danger imminent, and that Napoleon ought to take steps to put his
affairs in order. He was now attacked by fever and by violent thirst,
which often interrupted his sleep in the night. On the 14th Napoleon
found himself in better spirits, and talked with Dr. Arnott on the
merits of Marlborough, whose Campaigns he desired him to present to
the 20th Regiment, learning that they did not, possess a copy in their
library.
On the 15th of April Napoleon's doors were closed to all but Montholon
and Marchand, and it appeared that he had been making his Will. On the
19th he was better, was free from pain, sat up, and ate a little. He was
in good spirits, and wished them to read to him. As General Montholon
with the others expressed his satisfaction at this improvement he smiled
gently, and said, "You deceive yourselves, my friends: I am, it is true,
somewhat better, but I feel no less that my end draws near. When I am
dead you will have the agreeable consolation of returning to Europe.
One will meet his relations, another his friends; and as for me, I shall
behold my brave companions-in-arms in the Elysian Fields. Yes," he went
on, raising his voice, "Kléber, Desaix, Bessières, Duroc, Ney, Murat,
Massena, Berthier, all will come to greet me: they will talk to me of
what we have done together. I will recount to them the latest events
of my life. On seeing me they will become once more intoxicated with
enthusiasm and glory. We will discourse of our wars with the Scipios,
Hannibal, Caesar, and Frederick--there will be a satisfaction in that:
unless," he added, laughing bitterly, "they should be alarmed below to
see so many warriors assembled together!"
He addressed Dr. Arnott, who came in while he was speaking, on the
treatment he had received from England said that she had violated every
sacred right in making him prisoner, that he should have been much
better treated in Russia, Austria, or even Prussia; that he was sent
to the horrible rock of St. Helena on purpose to die; that he had been
purposely placed on the most uninhabitable spot of that inhospitable
island, and kept six years a close prisoner, and that Sir Hudson Lowe
was his executioner. He concluded with these words: "You will end like
the proud republic of Venice; and I, dying upon this dreary rock,
away from those I hold dear, and deprived of everything, bequeath the
opprobrium and horror of my death to the reigning family of England."
On the 21st Napoleon gave directions to the priest who was in attendance
as to the manner in which he would be placed to lie in state after his
death; and finding his religious attendant had never officiated in
such a solemnity he gave the most minute instructions for the mode of
conducting it. He afterwards declared that he would die, as he was born
a Catholic, and desired that mass should be said by his body, and the
customary ceremonies should be performed every day until his burial. The
expression of his face was earnest and convulsive; he saw Antommarchi
watching the contractions which he underwent, when his eye caught some
indication that displeased him. "You are above these weaknesses; but
what would you have? I am neither philosopher nor physician. I believe
in God; I am of the religion of my fathers; every one cannot be an
atheist who pleases." Then turning to the priest--"I was born in the
Catholic religion. I wish to fulfil the duties which it imposes, and to
receive the succour which it administers. You will say mass every day in
the adjoining chapel, and you will expose the Holy Sacrament for forty
hours. After I am dead you will place your altar at my head in the
funeral chamber; you will continue to celebrate mass, and perform all
the customary ceremonies; you will not cease till I am laid in
the ground." The Abbe (Vignale) withdrew; Napoleon reproved his
fellow-countryman for his supposed incredulity. "Can you carry it
to this point? Can you disbelieve in God? Everything proclaims His
existence; and, besides, the greatest minds have thought so."--"But,
Sire, I have never called it in question. I was attending to the
progress of the fever: your Majesty fancied you saw in my features an
expression which they had not."-- "You are a physician, Doctor," he
replied laughingly; "these folks," he added, half to himself, "are
conversant only with matter; they will believe in nothing beyond."
In the afternoon of the 25th he was better; but being left alone, a
sudden fancy possessed him to eat. He called for fruits, wine, tried a
biscuit, then swallowed some champagne, seized a bunch of grapes, and
burst into a fit of laughter as soon as he saw Antommarchi return. The
physician ordered away the dessert, and found fault with the maitre
d'hotel; but the mischief was done, the fever returned and became
violent. The Emperor was now on his death-bed, but he testified concern
for every one. He asked Antommarchi if 500 guineas would satisfy the
English physician, and if he himself would like to serve Maria Louisa in
quality of a physician? "She is my wife, the first Princess in Europe,
and after me you should serve no one else." Antommarchi expressed his
acknowledgments. The fever continued unabated, with violent thirst and
cold in the feet. On the 27th he determined to remove from the small
chamber into the salon. They were preparing to carry him. "No," he
said, "not until I am dead; for the present it will be sufficient if you
support me."
Between the 27th and 28th the Emperor passed a very bad night; the fever
increased, coldness spread over his limbs, his strength was quite gone.
He spoke a few words of encouragement to Antommarchi; then in a tone
of perfect calmness and composure he delivered to him the following
instructions: "After my death, which cannot be far off, I wish you to
open my body: I wish also, nay, I require, that you will not suffer any
English physician to touch me. If, however, you find it indispensable to
have some one to assist you, Dr. Arnott is the only one I am willing
you should employ. I am desirous, further, that you should take out
my heart, that you put it in spirits of wine, and that you carry it to
Parma to my dear Maria Louisa: you will tell her how tenderly I have
loved her, that I have never ceased to love her; and you will report to
her all that you have witnessed, all that relates to my situation and my
death. I recommend you, above all, carefully to examine my stomach, to
make an exact detailed report of it, which you will convey to my son.
The vomitings which succeed each other without intermission lead me
to suppose that the stomach is the one of my organs which is the most
deranged, and I am inclined to believe that it is affected with the
disease which conducted my father to the grave,--I mean a cancer in
the lower stomach. What think you?" His physician hesitating, he
continued--"I have not doubted this since I found the sickness become
frequent and obstinate. It is nevertheless well worthy of remark that
I have always had a stomach of iron, that I have felt no inconvenience
from this organ till latterly, and that whereas my father was fond of
high-seasoned dishes and spirituous liquors, I have never been able to
make use of them. Be it as it may, I entreat, I charge you to neglect
nothing in such an examination, in order that when you see my son you
may communicate the result of your observations to him, and point out
the most suitable remedies. When I am no more you will repair to Rome;
you will find out my mother and my family. You will give them an account
of all you have observed relative to my situation, my disorder, and my
death on this remote and miserable rock; you will tell them that the
great Napoleon expired in the most deplorable state, wanting everything,
abandoned to himself and his glory." It was ten in the forenoon; after
this the fever abated, and he fell into a sort of doze.
The Emperor passed a very bad night, and could not sleep. He grew
light-headed and talked incoherently; still the fever had abated in its
violence. Towards morning the hiccough began to torment him, the fever
increased, and he became quite delirious. He spoke of his complaint, and
called upon Baxter (the Governor's physician) to appear, to come and see
the truth of his reports. Then all at once fancying O'Meara present,
he imagined a dialogue between them, throwing a weight of odium on the
English policy. The fever having subsided, his hearing became distinct;
he grew calm, and entered into some further conversation on what was to
be done after his death. He felt thirsty, and drank a large quantity
of cold water. "If fate should determine that I shall recover, I would
raise a monument on the spot where this water gushes out: I would crown
the fountain in memory of the comfort which it has afforded me. If I
die, and they should not proscribe my remains as they have proscribed my
person, I should desire to be buried with my ancestors in the cathedral
of Ajaccio, in Corsica. But if I am not allowed to repose where I
was born, why, then, let them bury me at the spot where this fine and
refreshing water flows." This request was afterwards complied with.
He remained nearly in the same state for some days. On the 1st of May he
was delirious nearly all day, and suffered dreadful vomitings. He took
two small biscuits and a few drops of red wine. On the 2d he was rather
quieter, and the alarming symptoms diminished a little. At 2 P.M.,
however, he had a paroxysm of fever, and became again delirious.
He talked to himself of France, of his dear son, of some of his old
companions-in-arms. At times he was evidently in imagination on the
field of battle. "Stengel!" he cried; "Desaix! Massena! Ah! victory is
declaring itself! run--rush forward--press the charge!--they are ours!"
"I was listening," says Dr. Antommarchi, "and following the progress
of that painful agony in the deepest distress, when Napoleon, suddenly
collecting his strength, jumped on the floor, and would absolutely go
down into the garden to take a walk. I ran to receive him in my arms,
but his legs bent under the weight of his body; he fell backwards, and I
had the mortification of being unable to prevent his falling. We raised
him up and entreated him to get into bed again; but he did not recognise
anybody, and began to storm and fall into a violent passion. He was
unconscious, and anxiously desired to walk in the garden. In the course
of the day, however, he became more collected, and again spoke of his
disease, and the precise anatomical examination he wished to be made of
his body after death. He had a fancy that this might be useful to his
son." "The physicians of Montpelier," he said to Antommarchi, "announced
that the scirrhosis in the pylorus would be hereditary in my family;
their report is, I believe, in the hands of my brother Louis; ask for it
and compare it with your own observations on my case, in order that my
son may be saved from this cruel disease. You will see him, Doctor, and
you will point out to him what is best to do, and will save him from
the cruel sufferings I now experience. This is the last service I ask of
you." Later in the day he said, "Doctor, I am very ill--I feel that I am
going to die."
The last time Napoleon spoke, except to utter a few short unconnected
words, was on the 3d of May. It was in the afternoon, and he had
requested his attendants, in case of his losing consciousness, not to
allow any English physician to approach him except Dr. Arnott. "I am
going to die," said he, "and you to return to Europe; I must give you
some advice as to the line of conduct you are to pursue. You have shared
my exile, you will be faithful to my memory, and will not do anything
that may injure it. I have sanctioned all proper principles, and
infused them into my laws and acts; I have not omitted a single one.
Unfortunately, however, the circumstances in which I was placed were
arduous, and I was obliged to act with severity, and to postpone the
execution of my plans. Our reverses occurred; I could not unbend the
bow; and France has been deprived of the liberal institutions I intended
to give her. She judges me with indulgence; she feels grateful for my
intentions; she cherishes my name and my victories. Imitate her example,
be faithful to the opinions we have defended, and to the glory we have
acquired: any other course can only lead to shame and confusion."
From this moment it does not appear that Napoleon showed any signs of
understanding what was going forward around him. His weakness increased
every moment, and a harassing hiccough continued until death took
place. The day before that event a fearful tempest threatened to destroy
everything about Longwood. The plantations were torn up by the roots,
and it was particularly remarked that a willow, under which Napoleon
usually sat to enjoy the fresh air, had fallen. "It seemed," says
Antommarchi, "as if none of the things the Emperor valued were to
survive him." On the day of his death Madame Bertrand, who had not left
his bedside, sent for her children to take a last farewell of Napoleon.
The scene which ensued was affecting: the children ran to the bed,
kissed the hands of Napoleon, and covered them with tears. One of the
children fainted, and all had to be carried from the spot. "We all,"
says Antommarchi, "mixed our lamentations with theirs: we all felt the
same anguish, the same cruel foreboding of the approach of the fatal
instant, which every minute accelerated." The favourite valet, Noverraz,
who had been for some time very ill, when he heard of the state in which
Napoleon was, caused himself to be carried downstairs, and entered the
apartment in tears. He was with great difficulty prevailed upon to leave
the room: he was in a delirious state, and he fancied his master was
threatened with danger, and was calling upon him for assistance: he said
he would not leave him but would fight and die for him. But Napoleon was
now insensible to the tears of his servants; he had scarcely spoken for
two days; early in the morning he articulated a few broken sentences,
among which the only words distinguishable were, "tete d'armee," the
last that ever left his lips, and which indicated the tenor of his
fancies. The day passed in convulsive movements and low moanings, with
occasionally a loud shriek, and the dismal scene closed just before six
in the evening. A slight froth covered his lips, and he was no more.
After he had been dead about six hours Antommarchi had the body
carefully washed and laid out on another bed. The executors then
proceeded to examine two codicils which were directed to be opened
immediately after the Emperor's decease. The one related to the
gratuities which he intended out of his private purse for the different
individuals of his household, and to the alms which he wished to be
distributed among the poor of St. Helena; the other contained his last
wish that "his ashes should repose on the banks of the Seine, in the
midst of the French people whom he had loved so well." The executors
notified this request to the Governor, who stated that his orders were
that the body was to, remain on the island. On the next day, after
taking a plaster cast of the face of Napoleon, Antommarchi proceeded to
open the body in the presence of Sir Thomas Reade, some staff officers,
and eight medical men.
The Emperor had intended his hair (which was of a chestnut colour) for
presents to the different members of his family, and it was cut off and
kept for this purpose.
He had grown considerably thinner in person during the last few months.
After his death his face and body were pale, but without alteration or
anything of a cadaverous appearance. His physiognomy was fine, the eyes
fast closed, and you would have said that the Emperor was not dead, but
in a profound sleep. His mouth retained its expression of sweetness,
though one side was contracted into a bitter smile. Several scars were
seen on his body. On opening it it was found that the liver was not
affected, but that there was that cancer of the stomach which he had
himself suspected, and of which his father and two of his sisters died.
This painful examination having been completed, Antommarchi took out
the heart and placed it in a silver vase filled with spirits of wine;
he then directed the valet de chambre to dress the body as he had been
accustomed in the Emperor's lifetime, with the grand cordon of the
Legion of Honour across the breast, in the green uniform of a colonel of
the Chasseurs of the Guard, decorated with the orders of the Legion of
Honour and of the Iron Crown, long boots with little spurs, finally, his
three cornered hat. Thus habited, Napoleon was removed in the afternoon
of the 6th out of the hall, into which the crowd rushed immediately.
The linen which had been employed in the dissection of the body, though
stained with blood, was eagerly seized, torn in pieces, and distributed
among the bystanders.
Napoleon lay in state in his little bedroom which had been converted
into a funeral chamber. It was hung with black cloth brought from the
town. This circumstance first apprised the inhabitants of his death. The
corpse, which had not been embalmed, and which was of an extraordinary
whiteness, was placed on one of the campbeds, surrounded with little
white curtains, which served for a sarcophagus. The blue cloak which
Napoleon had worn at the battle of Marengo covered it. The feet and
the hands were free; the sword on the left side, and a crucifix on the
breast. At some distance was the silver vase containing the heart and
stomach, which were not allowed to be removed. At the back of the head
was an altar, where the priest in his stole and surplice recited the
customary prayers. All the individuals of Napoleon's suite, officers
and domestics, dressed in mourning, remained standing on the left. Dr.
Arnott had been charged to see that no attempt was made to convey away
the body.
For some-hours the crowd had besieged the doors; they were admitted,
and beheld the inanimate remains of Napoleon in respectful silence. The
officers of the 20th and 66th Regiments were admitted first, then the
others. The following day (the 7th) the throng was greater. Antommarchi
was not allowed to take the heart of Napoleon to Europe with him; he
deposited that and the stomach in two vases, filled with alcohol and
hermetically sealed, in the corners of the coffin in which the corpse
was laid. This was a shell of zinc lined with white satin, in which was
a mattress furnished with a pillow. There not being room for the hat to
remain on his head, it was placed at his feet, with some eagles, pieces
of French money coined during his reign, a plate engraved with his arms,
etc. The coffin was closed, carefully soldered up, and then fixed in
another case of mahogany, which was enclosed in a third made of lead,
which last was fastened in a fourth of mahogany, which was sealed up and
fastened with screws. The coffin was exhibited in the same place as the
body had been, and was also covered with the cloak that Napoleon had
worn at the battle of Marengo. The funeral was ordered for the morrow,
8th May, and the troops were to attend in the morning by break of day.
This took place accordingly: the Governor arrived first, the
Rear-Admiral soon after, and shortly all the authorities, civil and
military, were assembled at Longwood. The day was fine, the people
crowded the roads, music resounded from the heights; never had spectacle
so sad and solemn been witnessed in these remote regions. At half-past
twelve the grenadiers took hold of the coffin, lifted it with
difficulty, and succeeded in removing it into the great walk in the
garden, where the hearse awaited them. It was placed in the carriage,
covered with a pall of violet-coloured velvet, and with the cloak which
the hero wore at Marengo. The Emperor's household were in mourning. The
cavalcade was arranged by order of the Governor in the following manner:
The Abbe Vignale in his sacerdotal robes, with young Henry Bertrand at
his side, bearing an aspersorium; Doctors Arnott and Antommarchi, the
persons entrusted with the superintendence of the hearse, drawn by four
horses, led by grooms, and escorted by twelve grenadiers without arms,
on each side; these last were to carry the coffin on their shoulders as
soon as the ruggedness of the road prevented the hearse from advancing;
young Napoleon Bertrand, and Marchand, both on foot, and by the side of
the hearse; Counts Bertrand and Montholon on horseback close behind the
hearse; a part of the household of the Emperor; Countess Bertrand with
her daughter Hortense, in a calash drawn by two horses led by hand by
her domestics, who walked by the side of the precipice; the Emperor's
horse led by his piqueur Archambaud; the officers of marine on horseback
and on foot; the officers of the staff on horse-back; the members of
the council of the island in like manner; General Coffin and the Marquis
Montchenu on horseback; the Rear-Admiral and the Governor on horseback;
the inhabitants of the island.
The train set out in this order from Longwood, passed by the barracks,
and was met by the garrison, about 2500 in number, drawn up on the left
of the road as far as Hut's Gate. Military bands placed at different
distances added still more, by the mournful airs which they played, to
the striking solemnity of the occasion. When the train had passed the
troops followed and accompanied it to the burying-place. The dragoons
marched first. Then came the 20th Regiment of infantry, the marines,
the 66th, the volunteers of St. Helena, and lastly, the company of Royal
Artillery, with fifteen pieces of cannon. Lady Lowe and her daughter
were at the roadside at Hut's Gate, in an open carriage drawn by two
horses. They were attended by some domestics in mourning, and followed
the procession at a distance. The fifteen pieces of artillery were
ranged along the road, and the gunners were at their posts ready to
fire. Having advanced about a quarter of a mile beyond Hut's Gate the
hearse stopped, the troops halted and drew up in line of battle by the
roadside. The grenadiers then raised the coffin on their shoulders and
bore it thus to the place of interment, by the new route which had been
made on purpose on the declivity of the mountain. All the attendants
alighted, the ladies descended from their carriages, and the procession
followed the corpse without observing any regular order.
Counts Bertrand and Montholon, Marchand and young Napoleon Bertrand,
carried the four corners of the pall. The coffin was laid down at the
side of the tomb, which was hung with black. Near were seen the cords
and pulleys which were to lower it into the earth. The coffin was then
uncovered, the Abbe Vignale repeated the usual prayers, and the body was
let down into the grave with the feet to the east. The artillery then
fired three salutes in succession of fifteen discharges each. The
Admiral's vessel had fired during the procession twenty-five minute guns
from time to time. A huge stone, which was to have been employed in
the building of the new house of the Emperor, was now used to close his
grave, and was lowered till it rested on a strong stone wall so as not
to touch the coffin. While the grave was closed the crowd seized upon
the willows, which the former presence of Napoleon had already rendered
objects of veneration. Every one was ambitious to possess a branch or
some leaves of these trees which were henceforth to shadow the tomb of
this great man, and to preserve them as a precious relic of so memorable
a scene. The Governor and Admiral endeavoured to prevent this outrage,
but in vain. The Governor, however, surrounded the spot afterwards with
a barricade, where he placed a guard to keep off all intruders. The
tomb of the Emperor was about a league from Longwood. It was of a
quadrangular shape, wider at top than at bottom; the depth about twelve
feet. The coffin was placed on two strong pieces of wood, and was
detached in its whole circumference.
The companions of Napoleon returned to France, and the island gradually
resumed its former quiet state, while the willows weeping over the grave
guarded the ashes of the man for whom Europe had been all too small.
ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
A sect cannot be destroyed by cannon-balls Ability in making it be
supposed that he really possessed talent Absurdity of interfering with
trifles Admired him more for what he had the fortitude not to do Always
proposing what he knew could not be honourably acceded to An old man's
blessing never yet harmed any one Animated by an unlucky zeal Buried for
the purpose of being dug up Calumny such powerful charms Cause of war
between the United States and England Conquest can only be regarded as
the genius of destruction Demand everything, that you may obtain nothing
Die young, and I shall have some consolatory reflection Every time we
go to war with them we teach them how to beat us Every one cannot be
an atheist who pleases Go to England. The English like wrangling
politicians God in his mercy has chosen Napoleon to be his
representative on earth Grew more angry as his anger was less regarded
Had neither learned nor forgotten anything I have made sovereigns,
but have not wished to be one myself I do not live--I merely exist
Ideologues Immortality is the recollection one leaves Kings feel they
are born general: whatever else they cannot do Kiss the feet of Popes
provided their hands are tied Let women mind their knitting Malice
delights to blacken the characters of prominent men Manufacturers
of phrases More glorious to merit a sceptre than to possess one Most
celebrated people lose on a close view Necessary to let men and things
take their course Nothing is changed in France: there is only
one Frenchman more Put some gold lace on the coats of my virtuous
republicans Religion is useful to the Government Rights of misfortune
are always sacred Something so seductive in popular enthusiasm Strike
their imaginations by absurdities than by rational ideas Submit to
events, that he might appear to command them Tendency to sell the skin
of the bear before killing him That consolation which is always left
to the discontented The boudoir was often stronger than the cabinet The
wish and the reality were to him one and the same thing Those who are
free from common prejudices acquire others To leave behind him no traces
of his existence Treaties of peace no less disastrous than the wars
Treaty, according to custom, was called perpetual Trifles honoured with
too much attention Were made friends of lest they should become enemies
When a man has so much money he cannot have got it honestly Would enact
the more in proportion as we yield Yield to illusion when the truth was
not satisfactory
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Complete by Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne
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