iB, It I ! I ! 1' ' 1 1 1'lHuliin!.! llillll! It* i I 11 Pill ■,,...>to.A;M m rFM L 'Ml, I 1,1' J,>i'iU'H' ■ ■ill? :: ?"'^::'.. ' .: -. • . iJSI it';' '■•' ;->': I^^l 637/^/ 1^^^ Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924012877522 Cornell University Library DC 203.M54 1910 Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, the court iiin 111 111 II ii||i I '" 3 1924 012 877 522 MEMOIRS OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE The Court of the First Empire BY BARON C-F DE MENEVAL His Pri-vate Secret a ry VOLUME I With a Special Introduction and Illustrations NEW YORK P F COLLIER & SON PUBLISHERS Copyright igio By p. F. Collier & Son CONTENTS CHAPTER I PACE Meneval's Early Life. — Makes Acquaintance of Louis Bona- parte. — The Return of General Bonaparte from Egypt. — Louis Bonaparte. — Napoleon's Prophecy on his Destiny. — Opinions of Napoleon on J. J. Rousseau. — Napoleon French, not Italian. — Meneval Taken by the Conscription. — Capture and Execution of Frotte at Verneuil. — Meneval Meets Joseph Bonaparte. — Negotiations with the United States. — Meneval Sees Napoleon for the First Time. — M. de Lafayette. — Passage of General Moreau to Lune- ville. — ^The Victory of Hohenlinden. — Peace Concluded. — Lucien Bonaparte.— Death of Paul I. — Evacuation of Egypt. — Signing the Concordat. — Fall of the Pitt Cabinet. — Signing the Treaty at Amiens. — Marriage of Louis Bonaparte. — Marriage of Murat Sanctioned by Church . VJ CHAPTER n Meneval Admitted into the First Consul's Cabinet. — Friendly Reception from Madame Bonaparte — Family Dinner. — The Moral and Physical Properties of Napoleon. — On His Early Education. — His Respect for His Parents. — Death of His Father. — Description of the First Consul's Vol. 6 3 1 — Memoirs 4 CONTENTS PAGE Cabinet. — His Librarians. — The First Consul's Household Arrangements. — Secret of the i8th Brumaire, Year VHI. — Napoleon's Indifference about His Personal Safety. — The Second and Third Consuls. — The State Council — Origin and Motive of the Senatus Consultum. — Institution of the Legion of Honor — The Consulate for Life. — On the Dif- ferent Anniversaries of the 14th of July , lOl CHAPTER III Retreat of General Lannes from Lisbon. — Taking Possession of the Castle of Saint Cloud. — Canova Makes Napoleon's Bust. — Napoleon's Kindness to the Beauharnais Family. — The Island of Elba United to France. — Visit to the Saint- Cyr Military Schools. — Fouch6's Retirement — The Viola- tion of Postal Secrecy. — Toussaint L'Ouverture. — Charles Nodier. — Napoleon Thrown Out of His Carriage. — Rup- ture of Peace with England. — Invasion and Conquest of Hanover. — Preparations for the Formation of a Flotilla at Boulogne — Napoleon's Friendly Feeling Towards Prus- sia. — Return to St. Ooud. — Convocation of the Legislature. — Plots of English Diplomatic Agents. — ^The Abb^ de Montgaillard. — M. de Vauban. — His Memoirs on the Vendee ..»,< 164 CHAPTER IV Universal Anxiety Caused in England by the Preparations for Invasion. — Assembly of Exiles on the Rhine. — Fouche's Activity. — ^The First Consul's Departure from La Mal- maison. — Arrival of the Due d'Enghien at Pautin. — Forma- tion of the Military Court-MartiaL — Colonel Savary Re- CONTENTS S PAG» ports the Execution of the Sentence to the First Consul —Napoleon's Fairness Towards His Ministers. — Hostile Conduct of the Russian and Swedish Governments. — A Senatus Consultum Confers Imperial Dignity on the First Consul. — Popular Votes. — Moreau's Punishment Com- muted to Exile. — Formation of the Imperial Court. — Crea- tion of the Great Dignities of the Empire. — Nomination of Eighteen Marshals of the Empire. — Distribution of Decorations of the Legion of Honor. — ^Lucien's Disgrace. — Jerome Bonaparte's Marriage with Eliza Patterson. — The Emperor's Kindness to that Lady. — Institution of Decennial Prizes 232 CHAPTER V Arrival of the Pope at Paris. — Ceremonial of the CoronatioiL — Imperial Protocol. — Project of an Expedition to India. — Napoleon Proclaimed King of Italy. — Napoleon's Power of Concentration. — Breaking Up of the Camp at Boulogne. — Bavaria Invaded by the Austrians. — ^The Potsdam Treaty. — Battles of Guntzburg, Hasloch, and Elchingen. — News of the Disaster at Trafalgar. — Battle of Austerlitz. — Interview with the Emperor of Austria. — ^Re-establish- ment of the Gregorian Calendar. — Mesdaraes de Chevreuse, de Stael, and Recamier. — Death of Pitt. — Creation of Kingdoms, Duchies ^nd Principalities. — Prince Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland. — Napoleon's Private Life. — Management of the Imperial Household 308 CHAPTER VI Rupture with Prussia. — The Emperor's Departure for the Army. — Battles of Jena and Auerstadt. — Annihilation of CONTENTS FAG* the Prussian Armies.— Entry into Berlin.— Entry of the French Army into Poland. — ^Treaty with the King of Saxony.— The Battle of Eylau.— Battle of Ostrolenka.— Second Winter-quarters at the Castle of Finckenstein. . 419 CHAPTER VII Siege and Taking of Dantzig. — Victory of Heilsberg and Friedland. — Tilsitt. — The Army on the March for Portu- gal. — The Degeneration of Spain. — Joseph Made King of Spain. — Murat Made King of Naples. — The Emperor Re- ceived with Triumph in the Vendee. — Return to St. Cloud , .,.,.... 453 CHAPTER VIII The Emperor's Fete. — The Emperor's Departure for the Army. — Occupation of Burgos. — Entry of Army into Madrid. — Marshal Lannes Sent to the Siege of Saragossa. — Return to Paris. — The Austrian Army Enters Bavaria. — • The Emperor's Departure for the Campaign of 1809. — Battle of Eckmuhl. — Taking of Vienna. — Battle of Ess- ling. — Death of Marshal Lannes. — Battle of Wagram. — Peace of Vienna. — Creation of New Duchies. — French De- feat in Spain ... ..,,.0 ....... . 533 CHAPTER IX Thoughts of Divorce. — Reasons for Annulling Napoleon's Marriage. — Senatus Consultum Annuls Marriage. — Rome United to the Empire. — Marriage of the Emperor with CONTENTS 7 FAGS Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria.— The Empress's Household. — Stay at Antwerp. — Holland United to the Empire 6o6 CHAPTER X Bernadotte Elected Crown Prince of Sweden. — Events of 1810. — Birth of the King of Rome.. — General Enthusiasm and Public Rejoicing. — The King of Spain Visits the Em- peror 679 CHAPTER XI Christening of the King of Rome. — Napoleon's Affection for His Son. — Russia Prepares for War. — The Polish Ques- tion Irreconcilable. — The Pope at Fontainebleau. — De- parture of the Emperor for the Army 743 CHAPTER XII Duke de Bassano Appointed Governor of Lithuania. — The Prince of Wagram. — Battle of Ostrowno.- — March on Smolensk. — Battle of Moskova.— Entry into Moscow. — Burning of the City. — Retreat from Russia 835 CHAPTER XIII The Emperor Visits Warsaw and Dresden. — His Arrival in Paris. — Re-organisation of the Army — Evacuation of Madrid. — The Victory of Lutzen. — Death of de Bessieres and Duroc. — The Congress of Prague.— Austria Joins the 8 CONTENTS PAGE Allies. — Battle of Dresden. — Disaster at Culm. — Disaster at Leipzig 88i CHAPTE?. XIV Extraordinary Efforts for Recruiting the Army. — Bad State of Affairs in Spain. — End of the Expedition to Spain. — Desertion of the King of Naples. — Victories at Champau- bert, Montmirail, and Vauxchamps. — Treaty of Chaumont. — March of the Allies on Paris. — Intrigue to Force the Emperor to Abdicate. — King Joseph Departs from Paris. 942 CHAPTER XV Entry of the Allied Sovereigns into Paris. — The Senate Votes the Emperor's Dethronement. — The Emperor at Fontainebleau. — His Abdication. — Armistice. — The Em- peror's Estate Sequestrated. — Napoleon's Attempt at Suicide. — The Emperor's Departure from Fontainebleau. 997 CHAPTER XVI The Empress Louise Arrives at Schonbrunn. — Her Departure for Aix in Savoy. — The Empress Received by General Neipperg. — Her Retired Life. — Description of General Neipperg. — The King of Rome and His Uncle the Grand Duke Francis.— Opposition of Spain to Marie Louise's Claim to Parma. — Informal Visit of Lord Castlereagh to Schonbrunn 1048 CHAPTER XVII The Emperor of Austria Makes His Daughter, the Empress Louise, Promise not to Correspond with Her Husband CONTENTS 9 PAGE without His Permission. — The Emperor Napoleon Escapes from Elba. — The Emperor of Austria's First Move.- — Agreement of the Allies to March Upon France Once Morei — Napoleon's Son is Conducted to Vienna . 1104 CHAPTER XVIII The Neapolitan Army. — The King of Naples Arrives at Cannes. — The Emperor Napoleon Refuses to Allow the King of Naples Permission to Come to Paris. — The King of Naples' Critical Position After the Return of Louis XVIIL— A Price is Set Upon His Head.— He Fails in His Attempt to Conquer Naples. — He is Condemned to Death and Meets His Death with Intrepidity 1 171 CHAPTER XIX The Emperor Napoleon in Paris. — Meneval's First Interview After His Return. — Napoleon's Melancholy and Resigna- tion. — The Emperor Napoleon Leaves for the Army. — The Battles of Ligny and Waterloo. — The Emperor Na- poleon's Return to Paris. — The Provisional Government. — Reflections on the Fall of the Empire. — The Emperor Napoleon's Departure from La Malmaison. — His Arrival at Rochefort. — His Letter to the Prince Regent of Eng- land. — He Leaves on Board the Northumberland for St. Helena. — The End of the Vienna Congress. — Reflections on the Character of the Emperor Napoleon ii97 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS VOLUME I The Death of the Due d'Enghien from the painting by Jean Paul Laurens The Young Napoleon at School at Brienne from the painting by M. Realier Dumas The Capture of the Austrian Flag at Austerlitz from the aquarelle by Adolphe Lalauze VOLUME II The Civil Marriage between Prince Jerome and Princess Catharine, in the Tuileries Palace from the painting by I. B. Regnault Marshal Joachim Murat Leading the Charge at Jena from the painting by H. Chartier The Women and Monks Distinguishing Themselves by their Resistance at Saragossa from the painting by N. Megia Napoleon with his Infant Son, the King of Rome, in his LAP, Surrounded by the Children of Joachim Murat from the painting by Ducis, in the Museum at Versailles Palm was Arrested, Tried by Court Martial, and Shot from the painting by J. IVeiser VOLUME III Napoleon Leaving Russia with the Due de Vicence in a Sledge from the painting by Ian von Chelminski Queen Marie Louise Leaving Paris with her Young Son THE King of Rome Napoleon Reconnoitering the Enemy's Forces from the painting by Jan von Chelminski II INTRODUCTION Of the numberless books about Napoleon, this is one of the most interesting and authoritative, because intimate and sincere. The author, Claude Frangois, Baron de Meneval, was in the closest relations with that notable person- age, as private secretary and confidential agent, famil- iar with his daily thoughts and acts, during his most active years of achievement — from April, 1802, until St. Helena in 181 5. Born in Paris, in 1778, De Meneval died there ini 1850, and these "Memoirs" were written toward the end of his life, being finished shortly before his death. His grandson. Baron Napoleon Joseph de Meneval, edited and published them in Paris in 1894, and dur* ing the same year they were translated into English and issued in London and Paris, as an important contribution to history. A reviewer in the London "Academy" wrote: "A continual eye-witness gives a view of Napoleon in his camp, his closet, his Court, and his home ; no doubt favourable, but essentially cor- rect;" adding that it "should be in the hands of all who wish to study and understand Napoleon." Intimacy of a normal mind with so gigantic a spirit as that of Napoleon might be thought to warp judg- ment, and lead to more favourable views of him than would be accepted by outsiders. But De Meneval was no mere amiable attendant. Without keen perceptions, broad grasp of principles, scrupulous attention to de- tails, and swift executive ability, he would never have 13 H INTRODUCTION kept his position as Napoleon's chief and most confi dential secretary throughout the tremendous activities of those years. That he did, and how he did, is told with a simplicity, a modesty, and a satisfying array of detail and documentary evidence as to facts — impor- tant and trivial alike — that lay hold on the reader's confidence. He gives intimate pictures of Napoleon's personality, moods, ways of working, habits of living in palace and in tent, particulars of important trans- actions, relations with the able men about him and with the various monarchs who came under his influence. Thus many wonders are simplified, and the human ele- ments of that vast brain and irresistible will are made to appear. The man who could secure and keep the confidence of so exacting a master, who outworked all his ministers in council and his generals and soldiers in the field, was evidently noteworthy. To account for his knowledge of the facts he re- lates — offering, he says, "nothing of which I was not an eye-witness or the direct depositary" — De Meneval begins with his own personal story. Released from the College de Mazarin, which had been broken up in the revolutionary disorder, he sought employment for his pen at the house of a literary friend in Paris. Here he met one of Napoleon's brothers. Colonel Louis Bonaparte, who in turn introduced him to Joseph Bona- parte. The latter, already in diplomatic service for the Republic, invited the youth to be his secretary. This post De Meneval retained for two years, while his superior was chief negotiator successively in the treaty with the United States of America (September 30, 1800), the Congress of Luneville (Continental peace, especially with Austria, February 9, 1801), the recon- ciliation with Rome and the Concordat (July 15, 1801 ) , and the Peace of Amiens (maritime treaty with Eng- land, March 2y, 1802). INTRODUCTION i? During these important negotiations De Meneval met many distinguished men, of whom one gets re- veaHng glimpses, and he details many interesting facts about the conferences, with interior views of motives and acts, showing appreciation of all and of the master- mind that controlled them. He must have acquired fa- miliarity with governmental and diplomatic affairs, as well as shown special aptness in their treatment, for on April 2, 1802, Joseph Bonaparte introduced him to his brother, the First Consul. After a pleasant, friendly dinner with Madame Bonaparte (Josephine) and her husband, and a few kindly questions from Napoleon, young De Meneval found himself, at the age of twenty-four, private sec- retary to the ruler of France. He soon lost his fear of the great man, but gave him an affection, an admiration, and a service of the most intimate and familiar kind (changing sometimes in form, but never in confidential relation) until, first, Elba and then St. Helena barred him out. Even then he was steadily faithful, attempting offices of friendship in Napoleon's interest unto the end. And after that he wrote sev- eral books in defence of the departed master : "Letters to M. Thiers" (1839), "Napoleon and Marie Louise" ( 1843-5), and others. While, finally, dying at the age of seventy-two, he left behind him this narrative of private and public matters — "souvenirs collected,"' as he modestly writes, "to furnish some material likely to be useful to the historian of Napoleon." The memory that could recall so many events, great and small, after such a lapse of time and a long life of toil and excitement, and the care with which so many memoranda, notes, letters, and varied documents had been preserved and presented in orderly disposi- tion, suggest the qualities of the man who could endure the mental and physical strain of the office he had x6 INTRODUCTION held. Moreover, writing of his care not to abuse Napoleon's confidence, he says : "Moderation always kept me aloof from the encroachments which a more enterprising mind than mine might have been tempted to essay." This marks his wisdom. An affecting portion of the narrative relates his fidelity to the Empress Marie Louise during Napo- leon's exile in Elba, when in Vienna she was being undermined in her loyalty to her husband, and De Meneval was vainly trying to countervail the subtle workings of her relatives and the other royalties of Europe to that end. He nowhere blames the Empress, but the facts show her shallow nature — evidenced by her later relations with Count Neipperg, whom she finally married, and with a third husband. De Meneval does not blink Napoleon's greatest errors — the execution of D'Enghien, the disastrous Spanish seizure and war, and thS Russian campaign — but, on the whole, the reader gets new views of per- plexing problems and of noble traits in the colossus of intellect and ambition. Napoleon's services in re- storing a central power amidst revolution and anarchy, in establishing laws and institutions that have survived dynasties, and in the military glory making his name an emblem of splendid French achievement, enshrine him forever in France ; while the rest of the world will never cease to wonder at his genius, and to study the puzzling contradictions of his nature. MEMOIRS OF NAPOLEON I. CHAPTER I I HAD not quite completed my education at Mazarin College, where I was a boarder, when the events of the Revolution, becoming every day more stormy, and threatening to destroy all ancient estab- lishments, at last affected the public schools. I left Mazarin, like the monks, the doors of whose monas- teries were violently thrown open. I had no fixed plans. I was moved by a vague desire to profit by my college reminiscences, to exercise myself in different kinds of literature simultaneously, without vocation, invito, Minerva. I felt, as is trivially though appro- priately said about young people who have just left school, a desire to sow my wild oats. Some boyish attempts at writing drew me to a man who was at that time, it may be said, the doyen of litterateurs. I was received by the respectable Palissot with the kind- ness which he showed to young people whom the pure- ness of his style had led to seek his advice. Palissot, naturally good and obliging, about whom a witty woman could say with truth that he had a keen wit and a dull heart, had been drawn on to embrace the most thorny kind of literature, namely satire. The comedy entitled " Les Philosophes," writ- ten at the instigation of the Due de Choiseul, had made for him mortal enemies. This Minister, alarmed by 17 i8 MEMOIRS OF the progress of the philosophical sect which numbered Voltaire (a secret enemy), and Diderot and d'Alem- bert (openly declared adversaries), amongst its lead- ers, desired to add to his means of repression the powerful arm of ridicule. The mordant hyperboles of Palissot of necessity drew upon him the enmity of the philosophers, who inveighed against him in the most furious manner. A desire of vengeance inspired the author of " Les Philosophes" with an imitation of Pope's Dunciad. The stinging darts with which he transfixed his enemies kindled in their hearts an inex- tinguishable hatred. Their rancour, which they be- queathed to their heirs, pursued him to his extreme old age. Palissot has frequently told me that all the reward he ever obtained, in compensation for the bitter hours with which these quarrels had filled his life, was a smile with which Madame de Pompadour considered him amply repaid. Meeting the favourite one day, accompanied by the Due de Choiseul, who was driving her carriage, the author of " Les Philosophes " was presented to her by the Minister. Madame de Pompa- dour deigned to stop for a moment, and, without speaking to him, thanked him with a nod of her head, and her most graceful smile, before which the good Palissot lost himself in obeisances. Palissot had thrice put himself forward for a seat in the Academy. Thrice the cabal, which was got up against him by Naigeon, testamentary executor of Diderot, and by Lalande, the Diogenes of philosophy, succeeded in defeating him. At the last election, General Bonaparte, at the request of Chenier, went to the Institute to give his vote in his favour. Intrigue turned against Palissot a step which should have been decisive in his favour. A rumour was spread that General Bonaparte had come to vote in favour of Abbe Leblanc, Palissot's competitor, the now forgotten NAPOLEON I. 19 author of a translation in verse of " Lucrice ", and of a tragedy called " Manco-Capac ", the fall of which was determined by the following line, since become proverbial : " Crois-tu d'un tel forfait Manco-Capac capable? " Abbe Leblanc, an inoffensive poet who had wounded no man's vanity, was elected. Chenier, referring to this, said to General Bonaparte, who was surprised at the result of the election, " General, you had to come here to be defeated." Discouraged by the failure of his attempts, Palissot renounced the honours of the Institute. He consoled himself for his misadventures at the Academy in the bosom of his family, and in adding some lines to the Dunciad. The post of perpetual administrator of the Mazarin library, which he owed to the friendship of Frangois de Neuf-Chateau, and the pensions which were granted to him under the Consulate and the Empire, enabled him to close with honour a career rendered illustrious by intrigues, which should have opened to him the doors of the Institute had it been possible to disarm the old rancour of the philosophers. I used to meet many more or less distinguished men of letters at Palissot's house. There was Marie Joseph Chenier, whom Palissot had encouraged as a young writer, and whose talent reached the highest summits, when death took him still in the full strength of his age; there was Le Brun, the lyrical poet, and Sairit- Ange, the author of a translation in verse of Ovid's Metamorphoses, who had changed, for names which they considered more poetical, their patronymics of Ecouchard and Fariau; there was Felix Nogaret, the French Aristenetes, who affected cynicism, but who professed a veritable friendship for Palissot. Legouve, Talma, and Mademoiselle Contat used sometimes to 20 MEMOIRS OF come and call upon the doyen of the authors of the Theatre Frangais. The calls of his friends and a modest rubber of whist used to occupy his evenings. He rarely went to the theatre, and deplored its deca- dence, like all old men in whose eyes the imperfections of the present only increase the illusions and the regrets of the past. Talma and Mademoiselle Contat alone had the privilege of inducing him to return to the theatre. To these exceptional talents was to be added a growing talent which Palissot, who loved to exercise a kind of patronage, protected with the ardour which he placed at the services of his new acquaint- ances. Mademoiselle Bourgoin, destined herself to play the part of juvenile lead at the Theatre Frangais, had been introduced to him by M. Antoine, architect of the Mint, from whom she had received instruction. She was at that time sixteen years of age, and was very pretty, piquant, and giddy, with ingenuous man- ners. She had no difficulty in winning over an old man, who was only too disposed to let himself be seduced by her affectionate and caressing ways. M. Antoine, her master, had at one time mistaken for a decided vocation an irresistible passion which he had had for the stage. His friend Lekain had combated the mania of his stage-struck friend with all his powers, and had prevented him from abandoning a useful and honourable profession for an uncertain and precarious career, from which he had little to hope for but mediocrity. M. Antoine was grateful for this to his friend, but could not help regretting not to have made his debut in the role of Don Sancho of Aragon, by Corneille. The debut of Mademoiselle Bourgoin was the unique object of his solicitude, and he had come to find in his neighbour Palissot one whose influence in the theatrical world might be useful to his favourite pupil. Mademoiselle Bourgoin used to NAPOLEON I. 21 come almost every evening with her professor, and rehearse before Palissot different passages from the parts which she had chosen for her first appearance on the stage, receiving advice and encouragement from the poet. Amongst other men of letters whom I had occasion to meet at Palissot's house was Urbain Domergue, a Member of the Institute, and an eminent grammarian, who was distinguished for charming simplicity and kindheartedness. He had only one passion, and that was grammar, for which he had a kind of worship. His profound studies and his zeal for the propagation of this art had induced him to introduce into the grammatical system certain new terms and innovations which were not received with favour. A quarrel which he had with Le Brun, most irascible of poets, and his mania for writing in verse, drew down upon him the most biting of epigrams. His happy careless- ness was not disturbed by them. Enemy of everything which might disturb his idleness, he had abandoned the entire management of his affairs to a young servant, who displayed but little order and economy at his house, a circumstance which never disturbed him. In this house I made the acquaintance of one of the brothers of General Bonaparte, recently arrived from Egypt, where he had been sent on a mission by the Directoire. Louis Bonaparte employed his leisure during his stay in Paris in attending lectures. He associated himself with the friends of literature, artists, and pro- fessors. He was preparing himself for the culture of literature, for which he had an innate taste, a taste which was his consolation in the highest rank and in his subsequent retirement. He was good, and of a straightforwardness which made him adopt as his motto : " Do what thou shouldst do, let happen what 22 MEMOIRS OF may ", to which he has constantly been true. He treated me with kindness. Although it was at that time impossible to foresee the high estate to which he has since risen, his personal merits, and his near kin- ship to the illustrious General Bonaparte, already gave him a superiority behind which my youth, and the first steps which I took in the political world of that strange epoch, were sheltered. It was only a few months after the return of Louis Bonaparte from Egypt, when General Bonaparte unexpectedly landed at Frejus. Corsica had seen her illustrious child again during his crossing from Egypt to France. Forced by stress of weather to put into port at Ajaccio, it was of im- portance to him to avoid the delays imposed by quar- antine. As soon as the presence of General Bonaparte before Ajaccio became known, the Treasury paymas- ter, a M. Barberi, who was a friend of his family, hastened to take boat and row to the frigate on board which the General found himself, to congratulate him on his return. Bonaparte asked for some fruit, and for the newspapers, of which he had been deprived for a long time. He also expressed the pleasure which he should experience in landing in the midst of his fellow townsmen. Whilst M. Barberi was occupied in sending on board what had been asked for, his father, who was Presi- dent of the Sanitary Commission, explained to his colleagues the plausible motives for which the General should be permitted to land, so as to satisfy the desire of the population, in whose hearts the news of his presence was exciting the warmest enthusiasm. The Commissioners alleged the rigours of the regulations and the responsibility under which they lay. This refusal might compromise Napoleon's plans. The President, convinced that there were no sick men on NAPOLEON I. 23 board — drawn on, on the other hand, by his zeal and his devotion — proposed to the members of the Com- mission of Health that they should go in a body along- side the frigate, so as, at least, to offer their congratu- lations to the General. This suggestion was adopted without difficulty. The members of the Commission embarked on the health boat under the guidance of a man who had secretly been ordered to run into the frigate, under pretext of an accident, so that the mem- bers of the Commission would be brought into forced contact with the crew of the ship. The interdiction must then be raised, M. Barberi being convinced that they would not want to undergo quarantine themselves. This plan, carried out with decision, was fully success- ful. Napoleon, surrounded by Generals Berthier, Murat, Andreossy and others, made haste to reassure the Commissioners. A return was immediately made to land, where the General and his suite were received with enthusiasm by the entire population. Detained by unfavourable winds. General Bonaparte tried to utilize his enforced stay in Corsica. His first care was to remedy the pitiful state in which he found the troops drawn up to receive him. Learning that for nineteen months past these soldiers had received neither pay nor allowances of any kind, and that the paymaster, to keep them alive, had exhausted every resource, including his private means, he made haste to put at his disposal, towards meeting their most pressing needs, all the money in his possession, (about forty thousand francs,) reserving for himself only just enough to pay his posting expenses to Paris. Whilst congratulating the paymaster on the disinter- estedness which had been shown by his family, he expressed his indignation at the carelessness of the Government, which seemed to attach so little import- ance to the welfare of its soldiers. These details were 24 MEMOIRS OF communicated to me by M. Barberi himself, who was at that time Treasury Paymaster at Ajaccio. I may add those which follow, given to me by an eye-witness, M. Amedee Jaubert, secretary to General Bonaparte. Napoleon, impatient to continue his voyage, waited until favourable winds would allow him to sail out of the Bay of Ajaccio. On three dif- ferent occasions it was thought that the wind had changed. At last, an oiBcer sent by Rear-admiral Ganteaume, came to announce to the General, during a ball given in his honour by the municipality, that the wind had veered to the south, and that not a moment was to be lost in taking advantage of it. Everybody embarked without delay, each in the costume which he had worn at the ball. Sail was set, and the ship headed towards Toulon, near which an English squad- ron was stationed. Fortunately the frigate was not sighted. Towards the evening of the i6th Vendemiaire (cor- responding to October 7th, 1799,) the ship was allowed to drift in the direction of the mountains which rise above Nice, and it was only at a very early hour on the following morning that it was found to be in the neighbourhood of Frejus. The General-in-chief, in spite of the observations which had been made to him in the course of the night by the Rear-admiral, had decided to embark in a longboat and to gain the coast, when the commander of Saint Rapheau, a small mili- tary post, situated about a league's distance from Frejus, came in a boat to the frigate. He took Napo- leon and his suite on board, and landed them at Saint Rapheau, from which they walked to Frejus. The frigate lay to in the offing. The foot squadron of guides, who had accompanied the General-in-chief, went to finish their quarantine at Toulon and Napo- leon set out without delay for Paris. NAPOLEON I. 25 I will not undertake to describe the enthusiasm which the news of the debarkation of General Bona- parte excited throughout France; it was everywhere received with the presentiment that the liberator ex- pected by the nation had at last arrived. I will tarry over a fact on which sufficient light has not been thrown; some correspondence which remained unpub- lished till the day on which I printed it in the number of the Spectateur Militaire for May 15th, 1850, will determine the opinion of the reader on the value of the generally-accredited assertion that General Bona- parte returned from Egypt against the wishes of the Directoire. When I published this correspondence I expressed the hope that its publication might entail some revelations, which would not leave any doubt on the question whether the letters under consideration had been received by General Bonaparte whilst he was in Egypt, and whether consequently they had author- ized his return to France. I have to say how this problem of history, which to-day only possesses an interest of curiosity, has been solved. The letters of which this correspondence is composed are seven in number. The first was already known ; it has been quoted in numerous publications. It is dated the 7th Prairial, of the year VII (26th May, 1799) and is signed by three directors, a condition exacted by the constitution of the year III for the validation of all acts emanating from the Directoire. This decision was transmitted the same day by President Merlin de Douai to Admiral Bruix. Published by itself, and unsupported by any testimony, it has been regarded up to our time as supposititious. In his unpublished memoirs Lareveillere-Lepeaux, a former member of the Directoire, one of the three signers of whom I have spoken, declares, it is assured, that he does not remember having signed any letter which had for its 26 MEMOIRS OF purpose the recall of General Bonaparte. This is an error of memory on the part of M. Lareveillere- Lepeaux. The existence of this letter and the signa- ture affixed to it by himself, cannot be doubted any more than the authenticity of the letters which accom- panied it, and which are still extant in their original forms. The assertion contained in the memoirs published under the name of M. de Bourrienne, which disposes of this question by declaring it absurd, has not appeared sufficiently authorized. Very much confi- dence cannot be accorded to the allegations contained in memoirs published under the name of a man who never wrote them. I will show later on what reason- ing this last assertion is based. The testimony of M. Amedee Jaubert and that of General Eugene Merlin, the former of whom was sec- retary-interpreter, and the latter aide-de-camp to the commander-in-chief of the army of Egypt, merit a more serious examination. These two witnesses, each in his respective capacity, did not leave the person of the commander-in-chief during the course of the expe- dition, and embarked with him on his return to France. They were, all things considered, in quite as favour- able a position as Bourrienne to know what orders were given by the commander-in-chief, and what was going on about him both before his departure and at the moment when this departure was effected. They heard nothing during the voyage home which could lead them to suspect that orders from the Directoire were recalling General Bonaparte home. They agree in saying that his departure seemed to have been decided by the reception of English newspapers con- taining detailed news about the reverses suffered by our armies in Italy and in Germany, papers which had been sent to the head-quarters of the French army by NAPOLEON I. 27 the English admirals. This testimony, without being decisive, was a great argument in favour of the opin- ion that General Bonaparte's letters of recall were not received by him whilst he was in Egypt. Since these letters have been published the words of Napoleon himself have come to throw fresh light on this question. In the notes dictated by him at St. Helena it is said that during the siege of Acre, on the 27th of Floreal year VII — (May 13th, 1799) he received letters from France which apprised him of the bad state of our affairs, and that this news was what chiefly impelled him to raise the siege and to retire to Alexandria. These letters could not be those which contained the orders of the Directoire, inasmuch as these are dated the 7th Prairial — (May 26th) — of the same year, and were not sent off until the 23rd of the same month, that is to say, on the nth of June. It is more than probable that the letters which were received before Acre were the letters sent by Joseph Bonaparte, and carried by the Greek Bourbaki ; but what finally dissi- pates all doubt is the following fact which was con- municated to me by General Bertrand, to whom the Emperor related it at St. Helena. To name General Bertrand is to mention a man worthy of all confidence, from the nobility of his character, and the just esteem to which his constant fidelity in misfortune so fully entitled him. General Bonaparte, who was believed by the Direc- toire to be still in Egypt, had landed at Frejus on the 17 Vendemiaire of the year VIII — (October 9th, 1799). — He was on his way to Paris when, between Frejus and Lyons, he met a courier bearing despatches addressed to the commander-in-chief of the army in Egypt. These letters contained a revocation of the order which recalled him from Egypt, and enjoined 28 MEMOIRS OF upon him to remain there. It was by the perusal of these letters that General Bonaparte learned simultane- ously of the order which had recalled him, and the counter-order by which he was to remain in Egypt. The Directoire also informed him of the intention of the Government to place General Lecourbe at the head of the principal army. When we had nearly lost Italy, and the scene of war had been transplanted to the Var, the Directoire had felt the pressing necessity of hav- ing recourse to the talents of General Bonaparte and ardently desired his presence. But when the victory of Zurich and the results obtained in Holland had reassured them, like the sailor, who forgets his vow when once the storm is past, they made haste to re- voke the order which had been so hastily despatched three months previously, an order which had been torn from them by the imminence of the peril which at that time menaced the Republic. It was accord- ingly only at Paris that General Bonaparte received the letters from the Directoire which Admiral Bruix had been commissioned to hand to him if he succeeded in landing in Egypt, together with the copy of the letter which the Admiral had sent to him from Carthagena, and the letters of Barras and of Talley- rand. As to the choice of General Lecourbe, on whom the Directoire had decided, Napoleon did not alto- gether disapprove of it. He had a high opinion of this general, and acknowledged him to possess the qualities of the soldier. He had formed a favourable opinion about him, in finding amongst the papers seized at the house of General Moreau, who was arrested in 1804, several letters which Lecourbe wrote to this general during the Hohenlinden campaign to urge him on to conquer his scruples, or his want of resolution, and to inspire him with courage. NAPOEEON I. 29 The Emperor deprived himself with regret of the services of General Lecourbe, having noticed in him so much ill feeling at the time of Moreau's trial that he did not think it possible to employ him. One day, whilst Lecourbe was crossing the Tuileries Gardens he noticed the Emperor at the window of the palace, and cast on him a look so full of hatred that Napo- leon could never forget it. When, during the hundred days, Lecourbe came back to him, the Emperor re- ceived him with cordiality, and entrusted him with an important command. Letters relating to the Recall of General Bonaparte to France. I. To General Bonaparte, Commander-in-Chief of the Army in the East. Paris, yth Prairial, An VII. The extraordinary efforts. Citizen General, which Austria and Russia have just been displaying, and the serious and almost alarming turn which the war has taken, demand that the Republic should concentrate her forces. The Directoire has, in consequence, just given orders to Admiral Bruix to use every means in his power to become master of the Mediterranean, and to betake himself to Egypt, in order to bring back the army under your command. He has received instruc- tions to concert with you as to the measures to be taken for the embarking and the transport of the troops. You will judge, Citizen General, whether you. can 30 MEMOIRS OF leave a part of your troops behind with safety, and the Directoire authorizes you in this case to entrust the command of them to the man whom you shall deem best suited for this post. The Directoire will, with pleasure, see you at the head of the Republican armies, which till now you have so gloriously commanded. (Signed) Theilhard. Lareveillere-Lepeaux. Barras. II. Letter from The Directoire to Admiral Bruix, {written by the hand of Secretary General Lagarde, and signed by Merlin de Douai.) Paris, 7th Prairial, An VII. The Executive Directoire, Citizen General, after due reflection on the present state of affairs, has felt the necessity of uniting and concentrating as much as pos- sible the forces of the Republic. In consequence, you are ordered to take the promptest measures to effect a junction with the Spanish fleet. As soon as this has been done you will search for the English fleet, and if, as is probable, you are then superior in force to the enemy, you will attack it. As soon as you have put the English out of the possibility of opposing your operations with success, you will make sail to Egypt with the object of embarking the army there. You will concert with General Bonaparte on the measures to be taken, and, should he deem it necessary, you may leave a portion of his forces behind you in Egypt. You will hand the annexed letter to General Bona- NAPOLEON I. 31 parte. It communicates the plans of the Directoire to him. (Signed) Merlin, President of Executive Directoire. Lagarde, Secretary General of the Executive Directoire. By a decree of the Directoire, dated 14th Germinal, An VII, (April 3rd, 1799) Bruix, Minister of Ma- rine, had been appointed Admiral in command of the naval army at Brest, a rank equivalent to that of Captain-General in Spain, so that Admiral Massaredo should have no objection to serving under him. III. Autograph Letter of the Citizen Talleyrand, In- terim Minister of Marine, to Admiral Bruix. Paris, 7th Prairial, An VII. So, now, my dear Bruix, your mission has taken the form that you first desired. I am delighted at this. You are no longer in doubt; you have an object, a prescribed object, an object of the highest importance. The Directoire writes only one word to Bonaparte. I am sending him a letter from Barras to which I have added a few lines. The Directoire relies on you to inform him of our situation at home and abroad. Bring him back. You are asked to keep the strictest silence on your mission. Good-bye, I embrace and love you well. Believe me your friend for ever. (Signed) Ch. Maur. Talleyrand. P.S. — My opinion is that Belleville, our Consul at Genoa, will be your successor ; that is not yet decided, but the Directoire will not make its definite selection until the first days of next decade. Sieyes will arrive here between the 20th and the 24th. 32 MEMOIRS OF IV. Admiral Bruix to the Citizen Bonaparte, Com- mander-in-chief of the Army in the East. Carthagena, 2gth Prairial, An VII. Citizen General, The Executive Directoire has ordered me to effect a junction with the Spanish Fleet, then to attack the enemy, and, having defeated it, to go to Egypt to take and to transport to France the troops under your command. My junction has already been effected, and the com- bined army has a strength of forty-two line vessels, but this force does not give us superiority over the English ; they have sixty vessels in the Mediterranean. Nevertheless, by well concerted manoeuvres, it will be possible to defeat them before they have been able to concentrate their forces. This is what I hope to do, if my constant and pressing applications to the Spanish General, and to the Court of Madrid, are successful. Once this success obtained, I assure you. Citizen General, that I shall not lose a moment in betaking myself to Alexandria, directly after the engagement. Make your arrangements accordingly, that the fleet be detained the least time possible on the coast of Egypt. You must count, General, on all the efforts of which I am capable, to overthrow every obstacle and to join you as promptly as possible. Neverthe- less, it is impossible to exactly fix the date of my ar- rival, and as nothing is less certain than the result of a naval engagement, nor even that I may be able to succeed in attacking the enemy before they have united their forces, I must ask you. General, not to take final measures for embarking your army until the early arrival of the naval force be announced to you by NAPOLEON I. 33 some frigates which I shall send off immediately after the encounter. Believe me. Citizen General, that it will be for me the best day of my life, and, for the brave army which I command, a day of glory and of happiness, the day on which we shall be able to give back to the father- land the heroes who have done so much for its glory. Receive my fraternal and respectful salutations, (Signed) E. Bruix. P.S. — I promised the Greek who will hand you this letter that you would make him a present of five hun- dred louis. I do not think, General, that in spite of the enormity of this sum, you will hesitate in doing so. Letters V and VI were addressed by the Interim Minister of Marine, Talleyrand, to Admiral Bruix, under dates of 13th and 27th Prairial. Amongst other instructions they repeat the orders of the Directoire on the 7th of Prairial, and insist on their execution. VII. Rough Draft of a Letter written by Admiral Bruix, to the Citizen Joseph Bonaparte. Paris, the 22nd Vendemiaire, An VII. Receive, Citizen, the compliment which my heart addresses to you on the happy return of your brother. The happiness of your family is public happiness. I hear that you leave this night or to-morrow for Fre- jus. I send you some papers which may interest you and your brother. (l) Copy of a letter which I received in the roads of Vado. It was in accordance with this letter that I wrote him the one that I showed to you in Paris. 34 MEMOIRS OF ,You know how, once my junction with the Spanish effected, the superior forces of the enemy prevented the realization of my further projects. (2) Two letters from the Directoire to your brother, which I was commissioned to hand him myself. (3) A letter from the Citizen Talleyrand, which had the same destination and which contained a letter from Director Barras. (4) Copy of a letter in which Talleyrand for- warded me these despatches. I share your joy and I salute you cordially. (Signed) E. Bruix. Shortly after the i8th Brumaire, the Consuls still occupying the Luxembourg Palace, I was at the house of Colonel Louis Bonaparte, who had been appointed to the command of the 5th regiment of dragoons; he was living at the Hotel La Tremoille, in the Rue de Vaugirard. He showed me a manuscript of about fifteen folio pages, entirely written by Napoleon. It was the draft of a speech composed by him whilst still only an artillery lieutenant, on the subject pro- posed for a prize essay by the Academy of Lyons: " What are the Truths and the Sentiments which it is Most Important to Inculcate to Men for their Happi- ness ? " Louis Bonaparte had tried to decipher this manuscript, but, rebutted by its difficulties, had given it up. That was the first time that I saw Napoleon's writing. I seemed to have hieroglyphics before my eyes. At the same time I was impelled by a strong feeling of curiosity and interest to ask Louis Bona- parte to trust me with the manuscript. I wanted to Vol. 6 1 — ^Mranoira NAPOLEON I. 35 see whether I should be more skilful or more fortunate than he had been. I spent eight days in studying the words, and after infinite trouble succeeded in decipher- ing them, with the exception of five or six words, which I left blank. I carried the manuscript, with the translation, back to Colonel Louis Bonaparte, who, contenting himself with the copy which I had made of it, seized roughly upon the original, and before it was possible for me to interfere, had thrown it into the grate. A bright fire was burning, and this precious relic was destroyed in a moment, nor was I able to save any portion of it. The speech had not been finished, if I may judge by the draft I read. The last part was wanting. This makes me doubt that he can have gained the prize, as was at first announced, and that he even took part in the competition. The impression that remained to me after reading this writing of his, as far as I can remember, was that he had a great deal of imagination, but little art and sequence of ideas in his composition. It contained pleasant thoughts, a somewhat pompous philanthropy, and a dreamy sentimentality, expressed with the exal- tation and candour of youth. A picturesque definition of sentiment and melan- choly, an enthusiasm for the music of " Le Devin du Village," to whose author Napoleon would have had a statue raised for this single composition, and the sen- tence with which his speech ended, were the passages which most struck me. To give a definition of senti- ment the author took his reader to the places most favourable to the meditation which he depicted, now in large lines, and now with descriptive details. He transported him from the shepherd's hut to the Church of St. Peter's at Rome, and described the impressions which are felt by the traveller on first entering into this immense fane, lighted by the mysterious light of Yj,2_ g 2 — Memoirs 36 MEMOIRS OF a lamp. Such is the impression which I have retained of my perusal of this precious manuscript, an impres- sion which would perhaps be modified if I were to read it to-day again. The taste which Napoleon had at that time for the music of " Le Devin du Village " will seem strange to those who know that he preferred Italian music to French, and that he did not like the writing of Jean- Jacques. He remembered all the airs of this charming pas- toral, and loved to sing them. Not altogether, as Rousseau said of Louis XV., with the most discordant voice in his kingdom, but with a voice of which it could not be said that it was always strictly in tune. To these impressions of youth, which he retained till his maturity, there had succeeded a passionate attach- ment to Italian music, which he listened to with de- light, and which was the most effectual recreation he couM enjoy in the midst of his great and arduous labours. But the passage in the speech which left upon me the most profound impression, and which since con- stantly reverts to my memory, is the sentence with which it terminates. It is a kind of prophecy, such a prophecy as was attributed by popular belief to supe- rior genius and to the dying. " Heaven lends pro- phetic actions to the dying." It was a kind of presenti- ment of his future destiny which the great, august, and, unhappy man had that day. This is the sentence, quoted literally : " Great men are meteors, destined to bum, to light their age." M. de Las-Cases relates in the " Memorial of St. Helena " that Prince de Talleyrand, either to pay court to the Emperor, or perhaps by his express command, had had the speech sought for in Lyons, and had it presented to him. Napoleon read a few pages of it NAPOLEON I. 37 and threw it into the fire. I have since learned that, as a matter of fact, the essay was handed in for competi- tion. What I saw of it, then, must have been a rough draft, a composition written in the first flood of thought, the colour and originality of which were weakened and destroyed by a certain number of cor- rections. This rough draft of the speech remaining amongst Napoleon's papers would thus later on have fallen into the hands of his brother. I did not recog- nize in the speech which was printed in 1826, and which forms a part of a collection published under the name of General Gourgaud, the one which I had read in 1800. There remained the hope that the Comte du Saint- Leu might have preserved the copy which I gave him ; but a letter, written by this Prince from Florence on the 31st of March, 1840, showed me the inanity of this hope. It is not on account of its literary merit that we may regret the loss of the original document. Its interest would be very small to-day did it not prove by what a serious course of study the faculties with which nature had endowed the man called to such great labours were developed. The author himself attached but little importance to it. Finding the rough draft ten years later, he wanted to throw it into the fire. He only gave it to his brother on his pressing request, and on condition he should burn it, a condi- tion which Louis Bonaparte, to my regret, only too loyally fulfilled. I was taken in the conscription of the year VII. I felt no vocation for a mihtary life. A constitution far ' from robust, and a state of health which, without being feeble rendered me unfit for the fatigues of war, dis- inclined me for a military career. However, every citizen had to pay his tribute to the fatherland. None were exempt from this duty. The various applications 38 MEMOIRS OF which I made to obtain an exemption had the effect of delaying a decision being taken about me for a whole year. This application of mine, which put me in communication with various kinds of people, brought me at last into the presence of the First Con- sul. Thus does Providence guide man toward the goal it has marked out for him by ways which he can- not suspect. My efforts to escape the application of the law on conscription were the obscure routes which led me to the protection of a man who was reputed to be inflexible in its execution, and to have carried its rigour to the extreme limit. Louis Bonaparte had been appointed Colonel of the 5th regiment of dragoons. His regiment was sent to the Vendee. He invited me to meet him in Verneuil, in the Perch district, where he was quartered. I went there in the last days of June. The pacification of the Vendee was just on the eve of accomplishment. Barely had he assumed the reins of Government when the First Consul turned his attention to this unhappy country, and took measures to put an end to the dis- cord by which it was torn. All efforts made by pre- ceding governments to effect this purpose had been practically fruitless. It was reserved to the First Con- sul to put an end to this cruel war, in which the victor had always reason to deplore his victory. He suc- ceeded in his object by the use and skilful mixture of rigour and of indulgence, and by the firmness of his will. The leaders of the Chouans, divided amongst themselves, discouraged by their reverses, and incap- able of resistance to the forces which were directed against them, had finally to submit. One only, Frotte, still resisted. Taken by surprise he wished to parley, at the same time encouraging his lieutenants to wait for better days. The letters which he wrote to them were intercepted, and served as proofs of his want of NAPOLEON I. 39 good faith. He was brought before a court martial, and shot, together with some of his comrades. The death of Frotte was the last scene in this bloody war. The public feeling was still such at that time that on the day when Frotte and his accomplices were executed the inhabitants shut themselves up in their houses, and the streets of the town were entirely de- serted. Frotte was seized at the house of the General in command at Alengon with whom he had taken refuge, and who gave him up. It was that same Gui- dal who was afterwards implicated in a revolutionary plot in the south, and who ended miserably in the Mallet affair. After having passed six months in the 5th dragoons, where my name only figured on the list as a matter of form, I was able to leave this mockery of military service without attracting any attention. Colonel Louis Bonaparte, who knew hovv little I was anxious to serve my apprenticeship for the baton of a Marshal of France, introduced me to his brother, Joseph Bona- parte, who had recently arrived from the Embassy at Rome, after the outrage which had forced him to leave that city in the month of December, 1797. His rank as Ambassador had not protected him from the outrage to public liberty which was committed on his person. Some partisans of the revolution had claimed the protection of the French Embassy. They had been pursued by the Papal troops, who massacred a num- ber of these refugees. In this attack the life of the French Ambassador had been menaced, and he had seen killed by his side General Duphot, who was en- gaged to marry the sister of his wife, who after- wards became Madame Bernadotte, and who is to-day Queen of Sweden. Victim of his generous devotion, this general was mortally wounded whilst he was seconding the efforts of Joseph Bonaparte to induce 40 MEMOIRS OF the malcontents to withdraw, and the Papal troops to cease firing. The Ambassador only owed his life to the intrepidity and to the calmness which he displayed during- this terrible event. More fortunate than the French officer Basseville, who was cruelly murdered by the Roman mob four years previously, he was allowed to escape the dangers to which he was exposed, and found a refuge in the house of the Spanish Am- bassador, Chevalier d'Azzara. Joseph Bonaparte was at that time writing his story " Mo'ina ", a work of little importance ; but which can be commended for the simplicity of the subject, the gentleness of the sentiments expressed, and for the graces of its style. These various circumstances put me in relationship with this worthy Mo^cenas, who received me with the greatest kindness, and showed an interest in me from which he never departed, and for which, all my life long, I shall be profoundly grateful to him. When he was commissioned to negotiate for peace with the American envoys he was good enough to appoint me his secretary. These peace negotiations were happily brought to a close by a treaty which was signed on the 30th of September, 1800, by the Coun- cillors of State, Joseph Bonaparte, Roederer, and Fleurieu, on behalf of France, and by Messrs. Ells- worth, Davy, and Murray, for the United States. By this agreement, which was to last over a period of eight years, the rights of the neutrals were solemnly established. It was a victory over England. The great principle that a ship is under the protection of the nation whose flag it flies, a principle which has since been maintained and defined with such rigour, was expressly recognized. Munitions of war alone were to be considered contraband. The right of passage of neutral ships was regulated, and the right NAPOLEON I. 41 of blockade was restricted to places really blockaded. The Secretary of the Commission charged to treat with the Ambassador was M. Pichon, a young man full of ardour, whose special knowledge was very useful in the various stages of these negotiations. M. Pichon, as a reward for the services which he then rendered, was nominated Consul General and Charge d'Affaires to the United States. At the time of the expedition to San Domingo he was commissioned to provide for the revictualling of the military and naval forces, and was unfortunate enough to sign certain contracts which were exceedingly unprofitable to the State. A commission of the State Council was appointed to examine the management and the books of the Consul General. The result of this commission was that he was absolved as a bookkeeper, but con- demned for his negligence. In consequence of this report M. Pichon was dismissed, and the various sums of which he had unduly ordered payment were put to his charge. M. Pichon, in his misfortune, deserved public sympathy. This just, but severe sen- tence, filled him with a resentment which prompted him to publish, in 1814, a very bitter pamphlet full of unjust attacks against the fallen government. The government of the king was grateful to him for having placed his personal resentment at the service of the restored dynasty, and rewarded him for it by appoint- ing him Councillor of State. The treaty with the United States was celebrated by a fete given at Mortfontaine two days later. The First Consul was present with his family. The Second and Third Consuls, with the ministers, the presidents and various members of the Council of State, of the Senate, of the Legislative Body, and of the Tribunate, were also present. The diplomatic corps was also invited. Various persons who had formerly served in 42 MEMOIRS OF America in various capacities met together on that occasion. M. de Lafayette, and M. de la Rochefou- cauld-Liancourt were present at the fete, and were good enough to undertake to invite the Americans who happened to be in Paris, and also to act as interpreters between Joseph Bonaparte and those who did not speak French. It was these two gentlemen who sug- gested the subjects of the emblematic devices and inscriptions which served to recall the most glorious feats in the American War of Independence. There were a number of pretty women present, at the head of which figured the two youngest sisters of the First Consul, Mesdames Leclerc and Murat. The fete of Mortfontaine was very brilliant. The beauty of the site lent its aid to the taste and the mag- nificence which were displayed there. Mortfontaine was already at that time one of the most beautiful places in France. To-day it is almost without a rival, thanks to the improvements and the embellishments which the taste of its illustrious proprietor added to it. There is nothing particularly remarkable either about the park or the chateau, but the lakes spotted with wooded isles, and animated with the movement of boats and skiffs of elegant forms, surrounded with shrubberies and shady avenues, ofifer a delightful aspect. These lakes are immense sheets of water separated by roadways, and communicating with each other by locks, over a distance of nearly two leagues. The hill sides are covered with a large number of green trees and are crowned with fine timber. On their slopes are to be seen sandstone rocks, some of colossal height. One of them fully warrants the inscription which may be read upon it ; — " Sa masse indestructible a fatigue le temps." — Delille. NAPOLEON I. 43 Every kind of site is to be found in this little valley of lakes, and here living nature contrasts with dead nature. Hamlets and mills, grouped picturesquely, fill it with movement and with life, whilst at the other end is to be found a long extent of arid sand worthy of the desert, the illusion of which is completed by some ruins in the Moorish style. A concert was given on the first day of the fete, at which Garat and the most distinguished artists in Paris were heard. On the following day a great hunt was given. In the evening there was a display of fireworks on the first lake, in front of the chateau. A flaming obelisk — on the pedestal of which were seen allegories consecrating the union of the French and American Republics — illuminated its approaches. At the moment when the bouquet exploded a small flotilla appeared on the water, illuminated with coloured globes, carrying the flags of the United States and of France interlaced. The fireworks were followed by theatricals. Two little comedies were performed by Fleury, Dazincourt, Miles. Contat, Devienne and Mezeray, on a stage, the back of which opened out on to the park. Through this opening at the back could be seen a little wood, which was lighted by fires, producing a fairylike effect, thanks to a skilful juxtaposition of light and shade. The actors of the Theatre Frangais played with their usual skill. Fleury and Mile. Contat, invited to the fete, distinguished themselves, by their good manners and their amiability. The proprietors of Mortfontaine greatly appreciated these two artists, so signally worthy of that name. They invited them sometimes to dinner during the following winter, at their fine house in the Rue du Rocher. Between the two pieces, couplets alluding to the re-establishment of cordial relations between the two 44 MEMOIRS OF States, were sung by Garat and by Miles. Contat and Devienne. The fete terminated with a magnificent ball, to which more than twelve hundred persons had been invited. The First Consul and Madame Bonaparte withdrew at one o'clock, being obliged to return to Paris. It was at Mortfontaine that I saw Napoleon for the first time. No occasion presented itself by which his attention could have been drawn to me. Seeing him surrounded with that prestige of grandeur, which im- posed respect on all those who approached him, I did not suspect that one day I should be his familiar. He was very affable to everybody. He neglected his affairs to give himself up to the pleasures of the fete. The library of the chateau in which he worked was almost entirely deserted during those days. He con- versed with each on his speciality; he even spoke of music with Garat. During the short stay which the First Consul made at Mortfontaine some gold medals, dating from the days of the Roman Empire, had been presented to him by M. Cambry, Prefect of the Oise department. These medals had been found on the borders of the department, in a little plain surrounded by hills, where the remains of an encampment could be traced. The First Consul presented these to the American Envoys, asking them to carry them back to America. The First Consul conversed at length with M. de Lafayette, a general for whom he had a particular esteem. If his conduct during the terrible crises of the Revolution, where so many men lost their lives or their honour, did not seem to the First Consul to have always been worthy of the occasion, he considered, nevertheless, that he had always acted in an honour- NAPOLEON I. 45 able manner, and gave him full credit for his good intentions. The fame of M. de Lafayette rested entirely on his unyielding perseverance in one order of ideas. He had not moved since the fall of the Bastille. He had not made one step in advance since 1789, nor alighted from the white horse on which he rode at the head of the national guards. He had dreamed for France an American form of Government, and, full of this Utopian idea, would never admit the difference be- tween the two countries, nor the necessities of the times, nor the bent of men's minds. The result of the i8th of Brumaire upset all his past. Immovable — when all around him was changing, either by convic- tion or by policy — he remained faithful to his maxims at a time when everybody held his personal convictions cheap, and when oaths were current coin, the stamp on which constantly changed. The situation of M. de Lafayette was a novelty which, in the eyes of some was original and piquant, and which inspired others with a feeling of respect. Whatever may have been Napoleon's private opin- ion about him, such a man was, in his eyes, a man of real value. He must have hoped to make use of him, for he was an instrument the use of which he could not neglect. He accordingly expressed his desire to place him in the Senate. M. de Lafayette thanked the First Consul for his kind intentions, and begged him to transfer them to his son, alleging his desire for retirement and the disinclination that he felt to re-enter public life. Napoleon understood him. He had need of the father, not of the son; he did not press him. Nevertheless he continued to receive him, and remained on friendly terms with him. Till then M. de Lafayette had been consistent, and his scruples, what- ever may have been their motive, were worthy of 46 MEMOIRS OF respect. Afterwards, either because he was dissati-s- fied with the indifference with which his resistance had been received, or because he grew tired of the obscurity into which he had entered, or be it that the strength of his convictions drew him on, the voting on the question of the creation of a Life-Consulate seemed to him a favourable opportunity for once again drawing public attention to himself. He could have abstained from voting, but not only did he vote, but sent his vote to the First Consul, with a letter which is too well known to need reproduction here. This act did not produce the effect that its author had expected. Its natural result was to estrange the First Consul from M. de Lafayette who ceased to take any further interest in him. Less than a month after the events which I have related above, the brother of the First Consul was appointed plenipotentiary Minister to the Congress at Luneville. The Austrian plenipotentiary was Count Louis de Cobenzl, formerly ambassador at St. Peters- burg, the same who signed the treaty of Campo- Formio with General Bonaparte. The arrival of this minister at Strasburg having been announced by tele- graph, Joseph Bonaparte left Paris without delay, leaving his wife behind him, and arranging for her to join him later on. But Count Cobenzl had only stayed a short time in Strasburg, and hearing at Luneville that the French Minister had not yet arrived, con- tinued his route to Paris. The French and Austrian plenipotentiaries met half-way. The latter desired to continue on to Paris. I accordingly gave him my place in Joseph Bonaparte's carriage, and took his place in his carriage, with M. Hoppe, his secretary, for the return to Paris. M. de Talleyrand lent his house in the Rue d'Anjou NAPOLEON I. 47 to the Austrian minister, with whom he was already acquainted. On the following day M. de Cobenzl was presented to the First Consul. They had several con- versations together. After spending a week in Paris the two negotiators started off for Luneville, which they 4-eached in the first days of November. The Austrian Minister declared at the very outset that he could not treat without the presence and co-operation of an English Minister, his Court being bound by a treaty to Eng- land. The First Consul had done everything in his power to effect a reconciliation with this State. Nego- tiations had been opened in London through M. Otto, a French agent, for the exchange of prisoners, with the object of bringing about the signature of a naval armistice, on the same basis as the one which had been concluded with Austria. England had asked to be admitted to the Congress as a contracting party ; this demand had appeared sus- picious. If this power was sincere in her desire for peace it was open to her to negotiate separately with- out combining with Austria. The relative positions of France and England were very different from those of France and Austria. Everything was subject for discussion with England; for twenty years no treaty had been signed between the two powers. Since then the revolution of 1789 and the wars of the Republic had entirely changed the face of Europe. England had considerably increased her possessions beyond seas at the expense of France and of her allies, and had extended her power in India beyond all measure. All matters of negotiation had to be approached for the first time. With Austria the basis of the negotia- tions already existed; only a renewal of treaties was in question. The negotiations could with difficulty be simultaneous; obstacles were certain to arise at each 48 MEMOIRS OF step; and for this reason the French Government was disposed to suspect the Enghsh Cabinet of a lack of sincerity. To assure itself of this fact, and to expose the secret designs of England, it made the following proposals : — (i) To admit an English representative to the Luneville Congress, on the understanding that hostili- ties should be suspended on sea as they were on land, so that the contracting powers should, as far as possi- ble, be in the same situation. [This demand was a just one. France could not be at war with one of the powers and in suspension of hostilities with the other. If the naval armistice gave France the advantage of being able to re-establish commercial relations between her ports and her colonies, and of allowing her to revictual and to recruit her army in Egypt, the con- tinental armistice gave Austria the means to reorgan- ize her armies, to fortify her strong places with English money, and to prepare to resume the contest with advantage to herself. In reply the English Cabinet refused to allow munitions of war of any kind to enter any of the blockaded ports and towns, but only provisions for a fortnight, at a time when, with the exception of Malta, almost all the blockaded places were well supplied with victuals. This proposal tended to render the armistice illusory.] (2) The First Consul then offered to negotiate whilst continuing hostilities on sea and on land, as in many previous negotiations had been the case. It was a means for accelerating the conclusion of peace, because the two allied powers, pressed by the probable successes of the French forces, would be interested in the termination of the negotiations, so as not to render the conditions of peace every day more onerous. [The proposal was not considered acceptable by the English Cabinet.] NAPOLEON I. 49 (3) A further proposal was made. France offered to accept the armistice proposed by the British Cabinet, in spite of its great disadvantages, if England would agree to separate negotiations. [In this expectation the renewal of hostilities against Austria was delayed for eight days. The English Cabinet refused.] (4) As a final proposal the French Government asked to be allowed to send six frigates under a flag of truce into Alexandria, it being specially stipulated that these frigates should not carry more arms than form the usual equipment of storeships. [This was a practical acceptance of the principle of the armistice proposed by the English Government. The reinforce- ments — of about four thousand men — which this expedition could have conveyed to the army in Egypt was by no means an equivalent to the advantages which Austria would derive from English subsidies during the prolongation of the continental armistice, which would enable her to increase her military resources. It was, moreover, a means of forcing the English to finish the negotiations rapidly, so as to prevent the arrival of the frigates in Egypt; for more than a month would have had to elapse before they could be got under sail. These different proposals were rejected. They could only be acceptable in the eyes of a Ministry really anxious to conclude peace, for where a real desire to agree exists, an arrange- ment is soon come to.] These repeated refusals clearly showed how little disposed England was for peace. In presenting her- self at the Luneville Congress as having a common interest with Austria, England, no doubt, had not any intention of sacrificing herself to her ally, nor of winning for her at the price of her own conquests any restitutions of territory. All that she then desired was to gain time, and to intervene in the Luneville nego- 5o MEMOIRS OF tiations for the purpose of delaying their progress and of provoking some cause of rupture. " To admit an Enghsh representative to Luneville," said Napoleon, " would be to put into his hands the spindle and the thread with which to weave some new coalition." As a matter of fact these ruses on the part of the English Government had no other result than to delay for the space of one year the peace which England so contemptuously refused in January, 1800, after the i8th Brumaire, and which she solicited in 1801, March 21st. At the end of the third note, referring to General Mathieu Dumas's work, entitled " Precis des evene- ments militaires," which the Emperor dictated whilst at St. Helena, are to be found the following reflec- tions : — " The spectacle of the changes which were brought about in so short a time was sufficiently gratifying to a true Frenchman. In January, 1800, France solicited peace. Lord Grenville replied with a torrent of abuse, allowing himself to make the strangest insinuations. He desired that a prince of that race of kings who, during so many centuries had known how to maintain the prosperity of the nation at home and to ensure consideration and respect abroad, should remount the throne of France. He exhorted the First Consul to establish with proofs the legitimacy of his govern- ment ; and to-day it was this same Lord Grenville who begged as a favour to be allowed to treat with the Republic, offering even to pay for this grace with new concessions. " The negotiations for a naval armistice were broken off. The towns of Ingolstadt, Ulm, and Philipsburg were ceded by the Emperor to France, as the price of a six weeks' promulgation of the armis- tice. A few months later the Peace of Luneville saved NAPOLEON I SI the house of Austria, and re-established peace on the continent. And finally, shortly afterwards, the cabi- net of St. James's signed the Preliminaries of London, by which the humiliated English oligarchy recognized the French Republic, aggrandized, not only by the Belgian provinces, but by Piedmont, by Genoa, and by the whole of Italy. In the meanwhile how many millions had been added to the English national debt? Such was the result of Pitt's passionate policy." What follows was also dictated by the Emperor, but was not printed in the memoirs published under his name : — " Pitt, who did not desire peace until Belgium should have been ceded to Austria, was not sincere in asking to be admitted to the Luneville Congress. If during the pourparlers between M. Otto and Lord Grenville on the question of a naval armistice, which lasted six weeks, the latter had really been anxious for the conclusion of peace he would have made his desire clear, and would have proved it in his confidential con- versations. He said nothing which could remove an impression to the contrary. Lord Hawkesbury's very first words, at the time of the negotiation of the Pre- liminaries of London, showed the sincerity of the English Cabinet. M. Mathieu Dumas shows little experience in imagining that the rupture of negotia- tions between the two countries depended on the admission, or the refusal of admission, of six frigates into the port of Alexandria. It would have been as mad on the part of England as on the part of France. It sometimes happens in war that an army of one hundred thousand men retreats after losing thirty or forty hussars in a reconnoitring expedition under the command of the commander-in-chief. Is so slight a loss the cause of the retreat? No, the retreat is the result of the reconnoitring expedition." 52 MEMOIRS OF England refusing all proposals, and Count Cobenzl, on his side, persisting in his refusal to treat without the assistance of an English envoye, hostilities recom- menced, in spite of the presence of the French and Austrian plenipotentiaries at Luneville. General Mo- reau, who was in Paris, whither he had betaken himself after the prolongation of the armistice, left it on the 19th of November to put himself at the head of the army of the Rhine. He had been received with un- wonted cordiality and marked favour by the First Consul, who presented him with a pair of beautifully worked pistols, embellished with diamonds. As he handed him these pistols he remarked that if he had not had the names of the General's victories engraved on them it was because these were so numerous that there was not room for such an inscription. Moreau received these advances and this present with an in- difference which was noticed by all. The resumption of hostilities having been declared, the First Consul drew up his plan of campaign for the ensuing winter. He was forced to abstain from taking personal command of the troops, as the state of affairs at home rendered it impossible for him to absent himself from the seat of Government. The army of the Rhine was destined to play the most im- portant part in this campaign. The First Consul remembering no doubt with what coldness Moreau had received his suggestion of a bold plan at the opening of the previous campaign, ordered him simply to act on the offensive, leaving to him the care of directing his operations as circumstances might dictate. The army of the Rhine was the finest of our armies ; it was composed of more than one hundred thousand men, all veteran soldiers, under the command of experienced officers. To confide such an army to General Moreau, giving him at the same time a free hand, was to refute NAPOLEON I. S3 in advance the frivolous reproach that Bonaparte was jealous of Moreau's glory. General Lahorie, General Moreau's chief staff- officer, who had preceded him, had arrived in Lune- ville two days before him. Instead of putting up at the house of the French Minister, he went directly to the Austrian Minister's. When Moreau arrived in Luneville the French Minister, without awaiting his visit, called on him at the inn at which he had alighted. I accompanied Joseph Bonaparte to see Moreau, who received us in a low room, lighted by a lamp. He was dressed in a blue frock-coat, which bore no dis- tinctive marks of his rank, and he was smoking a pipe. Our call was short and without importance. The want of attention on the part of Moreau, and the prank played by Lahorie, showed us sufficiently plainly that the relations between the chief and his entourage were not of the friendliest. Before continuing his journey. General Moreau returned Joseph Bonaparte's call, meeting Count Cobenzl at his house. After some general conversation, which did not last more than half-an-hour, he re-entered his travelling carriage, which was waiting for him outside. The preliminaries of a peace advantageous to Austria had been signed in Paris on the 28th of July, 1800, but had not been ratified by the Emperor of Germany. Six weeks later the Austrian Government asked for a resumption of the negotiations, at the cost of con- ceding Ingolstadt, Ulm, and Philipsburg. If Austria, abandoning her dilatory policy, had frankly entered upon the negotiations without again risking the haz- ards of war, she would have saved Mantua and Tuscany, and could have re-established the King of Sardinia in Piedmont. Such an ofifer was made to the Austrian plenipotentiary. France's moderation en- 54 MEMOIRS OF couraged Austria to increase her demands, and to insist on the admission of an English plenipotentiary. Mean- while the armistice was coming to a close. Austria preferred to run the risk of war, but the return of General Bonaparte had brought victory back to our flag. The hopes of the Cabinet of Vienna were deceived; our victories at Hohenlinden and elsewhere in bringing our troops forward to the gates of Vienna put an end to Austria's hesitation. A new armistice — to last thirty days — had been agreed upon at Steyer, between Moreau and Arch-duke Charles, one month after the renewal of hostilities. Count Cobenzl then resigned himself to treat without the co-operation of England, but the favourable opportunity had been lost. The conditions of peace could no longer be the same after the victory of Hohenlinden. Thus did the enemies of France conspire together for her greatness and lead Napoleon by the hand to the summit of power.. Already three times had they refused peace under' unhoped-for conditions. The more moderate the French Government showed itself, the more their pre- tensions increased; experience seemed to teach them nothing. The point of the negotiation which the Austrian Minister defended with the most obstinacy was the preservation of the German ecclesiastical States. It was his wish that the ecclesiastical electors and princes should obtain on the right bank the equivalent of what they had to abandon on the left. Austria felt that their suppression was a death-stroke to her influence, and, later on, to her domination over Germany. But the compensation which Austria asked in their favour would have absorbed the greater part of the lands available on the right bank, and certain princes whose inheritance belonged to their families would have been deprived of a compensation, which the losses they had NAPOLEON I. 55 suffered gave them the right to claim. Besides, the abuse of preserving to the ecclesiastical authority tem- poralities to defend, and the inconvenience of leaving Germany split up into thousands of little princedoms or lordships, exercising sovereign rights, had long stood in need of reform. One, only, of the four eccle- siastical electors was maintained; his seat was trans- ferred from Mayence to Ratisbon. Austria also ardently desired the maintenance of the Grand-Duke of Tuscany in Italy. At the opening of the Congress this prince would have been able to retain his states. Austria later on limited her demands on his behalf to the three legations which at first she had , desired for herself; but she was to lose Italy as she had lost Germany. The Duchy of Salzburg was the indemnity awarded to the Grand-Duke. The mari- time interests of France, the safety of the new Italian States, and the necessity of removing the inimical in- fluence of Austria from this country, decided the First Consul to take advantage of his victories. Personal overtures made by M. de Cobenzl to Joseph Bonaparte were, for the French plenipotentiary, only one reason the more to insist on the cession of Tuscany, which was granted. An ultimatum was notified to the Aus- trian Minister. In spite of all its efforts, and the threat of desperate measures, the Vienna Cabinet was forced to yield, regretting bitterly not having listened to the first proposals made by France. Peace was signed on the 9th of February, 1801. The Treaty of Luneville assured the possession of Belgium and Man- tua to France, and gave her as frontiers the Rhine, and the line of the Adige in Italy. It overthrew the Gothic edifice of the German Empire in suppressing the ecclesiastical sovereignties; in reducing to a small number of real sovereignties the crowd of helpless and defenceless little feudal principalities, it finally 56 MEMOIRS OF established the basis of the confederation of the Rhine. The course of the Luneville negotiations was marked by a notable occurrence. A suspension of arms had been concluded on the i6th of January, between Generals Brune and Bellegarde, commanding the hos- tile armies in Italy. By this convention the important fortified town of Mantua remained in the possession of Austria, blockaded only at a distance of eight hun- dred toises by the French troops. By a convention signed at Luneville, eight days later, Mantua, together with the forts of Peschiera, Sermione, Ferrare, Ancona, and the castles of Verona and Legnano, were handed over to us. Our diplomacy might well be proud of having succeeded better than our armies. The skilful, firm, and unselfish conduct of Joseph Bonaparte seconded the genius and the power of the First Consul. The Tribunate accordingly expressed the wish that a testimonial of the nation's satisfaction should be offered to the French plenipotentiary. During the momentary interruption of the negotia- tions there arrived at Luneville Moustache, the courier, bringing the news of the explosion of the infernal machine of the Rue St. Nicaise. The stupor into which the whole town was thrown by the news of this abominable outrage can easily be imagined. Count Cobenzl made haste to come and express his horror to the French Minister, and to congratulate him on the good fortune with which his brother had escaped so great a danger. The same sentiments were expressed by the civil and military authorities. The sons of Councillors of State Portalis, Simeon, and Roederer were attached to the French legation. The first two, after the fall of the Imperial Govern- ment, went over to the service of the Government NAPOLEON I. 57 which succeeded to it. The third, faithful to the cause which he had embraced, after having honourably served the State in prefectorial offices, voluntarily re- tired. He applied part of his activity and of his tal- ents to directing the glassworks, which were the foundation of the fortune of his family, and beguiled his leisure hours with the study of letters. M. de Laforet, Secretary to the Legation, brought M. de Moustier, son of the former minister of Louis XVI., — under whom he had been consul in the United States — to Luneville. He treated this young man, who afterwards married his daughter, as a son. Moustier was appointed Secretary of Legation in Saxony, at the end of the Congress. He then and afterwards served in the embassies with the greatest zeal. His father, one of the most devoted agents of the Comte de Lille, sought in vain to draw him over into the enemy's camp. The Restoration came, but then Moustier, whose fidelity had resisted a threat of disinheritance, did not resist his father, who returned high in credit with the new sovereign. It must be added, however, that he made use of his favour only in the service of old friends. He closed his career as a diplomat with the mission to the Court of Spain, which he carried out in 1827. General Clarke was sent to Luneville as governor of the town and commander of the department. He celebrated the anniversary of the i8th Brumaire, the day on which the conference opened, with a splendid dinner, which was followed by a ball. During the course of the Congress, there was a dance at his house almost every week. The plenipotentiaries dined alter- nately at each other's houses. The local authorities and leading citizens were usually invited. Mild gam- bhng was indulged in, or an hour was spent at the theatre, where a fair troupe was performing. In the 58 MEMOIRS OF intervals of the negotiations we made several excur- sions in the neighbourhood of Luneville, visiting the glassworks, the paper mills, and the various factories of the Vosges, the Rosieres studfarms and the salt-pits of Dieuze and Moyenvic. The former castle of King Stanislas had been de- cided upon for the habitation of the plenipotentiaries, but as it was recognized that it would be some time before it could be put into a proper state of repair, and that this would also cost a considerable sum of money, two private houses were hired for them instead. The minister of France lived at the house of a M. de Fres- nel, whose son, like the majority of Lorraine officers, was in the service of Austria. There were a number of retired generals at Lune- ville, who were frequently invited to the houses of the plenipotentiaries. During our stay, there arrived in Luneville a general who seemed to have been prompted to come by the desire to show off his gold embroi- deries. It was apparently by the mistake of one of the representatives of the people that he had been pro- moted to such high rank. The naivete of his fanfa- ronades was for a time the delight of the town. Peo- ple used to get him to relate how, in a battle, his brav- ery and excellent appearance had attracted the atten- tion of Souwaroff , who cried out : " Who is this young Frenchman, who brings terror and death into our ranks ? " " Marshal, it is General Liebaut ! " "I thought so ! " M. Hugo, major of the 20th demi-brigade, a young officer full of fire and activity, who had served during the previous campaign on the staff of General Moreau, was charged with the command of the garrison of Luneville under the orders of General Clarke. When Joseph Bonaparte became King of Naples he sum- moned this officer, whom he had learned to know and NAPOLEON I. 59 to appreciate during the Congress, to his army. Gen- eral Hugo followed the king to Spain, where he ren- dered important services, and returned to France with him in 1813. He has published some memoirs, pre- ceded by a very interesting preface written by his eld- est son, Abel Hugo, author of several highly appre- ciated works, on his campaigns, and chiefly about the military events in Spain. The youngest son of the ' General, Victor Hugo, has won a European reputa- tion, and is the author of a large number of prose and poetical works, in which the beauties and the defects of a brilliant imagination, to which the study of good models has not been wanting, but which has enfran- chised itself from the old paths to open out for itself a new road, may be noticed. Brought up by a mother who was hostile to the principles of the Revolution, Victor and his two broth- ers acquired, from the education she gave them, pre- judices which soon yielded to their maturer judgment. Since the death of his mother, Victor Hugo has re- turned to a more just appreciation of the genius of Napoleon. He is to-day one of the greatest admirers of the benefits of his rule, and of the military glory of France, in which General Hugo participated. I must not omit to mention the arrival of young Anatole de Lawoestyne in Luneville, who was brought there by his father to be introduced to his uncle, Count de Cobenzl. Anatole was twelve or thirteen years of age at the time of his visit to Luneville, and was a charming child. The events of the Revolution of 1789, which brought about the suppression of feudal rights, and caused losses of every kind to the Lawoestyne family, were the principal causes which destroyed the fortune to which Anatole had a claim. He had had the pros- pect of still being rich. The Sillery estate had been 6o MEMOIRS OF intended for him by the first husband of his grand- mother, Madame de Genlis, M. Brulart de Sillery, who fell a victim under the Revolution. Count Louis de Cobenzl had appeared to have an affection for his young nephew. He had proposed to his father to take the lad with him to Austria to finish his education, and that he should enter the military service. But the French instincts of the child, and the preference which he showed for the French uniform, so glorious by vic- tory, discouraged the Austrian diplomat in his good intentions, and easily absolved him from any further responsibility in his nephew's future. On leaving Paris to return to Vienna, Count Co- benzl made the most splendid promises to Anatole's father; the interest he professed remained, however, without fruit. Knowing my friendship both for the father and the son, he particularly recommended his young nephew to me, thinking that my position with the brother of the Head of the Government would give me opportunities of being useful to him. Lawoestyne did not follow M. de Cobenzl, and remained with us. This child, to whom I attached myself, became dearer and dearer to me, a real brother. He entered the mili- tary school at Fontainebleau at an early age. On leav- ing the school he entered a cavalry regiment where his bravery and brilliant qualities secured him rapid pro- motion. He was colonel at the age of twenty-six, and commanded the 3rd regiment of chasseurs at the dis- astrous battle of Waterloo. The fall of the Empire interrupted the career which he was following with such success. All great and heroic ideas marked this ever-memor- able epoch. What impression must the overthrow of so many hopes have produced on the ardent and gener- ous mind of Lawoestyne. To an era of grandeur and glory succeeded a return to Gothic ideas and the reign NAPOLEON I. 6i of a prince strengthened by the misfortunes of his family in the hatred of our institutions. The indig- nation and contempt of Lawoestyne burst out in a scene concerted with his friends Jacqueminot and Du- rand, who were both distinguished by a gay and orig- inal turn of mind. They went one after the other to the Cafe Tortoni and met together there, dressed up in the grotesque costumes of those old caricatures of the ancient regime which they humorously styled voltigeurs of Louis XIV., obtuse minds which the great events which had occurred had been unable to lighten, and which, like Epimenides, seemed to have fallen asleep in 1788 only to awake in 1814. Anatole and his friends played so true a scene in this cafe that the effect it produced was immense. The sensation pro- duced in Paris was such that the authorities thought fit to proceed against the principal culprit. Anatole took flight to Belgium, from which his family had sprung. He settled down in the country near Brussels and lived there faithful to his souvenirs until the time of the revolution of July. He then returned to France, and once more entered the army. He commanded for some years the department of Seine-et-Oise, with the rank of major general and has since become lieutenant- general. After peace had been signed the plenipotentiaries left Luneville to return to Paris. I remember that Simeon and myself wished to celebrate this great event by some scenes which were to be performed by the troupe of actors at Luneville. With this object in view we shut ourselves up for the best part of the night which followed on the signing of the peace, but Thalia was rebellious to our wooings. We only brought forth a few couplets, for the larger part of which my brother in Apollo was responsible. Count Cobenzl and Joseph Bonaparte returned to 62 MEMOIRS OF Paris together. Conferences took place on the exe- cution of the article of the treaty relative to the dis- tribution of indemnities to the princes who had been ousted from their possessions on the left bank of the Rhine by the cession of these territories to France. Article 7 of the Treaty of Luneville had stipulated that the German Empire should compensate the hereditary princes who had been dispossessed on the left bank of the Rhine with grants of land in the centre of its territories, according to arrangements to be ulteriorly determined. The First Consul, satisfied with having secured to those of the secular princes who were in this situation a compensation and the hope of an in- crease of territory, which would attach those interested to him, did not greatly hurry on the settlement of the indemnities. This was delayed for more than a year by German dilatoriness and the pretensions of Austria. The French Government decided not to give way, and, determined to profit by all the advantages which were secured to it by the Treaty of Luneville, took measures to baffle the intrigues and underhand practices which had for their object to keep France aloof from any participation in the distribution of the indemnities. The Russian Cabinet was pressed to join France in urging on the settlement of this business. In conse- quence M. de Buhler, Russian Ambassador to Munich, and M. de Laforet, who had been appointed French ambassador to the same place, after the signature of the treaty of Luneville, were sent to Ratisbon to present to the Diet a general scheme of indemni- fication. After seven months' discussion the allotment and the definitive distribution of the indemnities were effected. The supremacy which France exercised in the new arrangements began to establish her influence in Ger- many. This affair was conducted by the First Consul NAPOEEON I. 63 with a skill which the school of M. de Talleyrand attributes largely to this Minister, who without any doubt was a valuable agent in the execution of this great political idea. The co-operation of Russia in the operations at Ratisbon, conferred upon this power the role of witness alone, France having entire pre- ponderance in the matter. Her high influence and the exaggerted nature of the claims of the interested parties served her purpose marvellously. The dis- tribution of the indemnities gave rise to a number of abuses. The claims of justice were but little heeded, and it is no exaggeration to say that the territories which were to be allotted were put up to auction. But the timid complaints which arose were soon silenced and hushed up. The princes who had profited by the abuses committed made no boast of the fact, whilst those who had been wronged did not dare to raise their voices to reach the ear of the First Consul. He, however, had suspicions as to the real state of affairs, suspicions which were not confirmed until many years later. The French Ambassador at one of the second- ary German courts, was at last able to procure a list of the extortions committed, with the names of their authors. Napoleon sent this Hst to Count Molhen, Minister of the Public Treasury, with orders to have all sums unduly received paid over to the sinking fund. The cares of war and various other considerations prevented him from rigorously pursuing the execution of this order. The Restoration saved the purses of the guilty, who had the double advantage of remaining unpunished and of securing the favour of the new Government by claiming to be the enemies and the victims of the Government which had just fallen. Joseph Bonaparte spent most of the summer of 1801 on his fine estate of Mortfontaine. All that, in more 64 MEMOIRS OF than one way, was most distinguished in Paris, was assembled there. Mesdames Bacciochi, Leclerc and Murat, sisters of the First Consul; Lucien Bonaparte, Count Cobenzl, who took up his abode there for the best part of the summer; the poet Casti, author of the poem '''' Les Animaux Parlants " and of so many clever productions, ndij and witty, and the most independent of men; Madame de Stael, who was then protecting Chateaubriand, and who charmed the evenings with reading " Atala" and "Rene" aloud; Stanislas Gi- rardin, proprietor of the estate of Ermenonville, whose death in 1827 was mourned by all men of heart, and by the friends of enlightened liberty ; M. Miot, distin- guished by the variety of his accomplishments and by his administrative talents; Roederer, journalist, writer, and witty conversationalist, — these last three the con- stant and devoted friends of Joseph Bonaparte; — Regnauld de Saint-Jean-d'Angely, whose wonderful ability and clear-headedness rendered him capable of anything; M. de Jaucourt, a model of urbanity, who, had raised the affections of his heart to heroism, and whose attachment to the Bourbon family awoke in 18 14, but who seemed attached to his hosts by a sin- cere devotion; the poets Arnault, Andrieux, Boufflers, , Fontanes ; Madame de Boufflers, ci-devant Madame de Sabran, amiable and witty ; Marmont, Chauvelin, Ma- thieu de Montmorency, who on account of a former liaison with Madame de Stael frequently came to Mort- fontaine; and finally many other French and foreign politicians and litterateurs found an abode of delight in this beautiful place. The days were spent in shooting, fishing, walking, and in games; in the evenings there was music or reading aloud; sometimes a proverb or charade was acted. M. de Cobenzl knew our poets and chiefly our dramatists by heart, and would repeat comic scenes NAPOLEON I. 65 with a verve that was nearly buffoonery; he used to organize little games, charades, or tableaux vivants, in which he always had a part, and in which the sis- ters of the First Consul always played the principal roles. Count Cobenzl spoke French without any ac- cent and had nothing German about him but his name. Although clumsy, big, fat, and short, his manners were easy and graceful. His conversation, as a general rule, was superficial, and abounded in witticisms; his wit was ingenious rather than profound. He affected a vivacity and an evenness of temper which was some- times modified by a sudden preoccupation. Sometimes in the midst of some gay anecdote, such as he de- lighted in telling, his features would become set, a grave expression would take the place of a smile, and his wandering eyes become fixed like a machine of which the movements cease suddenly without apparent cause. His affectation of appearing delighted with everything, and of finding that everything that was proposed to him was just what he had been wishing for, was vexation of soul to excellent Madame Bona- parte, who was never able to detect in him a preference for anything whatever. M. Hoppe, his only secretary, was the type of a German embassy employe. He was a little man al- ready past the middle age, with large wrinkled eyes, fatigued by the assiduity with which he had deciphered old charts and written out diplomatic notes. He was so short-sighted that his nose played as great a part in his work as his eyes. A minute observer of forms, he delighted in parading his knowledge of the little partictilarities of his profession, the high importance of which he never tired of proclaiming; insisting at the same time on his long experience. He had lived for many years in Paris, as attache to the embassy of Count de Mercy d'Argenteau. He was a very good 66 MEMOIRS OF man, and devoted to Count Cobenzl, who in return treated him with much affection. Madame de Stael, twirHng in her fingers a flower, or a spray of heather, would carry on with our wits a conversation which was now humorous, now serious, but which at all times was lighted up with flashes of wit. Joseph Bonaparte was kind enough to ask my old friend Palissot to Mortfontaine. I brought him there for some days. This veteran of the great wits of the age of Louis XV., whose life had been spent in draw- ing-rooms, witnesses of his triumphs, found himself out of his sphere at Mortfontaine. Each epoch has its ideas, its tastes, and its particular character. Palis- sot was received with distinction and was treated with the deference due to his age. But though sensible of the regard which was shown him, and though he made an effort to raise himself to the diapason of a society which was new to him, it was evident that he felt himself entirely out of his element. He ere long returned with pleasure to the solitude which he had left for a world which was not in accordance with his habits, and which disagreed with his remem- brances. The poet Casti used to recite at nights what he had composed during the day. He wrote a part of his poem " Les Animaux Parlants " at Mortfontaine. He was frequently to be seen sitting at the foot of one of the century-old trees, which shaded the rocks scat- tered here and there on the slopes of the lakes, seek- ing the inspiration which never refused itself to his facile genius. Casti was the " poet laureate " of Vienna. He succeeded Metastasio in this post of poet to the imperial court, which died with him. He had been presented at Mortfontaine by M. de Cobenzl. At that time he was nearly eighty years of age, but had preserved all the verdure and vivacity of his NAPOLEON I. 67 younger days. Endowed with an iron constitution, he had victoriously triumphed over a disease which can be cured only by the most violent remedies, and the only trace of it which remained was a kind of snuffling, which interfered to some extent with his pronuncia- tion. He was in continual warfare with Mesdames Leclerc and Murat, who had selected him as their vic- tim. Now they would snatch off his wig whilst he was sitting in grave meditation in his arm-chair, now they would come and mix up the figures on the chess-board just as he was absorbed over some difficult move. And so it was that he bore them a grudge, and re- fused to address any of the verses which cost him so little trouble to either of them. He was better disposed towards Madame Bacciochi, and made a madrigal on her name, which was found one morning fastened to the mirror on the mantelpiece of the drawing-room. This madrigal played on the words " baccio " and " occhi " and was in honour of Madame Elisa's eyes, which were very beautiful. The good and witty Andrieux, author of charming comedies, and poems which Voltaire would not have disavowed, was one of the habitues of Mortfontaine. He had abandoned literature for Parliament, but had returned to it after the suppression of the Tribunate. He was anxious to translate Casti's " Animaux Par- lants " into verse, but never carried out his plan. He satisfied himself with translating one of this poet's stories, a story called '''' La Bulk d' Alexandre VI." Frequent parties of coursing and shooting were given at Mortfontaine under the direction of Gen- eral Berthier and M. d'Haneucourt, who were re- hearsing — the former for the post of Master of the Hounds, and the other for that of Captain of the Hunts. The hospitality of the proprietors of Mortfontaine Vol. 6 3 — Memoirs 68 MEMOIRS OF was noble and honourable. They charmed their guests by a natural politeness and by their simple and affec- tionate manners. The vicinity of the estate of Plessis-Charmant, which belonged to Lucien Bonaparte, rendered com- munications with Mortfontaine frequent, and did much to enhance the charm of the two residences. There was nothing pompous about either place, but they were the rendezvous of men of varied merits. In this respect Plessis was the rival of Mortfontaine. The presiding taste at Plessis was for the performance of tragedies; these performances were given under the direction of the actor Lafond. Lucien had lost his first wife, Christine Boyer, who had left him two daughters. One of them has married the Roman Prince Gabrielli, the other, after the death of her first husband, married Lord Dudley Stuart. Madame Bacciochi, who was tenderly attached to her brother, spent the summer at Plessis, warmly pro- tecting the poet Fontanes. The Marquise de Santa- Cruz, a Spanish lady whose acquaintance Lucien had made whilst ambassador to Madrid, helped Madame Bacciochi to do the honours of the house, and was supposed to have a very great influence over him. Joseph Bonaparte used to make frequent excursions from Mortfontaine to La Malmaison, in which I had the honour of accompanying him. We used to spend part of the day there, coming back to Mortfontaine after dinner. Dinner was served at La Malmaison at one table only, where often a family reunion might be seen. The First Consul sat on one side, having Madame Louis Bonaparte next to him, and Madame Bonaparte opposite. The aides-de-camp of the First Consul were admitted to his table, and generally one of the Consuls, a minister, and one or two ladies NAPOLEON I. 69 were amongst the guests. Strangers were rarely seen there. I will mention, in a summary manner, the events which took place in the interval which elapsed between the signing of the Treaty of LuneviUe and the con- clusion of the Concordat — events which were brought about by the accession to power of the mighty genius who already exercised such a great influence on the destinies of Europe. The abuse which England made of her maritime supremacy, the tyranny which she exercised over the shipping of other maritime powers, our victories, the treaties which had been their consequence, the wisdom and the skill of the government of the First Consul, had produced a revolution in the minds of men throughout Europe. The influence which England had enjoyed was rapidly declining. Her despotism had revolted the powers of the North, who had united in a convention the direct object of which was to enforce the respect of neutrals. The Emperor Paul I. had put himself at the head of his league with his customary ardour. The general embargo under which England laid the ships of the countries which had signed this convention and her treacherous attack upon Copen- hagen only tightened the bonds of the coalition against her. The First Consul had spared no effort to bring about an understanding with the Emperor Paul. There were seven thousand Russian prisoners in France, whom the First Consul fitted out with clothes and sent back home ransom-free. This action finally won the heart of Paul I. He had contracted a close alliance with France and was vigorously pursuing the execution of the plans agreed upon in concert with her, when he was ruthlessly assassinated. The par- ticulars of the murder of this prince are well-known yo MEMOIRS OF to-day, and there is no necessity for me to repeat them. The Moniteur announced this event in the following terms : " Paul I. died in the night of the 24th-25th March. The English fleet passed the Sound on the 31st." History will teach us what connection may exist between these two occurrences. The effect of this catastrophe was the dissolution of the league of which Paul I. had been the most ardent promoter. Before long a total change in the policy of Russia took place. General Duroc had been sent to St. Petersburg to compliment the new Emperor on his accession, and to endeavor to continue the relations which had existed between his father and the First Consul. Duroc had been received with kind- ness and with protestations of a desire to continue on friendly terms with France. But, about six weeks later, the Emperor Alexander signed a treaty with England, by which he abandoned all his father's projects and submitted to the exactions of that power. The death of General Kleber had let the command of the French army fall into the hands of General Menou, who was invested therewith by right of seniority. He was a brave officer and a good admin- istrator, but lacked in military qualities. He was devoted to French political interests in Egypt; in this interest he had become a Mussulman and had married a Turkish girl. The generals of the army of the East, either from a want of confidence in their commander- in-chief, or from a spirit of rivalry with him, only yielded him a constrained obedience, and the divisions which ensued therefrom contributed to the ruin of the expedition. The English profited by this to send a picked army to Egypt which combined its operations with an Ottoman army. The First Consul had made useless efforts to send reinforcements of troops and NAPOLEON I. 7r provisions to Egypt. Menou committed the error of not marching with his army to oppose the debarkation of the English troops and to drive them back into the sea. He divided his troops, and was everywhere outnumbered. It was thus that he lost the important battle of Nicopolis, where he succumbed to greatly superior numbers. General Abercromby lost his life there. General Belliard, in Cairo, and General Menou, in Alexandria, were forced to capitulate and to accept the conditions of the enemy, who accorded the trans- port of the French army with arms and baggage back to France. It was about this time that the Infante of Parma, in whose favour the Treaty of Luneville had created the kingdom of Etruria, came to Paris with the Queen, under the names of Count and Countess of Leghorn. They spent a month there in a series of fetes. It had seemed to the First Consul that it would be a good stroke of policy to exhibit a Bourbon in Paris — a Bourbon, created king by his omnipotence, by the omnipotence of him who made men kings without wishing to be a king himself — and to admit to the Tuileries a prince who sprang from the blood which had reigned over France, at a time when his presence did not create the least sensation in Paris but when on the contrary his entire worthlessness was patent to all who saw him. The conferences about the Concordat followed on the negotiations for the treaty of Luneville. It was a fixed idea in the mind of the First Consul that religion should be re-established in France. He was firmly convinced of the importance of religion to a nation. Catholicism seemed at its last gasp. Most of the men who had any influence in public affairs seemed disposed to embrace the Protestant religion, but on the other hand the large majority of Frenchmen were disposed 72. MEMOIRS OF to the Roman Catholic faith. This attachment is in- destructible in the larger number of departments. In spite of the immense confidence which the First Consul inspired, his influence did not extend to the point of being able to make a selection between the two forms of religion. From an adoption of Protestantism dissensions were to be expected, all the more violent because the remembrance of the religious wars had not yet been effaced. Could a schism then be created at a time when the progress of civilization and the personal inclina- tions of the Head of the State prescribed the union and conciliation of all parties? But apart from the motive that, born a Roman Catholic, it was distasteful to him to abandon this religion for any other, other motives also impelled him to give his preference to Roman Catholicism. France being surrounded by Roman Catholic States needed all her advantages. A repudiation of her ancient faith would have weak- ened her prestige, and at the same time would have aroused in Europe the anxieties which the errors of the Revolution had justified. In maintaining the Roman Catholic religion the First Consul secured the Pope to his interests and profited by an influence which at that time could not fail to be of service to his government. Italy remained attached to France. Napoleon's mental reservation was to bring the Catholic faith back to Evangelical purity and to effect the separation of the spiritual and temporal power, a separation which in his eyes seemed destined to assure religious peace. This immense result, which later on was very nearly secured, would perhaps have exercised a great influence on the tranquillity of Europe, and have set at rest much religious discord, without fear of any return. In NAPOLEON I. 73 this, as in many other things, the First Consul was before his time. Some day, no doubt, the future will realize his plans. In matters of religion, however, progress must be slow and gradual. Reforms of this nature cannot be combined in ministries. They are the work of circumstances and of time; they must come at the right moment; nor does it appertain to any human power to hurry on their accomplishment. It was a matter of primary importance to reunite people divided by religious discords, and in so doing to satisfy the almost general wish of the French people. Some of these considerations were developed by the Councillors of State, who exposed the motives of the Concordat negotiations to the Tribunate and the Legis- lative Body. Full of these lofty plans the First Consul resolved to attempt a reconciliation with the Holy See. He had much resistance to overcome on the part of his ministers. Monseigneur Spina, Archbishop of Corinth, was sent to Paris to open negotiations. The preliminary articles proposed by the French Govern- ment having been agreed to, with some modifications, by the Council of Cardinals, the Holy Father, to invest this act with more solemnity, and to assure its prompt accomplishment, sent his Secretary of State, Cardinal Consalvi, who arrived in Paris at the beginning of June. He had several conferences with the First Consul, and the consequence was that negotiations were opened between the Papal envoys. Cardinal Consalvi, the Archbishop of Corinth, and Father Caselli, His Holiness's consulting theologian, and the French pleni- potentiary, Joseph Bonaparte, to whom the First Con- sul adjoined the Councillor of State, Cretet, and Abbe Bernier, a former cure at Saint-Laud d'Angers. This priest, after having been the soul of the insurrectional government in La Vendee, had seconded General 74 MEMOIRS OF Hedouville's work of conciliation in that district to the entire satisfaction of the First Consul. A national Council was convened eight days after Cardinal Consalvi's arrival in Paris. Forty-five arch- bishops and bishops and eighty ecclesiastical deputies of the second order met together at Notre-Dame. In a new declaration of the principles of the Galilean Church, this assembly declared that the Church of France recognized the Pope as its head, but denied him any right in the temporal affairs of the State. This declaration seemed destined to lay the basis of the projected convention and to support the im- pending negotiations. These were long drawn out, and it was only the fear lest the First Consul might yield to the persuasions of the Councillors of State, the majority of whom were in favour of Protes- tantism, and the threatened establishment of a Gal- ilean Church, that decided Cardinal Consalvi to con- clude. The preliminary articles, which had been agreed upon with Monseigneur Spina, Archbishop of Corinth, were converted into a definitive treaty, which was signed on the 15th of July, and was ratified by a Papal Bull dated the 15th August following. Abbe Bernier was rewarded for his participation in these negotiations with the See of Orleans. When the Concordat agreement was made public the Republican party and the ideologists, as Napoleon used to call them, severely blamed this arrangement with the Court of Rome, asserting that it was a return to Gothic ideas, to introduce a foreign power into the State, and to accord a privilege to the Roman Catholic clergy in a country where the equality of all religious creeds had been proclaimed. Others, less passionate, whilst admitting that this arrangement had some ad- vantages, expressed the wish that the marriage of NAPOLEON I. 75' priests should have been permitted by the new law. But the most regrettable omission was that of a clause fixing the time in which the Pope should canonically institute the bishops. This matter had been discussed in the conferences at the time of the Concordat nego- tiations. It was thought, however, that sufficiently large concessions had already been obtained from the Pope, and that it was not just to insist on that one. This omission has become a terrible weapon in the hands of the Head of the Church. Those who blamed the French Government for not having secured liberty for priests to marry, and having omitted to establish a Galilean Church, forgot that such reforms cannot be improvised, that for the time being considerable ad- vantages had been obtained, and that ameliorations which time alone can bring to maturity must be hoped for from the march of events. However this may be, the Concordat was productive of great good. It was a pledge of reconciliation to the large majority of Frenchmen. Whilst abolishing the distinctions which existed between unsworn and sworn priests, it at the same time dissipated the scruples which were felt by those who had acquired national property. Morality found once more the powerful sanction of religion, for it is the respect for religious opinions which assures the empire of law. On the other hand the Concordat was a step in the direction of the reforms rendered necessary by the pro- gress of human enlightenment, which Napoleon had in preparation. The clergy ceased to be a body in the State, it was salaried and subjected to discipline, a dis- cipline to which for many years it submitted in con- formity with the law, restricting itself to the limits of its attributions. Restrained by the strong hand of the chief of the State, it would never have attempted to emancipate itself had not the difficulties which were y6 MEMOIRS OF later on thrown in the path of the government encour- aged its pretensions, and given rise to cavils which grew as the times became worse. It cannot be denied that the encroachments of the Court of Rome sorely- tested the Emperor's patience, and often rendered vain the precautions which at the dictates of his foresight he had taken to protect the rights of the State against the enterprise oi the priests. The troubles caused by the influential party of the clergy, encouraged in their hostilities by the reverses which our armies have suffered have gained the cause of the traducers of the Concordat and justified, in appearance at least, the censures passed upon this great act. The French Government, without doubt, has reaped a bitter har- vest from a treaty which was inspired by the desire to bring back peace to the Church, and was accorded to the desires of the representative of a God of peace and charity on earth ; but Napoleon would have tri- umphed over all the embarrassments which it caused him, if the pacification of Europe had allowed him to do so. A pastoral letter, which was issued from Rome simultaneously with the ratification of the Concordat, exhorted the French bishops to resign their sees, a delay of three months being granted them in which to pronounce themselves. Almost all the old incum- bents made haste to accede to the wishes of the Pope, and sent in their patents. A very small number of former prelates, who had retired to England, showed themselves recalcitrant, and formed a centre of opposi- tion which received the name of Little Church. Their resistance passed unnoticed. The bull, which sup- pressed the archbishoprics and bishoprics which had existed at the time of the Revolution, was none the less put into execution. In the place of the twenty- three archbishoprics, and the hundred and thirty-four NAPOLEON I. n^ bishoprics which were abolished, only ten archbishop- rics and fifty bishoprics were created. The articles of the Concordat were not published. No communication of this act was made to the Trib- unate, nor to the Legislative Body, after its conclu- sion. The apparent reason of this delay was the necessity of awaiting the resignation of the incum- bents of the ancient sees, amongst whom were a certain number of emigres who might be expected to refuse to resign. But the principal reason was the fear of brusquely making matters which concerned the peace of men's consciences the subject of the discussions of the umbrageous and speculative minds who dominated in the National Tribune. The publication of the Con- cordat was postponed to the opening of the second session of the Legislative Body. This interval was made use of in preparing, in the Council of State, various regulations which were necessary for the co- ordination of the religious system of the State with the needs of the nation and the progress of enlighten- ment. I must speak, in connection with the Concordat, of a measure which to a great extent decided the early communication of this convention to the Legislature and the Tribunate. The sessions of these two assem- blies, and notably that of the Tribunate, had been marked by violent opposition. The majority of the laws presented to them had been unfavourably re- ceived; two even had been rejected. Hostile words had been pronounced in the Tribune. These convinced the First Consul that he could not count in this direc- tion on any sincere co-operation, and that the presence of these orators, whom he considered evilly-disposed or led astray by an ill-timed zeal for public liberty, would be fatal to the introduction of the ameliorations which he had conceived. The renewal of the fifths 78 MEMOIRS OF both of the Tribunate and of the Legislative Body, which by the terms of the constitution had to be effected annually, seemed to him a favourable oppor- tunity for ridding himself of the members who had the most opposed the laws proposed by the govern- ment. The method of the renewal of these fifths of the members both of the Tribunate and of the Legis- lative Body, never having been defined by a constitu- tional act, the Senate was free to effect it either by election or by drawing lots. The first method was adopted. At the re-election of four-fifths of the two bodies the twenty most recalcitrant tribunes were eliminated. The influence of the Government was seen in this act of the Senate, in which, it had to be recognized, the law had not been materially violated. This purification, for so it must be called, provoked and still provokes the reprobation of honourable and independent men, familiar rather with theory than enlightened by practice, and who for the most part profess the motto : " Let the State perish rather than principles." This measure was, however, one of urgent necessity. The firm desire to obtain good laws had either to be persisted in or to be abandoned under pressure of men who, for the most part, thought the young government weak, and who wanted to render themselves indispensable by means of systematic oppo- sition. There could be no doubt which of these two alternatives the First Consul would choose. The Concordat was the first law presented at the extraordinary session convened on the 5th of April. It was adopted by a very large majority. On the i8th of April, Easter Sunday, a Te Deum was sung in the church of Notre Dame to celebrate the re-establish- ment of religious worship, and the Peace of Amiens. The First Consul assumed, on this occasion, a green court-dress with gold embroideries; he wore the Re- NAPOLEON I. 79 gent, a diamond of great beauty, in the guard of his sword. This diamond was called the Regent, after, the Due d'Orleans, who had bought it during the minority of Louis XV. to adorn the royal crown. Stolen from the garde-meuble during the Revolution, and afterwards discovered, this diamond had been pledged by the Government. It was for sale at much less than its value when the First Consul bought it in. Mass was said by Cardinal Caprara, in the presence of the diplomatic body. The bishops who had been nominated took the oath. In the evening the city was illuminated throughout. The opposition of the free- thinking party manifested itself, on the part of some of the generals, in quibbles which only provoked smiles of contempt. Their first impressions had suggested the very worst designs against the person of the First Consul, who was by no means in ignorance of the fact ; but reflection brought wiser counsels. Many leading generals met together to discuss the matter. Some wildly excited men carried their madness to the point of suggesting that the First Consul should share the fate of Romulus. Bernadotte was amongst their number. Napoleon, who was always indifferent to his personal safety, refused to act on the reports which he received concerning this matter. His stoicism remained unshaken. He contented himself with roughly scolding the principal leaders. Some he sent away. Bernadotte was sent off to the army in the West, which he had left to come to Paris. His atti- tude towards the Head of the State became, from that time, so equivocal and strange that his chief staff- officer, the general of brigade, Simon, was removed from the army. I have seen Napoleon, at the time that I am speaking of, so incensed against Bernadotte, that he spoke of having him tried by court-martial. It was only thanks to the intervention of Joseph Bona- 8o MEMOIRS OF parte, Bernadotte's brother-in-law, that the General escaped this jurisdiction. Of the three prelates sent from Rome to negotiate the Concordat, Cardinal Consalvi and Monseigneur Spina were very enlightened men. Father Caselli, who acted with them in the capacity of adviser on all matters of form, cases of conscience, and pontifical protocol, was a simple and loyal man, wrapped up in the theological questions which had been the study of his life. Cardinal Consalvi, without openly blaming the decree of the Council of Trent, which enforces celibacy on the priests, did not in conversation reject the idea of allowing them to marry. He did not pro- scribe theatrical performances and, as he himself said, would have had no objection to be present at the repre- sentation of a moral play on the stage. These remarks of his, which in no way bound him, were a trifling concession to the free-thinking spirit with which he was besieged in Paris. Whilst speaking as a man free from prejudices, he could only act in accordance with the spirit of the Church. He only spoke so freely of the marriage of priests because the question had been eliminated, either in deference to the views of the First Consul, or because the latter did not wish to complicate negotiations which were sufificiently thorny without it. The Concordat is perhaps the most important act of Napoleon's government. After having considered it in its relation to politics, and in its general efifect, there would be something wanting to the appreciation of this great work if the part played in it by the personal feeling of the Head of the State were to be passed over in silence. Some people have thought that, in the eyes of Napoleon, religious belief was but a supersti- tion consecrated by time, and that in re-establishing the Catholic religion he only made use of it as the tool of NAPOLEON I. 8ii his ambition, without in any way considering the social influence of religion. Those who spoke thus were ignorant of the fact that Bonaparte was sincerely religious — I may add, a true Catholic. His detestation of the free-thinking cynicism which preaches contempt for religion — which was considered by him, on the contrary, as the basis of morality and decency — was as great as his horror for the bigotry which fetters human intelligence. If, in the course of private con- versation, or in the discussions into which he was drawn by his active brain, and in considering the his- tory of the Catholic Church in its various vicissitudes he has expressed certain opinions blaming the excesses committed in the name of religion by its ministers, what a mistake it is to conclude that he was blind to the civilizing influence of Christianity, or that he was an unbelieving and sceptical philosopher. His respect for the doctrines of the Gospel was the outcome of his convictions and his early training ; witness the religious thoughts which the church-bell of Rueil, heard in the garden of La Malmaison, awoke within him; and his recourse, during his last moments at St. Helena, to the consolations and succour of religion. In re-estab- lishing the Roman Catholic religion in France he filled the void which its absence left in the State, but at the same time he obeyed the dictates of his religious instincts. The first measure was the creation of a Ministry of Public Worship. The direction of this ministry was entrusted to Portalis, who at first assumed the title of Councillor of State charged with matters concerning public worship, and shortly afterwards that of Min- ister. Portalis was a learned lawyer and a flowery orator, gentle and conciliatory in character. He has been a^ccused, and perhaps with reason, of too great flexibility. But in the functions which it was his to 82 MEMOIRS OF perform this quality was an advantage rather than a drawback; he was a good man of the kind defined by Cicero as : " Vir bonus et dicendi peritus." His philanthropy was as great as his learning and his eloquence. Monseigneur Spina, who had been created Cardinal after the signing of the Concordat, remained in Paris as charge d'affaires. He was replaced by Cardinal Caprara, who had been appointed Legate a Latere. The Cardinal, who arrived in Paris in the month of September, was not presented to the First Consul until the 9th of April following. The Archbishop of Lyons was sent to Rome with the title of ambassador. He was the uncle of the First Consul, the maternal grandmother of Napoleon hav- ing married M. Fesch, on her second marriage. M. Fesch was captain of one of the Swiss regiments which the Republic of Genoa maintained in Corsica at the time of her domination. Cardinal Caprara was the issue of this second marriage. Abbe Fesch had left Holy Orders at the commencement of the Revolu- tion and had performed laical functions in Italy. He resumed the priest's gown after the i8th Brumaire. Patronized by his nephew he rapidly rose to the high- est dignities in the Church. He was appointed Arch- bishop of Lyons in 1801, and promoted to the cardinal- ate two years later. He went to Rome to replace M. Cacault, French charge d'affaires, when the Concordat was signed. M. de Chateaubriand, author of " The Genius of Christianity," who had returned from the emigration before the amnesty, had been presented by M. de Fontanes, his intimate friend, to Madame Bacciochi, sister of the First Consul, and to his brother Lucien Bonaparte. Brother and sister declared M. de Chateaubriand under their protection. The publication of " The Genius of Christianity " at the NAPOLEON I. 83 moment when Catholicism had been re-established in France, produced a great sensation. Religious ideas were spreading all the more rapidly that for so long they had been repressed. No more favourable oppor- tunity could have been found for the publication of this work, and it was received with favour by the First Consul. The protection of Madame Bacciochi, but more especially the satisfaction felt by the First Consul at the publication of a work which seconded his opinions, and gave assistance to the Concordat, decided him to give the author a mark of his favour, in appointing him Secretary of Legation at the Holy See. The evacuation of Egypt was keenly felt by the First Consul. The tragical death of Kleber was a disaster, for if he had lived France might have retained this important conquest. The signature of the Preliminaries of London was a powerful diversion from the unfortunate issue of the Egyptian campaign. The object pursued by the First Consul since his acces- sion to power was realized. His first step had been an appeal to the King of England to assist in a pacifica- tion which should be satisfactory to the interests of the two countries; this appeal had not been listened to. A second negotiation had been attempted, but the British Ministry did not think the new Government sufficiently well-established, and these negotiations had come to nothing. Whilst the continental peace was being signed at Luneville Messrs. Pitt, Dundas, and Grenville, fiery partisans of war, believing peace with France to be inevitable, had retired to make way for a new Ministry. They did not wish to incur the responsibility, in the eyes of the aristocracy and commerce of England, of an experiment which would show whether peace was 84 MEMOIRS OF more advantageous to these two important classes than war. The ministers, who were succeeded by Addington and Hawkesbury, had ordered that French fishing- boats should be pursued and captured like ships of war. In answer to the communication made to M. Otto, discharging the functions of French commis- sioner in London, for the exchange of prisoners, com- munication of an order which violated every usage and every rule of war, M. Otto declared that he had received instructions to leave England, where his stay had become useless, but that his government would not take reprisals, and that the French cruisers would abstain from any interference with fishing-boats. In answer to the French commissioner's note the new Ministry repealed the order concerning the French fishermen. This abandonment of a measure which had given the war a character of savagery, quite unworthy of a civilized nation, bespoke less hostile dispositions. In the discussions which this matter provoked the English Ministry held out the prospect of a reconcilia- tion. As a matter of fact, one month later M. Otto received a note which contained an offer to send a plenipotentiary to Paris with authority to negotiate for peace. This overture was cordially responded to by the First Consul, who accredited M. Otto to receive the proposals of the English Ministers and to treat preliminarily. M. Otto was instructed that it was no ostentatious negotiations that were desired, but that the preliminary articles of a treaty of pacification should be secured. In consequence. Lord Hawkesbury handed to M. Otto a synopsis, written by his own hand, of the terms on which England would sign the peace. These terms exacted that France and her allies should cede to England her most important colonies, Egypt and Malta. The First Consul having refused these NAPOLEON I. 8BI proposals, which already previously had not been con- sidered acceptable, Lord Hawkesbury asked the French Government on what basis it was disposed to treat. M. Otto made the following proposals : — Egypt to be restored to the Porte. Malta to be dismantled and restored to the Order. The island of Ceylon to be ceded to England. The Cape of Good Hope and all other establish- ments to be restored to France and her allies. Portugal to be maintained in her integrity. The English Government haggled over these con- ditions, though, at the same time, it declared itself ready to agree as to Malta. It renounced its claim to Martinique, but desired to retain possession of Trinidad, which was a Spanish possession, and of Tobago, a French possession, and in this case proposed that the Dutch possessions of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice should be declared free ports; or as an alternative it offered to abandon Trinidad, but to re- tain the French islands of Tobago, Sainte-Lucie, to- gether with Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice. These alternatives were embarrassing to the French Government, for either Spain or Holland had to be sacrificed. To save these powers from the loss of the important colonies which England demanded; the First Consul consented to give up Tobago, but the English Government refused to be satisfied with this conces- sion, even though M. Otto offered to add Curagoa. At last, after six months of negotiations, the pre- liminaries of peace were signed. The principal condi- tions were that all possessions which had belonged to France and her aUies should be restored to them, with the exception of Ceylon and Trinidad; that the Cape of Good Hope should be opened to the trade of both nations; that Egypt should be handed over to the Porte; that the Republic of the Ionian Islands should 86 MEMOIRS OF be recognized; that Portugal should be maintained in her integrity; and, finally, that Malta should be evacuated by the English and restored to the Order; and that the power guaranteeing the independence of this island should be designated later. It was agreed upon that a Congress should be held at Amiens for the settlement of a definitive treaty, in which cer- tain points which had not been settled should be decided upon. The following reflections of Napoleon on the refusal of England to accept the peace which he had offered her in 1800 will be considered of great interest: " (i) Could the English Cabinet refuse the over- tures attempted by the First Consul without rendering itself responsible for the miseries of war? " (2) Was this refusal good policy, and was it in conformity with the interests of England? " (3) Was war then to be desired for France? " (4) What were Napoleon's interests under these circumstances ? " (i) Pitt refused to enter upon negotiations in the hope that by continuing the war he would force France to recall the House of Bourbon and to give Belgium back again to Austria. If these two pre- tensions were legitimate and just, he could with justice refuse peace; but if the one as well as the other were illegitimate and unjust, he rendered his country re- sponsible for the horrors of war. Now, the Republic had been recognized by the whole of Europe; England herself had recognized it when in 1796 she invested Lord Malmesbury with full powers to treat with the Directoire. This plenipotentiary had visited Paris and Lille in turn, and had negotiated with Charles La- croix, Letourneur, and Maret, ministers of the Direc- toire. Besides, the war had not the return of the Bourbons as its object. The Belgian provinces had NAPOLEON I. 87 been ceded by the Emperor of Austria by the treaty o£ Campo-Formio, in 1797, and England had recognized their union to France by the negotiations of Lord Malmesbury at Lille. They formed a legitimate part of the territory of the Republic. To wish to separate them from her was to usurp, to rend, to dismember a recognized State. - " (2) Was Pitt's policy in this matter in conform- ity with the interests of England? Could he reason- ably hope to obtain Belgium by continuing the war? Would it not have been wiser to restore peace to the world in securing real and lasting advantages? The Kings of Sardinia and of Naples, the Grand-Duke of Tuscany, and the Pope, would have been re-established and consolidated on their thrones; Milan would have been assured to Austria; Holland, together with Switzerland and Genoa, would have been evacuated by the French. English influence might have extended in these countries. Egypt would have been restored to the Porte, and Malta to the Order. Ceylon, the Cape of Good Hope, and Trinidad would have assured the power of England in the two Indies. What a mag- nificent result for the campaign of 1799! These ad- vantages were certain; the hopes to which they were sacrificed were less likely of realization. The coalition had been victorious in 1799, in Italy, but had been defeated in Switzerland, Holland, and the East. France had just changed governments. A man whose military talents and knowledge had been tested had succeeded five persons who were in feud amongst themselves, and who were less than skilful. This man had been raised to power by the wish of the nation. At the mere sound of his name the Vendee submitted and the Russians marched to recross the Vistula. Lord Grenville himself admitted that even if the First Consul wished to give up Belgium, the French people 88 MEMOIRS OF would oppose any such cession. The object of the war was, then, popular in France. Berlin, Vienna, and London might deceive themselves in 1799, the circumstances were then so new. Could English statesmen be excused for falling into the same error in 1800? It was probable that the campaign of 1800 would be favourable to France, that she would re- conquer Italy and, in fine, that even if her success were problematic, England would none the less be obliged to pay immense subsidies for many years; for, in order to tear Belgium from France, the reunion of Austria, Russia, and Prussia would be needed, or at least the union of one of these powers to the coali- tion. Now no such result could be obtained by the campaign of 1800. The risks, then, of this campaign were not to be incurred. " (3) The interest of the Republic was opposed to the interest of England. Had she signed peace then, she would have done so after having lost Italy. She would have retrograded as the result of one doubtful campaign. That would have been dishonouring, and would have prompted all the kings to league them- selves against her. All the chances of the campaign of 1800 were in her favour. The Russians had left, the Vendee was pacified, the interior factions were under restraint, and there was absolute confidence in the head of the government. The Republic could only, and should only, make peace after having re-estab- lished the equilibrium of Italy. She could only play herself false and compromise her future by signing peace on any terms less advantageous than those se- cured at Campo-Formio. War was at that time neces- sary to her for the maintenance of the energy and the unity of the State then badly organized. The nation would have insisted upon a great reduction of taxa- tion and the disbandment of a large portion of the NAPOLEON I. 89 army, so that, two years after the war, France would have come on to the battle-field under great disadvan- tages. " (4) Napoleon needed war. The campaigns of Italy, the peace of Campo-Formio, the Egyptian ex- pedition, the 1 8th Brumaire, the unanimous desire of the people to raise him to the highest post in the state had no doubt placed him very high. A treaty of peace inferior in advantages to France to the one secured at Campo-Formio — which would have ruined all his creations in Italy — would have blasted the imagina- tion of the French nation, and would have deprived him of the force necessary for the termination of the Revolution, and the possibility of establishing a de- finitive and permanent system of government. He saw this, and awaited the answer from London with impatience. The answer filled him with secret joy. The more the English oligarchy insulted the Republic, the more it was serving Napoleon's private interests, and he said to his minister : ' We could not have had a more favourable answer.' From that moment he saw that, having to deal with politicians so swayed by passion, there would be but few obstacles in the path towards the fulfilment of his destinies. Pitt, so dis- tinguished by his parliamentary talents, and his know- ledge of afifairs at home, was completely ignorant of what is called politics. As a general rule England knows nothing about continental affairs, and especially about French affairs. The glory of France was car- ried to the highest point, all Europe was subjected to her, and Lord Grenville was obliged, in a very few months after his insulting declamations against the nation, to sign a treaty of peace which was more ad- vantageous to us than the peace of Campo-Formio, inasmuch as it gave us Piedmont and Tuscany. " But for the assassin's dagger which threw the com- go MEMOIRS OF mand of the army of the East into the hands of a man who, no doubt distinguished in many ways, was without mihtary genius, Egypt would have been united to France for ever; for both the Enghsh and the French agree that Abercromby would have been beaten if Kleber had lived. The Porte had already shown herself favourably disposed towards France in aban- doning Egypt to her. How heavily a fanatic of twenty years of age weighed in the balance of the world!" It is impossible not to tarry a moment over this brilliant epoch. Napoleon had been at the head of the government for barely two years, and already the wounds of the Republic were everywhere cicatrized. Finance was re-established, public instruction had been reorganized, the civil code had been drafted, the Vendee pacified, union restored to the Church, im- mense projects for the improvement and embellish- ment of Paris and the provinces by the construction of roads and canals were already in execution, peace had been re-established with the United States, with Austria, with Prussia, with Russia, Bavaria, the Porte, and with the Barbary Regencies, with Naples, Spain and Portugal, and all these treaties were crowned by the preliminaries signed with England. In consequence a solemn fete throughout the whole territory of the Republic was ordained, to be cele- brated on the i8th Brumaire following, the anniver- sary of the happy day from which so many benefac- tions dated. During the first eight days which followed the sig- nature of the preliminary clauses of peace with Eng- land, the respective plenipotentiaries were nominated: Joseph Bonaparte, negotiator of the treaty of Lune- ville, and of the Concordat, for France, and Lord Cornwallis for England. NAPOLEON I. 91 The English plenipotentiary arrived in Paris a month later. Some preliminary conferences took place. It could be seen from these pourparlers that the question which would give the most trouble, and which, as a matter of fact, was the pretext of a rup- ture a year later, was that of Malta. The only point which seemed a matter for discussion was the designa- tion of the third power which should guarantee the independence of this island; this question was fre- quently transformed during the progress of the Amiens Congress. The first conferences opened at the beginning of December, 1801. Spain and the Batavian Republic intervened in the negotiations. Spain was represented by Chevalier d'Azzara, Spanish ambassador, and the Batavian Republic by M. Schimmelpenninck, plenipo- tentiary minister, both accredited to Paris. These two ministers were witnesses rather than principals. Che- valier d'Azzara did not come to Amiens nor take any part in the discussions until towards the end of Janu- ary, 1802. The English Cabinet, which had wished to force the admission of an English plenipotentiary on the Congress at Luneville, protested against the inter- vention of the Dutch and Spanish representatives in the Amiens negotiations, alleging the influence exer- cised by the French Cabinet over Holland and Spain. This pretension, which appears to have been put for- ward only for what it was worth, was not maintained by Lord Cornwallis. The protocol of the conferences was held alternately at the houses of the French and the English Minister, and in the French language. The first pourparlers turned on the question of Malta, and it seemed as if the English Ministry regretted having simplified it. The British plenipotentiary ap- peared to be strongly interested in the future fate of this island. He desired that its protection should be 92 MEMOIRS OF assured by a large foreign garrison. He asked that if the French language were maintained in Malta, English should also be spoken. The French plenipo- tentiary asked that the Order of Malta should be converted into a hospitable Order, instead of being re-established as a religious and military Order, that the fortifications of the island should be levelled, and that it should become a great lazaretto, open to all nations trading in the East and on the Mediterranean. The English plenipotentiary refused to consent to the destruction of the fortifications, because one clause of the preHminaries stipulated that the island should be restored in its existing state. Since the discussion was not limited to the one point in the preliminary articles which remained to be set- tled, that is to say the designation of the power to which the protection of Malta should be assigned, the scruples which the English Cabinet affected, and its respect for the letter of the preliminaries, in so far as this island was concerned, were in contradiction with the tricks of every kind which it imagined for the purpose of misrepresenting its spirit. But the Eng- lish Government had secret motives, afterwards un- masked by the rupture of the Peace of Amiens, for refusing to allow the dismantling of Malta. This question was turned about in every direction and dis- cussed with a care and a minuteness which ought to have brought about an immediate understanding. But instead of that, difficulties kept cropping up, not only on this particular article but on some other points in the treaty under consideration. At last, after long and laborious negotiations, in the course of which the shrewdness and the modera- tion of the French plenipotentiary were more than once put to the test, the treaty was signed. The same hand which had so judiciously directed the conferences NAPOLEON I. 93 of the peace of Luneville, signed the maritime pacifica- tion at Amiens. The definitive treaty confirmed the stipulations of which the preHminaries had laid down the basis. There was a derogation in favour of Holland, who obtained the restitution of the Cape of Good Hope. The Maltese question, so obstinately discussed, was evaded rather than resolved. Malta was to be handed over to the order of St. John of Jerusalem. Neither French nor English was to be the insular language; there was to be a Maltese tongue. The British troops were to evacuate the island in the space of three months. Half the garrison was to be composed of Maltese, The King of Naples was to be invited to furnish two thousand men to complete it. Malta was to be placed under the protection and under the war- ranty of France, England, Austria, Spain, Russia, and Prussia. Its neutrality was to be proclaimed. M. Dupuy, former intendant of the Isle of France, who had governed this colony during nine years, in troubled times, and had succeeded in preserving it to France, was secretary to the French legation. His co-operation on the treaty was rewarded with a place as Councillor of State, and afterwards by his admis- sion to the Senate. His wife was one of the ladies of the Queen of Naples, and his eldest daughter was afterwards married by the Emperor to M. d'Aude- narde, one of the Empress's equerries. The son of Minister Portalis was attached to the legation of Amiens, as he had been to that of Lune- ville. In the interval between the two treaties he had married a young lady of Holstein, in whose house his father had found refuge during the proscription under which he fell on the i8th Fructidor. Lord Cornwallis, Minister of England at the Con- gress, was a fine old man of about sixty-eight, tall, 94 MEMOIRS OF with a noble face, and with open and kindly manners. He fully justified his reputation for fair-dealing at Amiens. His first secretary of legation was a Mr. Merry, who appears to have been attached to him by the ofifiice in Downing Street to attenuate the effects of his very military frankness. This secretary was a man difficult to deal with, full of English reserve. His troublesome carriage contrasted with the frank and conciliating ways of the English plenipotentiary. In spite of quibbles over words, the old routine of Eng- lish diplomacy, the length and obscurity of the notes, and the multiplicity of the incidents created, the two ministers agreed very well together. That was not always Mr. Merry's fault, and Lord Cornwallis had more than once to impose his authority. The following act of fair play was the worthy ter- mination of this estimable minister's mission. The protocol of the last sitting had been closed, the defini- tive treaty had been agreed upon, and parole had been exchanged for the signature, a ceremony which was to be solemnly carried out at the Town-hall on the following day. In the night which preceded the day of signing, a courier from London brought Lord Cornwallis orders to modify in favour of England certain provisions of the treaty relating to the balance of sum.s due for the subsistence and maintenance of the prisoners. Lord Cornwallis had declared to Joseph Bonaparte that nothing that might happen should in- terfere with the signing of the peace. And though at the moment of signing he received from his govern- ment orders to claim a balance in favour of England, he considered his honour pledged, and declared that he would not go back on what he had promised. At eleven o'clock on the morning of the 15th of March, detachments of infantry and cavalry marched to the houses of the plenipotentiaries and escorted NAPOLEON I. 95 their carriages to the Town-hall, to the sound of mili- tary music, and amidst the acclamations of a large crowd. The plenipotentiaries were received by the mayor and his deputies, and were congratulated by the prefect and the authorities. At last, when, on the order of the French Minister, it was announced that peace was about to be signed, the doors were thrown open, and an orderly crowd streamed in. The pleni- potentiaries then signed with due solemnity and em- braced each other with such an effusion of cordiality that the rooms of the Town-hall re-echoed with ap- plause, and more than one looker-on was moved with emotion. In the evening the town was illuminated, and a theatrical performance was given in aid of the poor. It fell to M. Dupuy to carry the treaty to Paris. A half-hour after his arrival the cannon of the Invalides announced the news. Peace was proclaimed on the squares and places with the customary solem- nities. It was during the negotiations of Amiens that, at one of the conferences, the English Minister hinted at a proposal to recognize the First Consul as King of France. This was no longer what Lord Grenville had said in 1800. The new English Minister had under- stood that the recall of the princes of the ancient dynasty was an easy matter, but that, as to restoring them to their thrones, that would have been fraught with as much difficulty to their auxiliaries as to the man who should recall them, and that by its very nature such a service would have rendered them sus- picious of him. The prejudices as well as the preten- sions of those around them, the new interests which had arisen, the revolution that had taken place in men's minds, the new forms of government, the mih- tary system, did not all these things conspire against 96 MEMOIRS OF a durable re-establishment of the House of Bourbon on the throne of France? Napoleon, however, paid no attention to this hint. He did not wish to reign by the grace of a foreign nation and by no means stood in need of such per- mission. When, two years later, the throne was once more raised in France, he was made emperor, and not king; this reign could not be a continuation of the reign of the Bourbons. A new era had dawned, the face of Europe was changed. It was not a royal monarchy that Napoleon proposed to restore, it was a constitutional monarchy that he desired to found. General peace, that peace which the coalition had steadily refused to grant to his desire, could not do otherwise than bring with it a completion of institu- tions which had only been temporary. The times rendered a dictatorship necessary, and allowed only of temporary measures destined to make way for a sys- tem of government adapted to the requirements of the epoch, and which no man better than Napoleon could define and establish. I take a real pleasure in mentioning, in this connection, that in a sitting of the Chamber of Deputies, on the 3rd of March, 1827, General Sebastiani, speaking on a petition relating to the re-establishment of the jury-system in Corsica, gave the Imperial Government the credit of having suspended, not destroyed, the institution of trial by jury in this department, and added that in general it had only taken temporary measures which it was one day to abolish. The English and French ministers kept house splendidly. We were invited to the houses of both in turns. M. Schimmelpenninck gave tea-parties, of which his wife and eldest daughter did the honours. Madame Schimmelpenninck had left a certain reputa- tion for beauty in Paris. She knew how to unite the NAPOLEON I. 97 domestic virtues and the duties of a good mother withj her worldly successes. Her daughter was then six- teen years old. She had a charming face, and at- tracted all the young men of the legation by her can- dour and her modesty. All in this family breathed the spirit of patriarchal simplicity. It was sometimes necessary to send couriers to Paris and to London to procure additional information on important points in the negotiations. During the short intervals between their departure and return we made several excursions in the Somme department. We visited the sea at Saint Valery, and inspected the cloth and carpet factories at Abbeville. Lord Cornwallis used to take horse-exercise every day on the Paris road. He was usually accompanied by his natural son, Captain Nightingale, whom he had introduced by this name. His son. Lord Brome, and his son-in-law, Colonel Singleton, came to stay with him for some time. After dinner Lord Cornwallis and Captain Nightingale used to retire to his lord- ship's chamber, and spend the rest of the evening in drinking, according to the English custom. Lord Cornwallis returned to London two days after the treaty had been signed. Before leaving Amiens he paid a compliment to the industries of this town, purchasing some pieces of velveteen at different fac- tories there, to take back to England as a proof of our superiority. He left behind him the reputation of a man worthy of all respect by the probity and eleva- tion of his character. He looked on his participation in the treaty as the last act of a long and honourable career, and congratulated himself on having closed his public life with a pacific mission. Nevertheless, some time later, he accepted the government of India, where he died shortly after his arrival. The French Minister had taken up his abode in the 98 MEMOIRS OF house of M. de Folleville, formerly member of the constituent assembly, where he had drawn attention to himself, amongst the members of the Right, by his extreme views. Madame de Folleville, who was then in middle life, had been remarkably beautiful. Hav- ing lost a son whom she idolized, she placed his em- balmed body under her bed, in the extremity of her regret. Her daughter married General Musnier, who commanded the Somme department. Madame de Folleville had received a man's education. She rode, fenced, and swam with the greatest courage. This masculine education had not, however, made her lose the distinctive qualities of her sex, gentleness and modesty. M. Quinette, the Prefect of the department, used to give evening parties, at which a large and brilliant company assembled. The mayor, M. Debray, used also to do the honours of his house with considerable good grace. We were invited one day to hear the reading of an unpublished song, called " L'Ouvroir," taken from the poem, " Vert-Vert." This song, which had been found amongst the author's papers, was recited by one of his relations, whose snuffling voice by no means enhanced its beauties. It seemed inferior to other songs in Cresset's poem, though it also bore the impress of his flow of language and of his facil- ity of style. No doubt this song had been suppressed by its author, who was the best judge and the one least open to suspicion. I believe that since then it has been published. This episode reminded us that we were in the land of a man to whom Amiens is justly proud to have given birth. It was during the course of the Congress, in the month of January, 1802, that we heard of the marriage of Mademoiselle Hortense de Beauharnais, daughter of Madame Bonaparte, to Louis Bonaparte, after- NAPOLEON I. 99 wards King of Holland. This marriage was against the wishes of both parties, whose affections were placed elsewhere. Shortly before the expedition to Egypt, Louis Bonaparte at that time aide-de-camp to his bro- ther, being on a visit to his sister Caroline, at Ma- dame Campan's pension, at St. Germain, frequently met there one of his sister's friends Mile. E. de Beau- harnais, and fell deeply in love with her. When he received orders to leave for Toulon, there to await the departure of the expedition, he was filled with deep regret at being torn from the person he loved. Ber- nadotte's prank, in hoisting the tricolour flag over the house which he occupied as French ambassador, which aroused the whole population of Vienna, delayed the departure of General Bonaparte, the Directoire fear- ing that this incident might rekindle war on the Con- tinent. It was in the meanwhile that Mademoiselle E. de Beauharnais allowed herself to be married to Lavalette, aide-de-camp to the commander-in-chief, on the eve of Napoleon's departure to Egypt. On his return from the Marengo campaign. Made- moiselle Hortense de Beauharnais was proposed to Louis Bonaparte, who, filled with his first love, at first refused this union. To avoid it, he asked to go to Prussia, with the intention of following the manoeuvres at Potsdam. He afterwards followed at the head of the 5th regiment of dragoons, to which he had been appointed colonel, the army corps which General Beau- clerc, his brother-in-law, had been ordered to lead into Portugal. An affection, which afterwards degen- erated into an incurable disease, obliged him to take the waters at Bareges. On his return he gave his consent to his marriage with Hortense de Beauharnais, who on her side only entered in upon it with reluctance. Malevolence found in this union the pretext for a black calumny. Madame Louis Bonaparte gave birth Vol. 6 4 — Memoirs loo MEMOIRS OF to a son ten months after her marriage. The partiality of the First Consul for this child strengthened the lying rumours, which in spite of their proved absurdity, may have contributed to trouble the union of the two spouses, as much, perhaps, as their want of sympathy and the divergence of their tastes. Madame Bonaparte had anxiously desired this mar- riage. She hoped by increasing the number of bonds which attached her to Napoleon to render more diffi- cult a divorce which her sterility constantly prompted her to fear. The churches not yet having been re- opened, the nuptial ceremony was celebrated in the drawing-room of the house in the Rue de la Victoire, Cardinal Caprara giving the religious benediction to the two spouses. The marriage of the Murats, which had not been consecrated by the Church, was blessed at the same time. It is said that the First Consul would not take advantage of this opportunity to sanc- tify his union with Josephine, to whom he had only been civilly married. His subsequent divorce drew attention to an incident which passed unnoticed at the time of its occurrence. CHAPTER II THE reader will pardon me for having spoken at such length on my first initiation to a know- ledge of a period of history which occupied my entire attention, and the magnificent commencement of which, marked by the most important transactions of this new era — the continental peace, the Concordat, and the maritime peace — was amongst my most inter- esting memories, for the special reason that I had been directly connected with it. The proclamation of the general peace coincided with the date of my admis- sion into the confidence of Napoleon, and the day from which my lot began to be bound up with his destiny. Like so many others of the same period I experienced the magnetic influence which this powerful genius exercised over all those who approached him. As a satellite I was faithful to the impulse I had received, and the sun in whose sphere of attraction I have never ceased to revolve had for its device "Nee pluribus impar/' a device which, in this case, was no flatterer, but the strictest expression of truth. I returned to Paris with Joseph Bonaparte towards the end of March, 1802. He took me aside one day, and told me that the First Consul wished to see me, and would receive me at the Tuileries on the morrow. He confided to me that the head of the State had decided to attach me to his Cabinet; that he was dissatisfied with Bourrienne, and that as soon as I had familiarized myself with his work he would dismiss him, and that I should occiipy his place. I saw in this proposal the fresh proof of the assid- lOI ioz MEMOIRS OF uous kindness of Joseph Bonaparte, and his desire to promote my welfare, but at the same time I was per- plexed. I begged him to dissuade the First Consul from this project, alleging that I did not feel myself at all capable of filling the post for which he intended me, and confessed that I feared the loss of my inde- pendence. Joseph Bonaparte said everything that the affection with which he honoured me could suggest to him, persuading me not to throw away the opportunity of advancement and fortune which his friendship had procured for me. I remember that General Berna- dotte, who was present, added his persuasions to those of Joseph Bonaparte, to make me change my mind, pointing out to me the happiness of a life with so great a man, where I should be the constant witness of the inspirations of his genius. He seemed to lack words to express the admiration and devotion which he appeared to feel for the First Consul. On the morning of the second of April Joseph Bonaparte gave me a letter from General Duroc, who wrote to tell me that the First Consul could receive me at five o'clock in the afternoon of that day. I was obliged to accept an invitation which was really a command. General Duroc conducted me to Madame Bonaparte, who received me with exquisite grace and politeness. She was kind enough to talk to me of the business which had brought me to the Tuileries. I was encouraged by her kindness to tell her the objec- tions I felt to a gilded chain. She succeeded in making me agree to remain three years only with the First Consul. I should be free to retire at the end of that time, and she assured me that the First Consul would reward me with an honourable post, and further undertook to gain his consent to this arrangement. I mention this circumstance to show with what NAPOLEON I. 103 cleverness she could enter into the sentiments of others, and appear to share their illusions. On reflection I had no reason to hope that the First Consul would agree to a transaction of this kind, or would, indeed, approve of my dictating terms. Madame Bonaparte did me the honour to say that I must be her guest at dinner that night. A moment, after, Madame Louis Bonaparte entered the drawing-room, and the conver- sation became general. In the meanwhile time was passing. At last, at about seven o'clock, the sound of hurried steps on the staircase, which led to the room in which we were sitting, announced the arrival of the First Consul. Madame Bonaparte introduced me to him. He condescended to receive me with a kind- ness which at once dissipated the respectful awe in which I stood. He walked rapidly into the dining- room, whither I followed Madame Bonaparte and her daughter. Madame Bonaparte made me sit next her. The First Consul spoke to me several times during dinner, which only lasted twenty minutes. He spoke of my studies, and of Palissot, with a kindness and a simplicity which put me entirely at my ease, and showed me how gentle and simple this man, who bore on hjs forehead and in his eyes the mark of such imposing superiority, was in his private life. When I returned to the drawing-room we found General Davout. The First Consul walked up and down the room with him, conversing, and a quarter of an hour later disappeared in the staircase from which he had come, without having spoken to me on the matter for which he had ordered my attendance. I remained with Madame Bonaparte until eleven o'clock. I had asked her to be so good as to tell me whether I should go away, thinking that I had been forgotten. She told me to remain, and assured me that the First Consul would send for me. True enough, 104 MEMOIRS OF a footman came to fetch me. I followed him down a long passage to a staircase by which we reached a little door, at which he knocked. There was a wicket in this door which I examined with curiosity. My state of mind was such that I seemed to be outside the place of eternal imprisonment, and involuntarily I raised my eyes, to see whether I could not read over the door that inscription of Dante's, " Lasciate ogni speranza voi che entrate . . ." An usher, who had looked through the wicket, opened the door after some words with the footman, and I was shown into a small drawing-room, poorly lighted. Whilst I was being announced I cast a rapid glance around the room, being anxious to acquaint myself with what was to be my prison. The furniture consisted of some chairs covered with green morocco, and a very luxurious roll-top writing table, which was loaded with gilt bronze ornaments, and inlaid with rose-wood mosaics representing various musical instruments. I afterwards learned that these pieces of furniture had belonged to Louis XVI. It was subsequently sent to the garde-meuble as useless. A low bookcase ran round one side of the room. Some papers were scattered on the top. I was announced, and immediately afterwards was ushered into a room, where I saw the First Consul, seated behind a writing-table. A three-branched flambeau, covered with a shade, cast a strong light on the table. The rest of the room was in the shade broken only by the light from the fire on the hearth. The First Consul's back was toward me, and he was occupied in reading a paper, and finished reading it without taking notice of my entrance. He then turned round on his chair toward me. I had remained stand- ing at the door of his cabinet, and on seeing him turn round I approached him. After having examined me NAPOLEON I. los for a moment with a piercing glance, which would have greatly intimidated me if I had seen it there for the first time, he told me that he wished to attach me to his service, and asked me if I felt myself strong enough to undertake the task which he proposed to confide to me, I answered him with some embarrassment, with the commonplace remark that I was not very sure of my- self, but that I would do all in my power to justify his confidence. I kept my objections to myself, be- cause I knew that he would not like them, and, besides, the way in which he had received me at dinner had considerably weakened them. He did not seem dissatisfied with my answer, for he rose from his seat and came up to me smiling, rather sardonically, it is true, and pulled my ear, which I knew to be a sign of favour. He then said to me, " Very well, come back to-morrow morning at seven, and come straight here." That was all the conversation which preceded my admission into this sanctuary, which I imagined as a sort of place from which nothing but invisible oracles proceeded, accompanied by lightning and thunder. Such was the very simple investiture which I received for a post, the responsibility of which seemed , so terrible that, when it was proposed to me, I could only think of it with terror. After this short audience, and this laconic dialogue, the First Consul made a sign with his hand which I took for an order to withdraw, and left me, to go into an adjoining drawing-room, where, no doubt, some business awaited him. Slightly reassured by the simplicity of this commencement I went back the way I had come, preceded by my guide, who had waited for me outside the door. Nothing but solitude and silence reigned in the dimly-lighted corridors through which I passed. I met nobody on io6 MEMOIRS OF my way out, except a sentry placed at the gate of the inner court. I went back to the Hotel Marbeuf, where Joseph Bonaparte was then living. He had gone to bed, but I sent my card up to him, and told him what had happened. He gave me fresh encouragement, and I returned to the apartment which I occupied in the house. I was in a very anxious state of mind, and felt little disposed for sleep. I stood in need of the calm of the night to reflect on what had happened to me that day, so fruitful to me in unexpected events. I went over in my mind my introduction to Madame Bonaparte and to the First Consul, the simplicity of their home life, that simple and familiar dinner, and my reception in the evening. My ideas were confused in my head. I could not accustom myself to the thought that I was irresistibly led on towards the goal which I had desired, and that I found myself destined for a future the perspective of which was so different from the one I had imagined. I was then twenty-four years of age. What did fortune want with me, who asked nothing of her? No doubt this change of condition was advantageous, but should I be fitted for my new position? Was I not putting my neck into an iron yoke, which I should not be able to bear? I was in that state of perplexity which always besets a man in his passage from the known to the unknown. These reflections kept me awake. I got up before daybreak, and made my way to the Tuileries, arriving there before the appointed hour. I rather feared that I should not be able to find my way in the intricacies of the palace, and that I should have difficulty in explaining to the sentries who I was, and was very much surprised at the ease with which I made my way to the door through which I had passed NAPOLEON I. 107 the previous evening, and which I recognized by the wicket in it. As soon as he saw me the usher showed me into the Cabinet, which was empty. The First Consul was in his drawing-room with the Minister of Finance, M. Gaudin, who afterwards be- came Due de Gaeta. I sat down at a table which stood in the embrasure of a window, and waited for nearly two hours for the return of the First Consul. He arrived at last, holding a paper in his hand. Without appearing to pay any attention to my presence in his study, just as if I had always been there, and had always occupied the same place, he dictated a note for the Minister of Finance, with such volubility that I could hardly understand or take down half of what he was dictating. Without asking me whether I had heard him or whether I had finished writing, he took the paper away from me, and would not let me read it over, and, on my remarking it was an unintelligible scribble, he said it was on a matter well known to the Minister, who would easily be able to make it out, and, so saying, he went back to the drawing-room. I never knew if M. Gaudin was able to decipher my writing. I feared that the paper might be sent back to me, and that I might be asked to explain what I had written, which would have been quite impossible. I never heard any more about it. The First Consul returned almost immediately. He sent for General Duroc, and ordered him to have rooms prepared for me in the palace, and to invite me to the table of the ladies and aides-de-camp in service, over which the General presided. Just then Bourrienne entered the room, and seemed surprised to find me there. It was the first time that I had seen him in the First Consul's study. The First Consul told him to have a table arranged for himself in the outside room, and to give the table in the io8 MEMOIRS OF window, where I had written the note from dictation, up to me. Bourrienne had been in ignorance of my introduction into the First Consul's cabinet. At first he examined me with curiosity, giving me a cold salute, but his manner soon became more friendly. General Duroc took me away to lunch, and we sep- arated from .Bourrienne. I afterwards learned that he was accustomed to take his meals in his private rooms. I returned to the study after lunch. The First Consul came back late, and spent almost the whole day receiving people in his drawing-room, so that I had plenty of time to think over my new position, and to occupy myself with Bourrienne's arrangements and my own. Before continuing my story, I will trace the portrait of Napoleon as I saw him at this time. He was then in the enjoyment of vigorous health. He had recently been cured of an internal disease, from which he had begun to suffer greatly during the second year of the Consulate. This suffering was caused by an inveterate cutaneous affection, which had been driven into the system by the remedies he had taken, and of which the skilful doctor, Corvisart, had just relieved him. I have heard it said that during the siege of Toulon one of the gunners of a battery where Napoleon was, was killed. It was important that the firing should not slacken. Napoleon took the ram- mer and loaded the cannon several times. Some days later he was covered with a very malignant itching skin disease. He tried to remember when and where he could have caught this disease. It was then discovered that the artilleryman, from whose burning hand Napo- leon had taken the rammer, was infected. In the care- lessness of youth, and being entirely absorbed in his work, he had neglected to undergo any treatment. He contented himself with some remedies which only NAPOLEON I. ,109 caused the outward signs of the disease to disappear, but the poison had been driven into his system, and caused great damage. This was the reason, it was added, of the extreme thinness and poor, weak look of Napoleon during the campaigns in Italy and Egypt. In the second year of the Consulate, as his health grew worse and worse each day, he thought it neces- sary to undergo serious treatment. General Lannes urged him to consult Doctor Corvisart. The General's father-in-law brought Corvisart, who was his doctor and friend, to La Malmaison. Napoleon entrusted his case to the doctor. Corvisart treated him with blisters, and prescribed a regimen which, in conjunction with the treatment, produced the best results. The more Napoleon got to know Corvisart the more highly he esteemed him, and when he became Emperor he attached him to his person, as his first and only medi- cal adviser. Napoleon was at that time moderately stout. His stoutness was increased later on by the frequent use of baths, which he took to refresh himself after his fatigues. It may be mentioned that he had taken the habit of bathing himself every day at irregular hours, a practice which he considerably modified when it was pointed out by his doctor that the frequent use of hot baths, and the time he spent in them, were weak- ening, and would predispose to obesity. Napoleon was of mediocre stature, (about five feet two inches), and well built, though the bust was rather long. His head was big and tjie_skun_Jargely_deyel;i ^ oped. His neck was short and his shoulders broad. The size of his chest bespoke a robust constitution, less robust, however, than his mind. His legs were well shaped, his foot was small and well formed. His hand, and he was rather proud of it, was delicate, and no MEMOIRS OF plump, with tapering fingers. His forehead was high and broad, his eyes gray, penetrating and wonderfully mobile; his nose was straight and well shaped. His teeth were fairly good, the mouth perfectly modelled, the upper lip slightly drawn down toward the corner of the mouth, and the chin slightly prominent. His skin was smooth and his complexion pale, but of a pallor which denoted a good circulation of the blood. His very fine chestnut hair, which, until the time of the expedition to Egypt, he had worn long, cut square and covering his ears, was clipped short. The hair was thin on the upper part of the head, and left bare his forehead, the seat of such lofty thoughts. The shape of his face and the ensemble of his features were remarkably regular. In one word, his head and his bust were in no way inferior in nobility and dignity to the most beautiful bust which antiquity has bequeathed to us. Of this portrait, which in its principal features underwent little alteration in the last years of his reign, I will add some particulars furnished by my long intimacy with him. When excited by any violent passion bis face assumed an even terrible expression. A sort of rotary movement very visibly produced itself on his forehead and between his eyebrows; his eyes flashed fire ; his nostrils dilated, swollen with the inner storm. But these transient movements, whatever their cause may have been, in no way brought disorder to his mind. He seemed to be able to control at will these explosions, which, by the way, as time went on, became less and less frequent. His head remained cool. The blood never went to it, flowing back to the heart. In ordinary life his expression was calm, meditative, and gently grave. When in a good humour, or when anxious to please, his expression was sweet and caressing, and his face was lighted up by a most beau- NAPOLEON I. Ill tiful smile. Amongst familiars his laugh was loud and mocking. The stoutness, which grew upon him in the last years of his reign, developed his trunk more than the lower part of his body, a circumstance which made people say after his fall that his bust gave the idea of an imposing and majestic monument, the pedestal of which was not at all proportioned to its greatness. My portrait of Napoleon would be incomplete did I not mention the hat, without trimming or lace, which was ornamented by a little tricolour cockade, fastened with a black silk cord, and the gray surtout which covered the simple uniform of colonel of his guard. This hat and this surtout, which became historical with him, shone in the midst of the coats covered with gold and silver embroidery which were worn by his gen- erals, and the civil and military officers of his house- hold. The contradictory opinions pronounced by Napo- leon's schoolmasters, or school inspectors, go to prove that as a boy he gave no signs of what he was to be one day. As a matter of fact, it was not until he left the military school that he gave himself up with ardour to study. He has often told me that since that date he has constantly worked sixteen hours a day. Never- theless he already had within him the germs of the qualities which were brought out by education, and which, under the influence of events, developed to the highest degree. These dominating qualities were pride, and a sentiment of his dignity, a warlike in- stinct, a genius for form, the love of order and of discipline. As a child an unjust and humiliating pun- ishment distressed him to the point of injuring his health. A gratuitous insult to his father's name pro- voked him to demand a reparation by arms, even at the cost of the loss of his career. He was then about 112 MEMOIRS OF fourteen years old. At the same age, during the winter of 1783- 1784, at the head of his comrades, he collected the snow which had fallen abundantly in the court of the school at Brienne, and used it to construct forts and redoubts, which were then besieged under his orders — snowballs and cannon-balls of ice being used as projectiles — he was at one and the same time engineer and general. Arriving at the Paris Military School at the age of sixteen he found this school used to a system of prodi- gality and laxity which shocked his precocious mind. On this occasion he addressed a memorandum to the sub-principal, in which he indicated a plan of reform, the principal points of which he afterwards applied to the schools of Fontainebleau, Saint-Cyr, and Saint- Germain. One holiday at Brienne, being charged with the direction of a performance of the tragedy of Caesar's death, he endeavoured to keep order at the theatre. The wife of the college porter, who had no ticket of admission, thinking herself authorized by her position of servant of the house, made a disturb- ance at the door, trying to push in in spite of the order given. She drew down on her head a sharp rebuke from the officer Bonaparte, which at once re-estab- lished order : " Remove this woman, who brings into our midst the licence of the camp." Those who knew Napoleon in his youth agree in saying that his nature was gentle, reserved, and pen- sive; that he had little taste for noisy pleasures, and more inclination for the sciences than for accomplish- ments. He did, however, it is said, sacrifice to the muses. There are, we are assured, some pieces of poetry of his in existence, but these are only short, and are mere attempts. I have never heard that he admit- ted writing them. On this point, I may add that I have more than NAPOLEON I. 113 once had the opportunity of hearing him express him- self on the art of poetry in general. With the excep- tion of true poetry, in which he recognized the elevation of ideas united to a brilliancy of style, he looked on versification as a frivolous occupation, which caused a great and useless waste of time. The mechan- ism of poetry, the restraint of the hemistich and the rhyme, were not at all suited to the abandon and vivacity of his ideas. Napoleon was a born poet. His vast thoughts, the originality of his speech and his style, his proclamations, testify to a strong and fruitful imagination. As with Plato, there was more poetry in his prose than in the verses of many poets, and like Plato also, he would have been disposed to conduct, crowned with flowers, every poet over the frontier of the Republic. I have had in my hands a little pocket-book, the keeping of which he had entrusted to me. This pocket- book contained his principal papers. His certificate of baptism, his contract of marriage, some letters, and a few sheets of paper, on which thoughts and short compositions, all in prose, were written. No traces of any attempt at poetry existed. This, however, is not a proof that he never wrote poetry. This makes me speak of an article which appeared some years ago in the "Revue des Deux-Mondes," which an- nounced the discovery of papers containing the youth- ful productions of Napoleon, partly in his handwriting. The story of this discovery seems to me to resemble a good deal the trick of the novelist who tries to excite public curiosity by stating that his manuscript was found in some old ruin, or in some vault, which had not been entered for centuries. I may recall that according to this story the papers had been confided to Cardinal Fesch, (who was certainly not the confi- dant that Napoleon would have chosen), that the 114 MEMOIRS OF cardinal handed them over to a priest of his diocese when he left Lyons, that this priest abandoned the box in which they were locked up, that a grocer bought this box, and so on. It is a highly improbable tale. Having thus digressed on the childhood and early youth of Napoleon, I must not let the occasion pass to mention what was one of the leading traits of his moral character. I mean the respect which he always showed for his parents and for his great-uncle, the archdeacon Lucien, who became, after the death of his nephew, Charles Bonaparte, the head of the family. Napoleon was fifteen years old when his father, who had brought him to France at the age of ten, died at Montpellier. The letters which he wrote to his mother and to his great-uncle on that occasion show the sorrow which he felt at this loss. Napoleon had almost always been separated from his father, and knew him but little. Charles Bona- parte had not been able to look after the education of his children. He had entrusted that duty to Madame Bonaparte, a woman of strong character, who had fulfilled her maternal duties with a tender and severe solicitude. She had inspired her children with no sentiments but such as were elevated and generous, and whilst developing their good natural characters had been careful to remove from them all examples which might have tainted their innocence. It was in 1787, whilst at the Paris Military School, that Napoleon lost his father, who died in the arms of his son Joseph. Abbe Fesch, who afterwards became a cardinal, and Madame de Permon, mother of the Duchesse d'Abrantes, were present. Charles Bona- parte told his son that he wished him to give up the military career which kept him separated from his family, and would be pleased to see him return to Corsica to take his place. He recommended his six NAPOLEON I. 115 other sons to his care, mentioning each one by name, and made him promise that he would be a father to them as far as his age would allow. Joseph was then seventeen years old. In 1802 the municipal councillors of Montpellier voted the erection of a monument to the memory of Charles Bonaparte. Napoleon thanked the councillors for their good intentions, but, considering that his father's death had taken place eighteen years before, replied to their proposal with the words, " If I had lost my father yesterday it would be proper and natural that I should accompany my regrets with some high mark of respect, but this occurrence took place nearly twenty years ago, and is therefore not one of public interest." If he refused this homage it was chiefly because he saw it was intended rather for his personal glory than in honour of the memory of his father. Louis Bonaparte has since had the body of his father exhumed and transported to his Saint-Leu estate, where a monument has been erected. Napoleon went to see his family in Corsica at the time he was artillery lieutenant at Valence. It was then long since his uncle, the archdeacon Lucien, crippled with gout, had been forced to take to his bed. Touched by the sight of his suffering, young Bonaparte, who was then barely eighteen years old, wrote to Doctor Tissot in secret, carefully describ- ing in his letter the state of the invalid, and imploring him, with touching solicitude, appealing to his science and humanity for advice as to the cure, or at least, as to the rehef of his uncle. This letter was never answered. It was no doubt lost amongst the number of letters asking for consultations and signed by strangers which the great doctor received. Five years later Napoleon obtained a fresh leave of absence, and without delay took advantage of it to ii6 MEMOIRS OF return to Corsica, where he found his great-uncle on his death-bed. This sad sight recalled to him vividly the kindness with which this worthy man had always treated his nephews, and himself, Napoleon, in par- ticular. The version of the words which archdeacon Lucien addressed to them, which is generally accred- ited to him, was incorrect. He was bitterly regretted by his nephews, to whom he had been a second father, and his family lost in him a guide and a protector. Napoleon united in the same gratitude the memories of this good kinsman and of his father. I could never weary of examining the room in which I found myself since my admission to the Tuileries, and I kept looking at the papers which covered Na- poleon's bureau, but had scruples to touch them as I could not imagine that from the first day he had accorded me a confidence of which I knew him to be chary, and of which I did not fancy myself worthy. The room which he had made his study was moder- ately large, and was lighted by a single window, con- structed in an angle, and looking out on the garden. The principal object of furniture was a magnificent writing-table, placed in the middle of the room, and covered with gilt bronze, the legs being in the form of griffins. The table was a sort of square box, and the lid was a sliding one, so that it could be closed without disturbing the papers. The chair was antique in form, the back being covered with a drapery of green kerseymere, pleated and fitted with silk cords. The arms ended in griffin heads. The First Consul, as a rule, never sat down to his writing-table except to sign. His usual place was on a settee covered with green taffeta, beside which stood a small table on which the day's post was laid. Every morning the letters of the previous day were NAPOLEON I. 117 removed from this little table and laid on the writing- table, to make room for the day's letters. A screen of many folds shielded him from the heat of the fire. My writing-table was placed within reach of his. This arrangement of the interior of his workroom was fol- lowed in all the palaces and residences which Napo- leon occupied. There was never any back cabinet. But when space allowed it the maps which he was constantly using were placed in an adjoining room, to which the head of the topographical bureau only came when he was summoned. When it was necessary for Napoleon to follow the subject with which he was deahng, on the map, I used to go into this room to write from his dictation. At the far end of the study were two large bookcases placed in the corners, and between them was one of those large clocks which are called regulators. A long glazed cupboard was against one of the walls. It was of breast height, and had a marble top, and contained some cardboard cases. There were also some chairs in the room, and a bronze equestrian statuette of Frederick the Great of Prus- sia. Such was the simple furniture of the Consul's workroom. The only luxurious object was the writ- ing-table, which had been bought at the Industrial Exhibition as a masterpiece of the skilful manufac- turer Biennais. The simplicity of Napoleon's tastes was shown here as clearly as in everything touching his person. The only dependency of the Consul's cabinet was a topographical bureau or map room, which was under the charge of an officer who had been formerly attached to the staff of General Clarke, and whose son, M. Cuvillier-Fleury, a distinguished man of letters, after studying brilliantly and carrying off the prize of honour at Louis-le-Grand, directed the education of his Royal Highness the Due d'Aumale, and became his secretary of commands. Ii8 .MEMOIRS OF The librarian was M. Ripault, who ha4 followed General Bonaparte in the Egyptian campaigns. He was an erudite litterateur and a learned bookman, and had been a member of the Commission of Science and Arts at Cairo, and secretary to General Kleber. In 1807 he suddenly became disgusted with his post, without giving any reason for the same. It was sus- pected that he was offended at his subordination to Abbe Denina. This savant, author of " Revolutions in Italy " and many other valuable works, and for- merly librarian to Frederick the Great, had been pre- sented to the Emperor at Mayence. Napoleon wished to give him a proof of his admiration, and to show him how highly he esteemed his talents, and nominated him his first librarian, a title which was, however, purely honorary. The Emperor ordered me to invite M. Ripault to come back to his post which he had abandoned, retiring to live in the country near Or- leans. I wrote him several urgent letters, which he left without an answer. The Emperor was then obliged to arrange for a substitute. I drew his atten- tion to M. Barbier, who in the literary world held the sceptre of bibliography. I had had occasion to appre- ciate the extent of his knowledge of this science, for I had been under his orders for a short time after I left school, when he had been commissioned to form the libraries of the Directoire and of the Legislative Council. Every voice being in his favour, the learned bibliographer was appointed the Emperor's librarian. M. Barbier is the author of the " Dictionnaire des Anonymes," and of many bibliographical and philo- logical works, which are distinguished by scientific research and a judicious critical spirit. M. Amedee Jaubert, who has since become peer of France, and a member of the Academy of Inscrip- tions and Belles-Lettres, was secretary-interpreter of NAPOLEON I. i.g Oriental languages to the Government. In this capa- city he undertook a great number of translations for the Cabinet. He enjoyed the entire confidence of the First Consul as a translator, many of the translations with which he was entrusted being of the highest importance. M. Lelorgne d'Ideville, who has since become Maitre des Requites to the Council of State, and a member of the Chamber of Deputies, was some years later attached to the Cabinet as secretary-inter- preter of northern languages. M. d'Ideville had lived many years in Germany, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, as attache to different French legations in those countries. He was charged in the Cabinet with an important work, which consisted of extracting from the despatches of our diplomatic agents and from foreign publications information as to the composi- tion and movements of the enemy's armies; and to give a resume of this information in a detailed report. M. d'Ideville's reports were drawn up with such clear- ness and exactness that the Emperor knew the condi- tion of foreign armies as well as he knew that of the French armies. During his campaigns in Russia and Germany M. d'Ideville constantly followed the Em- peror on horseback. It was his duty to question pris- oners and the inhabitants of the country through which they were passing, and to translate contents of letters or reports which might come into his hands. The Emperor, thanks to the zeal and penetration of M. d'Ideville, thus obtained information which was often of the highest interest to him. Napoleon was surrounded by living reminders of his youth. He had with him, besides Bourrienne,' Colonel Lauriston, who had also been at school with him at Brienne. Father Dupuis, formerly school- master in his town, was living in peaceful and honour- able retirement at La Malmaison. Although there 120 MEMOIRS OF were very few books there, and these were in Napo- leon's study, which M. Dupuis never entered, he en- joyed the title of librarian. He was an excellent man, and literally worshipped his former pupil. He had retained from his management of the Brienne school the practice of domestic economy rather than a taste for books and study. He had principally occupied himself there with the cultivation of vineyards. At Malmaison there were no longer the precious vines of Champagne to be inspected, but M. Dupuis bought plots of standing vines at Garches, and at Suresnes, and by means of a certain process removed the green- ness and acidity of the grapes for which Suresnes wine has been proverbially notorious, and was able to pro- duce sweet and sparkling Champagne wine. The house-porter at La Malmaison was a man called Haute, who had formerly been porter at the Brienne school. This excellent man and his wife had found pleasant quarters here also. The two brothers Des- mazis, who had been with Napoleon at the Military School were not forgotten. The elder was appointed director of the State Lottery in 1806, and the younger, who had been Napoleon's particular friend, was pro- vided with the place of Director of the Crown Furni- ture. During the Hundred Days he filled the office of chamberlain. On my arrival at the Tuileries in 1802 I found the following arrangements in force: The First Consul no longer kept common table. He dined with Ma- dame Bonaparte and with some persons of his family. On Wednesdays, which were the days of the council, he kept the Consuls and the Ministers to dinner. He lunched alone, the simplest dishes being served, whilst for drink he contented himself with Chambertin wine diluted with water, and a single cup of coffee. All his time being occupied he profited by the lunch hour to NAPOLEON I. 121 receive the people with whom he Hked to converse. These were generally men of letters, or artists. Gen- eral Duroc was Governor of the Palace. Amongst the General's functions were the regulating of expendi- ture, and the order and supervision of the palace. He presided at the table at which the ladies and officers in waiting and the aides-de-camp dined. The military household at that time was composed of four generals commanding the consular guard. Generals Lannes, Bessieres, Davout, and Soult; of eight aides-de-camp, Colonels Lemarois, Caffarelli, Lauriston, Caulaincourt, Savary, Rapp, Fontanelli, (the latter an Italian offi- cer,) and Captain Lebrun, son of the Third Consul. There were four prefects of the palace: Messieurs de Lugay, Remusat, Didelot, and Cramayel ; and four ladies, Mesdames de Lugay, Talhouet, Remusat, and Lauriston. One of the generals of the guard was on service with the First Consul each week, as was also an aide-de-camp and a prefect of the palace. The prefects of the palace were charged with the service of the interior of the palace, the regulation of etiquette, and the inspection of the theatres. The ladies were charged with accompanying Madame Bo- naparte, and it was by them that the wives of foreign ambassadors and others were presented. One lady was on duty with Madame Bonaparte each week. At ceremonies, or on extraordinary occasions, all the ladies and the prefects of the palace were present. A general of the guard, who was on duty, presided at the table of the officers of the guard. Already at that time the house of the First Consul resembled a court. With the exception of these changes in the house of the Head of the Government, changes which had been necessitated by the increase of power and hon- our accorded his position, by the increase of personnel , which surrounded him, by the extent and the im- 122 MEMOIRS OF portance of the transactions in which he was engaged, by his muhifarious relations with the high function- aries of state, and the representatives of foreign powers, the private Hfe of Napoleon had remained the same. During the first year of the Consulate sev- eral plots had been made against the life of the First Consul, all inspired by men belonging to the party which was vanquished on the i8th Brumaire. Some of these plots had been stopped before they could be carried into effect, others had failed. The one which attracted the most attention was the plot to stab the First Consul at the Opera. Napoleon's conviction of the impotence of the con- spirators, a conviction produced either by his confi- dence in his destiny, or by his contempt for danger, and his indifference for these attacks against his per- son, had until then prevented the prosecution of the accused. The criminal attempt of the 3rd Nivose in- terrupted this feeling of security, and made him see the necessity of repressing, by a sharp example, the audacity of the turbulent Jacobins, to whom this bloody catastrophe was attributed. The consequence was an extraordinary measure which has been severely condemned by some of Napoleon's historians. With- out entering into the details of the conception of this infernal machine, let me say that the result of the explosion which took place only a few seconds after the carriage of the First Consul had passed was that nearly eighty people were wounded, and a whole quar- ter of Paris was shaken, and several houses were severely damaged. This unjustifiable crime excited general indignation, and irritated the First Consul to the highest degree. This new attack upon his life, and upon the lives of some of the population of Paris, hurried on the condemnation of the Opera conspira- tors, and occasioned the arrest of one hundred and NAPOLEON I. ii23 thirty persons who had stained themselves with crime under The Terror, or who were considered dangerous from their fanaticism. The Hst of their names was drawn up by Fouche. PoHce investigations brought about, more than a month later, the discovery of the real authors of the infernal machine. They were Royalists under the direction of Georges, an ardent and indefatigable enemy of the First Consul. No doubt that proscription without trial is an arbitrary act. But if one remembers the times, it would be easily understood how inconvenient and how difficult it would be to proceed against these men in a judicial way. It will be admitted that these sanguinary men, justly abhorred, were marked out for punishment by the public voice, which is also a tribunal; that it was necessary to put a stop to the agitation which was caused by the impunity of these odious and dreaded men; that their transportation beyond the frontier of the fatherland which they had covered with blood and ruins, was a satisfaction given to public opinion and a pledge to public peace; that the First Consul, dom- inated no doubt by sentiments of generosity, had to defend himself against the reactionary spirit of the majority of his advisers ; that he restored their liberty to many Jacobins who had been arrested, and dimin- ished the sentences passed upon the least implicated. Some, as a matter of fact, were detained in France, and later on subjected to a simple police supervision. Those whose ferocity and callousness rendered them dangerous to the public peace suffered the penalty of transportation. One of those who was affected by the senatus consultum, and whose acquaintance I made, admitted that this measure had been comminatory, rather than rigorously carried into effect. This man was Felix Lepelletier, who had been inscribed on the list of persons to be transported, but was pardoned by 124 MEMOIRS OF the First Consul, propria motu. He was a man of exaggerated ideas, but of honourable sentiments. As mayor of his village, the only post which he would accept under the Empire, he distinguished himself by his skilful and beneficent management of affairs. He had refused the decoration of the Legion of Honour from a desire to be consistent with his principles. A member of the Chamber of Deputies during the Hun- dred Days, he understood that the time had come to rally to Napoleon as the only man capable of saving France from a foreign yoke. His patriotic conduct made him the mark of the animadversion of the Gov- ernment of the Second Restoration, and this time he was sentenced to banishment. Since the occurrence of this event Napoleon had fallen back into his usual feeling of security, ceasing to trouble himself about the danger which might menace his person. He listened even with impatience to the reports on this subject which were transmitted to him by the police or by the persons around him ; he needed all his calm; he made no change in his habits, and continued his work without allowing himself to be turned aside from his path. When I entered the Consular palace I did not see any of those precautions which denote suspicion or fear. He lived in a very homely manner, especially when at La Malmaison. He used to spend the hours which were not taken up by work, exercise, or shooting, with Josephine. He used to lunch alone, and during this repast, which was a relaxation for him, he received the persons with whom he liked to converse on science, art, and liter- ature. He dined with his family, and after dinner would look in at his cabinet, and then, unless kept there by some work, would return to the drawing- room and play chess. As a general rule he liked to NAPOLEON I. 125 talk in a familiar way. He was fond of discussions, but did not impose his opinions, and made no preten- sion of superiority, either of intelligence or of rank. When only ladies were present he liked to criticize their dresses, or tell them tragical or satirical stories — ghost stories for the most part. When bed-time came, Madame Bonaparte followed him to his room. Napoleon wasted very little time in preparing for the night, and used to say that he got back to bed with pleasure. He said that statues ought to be erected to the men who invented beds and carriages. However, this bed into which he threw himself with delight, being often crushed with fatigue, was quitted more than once during the course of the night. He used to get up, after an hour's sleep, as wide awake and as clear in his head as if he had slept quietly the whole night. As soon as he had lain down his wife would place herself on the foot of the bed, and begin reading aloud. As she read very well he took pleasure in listening to her. At La Malmaison Napoleon used to spend the moments which were not taken up in his workroom in the park, and there again his time was not wasted. Josephine spent her time as she chose. She received numerous callers during the day. She used to lunch with some friends, and with new and old acquaint- ances. She had no accomplishments, did not draw, and was not a musician. There was a harp in her apartment on which she used to play for want of any- thing better to do, and it was always the same tune that she played. She used to work at tapestry, and would get her ladies or her visitors to help her. In this way she had made the covering for the furniture in the drawing-room at La Malmaison. Napoleon approved of this busy life. The re-establishment of peace with England had allowed Josephine to corre- 126 MEMOIRS OF spond with some English botanists and the principal London nursery-men, from whom she received rare and new plants and shrubs to add to her collections. She used to give me the letters from Englarid, written in connection with this business, to translate into French. At La Malmaison Josephine used to visit her fine hothouses regularly, and took great interest in them. In the evening she would take the back-gam- mon board, a game she was very fond of, and which she played well and quickly. Family theatricals were also played at La Malmaison, in a little theatre which accommodated about two hundred spectators. Eu- gene Beauharnais, who excelled in footmen's parts, and his sister Hortense were the principal actors, not only by rank but by talent. Next to them came Bour- rienne, Lauriston, Denon and some ladies and officers of the First Consul's household. Michot, an excellent comedian, and shareholder in the Theatre-Frangais, was stage manager, and directed the rehearsals. Na- poleon was regularly present at the performances, which consisted of little comedies, and thoroughly amused himself. He took pleasure in praising or crit- icizing the actors' performances. His remarks, which were often words of praise, and which were always interesting, showed what an interest he took in these spectacles. On Sundays there were little balls given, at which Napoleon used to dance. He found a charm in this patriarchal life. In his retreat at La Malmaison Napoleon appeared like a father in the midst of his family. This abne- gation of his grandeur, his simple and dignified man- ners, the pleasing ways and gracious familiarity of Madame Bonaparte had a great charm for me. Li our leisure moments the First Consul used to go over his bookcases with me, telhng me what books I ought to read. He spoke of poetry as a frivolous occupa- NAPOLEON I. 127 tion, and advised me not to waste any time over it. He had heard that, Hke all young men fresh from school, I had paid my tribute of verse — some attempts at tragedy. When he saw me unoccupied, he thought I was dreaming of poetry, and when I told him that I had found that I had no vocation for this art, he said : " You are right. It's a hollow science." Napoleon had not always had this opinion of poetry; or rather, I should say, he looked on the poets in renown at the time about which I am speaking, as the buglers of his fame. On his accession to the Con- sulate he had made frequent advances not only to the scientists but also to the poets and litterateurs. He had treated Lemercier with respect and affability. Ducis, and Bernardin de St. Pierre had had no reason to complain of his treatment. He attached particular importance to the talents which both Ducis and Le- mercier possessed in tragedy. He had, it is said, of- fered the former an honourable retreat in the Senate, and later on the decoration of the Legion of Honour. This offer was, it appears, brutally refused. However this may be, Ducis accepted in 1814, from the hands of Louis XVin., the same decoration which he is said to have considered as a badge of slavery in 1800, and with it a pension of six thousand francs. The boldness of thought and expression which characterized Lemercier's talent, the variety of his conceptions, and his fertility had attracted the atten- tion of the First Consul, although by no means fascin- ated by him. He was disposed to give him a mark of his goodwill and of the esteem which he had for his talent. The distinctions and the favours of the First Consul were equally rejected. After the second year of the Consulate, when, by the way. Napoleon's glory, to make use of the expression of those who after the fall of the Empire sought an excuse for their 128 MEMOIRS OF defection, was still " innocent," Lemercier, wounded no doubt in his Republican sentiments by the show of power, suddenly withdrew from La Malmaison. No steps were taken to call him back. This indifference provoked him to systematic opposition. From that day forth he professed hatred for Napoleon, and de- clared this openly in his " Cours de Litterature," pub- lished in 1817. Poets, however, must not be too se- verely judged. Their nervous organization, produced by the perpetual state of excitement in which they live, their indifference to the material interests of life, an indifference which was clearly marked both in Ducis and in Lemercier, plead in their favour and pre- vent a too severe judgment. The experience which Napoleon had made of their susceptibility, of the mobility of their imagination, of their exclusiveness, had shown him how unfitted they were for affairs of any kind. He seemed to have learned to his cost what the illustrious Beranger thought about them. I have often heard Beranger say, with his habitual modesty and unselfishness, that poets were really good for nothing but writing poetry. I could not master my surprise at finding such sim- plicity of habits in a man like Napoleon, who from afar seemed so imposing. I had expected to find him brusque, and of uncertain temper, instead of which I foimd him patient, indulgent, easy to please, by no means exacting, merry with a merriness which was often noisy and mocking, and sometimes of a charm- ing bonhomie. This familiarity on his part did not, however, awake any ideas of reciprocity. Napoleon played with men without mixing with them. He desired to put me entirely at my ease with him, from the very first days of my service, and, in consequence, from the very first I felt no embarrassment in his presence. Doubtless he impressed me to some extent. NAPOLEON I. 129 but I was no longer afraid of him. I was maintained in this state of mind by all that I saw of his pleasant and affectionate ways with Josephine, the assiduous devotion of his officers, the kindliness of his relations with the consuls and the ministers, and his familiarity with the soldiers. The Egyptian campaign was at that time a matter of recent occurrence, and the memory of it still fresh in the minds of men. I heard it related, amongst other instances of his solicitude for the needs of his army, that at the raising of the siege of Acre, having given orders that all horses, without distinction, should be used for removing the wounded, he flew into a violent passion with his equerry Vigogne, who had thought that the horses of the commander-in-chief were to be exempted from this general order. M. Amedee Jaubert, who had been General Bonaparte's interpreter, said that one day seeing the General re- turning from the trenches, harassed with fatigue and dying with thirst, he had told him that a Christian had just brought a skin of wine as a present, and that Bonaparte ordered it to be immediately carried to the ambulance. And apropos of this I wish to give in this place a curious document, which seems to have been over- looked by Napoleon's historians. I owe my know- ledge of it to the kindness of a man, remarkable from his aptitude for the arts, which he has cultivated with great success, adopted by the fashionable world as the type of elegance and bon ton, and who to these bril- liant advantages has added a philanthropy which will always recommend him to the gratitude of his fellow- citizens. He is the founder of the Societe de Bien- faisance of London, an institution destined for the relief of indigent Frenchmen. Numerous subscribers, amongst whom are kings, have endowed the asylurtj, I30 me:^,ioirs of thrown open by his care to all the unfortunate of his nation. M. d'Orsay copied the document to which I am referring from the order book of the 2nd company of the 3rd battalion of the 2nd brigade of light French Infantry. This book of orders, found at Cairo, after the departure of the French army, was given to the Rev. Mr. Moore — who lent it to the Duke of Wel- lington — by the son of General Moncrieff. REPUBLIQUE FRANfAISE, Liberie — Egalite. At Head-Quarters at Cairo, 1st Nivose, Year VII. "Every day at noon, on the squares opposite the hospitals, will be played by the regimental bands, various national airs, which inspire the sick with gaiety, and recall to their memory the most beautiful moments of their past campaigns. " The commanding officers will in consequence give orders that the bands of the various corps shall per- form in turn of service. " For the Commander-in-Chief, " Alexander Berthier." This mark of interest given to poor sick men, to unhappy wounded soldiers, sad and discouraged at the thought of their distant homes, reveals a delicate attention, a maternal solicitude, as Comte d'Orsay expressed it, and that provident goodness which was the basis of Napoleon's character. The partiality which the First Consul retained for his memorable Egyptian campaign was shown even in the taste which he had retained for the produce of that country. For a long time his favourite dishes were pillau and dates. He had in his private gardens 1) 1-^ NAPOLEON I. 131 both at La Malmaison and at St. Cloud, gazelles which he had brought back from Egypt, and which he loved to feed with his own hands. Sometimes he would offer them his snuff-box. They were very fond of tobacco, and would empty the snuff-box in a minute, without appearing any the worse for it. There were also for some time, in the little park at St. Cloud, some mufflons which had been sent from Corsica. Their natural wildness was, however, such that it was im- possible to keep them. M. de Bourrienne, whom as a matter of fact I had succeeded, though not titularly so, had been Napoleon's schoolmate at the Military School. They had com- menced their military careers together, and Bour- rienne had followed Napoleon to Italy and to Egypt., These associations, these habits and the perfect tact of his conduct towards the First Consul had created him a position of confidence and intimacy which seemed destined to last for ever. The First Consul had ap- pointed Bourrienne Councillor of State on special duty, and had accorded to him rights and prerogatives which rendered him an important person in the State. He corresponded directly with the Ministers on certain details of their service. Napoleon treated Bourrienne with familiarity, and often went out with him into the park of St. Cloud, either on foot or in a buggy. Mme. Bourrienne was almost independent, and neither ate nor slept in the palace. He had just bought a charm- ing house at St. Cloud, had furnished it richly, and used to give dinners there to which the ministers, and particularly Fouche, the senators, councillors of State, and so on, were invited. His expenses and his pur- chases were out of proportion with the private fortune which the First Consul knew him to possess. Although their mutual relations did not appear changed the First Yol Q 5 — ^Memoirs 132 MEMOIRS OF Consul's vexation, which he still concealed from Bourrienne, sometimes showed itself in things which he said in my presence. He seemed to me to have some private grievance against him, which he had not sufficiently investigated. The unfortunate affair of the brothers Coulon put a stop to his hesitation, and was the drop which made the vase overflow. One Wednesday, being the day of the Cabinet Council, I was busy in the First Consul's study, when I saw him enter hurriedly. He asked me if Bourrienne was in his office, and on my affirmative answer he called him to the threshold of the door. Bourrienne came, some- what troubled by the Consul's excited appearance. The Consul said to him in a severe tone of voice: " Give any papers and keys which you have of mine to Meneval, and withdraw. And never let me see you again." After these few words he went back to the council, slamming the door violently behind him. M. de Bourrienne, at first dumbfounded by this violent tirade, gave way to extreme despair. I did all I could to calm him. I tried to comfort him with hopes which I knew to be fallacious, for what hope could there be after a decision so laconically and so severely formulated? During the first two or three days which followed this painful scene, we exchanged some letters, but after that all relations between us ceased on the express command of the First Consul. This is what had caused this explosion. About the same time as I was called to Napoleon's cabinet Bour- rienne, thanks to his standing with the Ministry of War, had obtained a contract for the supply of mili- tary equipments and harness. As his name could not figure in this transaction, it was with the Brothers Coulon that the contract was made. Bourrienne sup- plied the funds necessary to the enterprise. A bank- ing firm advanced a sum of 800,000 francs on a mort- NAPOLEON I. 133 gage furnished by the Coulons but exacted that M. de Bourrienne should be surety for the loan. The Brothers Coulon having failed shortly after, the bank proceeded against Bourrienne as bondsman. Bour- rienne denied all responsibility for the Coulons' debts, but as the guarantee consisted of private deeds, defeasances, memoranda, and other papers, all in Bourrienne's writing, a lawsuit ensued, which he lost before the Lower Court, won before the Court of Appeal, and definitely lost when his adversaries carried it up to the Court of Cassation. This speculation, in which Bourrienne had partici- pated as described, strongly disgusted Napoleon, who had an invincible repulsion for what is called " doing business." The object of the lawsuit and the scandal which resulted therefrom revolted him. He never pardoned his old schoolfellow and secretary. He spoke to me of him for a long time, and often in real pain which used always to end in bitter complaint against him. It would be distasteful to me to enumerate the vari- ous grievances which Napoleon had against Bour- rienne, and to repeat the reproaches which he used to make against the man whom I had replaced. The revelations which invariably pour in torrents on a sinking man, revelations many of which were of a very serious nature, increased the displeasure of the First Consul. He gave orders to General Duroc to ask Bourrienne for the keys of the apartment which he had placed at his disposal in the Tuileries, and which he had kept, hoping by a moment's conversation to win back the friendship which he had lost. The First Consul refused to see him. He sent him word to return to the national garde-menhle the furniture of his apartment, as well as that of his house at Rueil. Before purchasing the house at St. Cloud, which he 134 MEMOIRS OF occupied at the moment of his disgrace, Bourrienne had acquired another house at Rueil, where he had estabHshed himself with his family. He objected that he had thought himself authorized to consider this furniture as a gift, and to keep it as his property. General Duroc took back this answer to the First Consul, who replied that his command must be obeyed without any delay, adding irritably that he gave money and not chairs. However, in remembrance of their old friendship, and of services rendered. Napoleon gave Bourrienne the mission to assist each day at the Court of Assizes, during the trial of the individuals implicated in the Georges and Moreau plot, and to send him a report of each sitting. After the First Consul had finished reading these reports, which were handed to him by me, they were deposited at the Archives. If they still be there, they might be compared with the accounts of the sittings of the tribunal and of the circumstances of the trial given in the memoirs published under M. de Bourrienne's name. The difference between the thoughts and the language of these two versions could be established. As I have said higher up, I do not think that Bourrienne was the author of the memoirs published under his name. I met him, in 1825, in Paris, and he told me that he had been asked to write against the Emperor : " In spite of all the wrong he did me," he added, " I could never make up my mind to do so. My hand would wither rather." The ever-growing enfeeblement of his faculties, the state of financial embarrassment to which he found himself reduced, added to the deep resentment with which he remembered his disgrace, rendered him acces- sible to the pecuniary offers which were afterwards made to him. It is stated that the publisher of Bour- rienne's Memoirs offered him, at the time when he NAPOLEON I. 135 had fled to Holstein to escape his creditors, a sum, said to be thirty thousand francs, for his signature to the work. M. de Bourrienne, already seized with the dis- ease of which he died a few years later in the hospital at Caen, consented to allow these memoirs to be published under his name. His entire co-operation in this book consisted in some stray incomplete notes which were worked out by certain professional writers. These writers, whose names are mentioned, had to make up for the insufficiency of these notes by their own researches, and with the help of materials supplied by the publisher. If M. de Bourrienne had written these memoirs himself, he would not have stated that, when he was minister from the Emperor to Hamburg, he assisted the agents of the Comte de Lille in drawing up a proclamation in favour of this prince, nor that in 1814 he received the thanks of Louis XVHI. He would not have said that Napoleon had confided to him, in 1805, that he had never had any serious inten- tions of an expedition against England, and that the project of a landing, the preparations of which were made with so much noise, was only a trick to amuse fools. M. de Bourrienne would have spoken neither of his private conversations with Napoleon nor of the alleged confidences which had been made to him, see- ing that Napoleon never saw him again after the 20th of October, 1802. When, in 1805, the Emperor, for- getting his offences, appointed him plenipotentiary Minister to Hamburg, he granted him the usual audi- ence, but did not add to this favour any return of his old friendship. He constantly refused, both before and afterwards, either to receive him or to correspond with him. I have had occasion to say elsewhere that during his mission to Hamburg, when special infor- mation outside the ministerial correspondence was needed by the Emperor, it was I who was charged to 136 MEMOIRS OF ask it of M. de Bourrienne, just as I was charged to get similar information from the worthy M. Otto, French ambassador to Munich, the Emperor wishing to neglect no means of being informed as to what was going on before and behind the great army. I wanted to say here all that I have to say about M. de Bourrienne so as not to have to revert to this subject. The First Consul ended by resigning himself to his grievances against his old schoolfellow, and even con- gratulated himself on having shaken off this yoke. He did — without wishing to make any comparison — what Louis XIV. had done on the death of Mazarin. In this connection he said to me one day : " I have abol- ished the title of confidential secretary. It has too many disadvantages, and I am forced to admit the fact. I do not wish you to call yourself anything but attache to the First Consul. You are young, you have a long career before you; later on we will see." This title of attache, which was imposed on me by no regulation, was the resume of the reasons which pre- vented the First Consul from according to me the privileges and personal preferences which Bourrienne owed to the length of their relations and the kind of familiarity which had reigned between them. As a matter of fact routine prevailed. I was constantly being styled secretary to the First Consul or Emperor, sometimes even, confidential secretary. In the course of business I was constantly writing to the ministers on behalf of the Emperor and receiving their replies. It sometimes even happened that he did not sign his letters, because just at that moment he might be setting out on horseback, or was prevented by some reason, and he would then authorize me to send the letters on accompanied by a letter signed by me. Moderation has always kept me aloof from the encroachments NAPOLEON I. 137 which a more enterprising mind than mine might have been tempted to essay. When, after his worlc was done, the First Consul went to spend an hour in Madame Bonaparte's drawing-room, he would bid me take my hat and follow him. I went sometimes. Often I preferred to employ my rare hours of leisure on my own behalf. Later on it often happened that I had to remain in his study to expedite some urgent piece of business, and that I had only a few brief moments left to devote to my family and to my friends. I ended by contenting myself with the almost obscure position which I occupied in the confidence and familiarity of the Consul and Emperor without boast- ing about it or drawing attention to myself. This reserve, by the way, did not at all displease him; not indeed that he was suspicious, for I never saw any traces of this in his character. He liked to chaff me about my reserve. He used to tell me, which was quite true, that I was totally unknown to several per- sons amongst his ladies and gentlemen in attendance. As a matter of fact there were several chamberlains who had heard my name mentioned, but who did not know me by sight. In the notes written in his writing on Fleury de Chaboulon's " Memoires du regne de Napoleon" in 1815, at St. Helena, the Emperor says; " Meneval and Fain lived in such a retired way that there were chamberlains who, after four years' service in the palace, had never seen them." However, he accorded me his entire confidence, and made no change in the custom that his secretary should open all his letters. Before speaking of the labours with which the First Consul was occupied at the time of my entry into his service, I should say a word about the men whom he had called to help him in the government of the state. 138 MEMOIRS OF His two colleagues were, as everybody knows, Cam- baceres and Le Brun. The former, a learned lawyer, had passed unscathed through the stormiest periods of the Revolution, thanks to his prudence and his skill. The Revolution of the i8th Brumaire had found him Minister of Justice under the Directorial Government. His reputation for learning and tact had attracted the attention of General Bonaparte. Cambaceres showed himself a skilful politician in all circumstances. He was the faithful counsellor of Napoleon, who had entire confidence in his judgment, and who used to consult him on every point. Little eccentricities of his, which somewhat lent themselves to jesting, by no means diminished the respect in which he was held. The Third Consul was Le Brun. Formerly attached to Chancellor Maupeou he wrote the speeches and the writings of this magistrate, which, at the time of the reform of the Parliamentary system in France, had rendered their author famous for their nobility of thought and brilliancy of style. A pure and elegant writer, he had consecrated to the cultivation of letters the leisure that business had left him. Financial matters and social economy had equally been the sub- ject of his studies. He had drawn attention to himself in the various assemblies of which he formed part, from the States-General to the Council of the Ancients, by his particular knowledge of finance, and by his zeal for wise reforms. His knowledge, and his fine literary talent, promised a useful collaborator to Bona- parte, whilst the sweetness of his character dispelled any fear lest he might prove an unmanageable censor. The choice of these two men proved Bonaparte's tact, and this triumvirate united the best conditions of association that could be desired. The Ministry was composed of eight members. I put at the head Talleyrand, who was Minister of For- NAPOLEON I. 139 eign Affairs. He is too well known to need speaking about at any length. His relations with General Bona- parte dated from the treaty of Campo-Formio. His perspicacity had made him see that sooner or later the general's superiority would place him at the head of affairs, and, provident man that he was, he attached himself to his fortunes. Familiar with the course of business, he had brought to his work real talents, a spirit of intrigue, and a high capacity. He was at one and the same time a man of the court, and a man of the Revolution, and it was to this dualism that he owed the favour of Napoleon. Endowed with a shrewd and conciliating spirit, he had rendered himself agreeable to foreign diplomacy. These qualities ren- dered him fitter than anybody else to direct foreign affairs, and designated him to the choice of the First Consul. The Minister of Police was Fouche. The col- leagues of the First Consul had rejected him, and justly so, because of his immorality, and the san- guinary part which he had played during the revolu- tionary period. His knowledge of the plans and the secrets of all the parties to which he was initiated, a mind fruitful in resources, a false air of frankness and independence, the art with which he knew how to persuade that he was the indispensable man had pre- vailed over this repugnance, and he was maintained in the post which he had already filled under the Directoire. In appearance he reminded me of Marat. whom I had frequently seen in my early youth. Fouche was taller, very thin; his hair and eyebrows were pale, his eyes were bloodshot, and his complexion was livid. He spoke with a volubility which made one think that he was unburdening the whole of his thoughts. He affected a limitless devotion to the First Consul. It would sometimes happen that he would I40 MEMOIRS OF come to La Malmaison when Napoleon was away. He would then come to me, and take me out with him into the park, and speak to me at length on the vigilance with which he performed his duties, of the intimidation which he practised on the malcontents of every class, of the zeal which devoured him, and the help which he would always be ready to give the First Consul in whatever he might wish to undertake, invariably finishing with the words : " Be sure to tell the First Consul all I have said." One of the most important ministries, that of Finance, was occupied by M. Gaudin. Formerly first clerk of Finances, specially charged with the manage- ment of taxation, then commissioner of the Treasury, and Director-General of the post, M. Gaudin had twice refused the Ministry of Finance which was offered him by the Directoire. He accepted it at the hands of the First Consul after the i8th Brumaire. When he took possession of his portfolio, credit was de- stroyed; the collection of taxation was irregular, and hampered on every side; the treasury was empty; in one word national bankruptcy was imminent. At the time of which we are speaking the vigilance and the probity of the new minister had restored confidence, the public services were reorganized, the financial ad- ministrations had been re-established, and new ones had been created ; chaos had made way for order, and treasury bonds were negotiated with as much favour as the paper of the best banking and commercial firms. Napoleon used to say that everything that it was pos- sible to do to efface the evil results of a bad and abusive system, and to restore to honour the principles of credit and of moderation, had been done by M. Gaudin in a few months ; that he considered this min- ister an honourable and talented administrator, who advanced slowly but surely. He used to add, later, NAPOLEON I. 141 that what M. Gaudin had done during the first moments, had been maintained and perfected during the fifteen years of his wise management, and that he had had no need to reverse any one of the measures taken, because his knowledge was certain and the resuh of a long experience. General Berthier was at that time Minister of War. Napoleon, accustomed to the regularity and precision with which he had always executed his orders when attached to him as chief of his staff, both in Italy and in Egypt, had confided this department to him. As a Minister Berthier always remained General Bona- parte's chief staff-officer. Nature had intended him for this part; he never raised himself above it. He was considered to be weak of mind and wavering in character. The First Consul had entrusted him with various missions in which he had acquitted himself well under his direction. Napoleon, who held him in true affection, loaded him with gifts and honours till the end of his reign. The portfolio of the Admiralty was in the hands of Admiral Decres. He owed his advance to his hardy bravery, and to the skill which he had displayed in the various commands which had been entrusted to him. He had plenty of wit and knowledge, and his conversation abounded in sallies. He was industrious, and an upright administrator, but he did not quite suit Napoleon, who blamed him for having no initiative, and for being hostile to all active operations. Decres did not like to absent himself. It was said that he feared that he might be supplanted in his absence. Nevertheless, in a moment of ill-temper and of discour- agement, he sent in his resignation. Napoleon desired to keep him, wrote to him, and sent him Cambaceres, his usual confidant, to invite him to withdraw his resig- nation. 142 MEMOmS OF Decres is said to have protected men who did not merit his preferences, and to have neglected a number of good sailors whom he did not like, a line of conduct which created him numerous enemies. Napoleon saw France's need of a strong and powerful navy, but his plans of maritime expeditions, on which he exhausted the resources of his genius, were not crowned with the success that he had hoped for. He saw himself forced to postpone to a more favourable opportunity his projects of developing this important branch of our national defence, an instrument indispensable for combating the supremacy of England, and for dictat- ing peace to a government which fomented and fi- nanced all the coalitions against France. Decres, it may be added, was devoted to the head of the government, varied in its duties. The Minister of the Interior was at that time M. Chaptal. He was not only a very distinguished savant. His varied knowledge of agricultural and commercial matters, his application of chemistry to the industries and the arts, his talents as administrator, and his studies on public education, had pointed him out as the right man to direct a ministry so wide and so varied in its duties. M. Abrial, formerly a lawyer, who had honourably fulfilled various missions during the Revolution, of which he had been a temperate partisan, and not long before had occupied the post of public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, conducted with zeal and pro- bity the reorganization of the magistracy, in the im- portant post of Minister of Justice. He was replaced, only a few months later, by Regnier, the Councillor of State, who afterwards became Due de Massa, when, after the suppression of the ministry of police the duties of this department were united to those of the Grand-Judge, Minister of Justice. NAPOLEON I. 143 The Public Treasury was administered by M. Barbe- Marbois. At one time Governor of San Domingo, he had rendered important services in the administration of this colony, effecting useful reforms, repressing abuses, and ameliorating its financial position. Ap- pointed member of the Conseil des Anciens, he had been proscribed as a Royalist on the i8th Fructidor, condemned to transportation, and sent out to Guiana. Accustomed to the climate of San Domingo, he re- mained untouched by the diseases which proved fatal to most of his companions in misfortune. At the time of the Revolution of the i8th Brumaire he was on the island of Oleron, whither he had gained permission to transport himself. The First Consul had recalled him from exile. He had appointed him Councillor of State, and then, after the death of M. Dufresne, direc- tor of the Public Treasury, a post which had just been raised to cabinet rank. M. de Marbois's reputa- tion as a strict and upright administrator, and the spirit of order with which he was endowed, were a guarantee of a sure and vigilant guardian to the public purse. M. Portalis, one of the chief writers of the civil code, a man endowed with irresistible eloquence and vast erudition, had, at this time, the management of ecclesiastical affairs. He was later on promoted to the rank of Minister of Religious Worship. His concili- ating spirit, his great knowledge of law, and his rare qualities as a convincing and florid orator, were very useful in his relations with the clergy. There was a Secretary of State whose duty it was to hold the pen at the Council of Ministers, presided over by the Consuls, to communicate the decisions and decrees to the heads of the various departments, to countersign them, and to hold in his keeping all private papers and secrets of State. Although at that time 144 MEMOIRS OF he did not enjoy the title of minister, the Secretary of State filled an analogous post, his functions consisting in completing the work of the other departments and even of supplementing them in certain of their duties. This post had been confided to M. Maret, afterwards Due de Bassano. The scrupulous assiduity with which he had followed the great discussions of the National Assembly had initiated him into the business of the Home Government. He had been the first writer of the reports of the sittings of that Assembly, reports which were the foundation of the Moniteur, over whose creation he had presided. He had gathered his knowledge of foreign affairs in the diplomatic nego- , tiations with which he had been frequently charged in London, and at Lille, with Lord Malmesbury as well as in the direction of a political division at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. M. Maret was a man of a con- ciliating character, and possessed a cultured mind, a trustworthy memory, and unshaken probity and deli- cacy. Napoleon found him one of the most pleasant of his fellow-workers, and most frequently employed him. The Council of State, divided into five sections: Legislation, Home Affairs, Finance, War, and Naval Affairs, drafted the laws, which members of the same council were charged to support in their discussion before the Legislative Body. Regulations of public administration, public affairs in Htigation, the conflicts between the law courts and the administration, the inner conflicts between different public bodies, all ques- tions of government, and sometimes of foreign poli- tics were deliberated upon and decided. The Council of State was the pivot of the new government and the workshop in which all the im- portant acts which emanated from it were elaborated. The various sections were presided over by Councillors NAPOLEON I. 145 of State and had special duties, according to their department. The united sections were presided over several times in the week by the First Consul, and in his absence by Cambaceres, rarely by the Third Con- sul. Discussion was perfectly free; each Councillor of State had the right to express his opinion, whatever it might be. The First Consul even provoked contra- diction, protesting that all he desired was to be en- lightened. It sometimes occurred that he yielded to the opinion of the majority, whilst declaring himself, however, unconvinced. He had summoned to the Council of State all kinds of capable men. Revolu- tionaries and Royalists, without distinction of opin- ion, demanding of them only good faith and a desire to assist him in the task which he had assumed. The Council was in consequence a rare composition of eminent and varied talents, all combining with equal zeal towards a common object. There was no limit to the number of Councillors of State. At the time of which I am speaking there were about twenty-five exclusively employed at the Council of State. There were about twelve employed on extraordinary services, that is to say, fulfilling various functions with the title of Councillor of State. Amongst the Councillors on ordinary services MM. Boulay de la Meurthe, Regnauld de Saint- Jean-d'An- gely, Defermon, and Berlier were perhaps the only ones who did not leave their labours in this capacity, and who remained exclusively attached to the Council of State until the end of the Empire. The others were detached either for temporary missions, or for per- manent employment, or else were promoted with functions incompatible with those of Councillor of State. The extraordinary Councillors of State were called, as occasion presented itself, to give their opin- ions and to dehberate on the questions which were re* 146 MEMOIRS OF lated to the services with which they were charged. Other men of proved talents, but especially those who were distinguished by their knowledge of special sub- jects, would come and assist the Councillors of State with their opinions, called by a chief who summoned merit wherever he could find it. The most important projects with which the First Consul was occupied at the time at which I entered his service were the amnesty of the exiles, the crea- tion of public schools, — prelude of the vast University organization — a modification of the clause of the con- stitution which limited the First Consul's term of office to ten years, and finally the institution of the Legion of Honour. As a matter of fact, before a fortnight had elapsed the decree which recalled the exiles was promulgated. An amnesty was accorded to them in virtue of a senatus consultum. Exception was only made in the case of exiles who had commanded troops against the Republic, of those who had served in foreign armies, of those who had remained in the employment of the princes of the family of Bourbon, of the generals and representatives of the people who had conspired with the enemy, and finally of the prelates who had refused to resign their sees. It was ordained that the number excluded from the amnesty should not exceed one thousand, and that this number should be reduced to five hundred in the course of the year. Nine-tenths of the one hundred and fifty thousand Frenchmen who had emigrated and who formed an anti-national population abroad, had emigrated by fear, under com- pulsion, or with chimerical hopes which were soon dispelled. Little danger was to be feared from their return home. More important was the question of giving back estates which had not been sold, because this question, above all, interested the most important NAPOLEON I. 147 and the most hostile famihes. To retain their estates was to throw them into violent opposition to the government. To give them back in totality was to destroy all feeling of gratitude. Forest lands con- stituted an immense wealth in the hands of the prin- cipal exiles. A middle course was adopted by which estates of forest land exceeding three hundred arpents were not restored to their former owners. By this decision the government alienated families whose pos- sessions consisted mainly of forest land. But the indi- vidual restitution which the Emperor made won him back these families. It was thanks to this restoration of their estates, and in particular to that of the forest lands, although this latter restitution was a limited one, that the aristocracy, with the aid of the Restora- tion, was able to constitute those large landed estates which have become the appanage of what it is con- ventional to call the Faubourg Saint-Germain, and to concentrate very large fortunes upon them. Be it said that this act of policy, at one and the same time both hardy and generous, due entirely to the position of the First Consul, which enabled him to defy any evil consequences which it might have had, showed the strength of the new government. It was generally approved of, and was only blamed by a small number of Republicans, and by some of the generals. It pained them to see the vanquished, wliom they could not help considering as enemies, sharing the spoils with the victors. This law was promulgated in the form of a senatus consultum. Napoleon had felt, on his accession to power, that it was necessary for him to surround the indispensable reforms which he was meditating, with formaHty sufficiently important to disguise their ar- bitrary nature, and to give them greater guarantee of stability. He had in consequence resolved to asso- 148 MEMOIRS OF ciate the first body in the state with the great opera- tions of the government in certain cases, which, as it happened, were very rare. As time went on he ex- tended this participation in the sovereign authority. This interference of the senate in the principal pohti- cal acts might have its objections. It was, however, thought that the principal danger arising from the new powers with which this body was endowed, could be avoided by granting it the privilege of pronouncing ' senatus consulta only on the proposal of the Head of the Government. The senate respected this initiative during the prosperous days of the Empire, but seized upon it as soon as it could do so with impunity, and turned against the man who had created, honoured, and aggrandized it, the weapon which he himself had placed in its hands. By favour of the amnesty two men — who had en- joyed the entire confidence of the princes of the for- mer House of France, asked for and obtained author- ization to re-enter the French territory. One of them, the Baron de Breteuil, was introduced to the First Consul, who was very glad to converse with him, hear- ing from this important witness curious details on his diplomatic mission, and acquiring particular informa- tion on the councils held by the princes. M. de Bre- teuil had asked permission to present his nephew to the First Consul, whom he begged to employ him in his administration. Young Breteuil was favorably re- ceived, appointed auditor at the Council of State, afterwards nominated to the stewardship of the Aus- trian provinces ceded by the Peace of Presburg, and later on nominated to various prefectures in the in- terior of the Empire, and beyond the Rhine. He served with zeal till 1814, at which epoch old remem- brances resumed all their empire over him. I must NAPOLEON I. 149 \add, to be just, that the nephew of Baron de Breteuil always preserved great gratitude for the way in which Napoleon received him in his youth. The other exile who had returned home was M. de Calonne. He did not long enjoy the benefits of the amnesty, for he died one month after his return to France. His struggles against the nobility and the parliaments, a series of difficult intrigues, his unful- filled ambition, and his lost illusions, all shortened his days. He had not, however, given up all hope of being able to impose his financial schemes. He relied upon his brilliant intelligence and his facility of argu- ment to win over the First Consul. One of his friends, with whom I had some relations, pressed me to get him admitted to an audience, convinced that if M. de Calonne could once be heard by the First Consul his cause would be won. The First Consul, however, refused to see him, his mind being fully made up on the value of the financial resources of this minister, and on the want of stability of his principles. He was not, moreover, in the least inclined to change his Minister of Finance for anybody else. One of his brothers having asked him to put M. Roederer — Councillor of State and a man of much talent and inteUigence — at the head of the Ministry of Finance, Napoleon had answered him : " I fully acknowledge all that your protege is worth, but it might very easily happen that, with all his intelligence, he would give me nothing but fresh water, whilst with my good Gaudin I can always rely on having good crown pieces." Whilst the First Consul was preparing to re-open the doors of France to the exiles, he was closing them to the individuals whose enmity was not to be dimin- ished by all the indulgence of the government. Mes- dames de Damas and de Champcenetz were in corre- ISO MEMOIRS OF spondence with the enemies of the State. Madame de Damas, who had drawn attention on herself by her extreme opinions, and by her unceasing attacks against the government, had sheltered Hyde and Limoelan, who had taken part in the conspiracy of the infernal machine of the 3rd Nivose. She was con- ducted to the frontier by the police, and sent to join her husband, the exile, abroad. Madame de Champ- cenetz, who was the daughter of a Dutchman called Poter, received orders to return to her own country. She corresponded regularly with M. de Vaudreuil, who was one of the members of the Comte d'Artois's council to which the Bishop of Arras, Dutheil, Wil- lot, the Swiss Colonel Baron de Roll and others also belonged. La Harpe, who was under supervision in Paris, where he made a show of almost fanatical devoutness, after having professed atheism, was removed to a distance of twenty leagues from Paris. The reason of his expulsion was the scandal caused by his furious declamations against philosophy and the new institu- tions. His intolerance and his excessive conceit were excited by the coteries in which he was oracle. Towards the end of 1802 he obtained permission to return to Paris, and died there some months later. The law which followed closely upon the amnesty of the exiles had relation to the organization of pub- lic instruction, and was the draft of the institution of the University. Lyceums were created in each dis- trict in the jurisdiction of a Court of Appeal. These public schools were directed by professors appointed by the State, and paid out of the public treasury. To ensure the success of these establishments, six thou- sand four hundred scholarships were created, of which two thousand four hundred were reserved to the sons of soldiers, or of judiciary, administrative NAPOLEON I. 151 and municipal functionaries. The other four thou- sand were given by competitive examination to schol- ars of the secondary schools. Special schools for the study of law, natural science, physics, mathematics and drawing, and a military school were instituted by the same law. It was thanks to this law that there was educated at the Lyceum of Marseilles, a man whose natural gifts, rare talents, and wide range of knowledge have raised him to the first rank of literature and of poli- tics. M. Thiers descends from a family of merchants who were engaged in the Levant trade. He remained from his childhood in the care of his mother(who was a cousin-germane of Marie Joseph Chenier) and of his grandmother, who had both been reduced to a state bordering on poverty. These two ladies, who belonged to royalist families of the south of France, had conceived for the First Consul an admiration which the news of the execution of the unhappy Due d'Enghien transformed into hatred. Their feeling was so strong in this matter that although their pov- erty was such that they could by no means be indif- ferent to the advantages offered them by the law, they at first refused the offer made them by the muni- cipal authorities of Marseilles to recommend their child, who gave the greatest promise, for a scholar- ship at the Lyceum of this town. It was not until some friends had added their persuasions that they agreed to profit by the benevolence of the government. Young Thiers was placed on the list of recommended candidates, and obtained one of the scholarships which the First Consul had reserved for distribution by him- self, and to which a sum of twelve hundred francs was added for the young scholar's outfit. It would seem as if a sort of prescience had revealed to Napo- leon what marvellous fruits this boy's education would 152 MEMOIRS OF produce. M. Thiers, in relating this anecdote with his witty good nature, added, " Napoleon no doubt did not foresee when he accorded me this favour, that he was working on the formation of his future his- torian." Whilst securing the benefits of education to the sons of soldiers, civil functionaries and others, Napo- leon had to provide later for the education of their daughters, in whose future he was no less interested. Houses of education were successively created. I an- ticipate the period when these establishments were founded because I shall not have occasion to speak of them in their proper place. In 1806 three houses were constructed for the reception of three hundred pupils. In 1809 six hundred pupils were received into schools established in the castle of j£couen, and in the ancient abbey of St. Denis. Some of these pupils were admitted gratuitously, whilst others only paid half fees. These schools were intended to form women for a position in life equivalent to that which had been occupied by their fathers. The terms were forty pounds per annum. The revenues of these es- tablishments were applied to defraying, in part, their expenses. And finally, in 1810, six new schools were opened for the reception of six hundred pupils, or- phans of members of the Legion of Honour. The course of education there was less ambitious. The fees were four hundred francs a year. These estab- lishments were managed on the same principles as the schools at ficouen and St. Denis. The rules there was much stricter, indeed almost claustral. Pupils were admitted from the age of four to the age of twelve, and could remain until their twenty-first year. The Emperor put these establishments under the patronage of Queen Hortense. He drafted their regu- NAPOLEON I. 153 lations, occupied himself with the choice of the lady superiors, appointed the places where the schools should be built, entered into all details of order and economy connected with them, and supervised the exe- cution of the instructions which he had given with a paternal solicitude. The Order of the Legion of Honour was instituted at the same time. When the law concerning it was laid before the Council of State it was violently op- posed. The First Consul defended it victoriously, by the force of reason alone, for he allowed it to be dis- cussed quite freely. The Tribunate and the Legisla- tive Body at last voted this law, but with a very much smaller majority than the government had counted ' upon. The eloquence of the First Consul, the lofty range of his views, the arguments employed by the expounder and the promoter of the law before the Legislative Body and the Tribunate could not con- vince some men, still imbued with the levelling ideas of the Revolution, who persisted in considering the creation of a distinction of this kind, albeit without privileges, a blow struck at the spirit and the princi- ples of the Revolution. The great thought of a unique decoration which' accorded no prerogative, which was a type of equality — inasmuch as the soldier equally with the field-marshal, the simple citizen equally with the prince or the highest dignitary, were accessible to it — and which has done wonders, has no need of any justification from me. It defends it- self. The project of a modification of the article of the constitution, which limited to ten years the First Con- sul's tenure of office, gave rise to numerous discussions between him, his two colleagues, and some of the principal senators and members of Parliament. Cam- baceres was his principal intermediary in this delicate 154 MEMOIRS OF negotiation. A deliberation of the Senate had ex- tended to a period of ten years the authority of the Chief of the State. This addition only feebly reme- died the precariousness of the post. On a notification from the Council of State, to which the senatus con- sultum was submitted, this temporary prolongation was converted into a nomination for life. The First Consul desired that this wish should be submitted to the sanction of the people. In consequence a decree of the Consuls ordained that the French nation should be consulted on this question : " Shall Napoleon Bona- parte be Consul for life?" Three million, five hun- dred and sixty-eight thousand, five hundred and eighty-five votes out of three million, five hundred and seventy thousand, two hundred and fifty-nine citizens who took part in the election replied in the affirmative. I was charged to carry the draft of the message to the Senate, to Le Brun, the Third Consul, to receive from him such observations as a fresh reading might sug- gest. What has not been said against the almost complete unanimity of votes in favour of the life consulate and the Empire ! Some have alleged that the public func- tionaries who held the registers of votes, had influ- enced the electors. Others have called the veracity of the lists into question ; others, in fine, have pointed out that since constitutions have been made, none have ever been presented for acceptance to the people and have been rejected by it, implying thereby that gov- ernments which try this experiment know what meas- ures to take to obtain the necessary majority. Those who were living at the time know very well that the consular government had no need to take recourse to seduction, to threats, or to fraud. The nation's good sense, the instinct which never deceived it, showed in Napoleon the protector of its dearest interests, the NAPOLEON I. 1 55 man who really loved it, and who was working to bring back to Prance the reign of justice, order, and equality. Its gratitude for the great services which General Bonaparte had rendered was inseparable from the hope of a happy future which it expected from thp First Consul. Napoleon could demand a national vote with confidence. Nations never refuse it to govern- ments which feel themselves sufficiently popular to ask it. About six weeks before my first entry into the First Consul's cabinet, the performance of two plays had been given. I only speak of this incident because the kind of disgrace which the authors had incurred created some sensation at La Malmaison, and was still being talked about when I arrived there. The first play, " Edward in Scotland/' was by Alexander Duval. The author had been very well received by Madame Bonaparte, and by the First Consul. His play had succeeded at its public reading, and had also been received with great favour at the first perform- ance; but it had been noticed that persons who were known for their ardent royalism had applauded to excess certain passages in which they wanted the pub- lic to find allusions. The First Consul, hearing of this matter, and not knowing the piece, went to see it. He found it inter- esting, but his attention having been attracted by a volley of significant applause, at the passages indi- cated, which burst from the neighbouring boxes, and recognizing that these boxes were occupied by recently amnestied exiles, he was naturally irritated, and con- sidered it his duty to forbid the performance of the piece. Amongst the exiles who on this occasion made themselves noticed by the manifestation of their ap- plause, was the Due de Richelieu, who afterwards 156 MEMOIRS OF became minister under the Restoration. Although he had remained in the service of Russia, he had, by special favour, obtained the authorization to come to Paris. He received orders to leave Paris and the French territory without delay. M. Duval, fearing to be compromised by this imprudence on the part of the exiles, had taken refuge with his family at Rennes. The First Consul, however, sent him word that he might come back to Paris, and added that he had no reason for displeasure against him. The title of the second piece was " L' Antichambre." It had been written without offensive intention, but it contained situations and phrases the application of which to the political situation was made with such transparent malignity by the enemies of the govern- ment that its performance could not be tolerated. The author, M. Dupaty, fell into disgrace with the First Consul, who had already been offended by the spite- fulness of the imaginary allusions in " Edward in Scotland." M. Dupaty, at that time officer of engineers, was in Paris without regular leave of absence. He received orders to leave for Brest, and to embark with the expedition to San Domingo, but he only remained at Brest a very short time. He obtained permission to return to Paris before the expedition started, and continued his literary work. Amongst a number of very witty comedies which he wrote were several which were consecrated to Napoleon's glory. It was he who arranged the allegorical ballet, " The Hours," which was performed at the Tuileries on the occasion of the Emperor's marriage with Arch-duchess Marie Louise. He is the author of a rondo written in 1814 for the band of the National Guard, which was com- posed on the occasion of the farewell taken by the Emperor from the chiefs of this Guard, when he con- NAPOLEON I. 157 fided the Empress and his son to their care before his departure to the army. Since I have spoken of plays, this may be the place to relate a service which about this time I had occa- sion to render to one of the most agreeable of the Opera danseuses. This theatre was under the direc- tion of M. de LuQay, as prefect of the Palace. He governed this republic of song and dance with sever- ity. Mademoiselle Chevigny, who was not one of the youngest performers, injured her knee during the performance of a ballet, and remained a considerable time away from the theatre. M. de Lugay, getting tired of her prolonged absence, ordered a medical in- quiry to be made. The doctors reported that the danseuse had a stiffened knee, and that it was impos- sible to say when she would be able to reappear on the stage. In consequence of this report, she was at once put on the retired list. Mademoiselle Chevigny, who knew that she would be very well able to continue her work if two or three weeks' rest were granted to her, was in despair at an exclusion which she con- sidered most unjust. Accompanied by her husband, M. Cellerier, a celebrated architect, she applied to everybody of any influence who could help her to have this decision altered. Amongst others she applied to me, and I was able to obtain three months' holiday for her, which was very much more than she wanted. Her reappearance on the stage showed that doctors' opinions are not always infallible. She had lost none of her powers, and for many years, both as a light- footed dancer and a consummate actress, she con- tributed to the enjoyment of the Opera public. About this time the First Consul was exceedingly irritated against General Reynier, who had just killed General Destaing in a duel. These two generals, who had recently returned from Egypt, had quar- 158 MEMOIRS OF relied violently at the time when General Menou took over the command of the army, after the death of General Kleber. Napoleon, greatly affected by the unhappy termination of a campaign which should have been so profitable to France, and so useful to his per- sonal glory, had ordered that all faults committed under these circumstances should be forgotten, as well as everything which would recall attention to an evil for which there was no remedy. He was much in- censed, and rightly so, at this duel. He exiled General Reynier to his estate in the Nievre department, strongly defended the memory of General Destaing, and awarded a pension to his widow. This disgrace of one of our most distinguished generals, was also prompted by the opposition which General Reynier had manifested to General Menou, who was far from being his equal in military capacity, but who, thanks to his seniority, had been appointed commander-in- chief of the army in Egypt. This unhappy rivalry had contributed to the ruin of our affairs in this covmtry. The favour which the First Consul showed to Gen- eral Menou, whose administrative talents, by the way, he esteemed, was prompted by his desire to protect the General against the excitement caused by the recent events in Egypt, to check its development, and to wipe it out. Doctor Corvisart, being present one morning with me, at the levee of the First Consul, told him of the death of Bichat (who had died the night before) not then thirty years old. This young doctor, a savant of the greatest promise, had enriched science with works of physiology, full of new and fruitful ideas, which have largely extended its domain. This death recalled the remembrance of Desault, his master, who had been the glory of surgery. The First Consul NAPOLEON I. .159 ordered the Minister of the Interior to report on the best means of honouring the memory of these two savants. On the report of the Minister, he ordered that a marble tablet perpetuating their memory and recording the services which they had rendered to humanity, should be placed in one of the wards of the Hotel-Dieu. The cessation of hostilities between England and France having reopened the French territory to the English, a large number came to Paris. Amongst persons distinguished by their rank or by their birth, who came in the train of Lord Cornwallis, was the son of a Minister of State, famous for his patriotism and his energy, and a friend of Pitt, whose principles he shared. This was young Lord Henry Petty, son of the Marquis of Lansdowne, heir to the titles and to the political opinions and qualities of his father, who himself succeeded Pitt, in 1806, as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Lord H. Petty was accompanied by his tutor, the celebrated Genevese writer Dumont, the former friend and collaborator of Mirabeau, and author of an interesting book on this celebrated and learned man. Both these gentlemen were presented to the First Consul, who received them with marked favour. It was specially after the Peace of Amiens that the English came in numbers to Paris. A great number of English Members of Parliament, lawyers, officers, and other persons of position, attracted to Paris by the fame of the First Consul, were presented by Mr. Merry, the English Ambassador, who, as I have already said, was formerly secretary to the Eng- lish Legation at the Amiens Congress. Mr. Fox should be mentioned first of all. This illustrious foreigner came to Paris, less for the purpose of searching among our archives for documents concern- ing the history of the last two Stuart kings, which he i6o MEMOIRS OF was writing, than to make the acquaintance of the extraordinary man who enjoyed his entire sympathy. Napoleon, on his side, was drawn to Fox by a natural mclination. He received him with marked preference and, admitting him from the first to his intimacy, enjoyed numerous familiar conversations with him. The two did not always, it is said, agree on matters of politics, but the result of their conversations was that they left each other full of mutual esteem. The First Consul ordered all the archives and public estab- lishments to be thrown open to Mr. Fox. He used to accompany him sometimes, notably to the second exhibitions of industrial productions, which took place towards the end of the English statesman's stay in Paris. During the year which preceded the discovery of the Georges plot, I had not once occasion to see Gen- eral Moreau at the Tuileries. I have accordingly nothing to say about this general, whose peculiarities are, however, well-known. I learned that he had rejected all the First Consul's advances, and refused his numerous invitations. From the time of his mar- riage with Madame Hulot, to which Madame Bona- parte had contributed, his mother-in-law, a jealous and troublesome woman, did all she could to foment discord between these two rivals in military glory. Madame Hulot had complained of having to wait to be received by Madame Bonaparte,' when she called upon her, and said that she had no inclination at all for the antechamber of an equal. General Moreau used to speak with affected frivolity of the hostile at- tempts against the person of the First Consul, or against the acts of his government. This coolness, in short, degenerated into an enmity which led Mo- reau to contract an alliance unworthy of his glory, with the enemies of the State, an alliance in which he NAPOLEON I. i6i found his death — wounded, in the midst of the adver- saries of France, by a French cannonball. An interview, which attracted but Httle attention at the time, took place in the middle of 1802, between the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia, at Memel, the eastern port of the Prussian States. The latter sovereign had been reigning five years. The Emperor Alexander had just succeeded his father, the unfortunate Paul I., who had been assassinated three months previously in his St. Petersburg palace. These princes, both young men, desired to make the acquaintance of each other. The Emperor of Russia proposed a friendly meeting, which the King readily accepted. The Queen of Prussia, in all the splendour of her youth and beauty, accompanied the King, and contributed greatly to the close friendship which bound the two sovereigns together. The result of this friendship was that from thenceforward Prussia was attracted into Russia's sphere of action. The First Consul, anxious not to appear hostile to this meeting although absent from it, and curious to know what would happen there, sent an officer of the palace, a shrewd observer, to attend. Major Dumous- tier, who afterwards became general, an officer of great distinction and of really antique virtue, was charged to convey the Consul's compliments to the two kings. He carried a letter from the First Consul to the King of Prussia, which expressed Napoleon's satisfaction at the arrangement which had been con- cluded for the settlement of the indemnity due to Prussia by the provisions of the Treaty of Luneville, which had largely increased the territories of the King of Prussia. The indemnity of the Prince of Nassau- Orange, the king's father-in-law, had been settled at the same time in accordance with his wishes. Large indemnities had been stipulated in favour of the i62 MEMOIRS OF houses of Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, and Baden, which were united to the Russian imperial house by family ties. This news, coming at so favourable a moment, was received with great pleasure by the two princes, and disposed the Emperor of Russia to join with the First Consul in the apportionment of the lands for the indemnification of the small kings who had been dis- possessed on the left bank of the Rhine. This journey of the Emperor of Russia and of the King of Prussia, far from their capitals, was the pre- lude to those meetings of the monarchs of Germany and of the North, and of those nomadic congresses which became so frequent twelve years later. Another officer of the palace was sent at about the same time to Algiers on another kind of mission. In spite of the peace concluded with the Barbary States, the corsairs of the regency, yielding to their habits of piracy, were recommencing their raids on our coasts, and had even dared to attack our flag. The First Consul sent a naval division before Algiers, under the command of Admiral Leissegues. He was accom- panied on board by Adjutant Hulin, who was com- missioned to demand reparation for these insults, and for the injuries caused to our trade from the Dey. The impression which Hulin's lofty stature, his mar- tial attitude, and the richness of his embroideries made upon these savages, completed what had been commenced by the First Consul's letter, and the ap- pearance of the French fleet. The Dey submitted on every point, released all prisoners of French or allied nationality, and sent an ambassador loaded with pres- ents to Paris. I witnessed the last Republican celebration of the anniversary of the 14th of July at the Tuileries Palace. NAPOLEON I. 163 A grand parade took place that day in the Carrousel court, at which the First Consul presented flags to the light infantry regiments, represented for the occa- sion by the colonel and three officers of each regiment. Just before the parade, the Prefect of the Seine department, accompanied by two of the mayors of Paris, presented the First Consul with a horse of the French breed, richly caparisoned. The diplomatic body was received in solemn audi- ence. Strangers of distinction were presented by the ambassadors or plenipotentiary ministers of their courts. Marriages were celebrated at the cost of the government in each of the twelve arrondissements of Paris. Banquets, illuminations, and fireworks crowned this fete. There was no ceremony at the Tuileries on the 14th July of the following year. The First Consul and Madame Bonaparte were away, on a three weeks' journey in the Seine-Inferieure and Oise departments. On the same day in the year 1804, Napoleon, then Emperor, rode to the Invalides, through a line formed by the troops of the garrison, preceded by the mar- shals and the great officers of the Empire, by the colonels of the guard, and by his aides-de-camp. The Empress, accompanied by the sisters and sisters-in- law of the Emperor, her ladies, her chamberlains, and her equerries, had preceded him at noon to the In- valides. A mass was celebrated by. the Cardinal Legate. After the religious ceremony a distribution of decorations took place, handed by Napoleon in per- son to each legionary, as he took them from the hands of the Grand Chancellor of the Order. A Te Detmv terminated the ceremony. In the evening all public buildings were illuminated, a concert was given on the terrace of the Tuileries Palace, and fireworks were displayed on the Pont-Neuf. y J a G — Memoirs CHAPTER III ONE night, during one of the First Consul's stays at La Malmaison, in 1802, he was awaked by a courier from Spain, who brought some very urgent despatches from General Lannes, French Ambassador at Lisbon. As soon as Napoleon had read these despatches he gave orders that the cour- ier should hold himself in readiness to start on the return- journey at a moment's notice. I am obliged to go back in my story to explain what precedes. In the course of November, 1801, General Lannes, who was sole commander of the consular guard, had been forced to resign in consequence of some irregu- larities which had occurred in the regimental treasury. This was the truth of the matter. The First Consul had promised to pay the General's house-furnishing expenses. When the bills were submitted to him he refused to pay them, as they far exceeded what he had expected. General Lannes — who was accustomed to give and spend without counting, and had no idea at all of business, and who had never applied to Bona- parte in vain, when in want of money — considered that the First Consul was so bound by the promise he had made, that he could think of no better plan to make him pay his furniture bills than to get the treasurer of the regiment of guards to hand him over the amount. Such conduct could not be tolerated, and General Lannes lost his command. The consular guard was reorganized more in accordance with its requirements, and the sole command which had till then existed was broken up into four, each vested in 164 NAPOLEON I. i6$ a colonel-general. To punish General Lannes for his unbusinesslike proceedings, and anxious to put a stop to a familiarity which had in some way prompted him to act as he had done, the First Consul sent him away for a time, ordering him on a mission to Lisbon. I remember dining with him about this time, at Joseph Bonaparte's table, and hearing with what sarcasm he betrayed his displeasure at the way in which he had been treated. M. de Champagny, who had just been appointed ambassador to Vienna, was present at this dinner. General Lannes, little acquainted as he was with diplomatic forms, did not at first succeed in his new post. The Portuguese Ministry, and more especially the iVIinister of Foreign Affairs, Don Joao d'Almeida, was devoted to England. All diplomatic documents handed in by the French ambassador were passed on to Lord Fitzgerald, the English ambassador, and the answers concocted with him. The Prince Regent of Portugal, either deceived or dominated by his minister, was also not favourably disposed towards the French representative. General Lannes soon felt his military pride, his self-esteem, and his patience flouted beyond endurance. Without warning either the Portuguese or his own Government, he left Lisbon suddenly, giving orders to his household to follow him. He presented himself at the first posting-establishment and de- manded horses. The postmaster informs him that an order is necessary, and that without it he must refuse to accommodate him. General Lannes imperiously orders him to have horses put to, and laying his hand on his sword threatens to strike him, unless his order is immediately obeyed. The postmaster is forced to submit. General Lannes crosses through Portugal and Spain post-haste, and, just before arriving at Bayonne, sends his valet de chambre on with a letter i66 MEMOIRS OF to the First Consul, announcing his arrival. The valet, sent back with an answer to his letter, finds his master at Orleans. The First Consul's orders were that the General should remain where the courier found him. He had calculated that General Lannes would not have passed Bayonne. Lannes, however, receiving this order at Orleans, thought himself justified from his proximity to Paris in pushing on to the capital. The First Consul refused to receive him. In the meanwhile the greatest anxiety was felt by the Portuguese Government. It was a matter of im- portance that General Lannes's conduct should be dis- approved of, and that Portugal should not incur the resentment of France. The General had Talleyrand against him, and Talleyrand, insisting on the violation of diplomatic forms which had been committed, de- manded the revocation of our ambassador to Lisbon. The First Consul would not have tolerated such con- duct from anybody else, but he knew that though Gen- eral Lannes was no diplomat, he was an honest man, who had too much judgment to allow himself to be made a dupe of. He finally agreed to see him, and was satisfied with his explanations, although he blamed his conduct. Don Joao scattered gold by handfuls in Paris to prevent the return of General Lannes to Lisbon. The Prince Regent, acting on information which had reached him, sent two men in whom he had confidence to Paris; and this without the knowledge of his min- ister. One of them was a Frenchman, whom I was acquainted with, and who had been living in Portugal for many years. Whilst Almeida was assuring the Prince Regent that General Lannes had fallen into complete disgrace, the prince's agents reported that a reconciliation had taken place, and that the ambassa- dor had altogether been restored to the First Consul's NAPOLEON I. 167 good graces. The Prince Regent then thought it right — for something decisive had to be done — to ask for his return. Whilst the Portuguese Ministers were flat- tering themselves that they would make good their escape from the scrape in which they had involved themselves, the First Consul notified to the Prince Regent that he would consent to the return of his am- bassador to Lisbon, and that he would forget the rea- sons for displeasure which the Portuguese Government had given him ; but that, in return for this concession, he expected a concession on the prince's part, namely the dismissal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, whose partiality for the English, and whose bad faith, had been the causes of what had happened. The Prince Regent was only too glad to accept this settle- ment of the affair. Don Joao d'Almeida was dis- missed, and General Lannes returned to Lisbon. His triumph was complete. The Prince Regent received him at first with a cordiality which was more affected than real, but growing to like him eventually became on terms of great intimacy with him. General Lannes, who had plenty of natural shrewdness, understood his position. The Portuguese nobility of that time, proud and poor, held aloof, and hesitated to make the first advances. General Lannes gave a sumptuous ball, and invited everybody whose names had been inscribed on the embassy register. He did the honours of this ball with all possible refinements, and nothing else was talked about in Lisbon. Those of the aristocracy who were not present, complained at not having been in- vited. They were informed, in answer, that if the ambassador had thought that an invitation would have been agreeable to them, he would have sent it, and that he should be delighted and honoured if they would call upon him. The hidalgos crowded to leave their names at his house. General Lannes gave another i68 MEMOIRS OF ball to which they were all invited. The invitations were accepted with eagerness, and from that time for- ward the aristocracy frequented the French embassy. Thanks to his intimacy with the Prince Regent the French envoye was able to assist some of these needy noblemen. His credit at Court was great, and his recommendations were always favourably listened to. The jurisdiction of his embassy, accordingly, was un- , limited, nor did the Portuguese Government in any way try to restrict it. No such tolerance was shown to the ambassadors of other powers. Our ambassador's influence in Lisbon was so well established, that when he returned to France he was in a position to dispose of Portugal as Napoleon might desire. It is calculated that the sum spent in Paris to pre- vent the return of General Lannes amounted to four millions of francs. Where the greater part of this money went to can easily be guessed. When the Gen- eral heard of this he remarked jocularly : " What clumsy fellows ! If they had only offered me half that amount I wouldn't have gone back to Lisbon." And so it happened that the cause of France was better served by our ambassador's impetuous suscepti- bility than it would have been by the skill of the most consummate diplomat. The First Consul understood, better than his Minister of Foreign Affairs, to what advantage he could turn it. It is true that Napoleon, at least, saw everything in the light of national inter- est, and in that light alone. It is so ordained here below that, side by side with any success there is always a jealous desire to diminish its merit. And so it was that when the money-sacri- fices made by the Portuguese ministers to prevent the return of General Lannes to Lisbon were heard of, it was stated, in face of the General's spontaneous ex- clamation, that M. de Binau, ambassador from Sax- NAPOLEON I. 169 ony to France, had been commissioned by him to carry a proposal to M. de Souza, Portuguese ambassador to Paris. This proposal, it was said, was to the effect that if a million francs were given to the General he would undertake to refuse to return to Lisbon, in spite of any pressure from the First Consul. This is what Madame de Souza, the wife of the Portuguese ambassador told me on this subject. Ma- dame de Souza being one day at La Malmaison, met the First Consul as he was going to Madame Bona- parte. He led her aside by the arm : " What does M. de Souza mean," he asked irritably, " by offering money to my ambassador to prevent his returning to Lisbon?" Madame de Souza protested that, on the contrary, it was to M. de Souza that the proposal was made. " And what is there to prove that? " said the First Consul. " The treasury of the Consular Guard ! " cried Ma- dame de Souza, her excitement getting the better of her reflection, in allusion to the deficit in the accounts of this regiment when it was under General Lannes's command. The First Consul, knowing the general's honesty, never said a word, but turned his back on Madame de Seuza. Slightly disturbed by this silence, and the tacit dis- approval which the Consul's manner implied, Madame de Souza went to Josephine and told her what had just passed between the First Consul and herself. Josephine advised her to return to Paris at once, to shut herself up and not to see anybody for eight days; so that the First Consul might see that she had com- municated with nobody. Madame de Souza followed this advice, pretended to I/O MEMOIRS OF be ill, and took to her bed, refusing to receive any- body. It is rather difficult to understand what was the object of all these manoeuvres. They were so much trouble thrown away. The First Consul very soon forgot his quarrel with Madame de Souza, and never alluded to it again in her presence. During the first six months that followed the Peace of Amiens, the first Consul led an almost idle life at La Malmaison, dreaming of the improvements which he could introduce into the various departments of his government; of the encouragements which might be given to agriculture, to industries; of the various works which might be carried out for the improvement and embellishment of Paris and the departments, which he proposed to visit in turn; and finally of the arts of peace. During this pause in the midst of a life so busy and so fully occupied, he had projected a league of the maritime powers for driving the Barbary people from the coast of Africa, their lands to be afterwards used for planting sugar, coffee, cotton, and produce which had to be drawn from remote colonies. If the plan of this league could have been carried through, it would have diverted him from the expedition intended for the reconquest of the island of San Domingo. The idea had been proposed by Joseph Bonaparte, and was highly approved of by the First Consul. Joseph Bo- naparte was anxious that the four powers who had signed the Amiens treaty should take part in this league. It was indeed shameful that Europe should tolerate, opposite to her, a nest of pirates, who levied blackmail on her with insolence, and who each year carried off into the cruellest slavery the prisoners they had captured on sea or on land — pirates to whom noth- ing was sacred, and who rejected our arts and our NAPOLEON I. 171 civilization. It was useless to hope to bring them to accept the relations and the conventions by which in- ternational rights are established between civilized States. The loss of Egypt enhanced the value of the re- sources which a colonization of the Barbary States, so conveniently close at hand, and a naturalization of the produce of the islands of America, would have placed m the hands of the various powers. The plan of a conquest of this vast region was carefully examined in the cabinet of the Minister of Marine. A first step towards carrying it into effect was indeed made, by a mission with which the Spanish Government entrusted Badia, a clever and adventurous traveller. The Moniteur of 14th Thermidor, Year X, reported that two Spanish savants^ charged with exploration of these countries, had passed through Paris. This plan of an expedition was perhaps one of the reasons of the rupture of the Peace of Amiens, and the renewal of hostilities which ensued prevented the First Consul from carrying it out. The great events which were played out on the stage of Europe obliged him to re- nounce his scheme for the time being, but he did not lose sight of a plan which, from the time of the re- newal of hostilities with England, was one of the chief subjects of his thoughts. On April i8th, 1808, Napoleon, being then at the Chateau de Marrac, near Bayonne, whither he had been summoned by affairs in Spain, wrote the follow- ing letter to the Minister of Marine : — "Monsieur Decres. — Think over the Algiers ex- pedition both as a military and a naval campaign. If France could get a foot down on this part of the coast of Africa, England would have cause to reflect. " Is there any port on this coast where a squadron 172 MEMOIRS OF of ships would be under cover from a superior force? " What are the ports by which the army, once landed, could be revictualled ? " How many ports could the enemy blockade simul- taneously ? " In Egypt there was, after all, only the port of Alexandria. Rosetta was a very dangerous harbour; still it was counted. I think that there are a dozen here. " How many frigates, brigs, and storeships could they hold ? " Could Admiral Ganteaume's squadron enter the port of Algiers, and be sheltered against a superior force ? " At what time of the year is the air good, and pest no longer to be feared? I imagine that it is in October. " After having studied the Algiers expedition give your careful attention to the Tunis campaign. Write a confidential letter about it to Ganteaume, who, be- fore coming to Paris, could get the necessary infor- mation. His inquiries should extend as far as Oran and should bear on the land, as well as the maritime, aspects of the proposed expedition. What we must find out about the inland is whether there are roads and water. I calculate that twenty thousand men will be necessary for this exj^jdition. You will under- stand that the enemy is to be led to believe that Sicily is the object of this expedition, and that they will be nicely foiled when, instead, it proves to be Algiers. You need not answer me before a month. In the meanwhile get your information so that when you do answer me there shall be no ' buts ', no ' ifs ', and no ' becauses '. " Send one of your engineers, a man who knows how to hold his tongue, on a brig. Let him talk with NAPOLEON I. 173 M. Thainville, but be sure to select a man of tact and of talent. This engineer should have some military as well as some naval knowledge. He must walk about both on the inside and on the outside of the fortifica- tions, and as soon as he gets back home write down what he has noticed, so that he can bring us back plain facts and not merely his own dreams. Consult with Sanson as to the best man to choose. You will be able to find exact information in the archives of the Foreign Office and of the Ministry of War. Have these archives, as well as your own, looked through. Information about these countries has always been asked for in France." Several Frenchmen who had exercised civil or diplomatic functions in the Algiers Regency, heads of French establishments in that country, engineers and naval officers who had discharged special duties there, were all consulted. M. Jean Bon-Saint-Andre, who had been commissioner of the government at Algiers, under the Directoire, handed a detailed memo- randum, in which all the questions put to him were answered, to the Minister of Marine. Napoleon's attention was also taken up with the scheme for reorganizing the Academies. The term "Academy" was suppressed. The Institute was divided into four sections. The first was termed " Class of Physical and Mathematical Sciences." The second, styled "Class of the French Language and Litera- ture," answered to the French Academy, formerly so- called. The third was the " Class of Ancient History and Literature," and the fourth that of " The Fine Arts." The "Class of Moral and Political Sciences," created by the law of Year IV, was suppressed and merged in that of belles-lettres. It seemed superfluous 174 MEMOIRS OF to the First Consul. He supported his opinion on this matter with reasons which I do not think it necessary to examine. His principal motive was not, as has been said, his dislike for philosophy. He has often expressed himself on this matter, but he was then convinced that the discussion of political matters had still, at that time, its disadvantages. The eight or nine months which followed the Peace of Amiens were divided between La Malmaison and St. Cloud, which the First Consul went to inhabit in the spring of that year. This palace, although not vast, afforded a beautiful and comfortable abode, well suited to Napoleon's habits and requirements, and provided with magnificent gardens. His workroom was very large, and its walls were literally covered with books, from the floor to the ceiling. He had himself designed his writing-table, which was in the shape of a bass. Numerous papers were spread out on its wings. His usual place was on a settee covered with green taffeta, which stood near the mantlepiece, on which were two fine bronze busts of Scipio and of Hannibal. Behind the settee, in a corner, was my writing-table. His study was reached through a bedroom, which he did not occupy. His apartment was on the floor above, and communicated with this room by means of a private staircase. It consisted of three plainly furnished rooms. The only ornament of the bedroom on the ground floor, which looked out on the garden, was an antique bust of Caesar, which stood on the mantlepiece. Beyond the First Consul's workroom was a small drawing-room, where he used to receive the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who, by reason of the nature of the business of his department, had no reports to address to the Council of State. This drawing-room was also used for private audiences; it was decorated with a fine portrait of Charles XII. The First Consul NAPOLEON I. 1 75 wias dissatisfied that this portrait has been selected, and had it replaced by a portrait of Gustavus Adol- phus, for whom he had a particular esteem. Paisiello came to Paris in the spring of this year, summoned by the First Consul, whose intention it was to entrust him with the direction of the Opera and of the Conservatory of Music. Napoleon admired this celebrated composer's talents. He used to be so de- lighted with Nina's pastorale : " Gia il sol si ciela dietro alia montagna," — that he said he could listen to it with pleasure every evening. Paisiello was then over sixty. He had hesitated about coming to Paris, fearing to expose his gray hairs to the criticisms of his rivals, and dreading to compromise his great musi- cal reputation. He was received with great honour by Napoleon, and with deference by the artists. He re- fused to accept any other post than that of chapel- master, and restricted himself to the composition of masses and motets. The only opera which he com- posed in Paris was "Proserpine." It was only mod- erately successful; a slight reverse which somewhat grieved him. After residing three years in France his desire to see his country again, and to take his wife home to a milder climate, induced him to return to Italy. He went home with a pension from the Emperor, and loaded with presents. M. Lesueur, whose talents he admired, succeeded him as chapel-master. Paisiello used to send Napoleon a sacred composition each year, for the anniversary of the Emperor's fete. He also paraphrased the " Stabat Mater " of Pergolesi, which was performed in the Imperial Chapel. I have pre- served many letters from this excellent man, which he wrote in sending his compositions, and in which he expressed his gratitude to and admiration for the Emperor. I am convinced that these professions, al- 176 MEMOIRS OF lowance being made for Italian emphasis, were quite sincere. Canova was sent for to Paris at about the same time. He came to St. Cloud to execute the bust of Napoleon, and devoted himself to this piece of work for several days with a veritable predilection. The First Consul used to lunch in the large drawing-room, which led into his apartments, so that the celebrated sculptor might work more at his ease during this meal. This drawing-room was afterwards ornamented with portraits of the Bonaparte family. When Napo- leon became Emperor he used to receive all the members of his family who happened to be in Paris at dinner every Sunday, and spent the evening with them in his drawing-room. A large balcony, on to which this drawing-room opened, communicated be- tween the private apartment of Napoleon and 'that of , Josephine, afterwards occupied by Marie Louise. I used sometimes to remain with Canova after the sittings, and to accompany him into the gardens. He spoke bitterly of the statues he saw there, and pointed out to me the decadence of good taste which they proved. He regretted that the artists of the time of Louis XV., and especially Boucher, should have ap- plied their great talents to works which he considered pitiful. A reproach of another kind might be levelled against Canova himself. He carried ofif the model of Napoleon's bust, a model true to nature, and most noble in resemblance, and which, on this account, had been generally admired. I do not know why, renounc- ing this resemblance, which ought to be the first merit of a bust or of a portrait, he made an idealized head. However grand a character he may have wished to bestow on his work, he could not hope to make a more heroic face than the original. It was after this bust that Canova executed the NAPOLEON I. 177 colossal statue of Napoleon which he sent to Paris in 181 1. This statue may be admired as a work of art, but the want of resemblance in the head, and its nudity, displeased the Emperor. It was placed at the Louvre without having been previously exhibited. It was this same statue which either was bought by the Duke of Wellington, or was given to him by the government, in 1815. It was carried off to England as a trophy, and placed in a spot very unworthy of it, and in a way which does little honour to the delicacy of feeling of the victor. One of our sculptors, as remarkable for his great talents as for his national feeling, as he was returning from a walk in London, saw a number of people stopping before a partly-opened door of a mansion — the mansion of the Duke of Wellington. Prompted by curiosity to approach, his astonishment can be imagined in recognizing, in the object which was attracting the eyes of the curious, Canova's beau- tiful statue of Napoleon, placed at the foot of a stair- case, and being used to hang cloaks and hats on. I remember that one day the First Consul brought back a quatrain, on his return from Josephine's apart- ment, where he had been spending an hour. He threw this poem on his writing-table, and said that it had been composed by Madame Fanny de Beauharnais. It was a play of words on the word Bonaparte, and the last line, which is all of it that I remember, ran as follows : " La bonne part sera la notre." The First Consul, whilst doing justice to the author- ess's intentions, which he considered better than their execution, took pleasure in speaking of the good qualities of Madame de Beauharnais, Josephine's aunt. He praised the gentleness and the goodness of her char- acter. Even if he was then under the first impression of this lady's innocent flatteries, this impression was a 178 MEMOIRS OF lasting one, as he never ceased his protection of her son and granddaughter. The son was appointed sen- ator in 1804, the senatorship of Amiens being granted to him. When the Emperor married the Arch-duchess Marie Louise, he placed him in her service as gentle- man-in-waiting. In 1806, he married Stephanie de Beauharnais, the senator's daughter, born of a first marriage, to Prince Charles, the grandson of the Duke of Baden, whom he succeeded in 181 1. Some days later, Madame Bonaparte came and knocked at the door of the cabinet. She immediately- entered, followed by the usher, who without a word placed a basket covered over with a cloth in the centre of the room and withdrew. Whilst Napoleon was waiting for the explanation of this enigma Madame Bonaparte drew away the cloth which covered the basket. A little man, not more than eighteen inches high, who was lying down in the basket, raised himself with difficulty and, leaning with his two hands on the handle of the basket, turned a pair of dark and shin- ing, but lustreless, eyes upon us. The dwarf was dressed in complete hussar uniform, with the red shako, vest, and dolman, regulation boots, and was girt with a sabre which kept entangling itself in his little legs. There was nothing monstrous about him except his extreme smallness. His limbs were well- made, his features, if inert, were regular. Neverthe- less the evident insensibility of this misconception, whose life seemed merely mechanical, and whose intel- ligence seemed destined never to develop — for he was said to be then seventeen years old — his debility, the pale and bilious colour of his skin, and his weazened and sickly ensemble, excited disgust. The sight of this poor disinherited creature, nature's cruel sport, placed face to face with a full-grown being in whom the same nature had been pleased NAPOLEON I. 179 to unite a majesty of features to a superiority of genius, would have offered a singular contrast to the eyes of an observer. The fine and impressionable organism of Napoleon evidently suffered from so pain- ful a sight, and without one word of comment, he prayed his wife to remove the dwarf from his eyes. The union of Piedmont to France took place in the month of September, 1802. This occurrence gave rise to no recriminations; it had been expected for a long time. Piedmont, the throne of which remained untenanted after the retirement of the king to the island of Sardinia, was in pawn in the hands of France as a stepping-stone, either to serve as an indemnity, or to be used in other diplomatic combinations. The fate of this country having been passed over in silence in the Treaties of Amiens and Luneville, and Russia not having asked for its restitution to the House of Savoy, its incorporation with the French territory was consummated by a senatus consultum. General Jour- dan, who combined the functions of military governor of these provinces with those of general administrator, was replaced by General Menou. The First Consul had certain prejudices against Jourdan, which he after- wards discarded. When at St. Helena he expressed his regret for having misunderstood him, and spoke of him in terms which do honour to them both. Another event, which occurred about a month later, and which caused no more sensation, was the union with France of the duchies of Parma and Piacenza, brought about by the death of the sovereign of these states. By the Treaty of Luneville, Austria had lost Tuscany, which was given to the Infante of Parma, who was married to a daughter of Charles IV., King of Spain. The French Government had immediately put the Infante in possession of his kingdom, and he had assumed the title of King of Etruria. In exchange i8o MEMOIRS OF for the life-crown, with which the preponderating influence of the First Consul had endowed this prince, the duchies of Parma and Piacenza had been ceded to France, but Napoleon had desired that the old Duke should finish his days there in peace. The latter, encouraged by the King of Spain in the hope that after his death his states would be added to the Kingdom of Etruria, had appointed the dowa- ger-duchess Queen Regent in the name of his son, by his last will and testament. This testament, which was without value, was set aside. French officials came to take possession of the country, and M. Moreau de Saint-Mery, who was protected by Madame Bona- parte, was sent there as general administrator. The island of Elba, which had been retroceded to France by the King of Etruria, was united to France at the same time as Piedmont. Thus did the power of Napoleon bestow on France two states, reserved to strange destinies. The sover- eignty of the one was to devolve on a daughter of Austria, illusory pledge of an ephemeral alliance; the other was to provide the founder of the most powerful empire in the world with a modest refuge, a harbour of shelter between two shipwrecks. The monotony of Napoleon's sedentary life in his study was interrupted about this time by a fortnight's journey, which he undertook towards the end of Oc- tober, going to visit the manufactories of the Seine- Inferieure and Oise departments. Napoleon was ac- companied on this short journey by Madame Bona- parte. He left after having given General Andreossy — appointed ambassador to London — his farewell au- dience. The First Consul visited the St. Cyr Military School and examined into every detail. At Ivry he visited the battle-field made famous by Henry the Fourth's NAPOLEON I. i8i victory, and, accompanied by the mayor and numerous citizens of the town, examined the various positions which had been occupied by the two armies, rectifying with his martial instinct the indications which were given to him, and judging with his eagle eye the faults or the skill of the tactics both of vanquished and victors. Twenty young girls presented Josephine with flowers and verses at Evreux. The cloth-manufac- tories of Louviers and Elbeuf, and the copper foun- dries of Romilly, attracted the attention of the Consul, and won his solicitude. Two days after his departure from Paris, the First Consul arrived at Rouen, fol- lowed by the entire population. The three days which he spent there were devoted to reconnoitring the heights with which the town is surrounded — which was always the first thing he did when visiting any large town — and afterwards to visiting the factories. In his careful examination of these establishments he displayed the same spirit of investigation which al- ways characterized him, and which was inspired by his desire to increase the national prosperity. He received the archbishop, the prefect, the mayors, the courts of Justice and Commerce, the military and civil authori- ties, the scientific societies, and the principal function- aries, conversing at length with each on his speciality, and with all on the questions which in general inter- ested the welfare of the department. He was present at the theatre, where he was received with acclamation, and afterwards at some fetes which were given in his honour. All the corporations were presented to Jose- phine, who received them with her usual good grace and tact. From Rouen, the First Consul went to Havre. He stopped at Caudebec, at Bolbec, and at Yvetot. He embarked on a lugger at five in the morning to visit i82 MEMOIRS OF Honfleur, accompanied by M. de Montcabrie, who was in command of the boat. On his return, he visited Dieppe, Treport, Forges, and Beauvais. Exhibitions of the local industries were prepared for his inspec- tion in the various manufacturing towns through which he passed. It is superfluous to add that this excursion, under- taken for the purpose of benefiting the various regions visited, was not a mere fruitless pleasure-trip. This journey had a political object also, namely, to show our eternal rivals what perfect harmony existed be- tween the nation and its chief, and to what advantage the latter could turn the resources of the country. The First Consul and Madame Bonaparte were everywhere received with veritable enthusiasm. Companies off mounted men acted as their escort and guard of honour in each town through which they passed. Shortly afterwards Napoleon went to visit the works of the Ourcq Canal, which had recently been begun. With this in view he left Paris at six o'clock on a fine morning towards the end of January, accompanied by several generals and three aides-de-camp. He rode over the eighteen leagues which form the extent of the canal in five hours. He slept at Lisy, at the house of General d'Harville, uncle of Colonel Caulaincourt, his aide-de-camp, Madame Bonaparte having gone to Lisy the previous day. On the morrow, at daybreak, the First Consul rode to Marueil, where the water for the canal is taken. He found the Prefect of Paris there, and with him the engineer-in-chief, Gerard, who was charged with the direction of the works. On his way back he stayed at Meaux for two hours. He re- ceived the subprefect there, the mayor, and the princi- pal authorities, in the big room of the Town-hall. He returned to Paris the same evening. I accompanied him on his journey on horseback, and it was a pleasant NAPOLEON I. 183 change from the stay-at-home life, which I only grew to like when I was no longer compelled to live it. The year 1802 brought with it the retirement of Fouche, and the suppression of the Ministry of Police. M. Reghier, who afterwards became Due de Massa, the Grand judge, was put at the head of the Minis- tries of Police and of Justice, united into one single department. A justifiable dislike for Fouche prompted Napoleon to remove him. The way in which this turbulent man managed his ministry was a cause of anxiety to the First Consul. It offended him to see Fouche, in spite of his express commands, interfering in his home, in his private domestic affairs, under the pretence of exercising a necessary supervision. He was delighted to escape from the guardianship of such a man. Fouche was always a suspicious person in his eyes, on account of his crooked ways and his meddle- some mind; nevertheless he was seen back again at the ministry within two years of his dismissal. Napo- leon dismissed him again in 18 10, acting by the same instinct, but once more took him on in 181 5. Clear reason rejects any belief in fatality, and yet who will not be struck by the sight of this evil genius, the object of Napoleon's just dislike and repugnance, twice removed from his post with an advancement in hon- ours, and twice returning to boldly take his place at the council, dominating the destinies of the Emperor by his cunning and his spirit of intrigue, and finally lead- ing him to his overthrow. Napoleon used to compare the reports of the Minis- ter of Police with those of the prefects, in what con- cerned provincial matters ; and with the reports of the prefect of police, who was never in accordance with the Minister, in matters concerning Paris. His other police services, which might be styled offi- cial, to distinguish them from the private police, were i84 MEMOIRS OF the service under the command of the first inspector of gendarmerie, and that of the commander of the Paris garrison. There were one or two other poHce services of little importance, the reports of which he frequently- neglected to read. A retired major, who was as honest as a man can be in such a profession, and who was not intriguing, was charged with the subaltern military police of Paris. Count de Survillers — Joseph Bonaparte— has set forth in the following brief remarks, the motives which prompted the First Consul first to abolish the Ministry of Police and afterwards to re-establish it: " The Ministry of Police was an institution founded , by the Directoire, and not by the Convention. It dates from 1796. The Revolution had the Committee of Public Safety. Napoleon found the Ministry of Police established. He preserved it until he thought that he could dispense with it. He united it, in 1802, after the signing of general peace, to the Ministry of Justice, so as to replace the ardent, rapid, and arbitrary action of a special administration, by the slow and methodical procedure of the magistrates and the pro- cureurs-generaux. But conspiracies arose. The slow steps of justice no longer sufficed under the circum- stances. A return had to be made to police measures. Real was charged with their execution, under the orders of the Grand Judge. That was insufficient for the realization of the object in view, and the Ministry of Police was re-established. It was suppressed, as a matter of principle, in Napoleon's mind. Such were the evident causes of the re-establishment of this min- istry." One of Napoleon's methods of government, a method in favour in almost every country, was to open letters in the post. If this method can be tolerated at all, it is only in the hands of the head of a government NAPOLEON I. 1851 whose morality and prudence eliminate its danger. But this guarantee does not always exist in the man at the head of affairs, and when such a man does exist he is not immortal. On his accession to power, the First Consul had found, at the General Post-Office, a department which was known by the name of the Black Cabinet. Several clerks who had grown gray in this work, were ap- pointed to open such letters as were indicated to them by the Postmaster-General, at that time M. Laforet, who afterwards became ambassador, senator, and peer of France. This department was at that time made use of by nearly everybody. The civil and military authorities in the provinces had the right to intercept letters, to open them, to make use of their contents, to send copies or even the originals to Paris, where they were read by the members of the Directoire, the ministers, and their friends. The First Consul, in ap- pointing his former aide-de-camp Lavalette, Postmas- ter-General, forbade that any letters should be inter- cepted or communicated to any authorities whatsoever, and he made the various postmasters responsible for the commission of any such offence. These precau- tions prove that Napoleon had it at heart to attenuate what was arbitrary in this system. The majority of the numerous agents kept in Paris by foreign minis- tries, a few people mixed up in political intrigues, some officials in various branches of the public service, who did not enjoy the complete confidence of the new gov- ernment, or who, for one reason or another, were objects of suspicion, were named to the department, with the object of having their correspondence sub- jected to particular scrutiny. In this way some im- portant information was obtained, but no letter, whether written by a person or addressed to him, no matter how grave its contents might be, was consid- 1 86 MEMOIRS OF ered sufficient by Napoleon for his definite conviction. Until his suspicions had been confirmed, the letter was held in reserve. Sometimes use was made of this means for the furtherance of private interests, in support of some denunciation, or to assist friends. The sagacity and moderation of Napoleon, and the numberless sources of information which he possessed, foiled all these manoeuvres. This violation of postal secrecy, which I shall not attempt to defend from a moral point of view, because of the grave disadvantages which such a system might have presented in the hands of those of Napoleon's successors who possessed neither his dis- cretion nor his perspicacity, was in his hands an instrument without danger, and often of great use. On an indication furnished by a letter, the Emperor got at the truth, by investigation, research, and con- tradictory reports, which never failed to enlighten him. Often, like a tutelary Providence, he was able, thanks to this system, to make reparation for injustice com- mitted, to redress grievances, and to dispense benefits and assistance at the time when those who were the objects of his justice or of his benevolence expected it the least. Although it was well-known that those who did not want their letters to be read, did not send them by post, it rarely happened that some valuable information was not gathered in this way. I remember that one day the Emperor, forgetting that since the reorganiza- tion of the post-office the Minister of Finance had no connection with the Black Cabinet, said to this Minister, pointing through the half-opened door to Fouche, who was in the adjoining room: " See that that fellow's letters are looked into." It is probable that Fouche would not have let himself be taken in this trap, and that if he had sent any letter by the post. NAPOLEON I. 187 it would have been written so as to put the govern- ment, to which he then no longer belonged, on a wrong scent. The most absolute secrecy, moreover, envel- oped the small number of letters which the Postmas- ter-General communicated to the sovereign. None but he himself was allowed to read them. The copies, which were handed to the Emperor under seals, were burned as soon as they had been read, no trace of them ever remaining. If the Black Cabinet had al- lowed itself to send on any letters containing family matters, or had exhumed any scandalous anecdote of the kind which so deeply interested Louis XV., it would at once have been ordered to confine itself within its prescribed limits. I must make haste to add that the Postmaster-General never exposed himself to reprimands of this kind. In the first days of the month of January 1803, it was learned that General Leclerc, Captain-General of the Colony of San Domingo, after the unfortunate issue of the expedition which had been sent out to re- duce this island to submission, had died of yellow fever at the Cape. The First Consul was deeply grieved by this loss. On the following day letters from Toulouse announced the arrival of the Szvift- sure in that port, the remains of the general being on board this ship. Madame Leclerc, sister of the First Consul, and her young son accompanied the body. Madame Leclerc, then in all the splendour of her youth and beauty, had torn herself away from the seductions of a world in which she held the first rank, to accompany her husband, and to accomplish her du- ties as mother and as wife. Pauline, although sur- rounded with adulation and homage, to which she was not altogether insensible, felt that the blood of Bona- i88 MEMOIRS OF parte was in her veins. She had resisted the order sent by the commander-in-chief, at the time of the in- surrection of the Cape, to take ship home with her son. She wished to share his dangers. During the short sickness which preceded his death she had not left his bedside, and had cared for him with tender solicitude. She came back to France with broken health which was never entirely re-established. She lost her son, still a child, a year later. This child's name was Dermide, a name given him by his god- father, Napoleon, who at the time had been greatly impressed with the original and poetical genius of Ossian. Bernadotte's son, who was of about the same age as General Leclerc's son, received the name of Oscar. Napoleon was his godfather, and the christening was delayed until he returned from Egypt. Bernadotte, so obsequious towards Napoleon, did not cease con- spiring against him, afterwards having recourse to everything and everybody to get his offences par- doned. Joseph Bonaparte and his wife were as per- severing in their efforts to obtain his pardon, as Bernadotte was in alternating offences and submis- sions. The First Consul wore mourning for General Le- clerc for ten days. He was much affected by this loss, not only of a brother-in-law, on whose devotion he could count, but of an officer of the highest merit, who was as useful in the study as on the field of bat- tle. A cultured education and brilliant services had procured him advancement which would have seemed very rapid in ordinary times. He was general at the age of twenty-one, having risen step by step in Italy, at Toulon — where he was on active service with Bo- naparte — at Fleurus, and with the army of the Alps. Appointed commander of Marseilles by the Directoire, NAPOLEON I. 189 he made the acquain,tance of the young sister of the Toulon artillery commander, the Bonapartes hav- ing then retired to Marseilles. General Bonaparte, on his promotion to the supreme command of the army in Italy, called him to his side at Milan. Le- clerc was at that time general of brigade. Bona- parte gave him his sister in marriage. This charming lady, one of the most beautiful women of her age, had been ardently courted by Freron. Freron, who after the 9th Thermidor became the chief of the jeunesse doree, had not at that time yet distinguished himself by the sanguinary acts which won for him the name of Saviour of the South from the society of Jacobins. General Leclerc had not taken part in Napoleon's expedition to Egypt. During this time he served in Italy and in the West. He was afterwards sent to Lyons with extraordinary powers. He re-established discipline in the army, which had been disorganized by the evacuation of Italy and dispersed over Lyons and the neighbouring cantons. On the i8th Brumaire General Leclerc vigorously seconded General Bona- parte. After having fulfilled to the First Consul's satisfaction the mission of leading an army of twenty thousand French soldiers into Spain, for action against Portugal, he was appointed to command the San Domingo expedition. The First Consul, on his accession to power, had invested Toussaint-L'Ouverture with the government of this island, in the name of France. Toussaint, gen- eral of division, was a former slave, whom nature had made a deep politician and a skilful administrator. His absolute influence over the blacks had commended him to the French government. The ambitious Tous- saint, fostering at heart a secret plan to render him- self master of the island, and to expel the French I90 MEMOIRS OF troops, recognized the supremacy of the metropolis during the period of one year. When it seemed to him that the right time had come, he threw off the mask, raised the flag of insurrection and proclaimed the independence of San Domingo. The honour and the interests of France rendered it necessary that he should be forced to return to the path of duty. An expedition to San Domingo was accordingly decided upon. The Creoles who had taken refuge in France urged on this resolution. The fatal issue of this ex- pedition is well-known. The neglect of measures of prudence; the retention of black generals and officers in their posts ; the outbreak of yellow fever, which deci- mated the pick of the French army; the cunning and the activity of Toussaint; all these causes contributed to the failure of the expedition. The seizure of some private letters from Toussaint was followed by his arrest and his transportation to France. He was con- fined in the fortress of Joux, and died there two years later. The First Consul, who was fully aware of the am- bitious object pursued by Toussaint, and who could not believe in the least sincerity on his side, would have preferred his removal at the very beginning from the island. He would have preferred to receive him in France as an exile, rather than as a captive, but he could in no case allow him his liberty when once his treachery had been unmasked. The unhealthiness of the climate of San Domingo, and the fatigues and vexations which beset General Leclerc, had rapidly led him to his grave. He was replaced in the chief command by General Rocham- beau, who brought about the definite loss of the island by his severity, just as his predecessor had weakened its loyalty by too much indulgence. It was in accordance with the wishes of the First Consul NAPOLEON I. 191 that his sister had accompanied her husband to San Domingo together with her son. When he heard of her arrival at Toulon he immediately sent off his aide- de-camp Lauriston to bring the widow and her child back to Paris. One of the principal grievances alleged against us by the English Ministry was the mission of Colonel Sebastiani to Egypt. The splendour with which the French envoy had surrounded his mission, the as- surance given to the sheiks and the chiefs of the Mamelukes that General Bonaparte, as head of the French Government, had not forgotten them, and that his protection should should not be wanting, and the marks of interest lavished in his name, excited the suspicions of England. In his report to the First Consul, Colonel Sebasti- ani accused the London Cabinet, and with reason, of working in an underhand way to turn away the chiefs of the country from their fidelity to the Porte, but he omitted to mention the friendly reception accorded to him by the English commander. Napoleon, irritated at the want of good faith shown by the British Cabinet in the relations which, since the signing of the Peace of Amiens, had been established between the two powers, published the report of Colonel Sebastiani, although this had been intended as a strictly confi- dential document. At the same time, just before it was printed in the Moniteur, the idea came to him to show it to M. Amedee Jaubert, who had accompanied the colonel in his voyage, and who was perfectly ac- quainted with Oriental countries. M. Jaubert was called in the night to the house of M. Maret, Secretary of State, who showed him a proof of the report. Jau- bert advised the Minister to suppress several passages, which in his opinion could not fail to produce a re- 192 MEMOIRS OF grettable impression, and provoke great irritation. But as this report had to appear in the Moniteur of the following morning, these modifications could not be submitted to Napoleon's approval. M. Maret de- clined to assume the responsibility of these ratifica- tions, or of postponing the publication of the docu- ment. The report accordingly appeared in the Moni- teur, with some slight modifications, which did not in any way affect its essential points, and thus became the starting point of the series of reciprocated antago- nisms, which finally resulted, at no distant date, in the rupture of peace between England and France. Towards the end of 1802 some deputies of various Swiss cantons arrived in Paris, on the summons of the First Consul, to discuss their respective interests before him, and to bring about a reconciliation of the different factions which for five years past had divided the Helvetic Confederation. Several attempts in this direction had been made by Napoleon since his accession to power. He had imposed the recog- nition of the independence of this Republic at Lune- ville, but the revolutions caused by the struggle of the various parties for power, the appeals to arms, and the intervention of European Cabinets called for by the aristocracy, had kept this unhappy country in a series of internecine wars and in a state of anarchy which it behoved the French Government to terminate. The withdrawal of the French troops, which had been effected in accordance with the wishes of the Helvetic Government, had only given a freer field to the pas- sions of the adversaries. Before taking this decision, the object of which was to ascertain what use Switzerland would make of her restored independence, it had been proposed to vest the supreme authority in this country in a hereditary chief, or Landamman. Negotiations to this effect NAPOLEON I. 193 were commenced with the Margrave of Baden. Baron Dalberg, at that time minister of this Httle State, who afterwards became Due Dalberg, and a natural- ized Frenchman, was the intermediary in these negotia- tions, which were carried so far, indeed, that the court of Baden thought to indemnify the minister for his trouble who at that time directed foreign affairs in France. The troubles which broke out after the with- drawal of the French troops contributed to the failure of this arrangement. The federalist faction, led by Aloys Reding, was triumphing, when the vanquished party decided to appeal to the French Government, and to demand its interference. The First Consul had several confer- ences, one of which lasted more than six hours, with ten deputies, selected amongst the Federalists and the 'Unitaires. He listened to the arguments of the rival factions with attention, and discussed them with the greatest impartiality. He spoke to them like a Swiss citizen, and, as the head of two such great countries as France and Italy, gave them wise advice, and constantly manifested a moderation and a logic which convinced the Swiss deputies. He commissioned four French senators, MM. Barthelemy, Roederer, Fouche, and Desmeuniers to come to an understanding with the Swiss deputies, and to draw up the draft of an act of conciliation, the basis of which should be entire equality between all the cantons, a voluntary renunci- ation of their privileges by the aristocracy, the divi- sion of the national debt in just proportions, and the federative organization of the eighteen cantons by which their religious creeds, their habits, their lan- guages, and their interests should be conciliated. This wise and disinterested policy calmed all spirit of faction, and, thanks to our mediation, Switzerland was promptly pacified. The various parties agreed 194 MEMOIRS OF to it, and Aloys Reding himself, who had declared himself one of the most ardent champions of the oli- garchy, was present at the first Diet, and admitted the benefit due to the intervention of the powerful peacemaker. All the cantons expressed their gratitude to the First Consul in numerous addresses. The auditors were instituted by a decree of April 9th, 1803. At first they were only sixteen in num- ber, and were charged with the functions of reporters to the various sections of the Council of State. They were for the most part young men of talent, who had received a good education, and who belonged for the most part to old families. Almost all the re- porters of this first nominations attained high posi- tions in the State. Their number was, later on, con- siderably increased, experience having proved the ad- vantages of this institution. The auditors, it may be said, formed a kind of nursery-garden of adminis- trators trained in the school of the Empire, and in- tended, when once famihar with the direction of af- fairs, to occupy the highest posts in the government. With this purpose in view they were distributed over the various ministries, occupied in the prefectures and subprefectures, in the offices of the public prosecutors at die various courts, and in the financial administra- tions. They were later on commissioned to carry the portfolio containing the results of the labours of the ministers during the preceding week to the Emperor, either to headquarters, or during his journeys in the interior of France. In time of war the auditors re- mained at the disposal of the Secretary of State, but most often were employed by the general intendant of the army, who used them on extraordinary mis- sions. The majority of them were employed at the headquarters of those who superintended the con- quered countries. In reward for services rendered in NAPOLEON I. 195 the course of these missions they often received, on their return to France, advancement which had not al- ways been won by long experience. Nevertheless, and with very few exceptions, they justified the Em- peror's confidence. No complaint was ever made against their management of afifairs, especially with regard to their honesty and loyalty. Almost all the families who had formerly had representatives in the departments of justice, of finance, and in the manage- ment of the principal affairs of State, were drawn upon for auditors who rendered useful services. Na- poleon often congratulated himself on the advantages which he had derived from this institution. I think it necessary to speak of a proposal which was made in the month of February, 1803, by the King of Prussia, to the chief of the House of Bour- bon, at that time in retirement at Warsaw, that he should renounce his rights to the French crown in exchange for territorial and pecuniary advantages. The friendly relations which existed between the First Consul and the Prussian monarch, the answer made by Napoleon to the Comte de Lille, on the 20th Fruc- tidor. Year VIH, — 7th September, 1800 — and the terms of the instructions given by the King to the President of the Regency of Warsaw, have led to the belief that this proposal was inspired by the head of the French Government. These instructions of the King of Prussia to M. Meyer are known by the copy which Louis XVIIL made of them, in his own writing, and which was wit- nessed by the Archbishop of Rheims, M. de Talley- rand's uncle,