MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE, EXILE, AND CONVERSATIONS, OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. (continued 6)

The conversation being concluded, the Emperor returned to his study, and desired me to follow him. He told me that a letter which had been sent to him from England by post was said to have been kept back by the Governor, because it was not addressed to him officially; and it was said that a letter for the Grand Marshal had been detained for the same reason. The Emperor observed that, if this were true, there was something peculiarly cruel in the conduct of the Governor, in having sent back the letters without even mentioning them to us, and without affording us the consolation of knowing from whom they came.... A neglect of form, he said, might easily be corrected in the Island; but it could not so easily be observed at 2000 leagues’ distance. I told the Emperor that a circumstance nearly similar to that which he had just mentioned had occurred to me eight or ten days back. “A person who was on his way to Europe had tormented me with his offers of service. I yielded to his solicitations, and commissioned him to order me some shoes and to get a watch changed 228for me, for there is no person here who knows how to repair a watch. The Governor had forbidden the execution of those commissions, because they had not been addressed to himself. I have said nothing on the subject to any one, Sire, because it is a principle with me to conceal an insult for which I cannot obtain redress; but I shall find an opportunity to tell the Governor my mind. In the mean time, neither he nor the person to whom I gave the commission, has been able to draw from me a line, or a single word, though the latter has made several attempts to do so.”

After dinner the Emperor, conversing on our situation and the conduct of the Governor, who came to-day and took a rapid circuit round Longwood, reverted to the subject of the last interview they had had together, and made some striking observations respecting it. “I behaved very ill to him, no doubt,” said he, “and nothing but my present situation could excuse me; but I was out of humour, and could not help it; I should blush for it in any other situation. Had such a scene taken place at the Tuileries, I should have felt myself bound in conscience to make some atonement. Never, during the period of my power, did I speak harshly to any one without afterwards saying something to make amends for it. But here I uttered not a syllable of conciliation, and I had no wish to do so. However, the Governor proved himself very insensible to my severity; his delicacy did not seem wounded by it. I should have liked, for his sake, to have seen him shew a little anger, or bang the door after him when he went away. This would at least have shown that there was some spring and elasticity about him; but I found nothing of the kind.”

The Emperor then again resumed his conversation on political affairs, which he maintained with so much spirit and interest, that I could have forgotten for a time what part of the world I was in. I could have believed myself still at the Tuileries or in the Rue de Bourgogne.

229

VOLTAIRE.—JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU.—CHARACTERISTIC DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND THE FRENCH NATIONS.—M. DE CHATEAUBRIAND.—HIS SPEECH AT THE INSTITUTE.—AFFECTED ANGER OF THE EMPEROR ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS.—HIS PRINCIPLES ON THAT HEAD.

Saturday, 1st of June.—The Emperor sent for me. He had just come out of his bath, where he had remained three hours, and he asked me to guess what book he had been engaged in reading whilst in the water; it was Rousseau’s New Eloise. He had expressed himself quite charmed with this work when he first perused it at the Briars; but in analysing it again, he now criticised it with unsparing severity. The rock of la Meillerie being mentioned, he said he thought it had been destroyed when he caused a road to be made over the Simplon; but I assured him that enough remained to preserve a perfect recollection of it: it projects over the road, and, like Leucate of old, offers a fine leap to despairing lovers.

To the noble character given by Rousseau to Lord Edward in his New Eloise, and to the impression produced by some of Voltaire’s plays, the Emperor ascribed, in a great measure, the high estimate which had been formed in France of the English character. The facility with which public opinion was governed in those days excited his surprise; Voltaire and Rousseau, who had then directed it as they pleased, would not, he thought, be able to do so at the present time; and Voltaire, in particular, had only exercised so powerful an influence over his contemporaries, and been considered the great man of his age, because all around him were pigmies.

The Emperor then proceeded to compare the character of the English and French nations. “The higher classes among the English,” said he, "are proud; with us unfortunately they are only vain; in that consists the great characteristic distinction between the two nations. The mass of the people in France certainly possess a greater share of national feeling than any other now existing in Europe; they have profited by the experience of their 230twenty-five years’ revolution; but unfortunately that class which the revolution has advanced have not been found equal to the station of life to which they have been elevated; they have shown themselves corrupt and unstable: in the last struggles they have not been distinguished either by talents, firmness, or virtue; in short, they have degraded the honour of the nation."

A speech of M. de Chateaubriand’s has been read to the Emperor, on the propriety of allowing the clergy to inherit. The Emperor observed that it was rather an Academical oration than the opinion of a legislator—it had wit, but showed little judgment, and contained no views whatever.—"Allow the clergy to inherit," said he, “and nobody will die without being obliged to purchase absolution: for, whatever our opinions may be, we none of us know whither we go on leaving this world. Then must we remember our last and final account, and no one can pronounce what his feelings will be at his last hour, nor answer for the strength of his mind at that awful moment. Who can affirm that I shall not die in the arms of a confessor? and that he will not make me acknowledge myself guilty of the evil I shall not have done, and implore forgiveness for it?”—In the present instance, however, as somebody has observed, M. de Chateaubriand may be said to uphold an opinion, rather than express a sentiment of his own; and there are strong grounds for believing that, in religion, as well as in politics, he has often been known to set forth doctrines which had failed to carry conviction to his own mind.

On the article of religion, for instance, it is well known that before he wrote his Beauties of Christianity, he had published in London another work, of a tendency decidedly anti-religious.^[18] The bookseller to whom he entrusted the sale of this work, was Dulau, formerly a benedictine monk of Soreze, who had sought refuge in London at the time of the revolution. Being a man of intelligent mind and sound judgment, he took the liberty of giving M. de Chateaubriand some good advice. 231He represented to him that both the place and the time were ill chosen for indulging in declamations against religion; that the moment had gone by when they were favourably received; that they had become common-place and in bad taste; and that the surest way to engage the attention of the public would be to take up the other side of the question, and advocate, on the contrary, the cause of religion. M. de Chateaubriand listened to this advice, and wrote his Beauties of Christianity; and the event proved that Dulau had not been mistaken in his choice of the moment, for it is very doubtful, if the work were to appear now, whether it would obtain the brilliant success it then met with, notwithstanding the great merit which it undoubtedly possesses.

The appointment of the author of The Beauties of Christianity to the embassy of Rome, was considered, at the time, as a very delicate attention on the part of the First ConsulConsul to M. de Chateaubriand, who, in his turn, hailed it as a first triumph, and the presage of still greater triumphs which awaited him in the capital of the Christian world, amongst the rulers of the church. But he was soon doomed to find himself greatly mistaken, for people at Rome were highly scandalized at seeing religion transformed into romance, and the Divines condemned without hesitation The Beauties of Christianity, which they pronounced to abound in heresies.

However, M. de Chateaubriand, thoroughly convinced of his own merit, consoled himself by affecting to laugh with pity at such puerilities; and, happening to be about this time godfather to a little girl, he gave her the name of Atala; by this name, however, the priest positively refused to christen her, whilst M. de Chateaubriand, in his turn, insisted with all the obstinacy of an author and all the pride of an ambassador. This affair made a noise, and M. de Chateaubriand laid a complaint before the Cardinal-governor; who decided in favour of the priest; and moreover, felt highly offended on the occasion: for M. de Chateaubriand, fancying that his services in the cause of religion had given him a right to assume the tone of one initiated in the secrets of the church, concluded 232his argument with the Cardinal by saying: “That it was very ridiculous that such obstacles should be thrown in his way; for,” added he, “between ourselves, your Eminence must know that between Atala and any other Saint, there is no great difference.”

The Emperor was highly entertained by these anecdotes, which, he said, were quite new to him, and the person who related them observed that, although he could not vouch for their authenticity, yet he had no doubt of it in his own mind, having heard them from one of the persons who succeeded M. de Chateaubriand at the court of Rome.

In politics M. de Chateaubriand has been alternately seen amongst the adherents and opponents of Napoleon; and the Emperor charges him, when in his service, with malevolence and want of integrity, particularly at the time of his embassy to the old King of Sardinia at Rome.

During the disastrous event of 1814, he made himself conspicuous by writing pamphlets so outrageously violent and virulent, and disgraced by such barefaced calumnies, that they excited feelings of disgust. He no doubt must regret having been the author of them, and would not now degrade his talents by such writings.

Some years before our disasters, the Emperor, reading one day some fragments of this author’s works, expressed his surprise that he was not a member of the Institute. These words acted as a powerful recommendation in favour of M. de Chateaubriand, who hastened to put himself in the list as a candidate, and was almost unanimously chosen.

According to one of the invariable rules of the Institute, the candidate newly chosen was to make a speech in praise of the member to whom he was then succeeding; but M. de Chateaubriand, persuaded, that for a man who had once occupied the attention of the public, the surest way to acquire celebrity was to leave the beaten track, and strike into a new path to fame, reversed this custom by devoting part of his speech to stigmatise the political principles of M. Chenier his predecessor, and proscribe him as a regicide. His speech was a complete political argument, discussing the restoration of monarchy 233and the judgment and death of Louis XVI.; the whole Institute was in an uproar, some of the members refusing to listen to a speech which appeared to them indecorous, and others, on the contrary, insisting upon its being read. From the Institute the dispute spread rapidly through the different circles of Paris, which were full of the debate, and divided in opinion on the subject; and at last reached the ears of the Emperor, to whom every thing was carried, and who wished to be informed of every thing. He ordered the speech to be shown to him, pronounced it to be extravagant in the extreme, and instantly forbade its publication. It so happened that one of the members of the Institute, who had taken a lively part in the discussion, and voted for the reading of the speech, was also one of the great officers of the Emperor’s household; and the Emperor took advantage of this circumstance to manifest his opinion, by addressing him in the following manner at one of his couchers:—"How long is it, sir," said he, with the utmost severity, "since the Institute has presumed to take the character of a political assembly? The province of the Institute is to produce poetry and to censure faults of language; let it beware how it forsakes the domain of literature, or I shall take measures to bring it back within its proper limits. And is it possible that you, sir, have sanctioned such an intemperate harangue by your approbation? If M. de Chateaubriand is insane, or disposed to malevolence, a mad-house may cure him, or punishment correct him; yet it may be that the opinions he has pronounced are conscientiously his own, and he is not obliged to surrender them to my policy, which is unknown to him; but with you the case is totally different—you are constantly near my person, you are acquainted with all my acts, you know my will; there may be an excuse in M. de Chateaubriand’s favour, there can be none in yours. Sir, I hold you guilty, I consider your conduct as criminal: it tends to bring us back to the days of disorder and confusion, anarchy and bloodshed. Are we then banditti? And am I but an usurper? Sir, I did not ascend the throne by hurling another from it; I found the crown; I picked it up out 234of the kennel, and the nation placed it on my head: respect the nation’s act. To submit facts that have so recently occurred to public discussion in the present circumstances, is to court fresh convulsions, and be an enemy to the public tranquillity. The restoration of monarchy is veiled in mystery, and must remain so; wherefore then, I pray, this new proposed proscription of conventionalists and regicides? Why are subjects of so delicate a nature again brought to light? To God alone it must belong to pronounce upon what is no longer within the reach of the judgment of men! Are you to be more scrupulous than the Empress? Her interests are as dear as yours can be in this question, and much more direct, yet she has asked no questions, she has made no enquiries; take example from her moderation.

"Have I then lost the fruit of all my labours? have all my efforts been of so little avail that, as soon as my presence no longer restrains you, you are ready to cut one another’s throats?" And, in speaking thus, he paced the room with rapid strides, and, striking his forehead with his hand, exclaimed: "Alas! poor France, long yet must thou need the care of a guardian.

“I have done all in my power,” continued he, "to quell all your dissensions; to unite all parties has been the constant object of my solicitude. I have made all meet under the same roof, sit at the same board, and drink of the same cup. I have a right to expect that you will second my endeavours.

"Since I have taken the reins of government, have I ever inquired into the lives, actions, opinions, or writings of any one?—Imitate my forbearance.

“I have never had but one aim, never asked but this one question; will you sincerely assist me in promoting the true interest of France? and all those who have answered affirmatively have been placed by me in a defile of granite and without outlet on either side, through which I have urged them on to the other extremity, where my finger pointed to the honour, the glory, and the splendour of France.”

This reprimand was so severe that the person to whom it was addressed, a man of honour and delicate 235feelings, determined upon asking an audience the next day, in order to tender his resignation. He was admitted to the presence of the Emperor, who immediately said to him: “My dear sir, you are come on account of the conversation of yesterday; you felt hurt on the occasion, and I have felt not less so; but it was a piece of advice which I thought it right to give to more than one person; if it has the desired effect of producing some public good, we must neither of us regret the circumstance; think no more about it.” And he spoke of something else.

Thus would the Emperor often censure whole bodies in the person of one single individual; and, in order to strike with greater awe, he did it in a most solemn and imposing manner. But the anger which he sometimes shewed in public, and of which so much has been said, was only feigned, and put on for the moment. The Emperor affirmed that by such means he had often deterred many from the commission of a fault, and spared himself the necessity of punishing.

One day, at one of his grand audiences, he attacked a Colonel with the utmost vehemence, and quite in a tone of anger, upon some slight disorders of which his regiment had been guilty towards the inhabitants of the countries they had passed through, in returning to France. During the reprimand, the Colonel, thinking the punishment out of all proportion to the fault of which he was accused, repeatedly endeavoured to excuse himself; but the Emperor, without interrupting his speech, said to him in an under-tone, “Very well, but hold your tongue; I believe you: but say nothing:” and when he afterwards saw him in private, he said to him: “When I thus addressed you, I was chastising, in your person, certain Generals whom I saw near you, and who, had I spoken to them direct, would have been found deserving of the lowest degradation, and perhaps of something worse.”

But it sometimes happened, also, that the Emperor was publicly appealed to: I have witnessed several instances of this kind.

One day at St. Cloud, at the grand audience which 236was held every Sunday, a Sub-prefect, or some other public officer of Piedmont, who was standing by my side, addressed the Emperor in a loud tone of voice and with the utmost emotion, calling for justice, asserting that he had been falsely accused, and unjustly condemned and dismissed from the service. “Apply to my ministers,” answered the Emperor. “No, Sire, I wish to be judged by you.” “That is impossible, my time is wholly absorbed with the general interests of the Empire, and my ministers are appointed to take into consideration the particular cases of individuals.” “But they will condemn me.” “For what reason?” “Because every body is against me.” “Why?” “Because I love you—to love you, Sire, is a sufficient motive to inspire every one with hatred.” All the bystanders were disconcerted at this answer, and red with confusion; but the Emperor replied, with the utmost calmness, “This is rather a strange assertion, sir, but I am willing to hope that you are mistaken,” and he passed on to the next person. On another occasion also, on the parade, a young officer stepped out of the ranks, in extreme agitation, to complain that he had been ill-used, slighted, and passed over, and that he had been five years a Lieutenant, without being able to obtain promotion. “Calm yourself,” said the Emperor, “I was seven years a Lieutenant, and yet you see that a man may push himself forward for all that.” Every body laughed, and the young officer, suddenly cooled by those few words, returned to his place. Nothing was more common than to see private individuals attack the Emperor, and hold out against him, and I have often seen him thus sharply and warmly disputed with, and unable to silence his opponent, give up the contest by addressing another person, or by turning the conversation to another subject.

It may be observed, as a general principle, that, however violent the Emperor’s actions might appear, they were always the result of calculation. “When one of my ministers,” said he, “or some other great personage had been guilty of a fault of so grave a nature that it became absolutely necessary for me to be very angry, I always took care in that case to have a third person present to 237witness the scene that was to ensue; for it was a general maxim, with me, that when I resolved to strike a blow it must be felt by many at the same time; the immediate object of my resentment did not feel more incensed against me on that account, and the bystander, whose embarrassed appearance was highly ludicrous, did not fail to run and circulate, most discreetly, as far as he could, all that he had seen and heard. A salutary terror ran thus from vein to vein through the body social: a new impulse was given to the march of affairs; I had less to punish, and a great deal of public good was obtained without inflicting much private hardship.”

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOVERNOR.—EXPENSES OF THE EMPEROR’S HOUSEHOLD AT THE TUILERIES.—OF A GOOD SYSTEM OF FINANCE.—MESSRS. MOLLIEN AND LABOUILLERIE.

Sunday, 2nd.—The Emperor rode out on horseback at about eight o’clock; he had long since abstained from enjoying that exercise. In returning through the valley of the Company’s garden, he went into the house of one of the Company’s Adjutants, whose wife is a Catholic; he remained there a few minutes only, and was in high spirits. We next went to the house of Madame Bertrand, to whom the Emperor paid a long visit. He alluded, in the strongest terms, and with infinite humour, to the behaviour of the Governor towards us; to his paltry measures, his total want of consideration, the absurd manner in which he conducted the affairs of the government of the island, and his total ignorance of the business and manners of life. “We had certainly some reason to complain of the Admiral,” said the Emperor; “but he at least was an Englishman, and this man is nothing but an Italian Sbire. We have not the same manners,” added he, “we cannot understand each other; our feelings do not speak the same language. He probably cannot conceive, for instance, that heaps of diamonds would be insufficient to atone for the affront he has offered in causing one of my domestics to be arrested almost in my presence. Since that day all my household are in consternation.”

238On returning from our ride, we breakfasted in the garden. In the evening, whilst we were taking an airing in the calash, and making what we called the double round, we beguiled the time in making an estimate of the expenses of a man possessing an income of 150,000 livres in Paris. The Emperor said that a sixth of that sum should go for the stables, a fourth for the table, &c. I have already said that he was fond of making such calculations, which he always had the art of placing in a new and unexpected light.

The conversation led us to some details worthy of remark on the civil list and the expenses of the Emperor’s household. The following are amongst those I have remembered:

One million was allowed for the table, and yet the expense of the Emperor’s own dinner did not exceed one hundred francs a day. It had never been found possible to manage to give him his dinner hot; for, when once engaged in his closet, it was impossible to know when he would leave it. Therefore, when the hour of dinner arrived, a fowl was put on the spit for him every half hour; and it has sometimes happened that dozens have been roasted before that which has finally been set before him.

The conversation now turned upon the advantages of a good administration of finances. The Emperor spoke highly of the talents of Messrs. de Mollien and Labouillerie, in that branch. M. de Mollien, in particular, had put the treasury on the footing of a simple banking-house; and the Emperor had continually under his eyes, in a small book for that purpose, a complete statement of the revenue, the receipt, expenditure, arrears, resources, &c.

The Emperor had in his cellars at the Tuileries, he added, as much as 400 millions in gold, which were entirely his own property; so much so indeed that no other account of it existed but in a small book in the hands of his private Treasurer. All this treasure disappeared by degrees, and was applied to the expenses of the Empire, particularly at the time of our disasters. “How could I think,” said he, “of keeping anything for myself! I had identified myself with the nation.” He further added 239that he had sent 2000 millions in specie into France, without reckoning what private individuals might have brought on their own account.

The Emperor said that he had been much hurt at the conduct of M. de Labouillerie, who, being at Orleans in 1814, in charge of several millions belonging to him (Napoleon), his own private property, had taken them to the Count d’Artois in Paris instead of carrying them to Fontainbleau, as he was in duty and in conscience bound to do. “And yet Labouillerie was not a bad man,” said the Emperor. “I had both loved him and esteemed him. On my return in 1815 he earnestly entreated me to see him and hear what he had to say in his own defence; he no doubt would have proved that his fault arose from his ignorance, and not from his heart. He knew me; he was aware that, if he could approach me, the affair would be settled with a few angry expressions on my part; but I also knew my own weakness, I was resolved not to take him into my service again, and therefore refused to admit him. It was the only way in which I could hope at that moment to hold out against him and several others. Esteve, the predecessor of Labouillerie, would not have acted in that manner; he was entirely devoted to my person; he would have brought my treasure to Fontainbleau at all hazards; or if he had failed in the attempt, he would have thrown it into a river, or distributed it in various places, rather than give it up.”

ON WOMEN, &C.—POLYGAMY.

Monday, 3rd.—The Emperor, after having been three hours in his bath, went out at about five o’clock, to take a walk in the garden. He was taciturn and dejected, and wore the appearance of suffering. We afterwards drove out in the calash, and by degrees he became more cheerful and talkative.

On our return, he continued to walk for some time; and in order to engage in a playful warfare with one of the ladies present, he affected to declaim against women. “We men of the West,” said he, winking aside to us at the same time, to let us know that he was jesting, “know nothing at all about the matter, we have acted most unwisely 240in treating women too well; we have imprudently allowed them to rank almost as our equals. In the East they have more sense and judgment; there women are pronounced to be the actual property of man; and so indeed they are. Nature has made them our slaves, and it is only by presuming upon our folly that they can aspire to govern us, and by abusing the advantages which they possess, that they succeed in fascinating us and establishing their dominion over us. For one woman that inspires us with proper sentiments, there are a hundred who lead us into errors.” He then went on to express his approbation of the maxims of the oriental nations, highly commended the practice of polygamy, which he considered to be that pointed out by nature, and displayed considerable ingenuity and fertility of invention in the choice and number of arguments which he adduced in support of his opinion. “Woman,” said he, "is given to man to bear children to him; but one woman cannot suffice to one man for that purpose, for a woman cannot fulfil the duties of a wife during the period of her gestation, whilst she suckles her child, or when she is ill: and she ceases altogether to be a wife when she is no longer able to bear children. To man, on the contrary, nature has opposed no such obstacles at any period of his existence; a man should therefore have several wives.

“After all,” continued he, smiling significantly, “what have you to complain of, ladies? have we not acknowledged that you possess a soul? though certain philosophers, you know, have entertained doubts on this point. You aim at equality, but that is madness: woman is our property, we are not hers; for it is she that gives us children, and not we to her; she is therefore the property of man, in the same manner as the fruit-tree is the property of the gardener. If the husband is unfaithful to his wife, and he confesses his fault and repents of it, there is an end of the matter; no trace of it is left: the wife is angry, forgives, or becomes reconciled; and not unfrequently is a gainer on the occasion. But the case is widely different when the wife is unmindful of the marriage vow; it is of no avail for her to repent; the 241consequences of her guilt are incalculable, the mischief irreparable, she must never, she can never, confess it. You will therefore agree with me, Ladies, that it can only be an error of judgment, the want of education, or the preponderance of vulgar notions, that can prompt a wife to believe herself the equal, in every respect, of her husband. There is, however, nothing disparaging in the inequality; each sex has its attributes and its duties; your attributes, Ladies, are beauty, grace, fascination; your duties, submission, and dependance, &c.”&c.”

After dinner, the Emperor desired my son to bring him the Memoirs of the Chevalier de Grammont and a volume of Voltaire’s plays. Having, as he said, imposed on himself the task of remaining up till eleven o’clock, the Emperor read for some time the Memoirs, observing that a very little could be rendered amusing when seasoned with genuine wit. He afterwards turned over Mahomet, Semiramis, and other plays of Voltaire’s, pointing out their faults and blemishes, and concluding, as he generally did, that Voltaire had no knowledge either of affairs, men, or the real passions of human nature.

THE EMPEROR RESUMES THE DICTATION OF HIS MEMOIRS, &C.

Tuesday, 4th.—The Emperor sent for me at about four o’clock to take a ride in the calash. He told me he had at last been dictating again, and that what had been done would not be found devoid of interest. He added that he had been during the whole morning very much out of humour: that he had at first attempted to go out at about one o’clock, but that he had found himself compelled to return into the house, pursued by disgust and ennui; and that, not knowing what to do with himself, he had thought of resuming his dictations.

The Emperor had long since ceased to apply himself regularly to this occupation. Several months had already elapsed since my Campaigns of Italy were finished; the Campaign of Egypt which he had dictated to General Bertrand, was also completed; and General Gourgaud had been very ill. All these circumstances had concurred to cause interruptions, which had engendered disgust; 242the Emperor had not proceeded further, and could not summon courage to begin again.

I took advantage of what he had just said, to represent to him that to dictate was, for him, the surest, the only remedy against ennui, the only way in which he could beguile the tedious hours: and for us, the means of obtaining the inestimable advantage of being put in possession of treasures, in the existence of which the honour and glory of France were equally interested. I urged, that it was of paramount importance that he should continue to write his own history. “Each of us,” said I, "would willingly give his life to obtain it; it was due to his memory, to his family, to us. Where would his son find the events of his father’s life faithfully recorded? What pen could be found equal to the task of retracing them in a manner worthy of the subject? and yet, without such invaluable documents, how many events would be buried with Napoleon, and remain for ever unknown! We who surrounded him formerly, what did we then know? how much had we not learnt here," &c. &c. The Emperor replied that he would continue his Memoirs, and consulted me as to the plan to be followed in digesting them; should they appear as a history? or as annals? He discussed the point for a long time, but without coming to any conclusion.

At dinner he said, “I have to-day been severely reprimanded on account of my idleness; I am therefore going to take to my task again, and embrace several periods at the same time: each of you shall have his share. Did not Herodotus,” said he, looking at me, “give to his books the names of the muses? I intend that each of mine shall bear the name of one of you. Even little Emmanuel shall give his to one of them. I will begin the history of the Consulate with Montholon, Gourgaud shall record the events of some other period, or detached battles; and little Emmanuel shall prepare the documents and materials of the epoch of the coronation.”

243

MILITARY SCHOOLS.—PLAN OF EDUCATION PRESCRIBED BY THE EMPEROR.—HIS INTENTIONS IN BEHALF OF VETERANS.—CHANGES INTRODUCED IN THE MANNERS OF THE CAPITAL.

Wednesday, 5th.—The Emperor went out at about four o’clock; he had been three hours in his bath, and did not feel well. Yet the weather was delightful; it was like a fine afternoon in Europe. We walked until we came up to the calash, and then took our usual drive. Our conversation turned upon the military school of Paris before the Revolution, and we contrasted the footing of luxury upon which we were placed at that school with the severe discipline introduced by the Emperor in these establishments during his reign.

At the military school of Paris we were treated in every respect like officers of fortune, boarded and waited upon in a style of great magnificence, greater indeed than the circumstances of most of our families warranted, and greater than most of us could hope to be able to keep up in after-life. The Emperor had been anxious, he said, to avoid falling into this error; he had wished, above all, that his young officers, who were one day to command soldiers, should begin by being soldiers themselves, and learn by experience all the technical details of the service: a system of education, he added, which must ever prove an immense advantage to an officer in the course of his future career, by enabling him to follow them and to enforce the observance of those details in others who are placed under his orders. It was on this principle that, at St. Germain, the young students were obliged to groom their own horses, taught to shoe them, &c. The same spirit presided over the regulations at St. Cyr: there several pupils were lodged together in one large apartment, a common mess was provided for all indiscriminately, &c.: yet the attention paid to these particulars was not suffered to interfere with the care bestowed upon the instruction necessary to qualify them for their future career: in short, they did not leave St. Cyr before they had really earned the rank of officers, and were found capable of 244leading and commanding soldiers. “And it must be admitted,” the Emperor observed, “that if the young men who passed from that institution, at its origin, into different corps of the army, were at first viewed with jealousy, ample justice was soon rendered to their discipline and to their abilities.”

The establishments of Ecouen, St. Denis and others, which the benevolent solicitude of Napoleon had created for the daughters of members of the legion of honour, were conducted upon principles of a similar nature. Some of the rules, made by the Emperor himself, ordered that every article for the use of the institution should be made in the house and by the hands of the pupils themselves, and forbade every species of luxury, extravagance in dress, and plays; the object being, he said, to form good housewives and respectable women.

Public opinion had given to Napoleon, at the time of his elevation, the reputation of a man of a harsh disposition and void of sensibility; yet it is certain that no sovereign ever acted more from the impulse of genuine feelings than he did; but, from a peculiar turn of mind, he concealed all emotions of the heart with as much care as others take to display them.

He had adopted all the children of the soldiers and officers killed at Austerlitz, and with him such an act was not one of mere form; he had provided for them all.

I heard the following anecdote from a young man who has related it to me since my return to Europe, with tears of gratitude. Having been fortunate enough, when yet very young, to attract the Emperor’s notice by some signal proof of his attachment; Napoleon asked him what profession he would wish to embrace; and, without waiting for his answer, pointed out one himself. The young man observed that his father’s fortune was not sufficient to allow him to follow it. “What signifies that?” replied the Emperor hastily: “Am I not also your father?” Those persons who have known Napoleon in his private life, who have lived near his person, can relate a thousand traits of the same kind.

He had done much for the army and the veterans, 245and proposed to do much more: every day some new thought tending to that object occupied his mind. The plan of a decree was one day laid before us in the Council of State, proposing that in future all vacant situations in the customs, the collection of the revenue, and the excise, should be given to wounded soldiers, or to veterans capable of filling them, from the private up to the highest ranks in the army. This plan being coldly received, the Emperor addressed one of those who opposed it in his usual manner, urging him to discuss the question freely, and state his opinion without reserve. “Sire,” answered M. Malouet, “my objection is that I fear the other classes of the nation will feel themselves aggrieved in seeing the army preferred to them.” “Sir,” replied the Emperor warmly, “you make a distinction which does not exist; the army no longer forms a separate class of the nation. In the situation in which we are now placed no member of the state is exempt from being a soldier; to follow a military career is no longer a matter of choice, it is one of necessity. The greatest number of those who are engaged in that career have been compelled to abandon their own profession against their will, it is therefore but justice that they should receive some kind of compensation for it.”—"But," again observes the member who opposed the plan, “will it not be inferred that your majesty intends that in future almost all vacant situations shall be given to soldiers?”—

“And such is indeed my intention,” said the Emperor. “Sir, the only question is, whether I have the right to do so, and whether I thereby commit an act of injustice? Now the constitution gives me the nomination to all places, and I think it a principle of strict equity that those who have suffered most have the greatest claims to be indemnified.” Then, raising his voice, he added, “Gentlemen, war is not a profession of ease and comfort: quietly seated on your benches here you know it only by reading our bulletins, or by hearing of our triumphs. You know nothing of our nightly watches, our forced marches, the sufferings and privations of every kind to which we are exposed: but I do 246know them, because I witness them, and sometimes share in them.”

This plan, however, like many others, was at last abandoned, after having been several times under discussion and variously modified; and the beneficent intentions of the Emperor were, I believe, not even known to the public, though he had appeared to take a lively interest in the passing of this decree, and had defended it in its most minute details.

Amongst the objections started against this plan, at the commencement of the discussion, and the arguments to which they gave rise, were the following:—"Would your majesty, for instance, give such situations to a soldier who could not read?"—"Why not?"—"But how would he be able to discharge his duties? how could he keep his accounts?"—"Sir, he would apply to his neighbour, he would send for his relations, and the benefit intended for one would be felt by many. Besides, I do not hold your objection to be valid; we have only to stipulate that the man appointed shall be qualified to fill the situation," &c.

Towards evening, the Emperor sent for me to his own room. I found him alone, near a small fire, but almost in the dark, the lights being placed in the next apartment. This obscurity, he said, was in harmony with his melancholy. He was silent and dejected.

After dinner the Emperor took up the Memoirs of the Chevalier de Grammont, but found himself unable to continue to read them.

A discussion then arose upon the manner in which time was spent in Paris. The habits of society in former times and the present were reviewed. The Emperor said he had thought much and often upon the means of introducing variety into the pleasures of society. He had had assemblies at Court, plays, excursions to Fontainbleau, but they had only produced the effect, he said, of inconveniencing the people at Court without influencing the circles of the metropolis. There was not yet a sufficient degree of cohesion in those heterogeneous parts for them to re-act upon each other with due effect: but this, he affirmed, would have been brought about in the 247course of time. It was observed to him that he had much contributed to shorten the evenings at Paris, as all persons employed by government, having a great deal to do, and being obliged to rise very early, were under the necessity of retiring early. “It caused, however, great surprise in Paris,” said the Emperor, “produced quite a revolution in manners, and almost stirred up a sedition in the circles of the metropolis, when the First Consul required that boots should be relinquished for shoes, and that some little attention should be bestowed upon dress to appear in company.”

The Emperor dwelt with great pleasure upon the causes of the good-breeding and amiable manners which distinguished society in our younger days. He defined particularly those points which contributed to render intimacy agreeable, such as a slight tinge of flattery on both sides, or, at least, an opposition seasoned with delicacy and politeness, &c.

REPUGNANCE TO PHYSIC.—GIL BLAS.—GENERAL BIZANET.—HEROIC DEEDS OF FRENCH VALOUR.—REFLECTIONS, &C.

Thursday, 6th.—I did not see the Emperor before six o’clock; being indisposed, he had remained in his room, and had not eaten any thing the whole day. He said that he found himself unwell, and was amusing himself by looking over some prints of London which the Doctor had lent him. The Doctor had had the honour of seeing the Emperor in the course of the day, and had made him laugh. “Hearing that I was not well,” said Napoleon, “he claimed me as his prey, by immediately advising me to take some medicine; medicine to me, who, to the best of my recollection, never took any in the whole course of my life!”

It was now past seven: the Emperor said that a man who felt hungry was not very ill. He called for something to eat, and a chicken was brought to him, which he highly relished. This revived his spirits a little, he became more talkative, and made remarks on several French novels. He had been employed the greater part of the day in reading Gil Blas, which he thought full of 248wit; but the hero and all his companions, he said, had deserved to be sent to the galleys. He then turned over a chronological register, and stopped at the brilliant affair of Bergenopzoom, commanded by General Bizanet.

“How many gallant actions,” said the Emperor, “have been either forgotten in the confusion of our disasters, or overlooked in the number of our exploits. The affair of Bergenopzoom is one of these. A competent garrison for that town would have been probably from eight to ten thousand men, but it did not then contain more than two thousand seven hundred. An English General, favoured by the darkness of the night, and by the intelligence which he kept up with the inhabitants, had succeeded in penetrating into it, at the head of four thousand eight hundred chosen men. They are in the town, the inhabitants are on their side, but nothing can triumph over French valour! A desperate engagement takes place in the streets, and nearly the whole of the English troops are killed or remain prisoners. That is undoubtedly, exclaimed the Emperor, a gallant action! General Bizanet is a gallant officer!”

It is certain, as Napoleon had observed, that, in the last moments of the Empire, numberless heroic deeds and historical traits have been overlooked in the confusion of our disasters, or have disappeared in the abyss of our misfortunes. Such are the extraordinary and singular defence of Huningen, by the intrepid Barbanegre; and the gallant resistance of General Teste at Namur, where, in an open town, with a handful of brave fellows, he stopped short the rapid advance of the Prussians, and facilitated the re-entry of Grouchy, without suffering any loss. Such was the brilliant expedition of the brave Excelmans in Versailles, which might have produced most important results, if it had been supported as it had been decided that it should be; and several others.

At any rate, these noble deeds at that critical period, have shed lustre on the ranks of the army rather than on its principal leaders. It would have been well, if, at the moment of that terrible catastrophe, during that fatal crisis, some of our first generals had again exhibited some of those noble acts of courage, those signal efforts, which 249marked our first triumphs, and which, under Napoleon’s reign, had become almost a national habit; whatever the result might have been, the attempt would have been a source of consolation to our glory, and France would have contemplated with satisfaction the heroic convulsions of her agony. We ought not to have terminated our career by common actions.

At that calamitous period, we had more troops abroad than at home: Dresden contained an army: a second army was shut up in Hamburg; a third in Dantzick; and a fourth might have been easily collected by bringing together the immense number of our soldiers, which formed several other intermediate garrisons. All the efforts of our enemies tended only to keep these brave troops separated from France, and to cut off their return. Oh! that some one of their leaders had been inspired with the thought to take advantage of those circumstances to liberate the sacred soil, by attacking boldly that of the enemy, and obliging him thus to retrace his steps! Would it have been impossible to unite those different corps?

Would not the union of the garrisons of Dresden, Torgau, Magdeburg, Hamburg, have produced a formidable army in the rear of the enemy, capable of breaking through his line, or of placing him in a most critical situation? Might not such an army have taken possession of Berlin, liberated the garrisons on the Oder, gone to the assistance of Dantzick, raised an insurrection in Poland, so well prepared for it, or, in short, done something bold, striking, unexpected, in a word, worthy of us?

What then was required to give a favourable turn to our destinies? the most trifling event, before the Allies entered France, would have sufficed to enable us to conclude a peace on reasonable terms at Francfort; and, at a later period, when the enemy was already in our own territory, the slightest cause of uneasiness in his rear at the time of the heroic actions of Champaubert, Montmirail, Vauchamp, Craon, Monterau, would probably have determined the hasty retreat of the Allies, and insured our triumph, and perhaps their destruction. And, if the general who had thus dared to devote himself had 250failed in the attempt, it would not have been the worse for us, since we have ultimately fallen; and he, in the spirit of our national character, would have gained the reputation of a hero and rendered his name immortal.

Instead of this, about one hundred thousand men were lost to France, by tamely adhering to the letter of their instructions; a system which we had long since abandoned. But perhaps I speak inconsiderately and without due knowledge of the subject; perhaps local circumstances and objections of which I am totally ignorant might be adduced as conclusive answers against me; such as the health of the troops, the state of destitution in which they were; the non-reception of orders from the Emperor, who did endeavour to give some orders of that kind; the fear of deranging the main plan; the dread of incurring too great a responsibility, &c. But is it not rather that the source of these high conceptions, and the cause of their heroic execution, were to be found in Napoleon alone, and that where he was not, as it may have been often observed, affairs were suffered to sink to the level of their ordinary course? Be that as it may, something of the kind was however suggested to the General commanding the army in Dantzick, at the time of the capitulation of that town. The idea came from an officer of inferior rank, it is true, but from one whose courage and intrepidity, and the success with which they had been crowned, entitled him perhaps to give such an opinion: it was Captain de Chambure, the leader of that renowned company of partisans which covered itself with glory during the siege. This company had been formed for that particular service, of one hundred picked men chosen out of the most notoriously intrepid, throughout all the corps of the army; it fulfilled, and even exceeded, all the expectations which it had raised; and the besiegers, struck with terror at its exploits, honoured it with the epithet of infernal. It would sometimes land at night in the rear of the Russian army, slaughter their sentinels, spike their guns, burn their magazines, destroy their parks, threaten the lives even of the generals, and return to the town through the enemies’ camp over the 251bodies of all who opposed its passage. These facts and several others are recorded in the general orders of that army.

It cannot be denied that, in ordinary times, in the days that preceded ours, every one of these actions would have been sufficient to immortalize every individual who had a share in them, and that even amidst the wonders of our age they are deserving of particular notice. On his return from Elba, Napoleon was desirous of seeing the brave Chambure, who was covered with wounds: he was accordingly introduced to the Emperor by the Minister of War, and was immediately appointed to the command of a partisan corps on the eastern frontiers of France, where he again shewed himself worthy of his fame. Two English officers fell into his hands in the very heart of France, and at the moment of the violent exasperation produced by the recent disasters which had again befallen us. De Chambure protected these officers from the fury of his own soldiers, and preserved their equipages and even their baggage. Will it be believed? Some time afterwards, this officer, whose courage, loyalty, and above all, whose noble conduct were deserving of the highest recompense, was by a French tribunal condemned to the galleys for life, and to be branded and exposed in the pillory, for having, it was said, stopped and robbed two officers of the enemy’s army on the highway! Such is the justice of party-spirit! Such the monstrous aberrations to which the judgment and the consciences of men can be reconciled by the effervescence of civil commotions!

Under these circumstances, no alternative was left to Colonel de Chambure but a speedy retreat from his own country: it was in vain that from his exile he endeavoured to make the truth known; it was in vain that the two English officers gave the most extensive publicity to the testimonials of their gratitude: a considerable time elapsed before Colonel de Chambure could seize the opportunity of a moment of political calm, to deliver up his person to the tribunals, and call for a revision of his trial.—That revision took place, and this time the result was a declaration that there were not even any grounds 252of accusation against him! This is indeed one of the peculiar signs of the times!

THE EMPEROR’S IMAGINARY PLANS FOR THE FUTURE.—NAPOLEON LITTLE KNOWN EVEN BY HIS HOUSEHOLD—HIS RELIGIOUS OPINIONS.

From Friday 7th to Saturday 8th.—During a long private conversation, this morning, the Emperor reverted to all the horrors of our present situation, and enumerated all the chances which hope suggested of better days.

After his remarks on these topics, which I cannot repeat here, he gave the rein to his imagination, and said that the only countries in which he could reside for the future were England and America. His inclination, he added, prompted for America, because there he should be really free, and independence and repose were all he now sighed for: then followed an imaginary plan of life: he fancied himself with his brother Joseph, in the midst of a little France, &c. Yet policy, he observed, might decide for England. He was bound perhaps to remain a slave to events—he owed the sacrifice of himself to a nation which had done more for him than he had done for it in return; and then followed another imaginary plan for the future.

In the course of our subsequent conversation, the Emperor could not sufficiently express his surprise at the conviction, which he had obtained, that several of those who surrounded him and formed his Court, believed the greatest part of the many absurdities and idle reports which had been circulated respecting himself, and that they even went so far as to doubt the falsehood of the enormities with which his reputation had been stained.—Thus we believed that he wore armour in the midst of us—was addicted to the superstition of presentiments and fatality—subject to fits of madness or of epilepsy—that he had strangled Pichegru—caused a poor English captain’s throat to be cut, &c. We could not but admit that his invective against us on the occasion was merited; all we could allege in our defence was that many circumstances had concurred to leave those who 253formerly surrounded his person as much in ignorance on the subject as the bulk of the nation could be. We frequently saw him, I said, but we never held any communication with him: every thing remained a mystery for us. Not a voice was raised to refute, whilst many in secret, and some that were nearest to his person, either through perverseness, or with bad intentions, seemed ever busy in dealing out insinuations. As for myself, I candidly confessed that I had not formed a just idea of his disposition before I came here, although I could congratulate myself that I had certainly guessed him in part. “And yet,” he observed in reply, “you have often seen me and heard me in the Council of State.”

In the evening, after dinner, the conversation turned upon religion. The Emperor dwelt on the subject at length. The following is a faithful summary of his arguments; I give it as being quite characteristic upon a point which has probably often excited the curiosity of many.

The Emperor, after having spoken for some time with warmth and animation, said: “Every thing proclaims the existence of a God, that cannot be questioned; but all our religions are evidently the work of men. Why are there so many?—Why has ours not always existed?—Why does it consider itself exclusively the right one?—What becomes in that case of all the virtuous men who have gone before us?—Why do these religions revile, oppose, exterminate one another?—Why has this been the case ever and every where?—Because men are ever men; because priests have ever and every where introduced fraud and falsehood. However, as soon as I had power, I immediately re-established religion. I made it the ground-work and foundation upon which I built. I considered it as the support of sound principles and good morality, both in doctrine and in practice. Besides, such is the restlessness of man, that his mind requires that something undefined and marvellous which religion offers; and it is better for him to find it there, than to seek it of Cagliostro, of Mademoiselle Lenormand, or of the fortune-tellers and impostors.” Somebody having ventured to say to him that he might 254possibly in the end become devout, the Emperor answered, with an air of conviction, that he feared not, and that it was with regret he said it; for it was no doubt a great source of consolation; but that his incredulity did not proceed from perverseness or from licentiousness of mind, but from the strength of his reason. “Yet,” added he, “no man can answer for what will happen, particularly in his last moments. At present I certainly believe that I shall die without a confessor; and yet there is one (pointing to one of us) who will perhaps receive my confession. I am assuredly very far from being an atheist, but I cannot believe all that I am taught in spite of my reason, without being false and a hypocrite. When I became Emperor, and particularly after my marriage with Maria Louisa, every effort was made to induce me to go with great pomp, according to the custom of the Kings of France, to take the sacrament at the church of Notre Dame; but this I positively refused to do: I did not believe in the act sufficiently to derive any benefit from it, and yet I believed too much in it to run the risk of committing a profanation.” On this occasion a certain person was alluded to, who had boasted, as it were, that he had never taken the sacrament. “That is very wrong,” said the Emperor; “either he has not fulfilled the intention of his education, or his education was neglected.” Then, resuming the subject, he said, “To explain where I come from, what I am, and whither I go, is above my comprehension; and yet all that is. I am like the watch that exists, without possessing the consciousness of existence. However, the sentiment of religion is so consolatory that it must be considered as a gift of Heaven: what a resource would it not be for us here to possess it! What influence could men and events exercise over me, if, bearing my misfortunes as if inflicted by God, I expected to be compensated by him with happiness hereafter! What rewards have I not a right to expect who have run a career so extraordinary, so tempestuous, without committing a single crime, and yet how many might I not have been guilty of? I can appear before the tribunal of God, I can await his judgment 255without fear. He will not find my conscience stained with the thoughts of murder and poisonings, with the infliction of violent and premeditated death, events so common in the history of those whose lives have resembled mine. I have striven only for the glory, the power, the greatness of France. All my faculties, all my efforts, all my moments, were directed to the attainment of that object. These cannot be crimes; to me they appeared acts of virtue. What then would be my happiness, if the bright prospect of futurity presented itself to crown the last moments of my existence!”

After a pause, he resumed. "How is it possible that conviction can find its way to our hearts, when we hear the absurd language, and witness the acts of iniquity, of the greatest number of those whose business it is to preach to us? I am surrounded by priests, who repeat incessantly that their reign is not of this world, and yet they lay hands upon every thing that they can get. The Pope is the head of that religion from heaven, and he thinks only of this world. What did the present Chief Pontiff, who is undoubtedly a good, and a holy man, not offer to be allowed to return to Rome! The surrender of the government of the church, of the institution of bishops, was not too high a price for him to give, to become once more a secular prince. Even now, he is the friend of all the Protestants, who grant him every thing, because they do not fear him. He is only the enemy of catholic Austria, because her territory surrounds his own.

“Nevertheless,” he observed again, “it cannot be doubted that, as Emperor, the species of incredulity which I felt was favourable to the nations I had to govern. How could I have favoured equally sects so opposed to one another, if I had been under the influence of any one of them? How could I have preserved the independence of my thoughts, and of my actions, under the controul of a confessor, who would have governed me by the dread of hell? What power cannot a wicked man, the most stupid of mankind, thus exercise over those by whom whole nations are governed? Is it not the scene-shifter at the opera, who from behind the scenes, moves 256Hercules at his will? Who can doubt that the last years of Louis XIV. would have been very different, had he been directed by another confessor? I was so deeply impressed with the truth of these opinions that I promised to do all in my power to bring up my son in the same religious persuasion which I myself entertain.”

The Emperor ended the conversation by desiring my son to bring him the New Testament; and, taking it from the beginning, he read as far as the conclusion of the discourse of Jesus on the mount. He expressed himself struck with the highest admiration, of the purity, the sublimity, the beauty of the morality which it contained; and we all experienced the same feeling.

PORTRAIT OF THE DIRECTORS.—ANECDOTES.—18TH FRUCTIDOR.

Sunday, 9th.—The Emperor spoke much of the creation of the Directory; he had installed it, being then Commander-in-chief of the Army of the Interior. This led him to review the five Directors, whose portraits and characters he drew. He gave a lively picture of their follies and their faults, and this led him to the events of Fructidor, and furnished many curious particulars. I have collected the following, partly, from some of his desultory conversations, and, partly, from his dictation of the campaigns of Italy.

“Barras,” said the Emperor, "of a good family in Provence, was an officer in the regiment of the Isle of France; at the revolution, he was chosen Deputy to the National Convention for the department of the Var. He had no talent for oratory, and no habits of business. After the 31st of May, he was, together with Freron, appointed Commissioner to the army of Italy, and to Provence, which was then the seat of civil war. On his return to Paris, he threw himself into the Thermidorian party; threatened by Robespierre, as well as Tallien and the remainder of Danton’s party, they united, and brought about the events of the 9th Thermidor. At the moment of the crisis, the Convention named him to march against the commune, which had risen in favour of Robespierre; he succeeded.

257"This event gave him great celebrity. After the downfall of Robespierre, all the Thermidorians became the leading men of France.

"At the critical period of the 12th Vendemiaire, it was determined, in order to get rid at once of the three Commissioners to the Army of the Interior, to unite in the person of Barras the power of Commissioner and Commander of that army. But the circumstances in which he was placed were too much for him; they were above his powers. Barras had no experience in war, he had quitted the service when only a captain; he had no knowledge of military affairs.

"The events of Thermidor and of Vendemiaire brought him into the Directory; he did not possess the qualifications requisite to fill that situation, but he acted better than was expected from him by those who knew him.

"He kept up a splendid establishment, had a pack of hounds, and his expenses were considerable. When he quitted the Directory, on the 18th Brumaire, he had still a large fortune, and he did not attempt to conceal it. That fortune was not large enough to have contributed in the least to the derangement of the finances, but the manner in which it had been acquired, by favouring the contractors, impaired the public morals.

"Barras was tall; he spoke sometimes in moments of agitation, and his voice filled the house. His intellectual capacity did not allow him to go beyond a few sentences, but the animation with which he spoke would have produced the impression that he was a man of resolution; this however he was not; and he had no opinion of his own upon any part of the administration of public affairs.

"In Fructidor, he formed with Rewbel and La Reveillere Lepaux, the majority against Carnot and Barthelemy; after that event he became to all appearance the most important member of the Directory, but, in reality, it was Rewbel who possessed the greatest influence. Barras always appeared in public the warm friend of Napoleon. At the time of the 30th Prairial, he had the art to conciliate the preponderating party in the assembly, and he did not share the disgrace of his colleagues.

258“La Reveillere Lepaux, born at Angers, belonged to the lower ranks of the middling class of society. He was short, and his person was as unprepossessing as can well be imagined; he was a true Æsop. He wrote tolerably well, but his mind was narrow, and he had neither habits of business nor knowledge of mankind. He was alternately governed, according to circumstances, by Carnot or Rewbel. The Jardin des Plantes, and the Theophilanthropy, a new religion of which he had the folly to become the founder, occupied all his time. In other respects, he was a patriot, warm and sincere, an honest man, and a citizen full of probity and of learning; he was poor when he became a member of the Directory, and poor when he left it. Nature had not qualified him to occupy any higher station than that of an inferior magistrate.”

Napoleon, after his return from the army of Italy, found himself, without knowing why, the object of the particular assiduity, the marked attentions and flatteries of the Director La Reveillere, who asked him one day to dine with him, strictly en famille, in order, he said, that they might be more at liberty to converse together. The young General accepted the invitation, and found, as he had promised, nobody present but the Director, his wife, and his daughter, “who, by the way,” added the Emperor, “were three paragons of ugliness.” After the dessert, the two ladies retired, and the conversation took a serious turn. La Reveillere descanted at length upon the disadvantages of our religion, upon the necessity, however, of having one, and extolled and enumerated the advantages of the religion which he wanted to establish, the Theophilanthropy. “I was beginning to find the conversation rather tedious and dull,” said the Emperor, “when, on a sudden, La Reveillere, rubbing his hands with an air of satisfaction, said to me affectedly, and with an arch look: ‘How valuable the acquisition of a man like you would be to us!—what advantage, what weight would be derived from your name!—and how glorious that circumstance would be to you!—Now what do you think of it?’”—The young General was far from expecting to receive such a proposal; however, he 259replied with humility, that he did not think himself worthy of such an honour; and his principles being, when treading an obscure path, to follow the track of those who had preceded him in it, he was resolved to act, in the article of religion, as his father and mother had done. This positive answer convinced the high-priest that nothing was to be done; he did not insist, but from that moment there was an end of all his attentions and flatteries towards the young General.

“Rewbel,” said the Emperor, "born in Alsace, was one of the best lawyers in the town of Colmar. He possessed that kind of intelligence which denotes a man skilled in the practice of the bar,—his influence was always felt in deliberations,—he was easily inspired with prejudices—did not believe much in the existence of virtue—and his patriotism was tinged with a degree of enthusiasm. It is problematical whether he did or did not amass a fortune, during the time he was in the Directory; he was surrounded by contractors, it is true,—but, with his turn of mind, it is possible that he only amused himself by conversing with men of activity and enterprise, and that he enjoyed their flatteries, without making them pay for the complaisance which he shewed them. He bore a particular hatred to the Germanic system—he displayed great energy in the assemblies, both before and after the period of his being a magistrate, and was fond of a life of application and activity. He had been a member of the Constituent Assembly, and of the Convention; by the latter he was appointed Commissioner at Mentz, where he gave no proofs of firmness or of military talent; he contributed to the surrender of the city, which might have held out longer. Like all lawyers, he had imbibed from his profession a prejudice against the army.

"Carnot, born in Burgundy, had entered when very young the corps of engineers, and shewed himself an advocate of the system of Montalembert. He was considered by his companions as an eccentric character, and was already a knight of the order of St. Louis at the commencement of the revolution, the principles of which he warmly espoused. He became a member of the Convention, 260and was one of the committee of public welfare with Robespierre, Barrère, Couthon, Saint-Juste, Billaud-Varennes, Collot-d’Herbois, &c. He was particularly inveterate against the nobility, and found himself, in consequence, frequently engaged in quarrels with Robespierre, who, towards the close of his life, had taken a great many nobles under his protection.

"Carnot was laborious, sincere on every occasion, but unaccustomed to intrigue and easily deceived. He was attached to Jourdan, as Commissioner from the Convention, at the time when Jourdan was employed in relieving the town of Mentz, which was besieged; and he rendered some services on the occasion. In the Committee of Public Welfare, he directed the operations of the war, and was found useful, but he had neither experience nor practice in the military matters. He displayed on every occasion great moral courage.

"After the events of Thermidor, when the Convention caused all the members of the committee of Public Welfare to be arrested, with the exception of himself, Carnot insisted upon sharing their fate. This conduct was the more noble, inasmuch as public opinion had pronounced itself violently against the Committee. He was nominated a member of the Directory after Vendemiaire; but after the 9th Thermidor his mind was deeply affected by the reproaches of public opinion, which attributed to the committee all the blood which had flowed on the scaffold. He felt the necessity of gaining esteem, and, believing that he took the lead, he suffered himself to be led by some of those who directed the party from abroad. His merit was then extolled to the skies, but he did not deserve the praises of the enemies of France; he found himself placed in a critical situation, and fell in Fructidor.

"After the 18th Brumaire, Carnot was recalled by the First Consul and placed in the department of war; he had several quarrels with the Minister of the Finances and Dufrenes the Director of the Treasury, in which it is but fair to say that he was always in the wrong. At last, he left the department, persuaded that it could no longer go on for want of money.

261"When a member of the Tribunate, he spoke and voted against the establishment of the Empire; but his conduct, open and manly, gave no uneasiness to the administration. At a later period, he was appointed Chief Inspector of Reviews, and received from the Emperor, on his retiring from the service, a pension of twenty thousand francs. As long as things went on prosperously, the Emperor heard nothing of him: but, after the campaign of Russia, at the time of the disasters of France, Carnot solicited to be employed: he was appointed to command the town of Antwerp, and he behaved well at his post. On his return in 1815, the Emperor, after a little hesitation, appointed him to be Minister of the Interior, and had no cause to repent of having done so; he found him faithful, laborious, full of probity, and always sincere. In the month of June, Carnot was named one of the Commission of the Provisional Government, but being unfit for the place, he was duped.

“Le Tourneur de la Manche was born in Normandy; he had been an officer of engineers before the revolution. It is difficult to explain how he came to be appointed to the Directory; it can only be from one of those unaccountable caprices of which large assemblies so often furnish examples. He was a man of narrow capacity, little learning, and of a weak mind. There were in the Convention five hundred deputies better qualified for the situation; he was however a man of strict probity, and left the Directory without any fortune.”

Le Tourneur made himself the talk and the laughing-stock of Paris; it was said that he came from his department to take possession at the Directory in a cart, with his house-keeper, his kitchen utensils, and his poultry. The wags of the capital marked him, and he was overwhelmed with ridicule. He was made, for instance, to return from the Jardin des Plantes, whither he had run immediately on his arrival in Paris, and to give an account of the rare things he had found there; and, on being asked whether he had seen Lacepede,^[19] he 262was surprised that he should have passed it unobserved, declaring that la Giraffe (the camelopard) was the only thing that had been pointed out to him.^[20]

"The Directory was hardly established before it began to lower itself in public estimation by caprices, bad morals, and false measures. The faults and absurdities which it committed daily completed its discredit, and it was lost in reputation almost at the very moment of its formation. Intoxicated with their elevation, the Directors thought it became them to adopt a certain air, and sought to acquire the appearance and manners of bon ton. In order the better to succeed, they formed each a little Court, where they received and welcomed the higher classes, hitherto in disgrace, and who were naturally their enemies, and from which they excluded the greatest part of their old acquaintances and former companions, as thenceforward too vulgar. All those who during the Revolution had shown more energy than the members of the Directory, or who had trodden in the same path with them, became odious to them and were immediately kept aloof; and the Directory thus rendered itself ridiculous to one party, and alienated the affections of the other. These five little Courts exacted a greater degree of servility in proportion as they were inferior and ridiculous; but numbers of men were found who could not bring themselves to bend and submit to formalities which the recollection of recent circumstances, the nature of the government and the character of the governors, rendered inadmissible.

"However, all the Directory could do to gain over the saloons of Paris proved of no avail: it did not succeed in acquiring any influence over them, and the Bourbon party was gaining ground. No sooner did the Directors perceive this than they hastily retraced their steps; but it was too late to recover the good-will of the republicans, whom they had estranged by their conduct. This led to a system of wavering, which 263looked like caprice; no course was laid down to steer by, no object was kept in view, no unity prevailed. The reigns of terror and of royalty were equally objected to; but in the mean time the road which was to lead to the goal was left untried. The Directory thought to put an end to this state of uncertainty and to avoid these perpetual waverings, by striking at one blow the two extreme parties, whether they had deserved it or not: if therefore a royalist, who had conspired or disturbed the public tranquillity, was arrested by their orders, they caused a republican, innocent or guilty, to be arrested at the same moment. This system was nicknamed The Political Seesaw, but the injustice and fraud which characterized it entirely discredited the government; every heart was closed; it was a government of lead. Every true and generous feeling was against the Directory.

"Men of business, jobbers and intriguers, by possessing themselves of the springs of government, acquired the greatest influence; all places were given to worthless individuals, to protégés, or to relations—corruption crept into every branch of the administration. This was soon perceived, and those who had it in their power to waste the public money could act without fear; the foreign relations, the armies, the finances, the department of the Interior, all felt the pernicious effects of so vicious a system. This state of things soon gathered a storm on the political horizon, and we proceeded with rapid strides to the crisis of Fructidor.

"At that period the measures of the Directory were weak, capricious, and uncertain; emigrants returned to France, and newspapers, paid by foreigners, dared openly to stigmatize the most deserving of our patriots. The fury of the enemies of our national glory exasperated the soldiers of the army of Italy, which declared itself loudly against them; whilst the Councils, in their turn, acting the parts of real counter-revolutionists, spoke of nothing but priests, bells, and emigrants. All the officers of the army, who had distinguished themselves more or less in the departments, in the battalions of volunteers, or even in the regiments of the line, finding themselves thus attacked in their dearest interests, inflamed more and 264more the anger of their soldiers; the minds of all parties were in a state of effervescence. In a moment of such violent agitation, what measures could the General of the army of Italy adopt? He had the choice of three:

“1st. To side with the preponderating party in the Councils—but it was too late; the army had declared itself, and the leaders of that party, the orators of the Council, by attacking incessantly both the General and his army, had not left him the possibility of adopting that resolution.

2dly. “To embrace the party of the Directory and of the Republic. That was the plainest course, that which duty pointed out, which the army inclined to, and in which he was already engaged; for all the writers who had remained faithful to the cause of the Revolution had declared themselves, of their own accord, the ardent defenders and warm advocates of the army and its commanders.

3dly. “To overpower both factions, by stepping forward boldly and appearing openly in the contest as regulator of the Republic. But notwithstanding the strength which Napoleon felt that he derived from the support of the army, although his character was highly esteemed in France, he did not think that the spirit of the times and public opinion were such as to allow him to take so daring a step. And besides, if this third measure had been that to which he secretly inclined, he could not have adopted it immediately, and without having previously sided with one of the two parties, which appeared at that moment in the political lists. It was absolutely necessary, even in order to form a third party, to side first either with the Councils or with the Directory.

“Thus, of the three measures to be adopted, the third in its execution merged into the two first, and he was entirely debarred from adopting the first of these two by the new formation of the Councils, and by the attacks already made upon him by them.

“These considerations and conclusions,” the Emperor observed, “were the natural result of a deep meditation upon the then existing state of affairs in France. The 265General had therefore nothing to do but to let events take their course, and second the impulse of his troops. And this view of the subject produced the proclamation to the army of Italy, and the far-famed order of the day of its General.

“‘Soldiers!’ he said, ‘I know that your hearts are full of grief at the calamities of our country; but, if it were possible that foreign armies should triumph, we would fly from the summit of the Alps with the rapidity of the eagle, to defend once more that cause which has already cost us so much blood.’

“These words decided the question; the soldiers, in ecstasy, were for marching at once upon Paris. The rumour of the event spread immediately to the capital, and produced a most powerful sensation. The Directory, which every body considered as lost, which the moment before was tottering alone and abandoned, found itself at once supported by public opinion; it immediately assumed the attitude, and followed the course of a triumphant party, and defeated all its enemies.

“The General of the army of Italy had sent the proclamation to his soldiers to the Directory by Augereau, because he was a Parisian and strongly in favour of the prevailing notions of the day.

“Nevertheless, the politicians of the day made the following surmises: What would Napoleon have done if the Councils had triumphed; if that faction, instead of being overthrown, had, on the contrary, overthrown the Directory? In that case, it appears, that he was determined to march upon Lyons and Mirbel with fifteen thousand men, where he would have been joined by all the republicans from the south and from Burgundy. The victorious Council would not have been more than three or four days without coming to some violent rupture and division: for it is known that, if the numbers of these Councils were unanimous in their proceedings against the Directory, they were far from being so as to the further course they meant to pursue. The leaders, such as Pichegru, Imbert-Colonnes, and others, sold to foreign powers, exerted all their influence to restore royalty and bring about a counter-revolution; whilst Carnot and 266others sought to produce results quite opposite to these. France would therefore have become immediately a prey to confusion and anarchy, and in that case, all factions would have seen, with satisfaction, Napoleon appear as a rallying point, an anchor of safety, capable of saving them at the same time from the terror of royalty and from the terror of demagogues. Napoleon would then naturally have repaired to Paris, and found himself placed at the head of affairs by the unanimous wish and consent of all parties. The majority of the Councils was strong and positive, it is true, but it was only against the Directors; it would have been divided ad infinitum as soon as they were overturned.

“The choice of three new Directors having openly exposed the true intention of the measures of the counter-revolution, the greatest number of the citizens, in their alarm, were ready to fly to meet Napoleon with the national oriflamme^[21] unfurled; for the true counter-revolutionists were after all few in number, and their pretensions were too ridiculous and absurd. Every thing would have given way before Napoleon. Had they called him Cæsar or Cromwell, still he would have marched with a religion, a party, whose ideas were settled and popular; he was master of his soldiers, the coffers of the army were full, and he was in possession of every other means calculated to ensure their constancy and their fidelity. If the question were now to be asked whether Napoleon, in the recesses of his own mind, would or would not have wished affairs to take this turn, we should give our opinion in the affirmative; and we are led to believe from the following fact, that his wishes and his hopes were in favour of the triumph of the majority of the Councils. At the moment of the crisis between the two factions, a secret decree, signed by the three members composing the party of the Directory, asked him for three millions to resist the attack of the Councils, but Napoleon, under various pretences, did not send them, although it would have been easy for him to do so; 267yet it is well known that it is not consistent with his character to hesitate in money matters.

“Therefore, when the struggle was over, and the Directory took pleasure in acknowledging openly that it owed its existence to Napoleon, it still entertained some vague suspicions that Napoleon had only espoused its cause in the hopes of seeing it overthrown, and of taking its place.

“Be that as it may, after the 18th Fructidor, the enthusiasm of the army was at its height, and the triumph of Napoleon complete. But the Directory, notwithstanding its apparent gratitude, surrounded Napoleon from that moment with numerous agents, who watched his motions and endeavoured to penetrate his thoughts.

"The situation of Napoleon was one of extreme delicacy, although his conduct was so well regulated, and so admirable, that even at this period we can only form mere conjectures on the subject; but to the delicacy of his situation it is that we think we can trace the principal reasons which led to the conclusion of the peace at Campo Formio, to his refusal to remain at the Congress of Rastadt, and finally, to the undertaking of the expedition to Egypt.

“As it always happens in France, immediately after the 18th Fructidor, the party that had been overthrown disappeared on a sudden, and the majority of the Directory triumphed without moderation. It became every thing, and reduced the Councils to nothing.

“Napoleon then felt the necessity of peace, which, putting an end to the present state of affairs, would increase his popularity: he had every thing to fear from the prolongation of war; it might furnish those who should have suspected him ready pretexts for injuring him; or the intention might be to expose him in situations of difficulty, and unite the other generals against him.

“Two“Two of the generals, who enjoyed the greatest reputation at that time, manifested openly their sentiments with respect to the great affair of Fructidor: these were Moreau and Hoche.

“Moreau had declared himself positively against the 268Directory, and by a line of conduct at once pusillanimous and culpable, he failed in his duty and compromised his honour.

“Hoche was entirely in favour of the Directory, impelled by the impetuosity of his disposition, he marched part of his army upon Paris, and failed by acting with too much precipitation. His troops were countermanded by the influence of the Councils, and he himself was obliged to leave Paris, to avoid being arrested by order of these Councils. Hoche had therefore done nothing to contribute to the success of the 18th Fructidor; on the contrary he had injured the cause by excess of zeal. But he had shown himself a man entirely devoted to the Directory, and the majority of them could rely on him without reserve, although his imprudence had nearly been the cause of their ruin.

“That same majority of the Directory entertained doubts, on the contrary, with respect to Napoleon, who had been the cause of their triumph; they still thought it possible that the General of the army of Italy had calculated that the Directory would fall in the contest with the Councils, and that he might then rise upon its ruins.

“But how could the Directory reconcile that supposition with the acts of the General, who had done every thing to ensure its triumph? for it is evident that without the order of the day of Napoleon, and the address to his army, the Directory would have been undone.

“Some persons, well informed on the subject, seem to think that Napoleon had really not formed a due estimate of the influence which he exercised in France—that he had suffered himself to be misled by the libels and the newspapers in which he was attacked,—and that he had considered the measures which he adopted calculated not to ensure the complete triumph of the Directory, but to produce precisely the effect of rendering him the deliverer and the true support of the republic. The same persons add that when the officers whom Napoleon had at Paris, and letters from every part of France, had informed him that his proclamation had in one moment changed altogether the state of public feeling in the interior, then, and then only, he saw that he had done too 269much. We are the more ready to adopt this opinion as we cannot understand why Napoleon should have thought of preserving three Directors whom he did not care about. The only one he esteemed (Carnot) was of the opposite party, and we know that he felt indignant at the corruptness and the weakness of the others.

“A man named Bottot, a private agent of Barras, was sent to Napoleon with secret instructions, to endeavour to penetrate his views and to ascertain why he had not sent the three millions of which the Directory had stood so much in need. Bottot found the French General at Passeriano, and began to intrigue right and left with those who surrounded Napoleon; but he found every one warmly attached to the party that had triumphed; and, having some concerns of his own to arrange, he at last, in the course of some private conversations, confessed the secret of his mission and the vague suspicions entertained by the Directory. He had been soon undeceived by the appearance of simplicity which distinguished Napoleon’s establishment, by the frankness of Napoleon himself; and above all by the enthusiasm of the army, and of the whole of Italy in favour of the General. But, even if the suspicion of the Directory had been well founded, it would not have been difficult, with a few marks of attention, and some frank and unaffected conversations, to remove from Bottot’s mind, surrounded as he then was, all cause of umbrage.

“He wrote to Paris that the fears which had been entertained were altogether groundless, and much less to be dreaded than the perverseness of those who wished to excite them. But the three millions, it was objected to him, why were they refused? Napoleon had proved that the order sent by the Directory was mysterious and irregular, and that, encompassed as it was by such rogues as F—— and others, who had already robbed the public exchequer, he had thought it prudent to ascertain the truth; that he had immediately dispatched Lavalette, his confidential aid-de-camp, to Paris, and that, as soon as Lavalette had informed him of the true state of affairs, he was on the point of sending off the three millions, when the fate of the day was decided.”

270

ENGLISH DIPLOMACY.—LORD WHITWORTH.—CHATHAM.—CASTLEREAGH.—CORNWALLIS.—FOX, &C.

Monday, 10th—The course of our conversation to-day led the Emperor to observe that nothing was so dangerous and so treacherous as official conversations with diplomatic agents of Great Britain. “The English Ministers,” said he, “never represent an affair from their nation to another, but as from themselves to their own nation. They care little what their adversaries have said or say; they boldly put forward what their diplomatic agents have said, or what they make them say, on the ground that, those agents having a public and acknowledged character, faith must be placed in their reports. It is in pursuance of this principle, Napoleon added, that the English Ministers published at the time, under the name of Lord Whitworth, a long conversation between me and Whitworth, the account of which was entirely false.”^[22]

That ambassador had solicited an audience of the First Consul, and personal communications. The First Consul, who was himself fond of treating affairs directly, willingly assented. “But“But this proved for me,” said the Emperor, “a lesson which altered my method for ever. From this moment, I never treated officially of political affairs, but through the intervention of my minister for Foreign affairs. He at any rate could give a positive and formal denial; which the sovereign could not do.

“It is utterly false,” added the Emperor, "that any thing occurred in the course of our personal interview, which was not in conformity with the common rules of decorum. Lord Whitworth himself, after our conference, being in company with other Ambassadors, expressed 271himself perfectly satisfied, and added that he had no doubt all things would be satisfactorily settled. But what was the surprise of those same Ambassadors, when they read a short time afterwards in the English newspapers the report of Lord Whitworth, in which he charged me with having behaved in the interview with unbecoming violence! We had some warm friends amongst these Ambassadors, and some of them went so far as to express their surprise to the English diplomatist, observing to him that his report was very different from what he had said to them immediately after the conference. Lord Whitworth made the best excuse he could, but persisted in maintaining the assertions of the official document.