Books: Private Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, V11
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Constant >> Private Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, V11
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Several passages of his Memoirs, above all those in which he blames the
Emperor, have pained me, I must confess; but on this occasion he does not
hesitate to admit the insincerity of the allies, which opinion is of much
weight according to my poor judgment.
M. de Bourrienne was then at Paris under the special surveillance of the
Duke of Rovigo. I frequently heard this minister mention him to the
Emperor, and always favorably; but the enemies of the former secretary of
the First Consul must have been very powerful, or his Majesty's
prejudices very strong, for M. de Bourrienne never returned to favor.
The Emperor, who, as I have said, sometimes condescended to converse
familiarly with me, never spoke to me of M. de Bourrienne, whom I had not
seen since the Emperor had ceased to receive him. I saw him again for
the first time among the officers of the National Guard, the day these
gentlemen were received at the palace, as we shall see later, and I have
never seen him since; but as we were all much attached to him on account
of his kind consideration for us, he was often the subject of
conversation, and, I may add, of our regrets. Moreover, I was long
ignorant that at the period of which I am now speaking, his Majesty had
offered him the mission to Switzerland, as I learned this circumstance
only from reading his Memoirs. I would not conceal, however, that I was
painfully affected by reading this, so greatly would I have desired that
Bourrienne should overcome his resentment against his Majesty, who in the
depths of his heart really loved him.
Whatever was done, it is evident now to all that the object of the
declaration of Frankfort was to cause alienation between the Emperor and
the French people, and subsequent events have shown that this was fully
understood by the Emperor, but unfortunately it was soon seen that the
enemy had partly obtained their object. Not only in private society
persons could be heard expressing themselves freely in condemnation of
the Emperor, but dissensions openly arose even in the body of the Corps
Legislatif.
After the opening session, the Emperor having rendered a decree that a
commission should be named composed of five senators and five members of
the Corps Legislatif, these two bodies consequently assembled. This
commission, as has been seen from his Majesty's address, had for its
object the consideration of articles submitted relative to pending
negotiations between France and the allied powers. Count Regnault de
Saint Jean d'Angely bore the decree to the Corps Legislatif, and
supported it with his usual persuasive eloquence, recalling the victories
of France and the glory of the Emperor; but the ballot elected as members
of the commission five deputies who had the reputation of being more
devoted to the principles of liberty than to the Emperor. These were M.
Raynouard, Laine, Gallois, Flaugergues, and Maine de Biran. The Emperor
from the first moment appeared much dissatisfied with this selection, not
imagining, however, that this commission would soon show itself so
entirely hostile. I remember well that I heard his Majesty say in my
presence to the Prince of Neuchatel, with some exasperation though
without anger, "They have appointed five lawyers."
Nevertheless, the Emperor did not allow the least symptoms of his
dissatisfaction to be seen; and as soon as he had officially received the
list of commissioners, addressed to the President of the Corps Legislatif
the following letter bearing the date of the 23d of December:
"MONSIEUR, Duke of Massa, President of the Legislative Corps:
We address you the inclosed letter to make known to you our
intention that you report to-morrow, the 24th instant, at the
residence of our cousin the prince archchancellor of the Empire, in
company with the commission appointed yesterday by the Legislative
Corps in compliance with our decree of the 20th instant, and which
is composed of the following gentlemen: Raynouard, Lain, Galiois,
Flaugergues, and Maine de Biran, for the purpose of considering the
articles relative to the negotiations, and also the declaration of
the confederated powers, which will be communicated by Count
Regnault minister of state, and Count d'Hauterive councilor of state
attached to the department of foreign relations, who will be the
bearer of the aforesaid articles and declaration.
Our intention also is that our cousin aforesaid should preside over
this commission. With this " etc.
The members of the senate appointed on this commission were M. de
Fontanel, M. the Prince of Benevent, M. de Saint Marsan, M. de Barbe-
Marbois, and M, de Beurnonville.
With the exception of one of these gentlemen, whose disgrace and
consequent opposition were publicly known, the others were thought to be
sincerely attached to the Emperor; and whatever may have been their
opinions and their subsequent conduct they had done nothing then to
deserve the same distrust from the Emperor as the members of the
committee from the Corps Legislatif. No active opposition, no signs of
discontent, had been shown by the conservative senate.
At this time the Duke of Rovigo came frequently, or I might rather say
every day, to the Emperor. His Majesty was much attached to him, and
that alone suffices to prove that he was not afraid to hear the truth;
for since he had been minister, the Duke of Rovigo had never concealed
it; which fact I can affirm, having been frequently an eyewitness. In
Paris there was nevertheless only unanimous opposition to this minister.
I can, however, cite one anecdote that the Duke of Rovigo has not
included in his Memoirs, and of which I guarantee the authenticity; and
it will be seen from this incident whether or not the minister of police
sought to increase the number of persons who compromised themselves each
day by their gratings against the Emperor.
Among the employees of the treasury was a former receiver of the finances
who led a retired and contented life in this modest employment. He was a
very enthusiastic man of much intelligence. His devotion to the Emperor
amounted to a passion, and he never mentioned him without a sort of
idolatry. This employee was accustomed to pass his evenings with a
circle of friends who met in the Rue de Vivienne. The regular attendants
of this place, whom the police very naturally had their eyes upon, did
not all hold the same opinion as the person of whom I have just spoken,
and began openly to condemn the acts of government, the opposing party
allowing their discontent to be plainly manifest; and the faithful adorer
of his Majesty became proportionately more lavish of his expressions of
admiration, as his antagonists showed themselves ready with reproaches.
The Duke of Rovigo was informed of these discussions, which each day
became more eager and animated; and one fine day our honest employee
found on returning to his home a letter bearing the seal of the general
of police. He could not believe his eyes. He, a good, simple, modest
man living his retired life, what could the minister of general police
desire of him? He opens the letter, and finds that the minister orders
him to appear before him the next morning. He reports there as may be
imagined with the utmost punctuality, and then a dialogue something like
this ensued between these gentlemen. "It appears, Monsieur," said the
Duke of Rovigo, "that you are very devoted to the Emperor."--"Yes, I love
him; I would give him my blood, my life."--"You admire him greatly?"--
"Yes, I admire him! The Emperor has never been so great, his glory has
never--"--"That is all very well, Monsieur; your sentiments do you honor,
and I share those sentiments with you; but I urge on you to reserve the
expression of them for yourself, for, though I should regret it very
much, you may drive me to the necessity of having you arrested."--"I, my
Lord, have me arrested? Ah! but doubtless--why?"--"Do you not see that
you cause the expression of opinions that might remain concealed were it
not for your enthusiasm; and finally, you will force, many good men to
compromise themselves to a certain extent, who will return to us when
things are in better condition. Go, Monsieur, let us continue to love,
serve, and admire the Emperor; but at such a time as this let us not
proclaim our fine sentiments so loudly, for fear of rendering many guilty
who are only a little misguided." The employee of the treasury then left
the minister, after thanking him for his advice and promising to follow
it. I would not dare to assert that he kept his word scrupulously, but I
can affirm that all I have just said is the exact truth; and I am sure
that if this passage in my Memoirs falls under the eyes of the Duke of
Rovigo it will remind him of an occurrence which he may perhaps have
forgotten, but which he will readily recall.
Meanwhile the commission, composed as I have said of five senators and
five members of the Corps Legislatif, devoted itself assiduously to the
duty with which it was charged. Each of these two grand bodies of the
state presented to his Majesty a separate address. The senate had
received the report made by M. de Fontanes; and their address contained
nothing which could displease the Emperor, but was on the contrary
expressed in most proper terms. In it a peace was indeed demanded, but a
peace which his Majesty could obtain by an effort worthy of him and of
the French people. "Let that hand so many times victorious," they said,
"lay down its arms after having assured the repose of the world." The
following passage was also noteworthy: "No, the enemy shall not destroy
this beautiful and noble France, which for fourteen hundred years has
borne itself gloriously through such diverse fortunes, and which for the
interest of the neighboring nations themselves should always bear
considerable weight in the balance of power in Europe. We have as
pledges of this your heroic constancy and the national honor." Then
again, "Fortune does not long fail nations which do not fail in their
duty to themselves."
This language, worthy of true Frenchmen, and which the circumstances at
least required, was well pleasing to the Emperor, as is evident from the
answer he made on the 29th of December to the deputation from the senate
with the prince archchancellor at its head:
"Senators," said his Majesty, "I am deeply sensible of the sentiments you
express. You have seen by the articles which I have communicated to you
what I am doing towards a peace. The sacrifices required by the
preliminary basis which the enemy had proposed to me I have accepted; and
I shall make them without regret, since my life has only one object,--the
happiness of the French people.
"Meanwhile Bearn, Alsace, Franche-Comte, and Brabant have been entered,
and the cries of that part of my family rend my soul. I call the French
to the aid of the French! I call the Frenchmen of Paris, Brittany,
Normandy, Champagne, Burgundy, and the other departments to the aid of
their brothers. Will they abandon them in misfortune? Peace and the
deliverance of our territory should be our rallying cry. At the sight of
this whole people in arms the foreigner will flee, or will consent to
peace on the terms I have proposed to him. The question is no longer the
recovery of the conquests we have made."
It was necessary to be in a position to thoroughly know the character of
the Emperor to understand how much it must have cost him to utter these
last words; but from a knowledge of his character also resulted the
certainty that it would have cost him less to do what he promised than to
say them. It would seem that this was well understood in Paris; for the
day on which the 'Moniteur' published the reply of his Majesty to the
senate, stocks increased in value more than two francs, which the Emperor
did not fail to remark with much satisfaction; for as is well known, the
rise and decline of stocks was with him the real thermometer of public
opinion.
In regard to the conduct of the Corps Legislatif, I heard it condemned by
a man of real merit deeply imbued with republican principles. He uttered
one day in my presence these words which struck me: "The Corps Legislatif
did then what it should have done at all times, except under these
circumstances." From the language used by the spokesman of the
commission, it is only too evident that the speaker believed in the false
promises of the declaration of Frankfort. According to him, or rather
according to the commission of which he was after all only the organ,
the intention of the foreigners was not to humiliate France; they only
wished to keep us within our proper limits, and annul the effects of an
ambitious activity which had been so fatal for twenty years to all the
nations of Europe. "The propositions of the confederated powers," said
the commission, "seem to us honorable for the nation, since they prove
that foreigners both fear and respect us." Finally the speaker,
continuing his reading, having reached a passage in which allusion was
made to the Empire of the Lily, added in set phrase that the Rhine, the
Alps, the Pyrenees, and the two seas inclosed a vast territory, several
provinces of which had not belonged to ancient France, and that
nevertheless the crown royal of France shone brilliantly with glory and
majesty among all other diadems.
At these words the Duke of Massa interrupted the speaker, exclaiming,
"What you say is unconstitutional;" to which the speaker vehemently
replied, "I see nothing unconstitutional here except your presence," and
continued to read his report. The Emperor was each day informed of what
took place in the sitting of the Corps Legislatif; and I remember that
the day on which their report was read he, appeared much disturbed, and
before retiring walked up and down the room in much agitation, like one
trying to make some important decision. At last he decided not to allow
the publication of the address of the Corps Legislatif, which had been
communicated to him according to custom. Time pressed; the next day
would have been too late, as the address would be circulated in Paris,
where the public mind was already much disturbed. The order was
consequently given to the minister of general police to have the copy of
the report and the address seized at the printing establishment, and to
break the forms already set up. Besides this the order was also given to
close the doors of the Corps Legislatif, which was done, and the
legislature thus found itself adjourned.
I heard many persons at this time deeply regret that his Majesty had
taken these measures, and, above all, that having taken them he had not
stopped there. It was said that since the Corps Legislatif was now
adjourned by force, it was better, whatever might be the result, to
convoke another chamber, and that the Emperor should not recognize the
members of the one he had dismissed. His Majesty thought otherwise, and
gave the deputies a farewell audience. They came to the Tuileries; and
there his only too just resentment found vent in these words:
"I have suppressed your address, as it was incendiary. Eleven-twelfths
of the Corps Legislatif are composed of good citizens whom I know and for
whom I have much regard; the other twelfth is composed of seditious
persons who are devoted to England. Your Commission and its chairman,
M. Laine, are of this number. He corresponds with the Prince Regent,
through the lawyer Deseze. I know it, and have proof of it. The other
four are of the same faction. If there are abuses to be remedied, is
this a time for remonstrances, when two hundred thousand Cossacks are
crossing our frontiers? Is this the moment to dispute as to individual
liberty and safety, when the question is the preservation of political
liberty and national independence? The enemy must be resisted; you must
follow the example of the Alsatians, Vosges, and inhabitants of Franche-
Comte, who wish to march against them, and have applied to me-for arms.
You endeavor in your address to separate the sovereign from the nation.
It is I who here represent the people, who have given me four million of
their suffrages. If I believed you I should cede to the enemy more than
he demands. You shall have peace in three months or I shall perish.
Your address was an insult to me and to the Corps Legislatif."
Although the journals were forbidden to repeat the details of this scene,
the rumors of it spread through Paris with the rapidity of lightning.
The Emperor's words were repeated and commented on; the dismissed
deputies sounded them through all the departments. I remember seeing the
prime arch-chancellor next day come to the Emperor and request an
audience; it was in favor of M. Deseze, whose protector he then was. In
spite of the threatening words of his Majesty, he found him not disposed
to take severe measures; for his anger had already exhausted itself, as
was always the case with the Emperor when he had abandoned himself to his
first emotions of fury. However, the fatal misunderstanding between the
Corps Legislatif and the Emperor, caused by the report of the committee
of that body, produced the most grievous effects; and it is easy to
conceive how much the enemy must have rejoiced over this, as they never
failed to be promptly informed by the numerous agents whom they employed
in France. It was under these sad circumstances that the year 1813
closed. We will see in future what were the consequences of it, and in
fact the history, until now unwritten, of the Emperor's inner life at
Fontainebleau; that is to say, of the most painful period of my life.
CHAPTER, XXI.
In order to neutralize the effects which might be produced in the
provinces by the reports of the members of the Corps Legislatif and the
correspondence of the alarmists, his Majesty appointed from the members
of the conservative senate a certain number of commissioners whom he
charged to visit the departments and restore public confidence. This was
a most salutary measure, and one which circumstances imperiously
demanded; for discouragement began to be felt among the masses of the
population, and as is well known in such cases the presence of superior
authority restores confidence to those who are only timid. Nevertheless,
the enemy were advancing at several points, and had already pressed the
soil of Old France. When this news reached the Emperor, it afflicted him
deeply without overcoming him. At times, however, his indignation broke
forth; above all, when he learned from the reports that French emigrants
had entered the enemy's ranks, whom he stigmatized by the name of
traitors, infamous and wretched creatures, unworthy of pity. I remember
that on the occasion of the capture of Huningen he thus characterized a
certain M. de Montjoie, who was now serving in the Bavarian army after
taking a German name, which I have forgotten. The Emperor added,
however: "At least, he has had the modesty not to keep his French name."
In general easy to conciliate on nearly all points, the Emperor was
pitiless towards all those who bore arms against their country; and
innumerable times I have heard him say that there was no greater crime in
his eyes.
In order not to add to the complication of so many conflicting interests
which encountered and ran contrary to each other still more each day, the
Emperor already had the thought of sending Ferdinand VII. back into
Spain. I have the certainty that his Majesty had even made some
overtures to him on this subject during his last stay in Paris; but it
was the Spanish prince who objected to this, not ceasing, on the
contrary, to demand the Emperor's protection. He desired most of all to
become the ally, of his Majesty, and it was well known that in his
letters to his Majesty he urged him incessantly to give him a wife of the
Emperor's selection. The Emperor had seriously thought of marrying him
to the eldest daughter of King Joseph, which seemed a means of
conciliating at the same time the rights of Prince Joseph and those of
Ferdinand VII., and King Joseph asked nothing better than to be made a
party to this arrangement; and from the manner in which he had used his
royalty since the commencement of his reign, we may be permitted to think
that his Majesty did not greatly object to this. Prince Ferdinand had
acquiesced in this alliance, which appeared very agreeable to him, when
suddenly at the end of the year 1813 he demanded time; and the course of
events placed this affair among the number of those which existed only in
intention. Prince Ferdinand left Valencay at last, but later than the
Emperor had authorized him to do, and for some time his presence had been
only an additional embarrassment. However, the Emperor had no reason to
complain of his conduct towards him until after the events of
Fontainebleau.
At any rate, in the serious situation of affairs, matters concerning the
Prince of Spain were only an incidental matter, no more important than
the stay of the Pope at Fontainebleau; the great point, the object which
predominated everything, was the defense of the soil of France, which the
first days of January found invaded at many points. This was the one
thought of his Majesty, which did not prevent him, nevertheless, from
entering according to custom into all the duties of his administration;
and we will soon see the measures he took to re-establish the national
guard of Paris. I have on this subject certain documents and particulars
which are little known, from a person whose name I am not permitted to
give, but whose position gave him the opportunity of learning all the
intricacies of its formation. As all these duties still required for
more than a month the presence of his Majesty at Paris, he remained there
until the 25th of January.
But what fatal news he received during those twenty-five days!
First the Emperor learned that the Russians, as unscrupulous as the
Austrians in observing the conditions of a capitulation which are usually
considered sacred, had just trampled under their feet the stipulations
made at Dantzic. In the name of the Emperor Alexander, the Prince of
Wurtemberg who commanded the siege had acknowledged and guaranteed to
General Rapp and the troops placed under his command the right to return
to France, which agreement was no more respected than had been a few
months before that made with Marshal Saint-Cyr by the Prince of
Schwarzenberg; thus the garrison of Dantzic were made prisoners with the
same bad faith as that of Dresden had been. This news, which reached him
at almost the same time as that of the surrender of Torgau, distressed
his Majesty so much the more as it contributed to prove to him that these
powerful enemies wished to treat of peace only in name, with a resolution
to retire always before a definite conclusion was reached.
At the same period the news from Lyons was in no wise reassuring. The
command of this place had been confided to Marshal Augereau, and he was
accused of having lacked the energy necessary to foresee or arrest the
invasion of the south of France. Further I will not now dwell on this
circumstance, proposing in the following chapter to collect my souvenirs
which relate more especially to the beginning of the campaign in France,
and some circumstances which preceded it. I limit myself consequently to
recalling, as far as my memory serves, events which occurred during the
last days the Emperor passed in Paris.
From the 4th of January his Majesty, although having lost, as I said a
while since, all hope of inducing the invaders to conclude a peace, which
the whole world so much needed, gave his instructions to the Duke of
Vicenza, and sent him to the headquarters of the allies; but he was
compelled to wait a long time for his passports. At the same time
special orders were sent to the prefects of departments in the invaded
territory as to the conduct they should pursue under such difficult
circumstances. Thinking at the same time that it was indispensable to
make an example in order to strengthen the courage of the timid, the
Emperor ordered the creation of a commission of inquiry, charged to
inquire into the conduct of Baron Capelle, prefect of the department of
the Leman at the time of the entrance of the enemy into Geneva. Finally
a decree mobilized one hundred and twenty battalions of the National
Guard of the Empire, and ordered a levy en masse on all the departments
of the east of all men capable of bearing arms. Excellent measures
doubtless, but vain! Destiny was stronger than even the genius of a
great man.
Meanwhile on the 8th of January appeared the decree which called out for
active duty thirty thousand men of the National Guard of Paris on the
very day when by a singular and fatal coincidence the King of Naples
signed a treaty of alliance with Great Britain. The Emperor reserved for
himself the chief command of the National Parisian Guard, and constituted
the staff as follows: a vice-commander-in-chief, four aides who were
major-generals, four adjutant commandants, and eight assistant captains.
A legion was formed in each district, and each legion was divided into
four battalions subdivided into five companies. --Next the Emperor
appointed the following to superior grades:
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