Books: Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, v5
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Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne >> Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, v5
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He was a member of the Pope's chancery; his knowledge gave him so much
influence over his colleagues that affairs advanced only as much as he
pleased. However, he was gained over by honours conferred on him, and
promises of money. Business then went on a little quicker. The
Concordat was signed on the 15th of July 1801, and made a law of the
State in the following April. The plenipotentiaries on the part of
Bonaparte were Joseph Bonaparte, Cretet, and the Abby Bernier, afterwards
Bishop of Versailles. --[Orleans not Versailles. D.W.]
A solemn Te Deum was chanted at the cathedral of Notre Dame on Sunday,
the 11th of April. The crowd was immense, and the greater part of those
present stood during the ceremony, which was splendid in the extreme;
but who would presume to say that the general feeling was in harmony with
all this pomp? Was, then, the time for this innovation not yet arrived?
Was it too abrupt a transition from the habits of the twelve preceding
years? It is unquestionably true that a great number of the persons
present at the ceremony expressed, in their countenances and gestures,
rather a feeling of impatience and displeasure than of satisfaction or of
reverence for the place in which they were. Here and there murmurs arose
expressive of discontent. The whispering, which I might more properly
call open conversation, often interrupted the divine service, and
sometimes observations were made which were far from being moderate.
Some would turn their heads aside on purpose to take a bit of chocolate-
cake, and biscuits were openly eaten by many who seemed to pay no
attention to what was passing.
The Consular Court was in general extremely irreligious; nor could it be
expected to be otherwise, being composed chiefly of those who had
assisted in the annihilation of all religious worship in France, and of
men who, having passed their lives in camps, had oftener entered a church
in Italy to carry off a painting than to hear the Mass. Those who,
without being imbued with any religious ideas, possessed that good sense
which induces men to pay respect to the belief of others, though it be
one in which they do not participate, did not blame the First Consul for
his conduct, and conducted themselves with some regard to decency. But
on the road from the Tuileries to Notre Dame, Lannes and Augereau wanted
to alight from the carriage as soon as they saw that they ware being
driven to Mass, and it required an order from the First Consul to prevent
their doing so. They went therefore to Notre Dame, and the next day
Bonaparte asked Augereau what he thought of the ceremony. "Oh! it was
all very fine," replied the General; "there was nothing wanting, except
the million of men who have perished in the pulling down of what you are
setting up." Bonaparte was much displeased at this remark.
--[This remark has been attributed elsewhere to General Delmas.
According to a gentleman who played a part in this empty pageantry,
Lannes at one moment did get out of the carriage, and Augerean kept
swearing in no low whisper during the whole of the chanted Mass.
Most of the military chiefs who sprang out of the Revolution had no
religion at all, but there were some who were Protestants, and who
were irritated by the restoration of Catholicism as the national
faith.--Editor of 1896 edition.]--
During the negotiations with the Holy Father Bonaparte one day said to
me, "In every country religion is useful to the Government, and those who
govern ought to avail themselves of it to influence mankind. I was a
Mahometan in Egypt; I am a Catholic in France. With relation to the
police of the religion of a state, it should be entirely in the hands of
the sovereign. Many persons have urged me to found a Gallican Church,
and make myself its head; but they do not know France. If they did, they
would know that the majority of the people would not like a rupture with
Rome. Before I can resolve on such a measure the Pope must push matters
to an extremity; but I believe he will not do so."--"You are right,
General, and you recall to my memory what Cardinal Consalvi said:
'The Pope will do all the First Consul desires.'"--"That is the best
course for him. Let him not suppose that he has to do with an idiot.
What do you think is the point his negotiations put most forward? The
salvation of my soul! But with me immortality is the recollection one
leaves in the memory of man. That idea prompts to great actions. It
would be better for a man never to have lived than to leave behind him no
traces of his existence."
Many endeavours were made to persuade the First Consul to perform in
public the duties imposed by the Catholic religion. An influential
example, it was urged, was required. He told me once that he had put an
end to that request by the following declaration: "Enough of this.
Ask me no more. You will not obtain your object. You shall never make a
hypocrite of me. Let us remain where we are."
I have read in a work remarkable on many accounts that it was on the
occasion of the Concordat of the 15th July 1801 that the First Consul
abolished the republican calendar and reestablished the Gregorian. This
is an error. He did not make the calendar a religious affair. The
'Senatus-consulte', which restored the use of the Gregorian calendar, to
commence in the French Empire from the 11th Nivose, year XIV. (1st
January 1806), was adopted on the 22d Fructidor, year XIII. (9th
September 1805), more than four years after the Concordat. The re-
establishment of the ancient calendar had no other object than to bring
us into harmony with the rest of Europe on a point so closely connected
with daily transactions, which were much embarrassed by the decadary
calendar.
Bonaparte at length, however, consented to hear Mass, and St. Cloud was
the place where this ancient usage was first re-established. He directed
the ceremony to commence sooner than the hour announced in order that
those who would only make a scoff at it might not arrive until the
service was ended.
Whenever the First Consul determined to hear Mass publicly on Sundays in
the chapel of the Palace a small altar was prepared in a room near his
cabinet of business. This room had been Anne of Austria's oratory.
A small portable altar, placed on a platform one step high, restored it
to its original destination. During the rest of the week this chapel was
used as a bathing-room. On Sunday the door of communication was opened,
and we heard Mass sitting in our cabinet of business. The number of
persons there never exceeded three or four, and the First Consul seldom
failed to transact some business during the ceremony, which never lasted
longer than twelve minutes. Next day all the papers had the news that
the First Consul had heard Mass in his apartments. In the same way Louis
XVIII. has often heard it in his!
On the 19th of July 1801 a papal bull absolved Talleyrand from his vows.
He immediately married Madame Grandt, and the affair obtained little
notice at the time. This statement sufficiently proves how report has
perverted the fact. It has been said that Bonaparte on becoming Emperor
wished to restore that decorum which the Revolution had destroyed, and
therefore resolved to put an end to the improper intimacy which subsisted
between Talleyrand and Madame Grandt. It is alleged that the Minister at
first refused to marry the lady, but that he at last found it necessary
to obey the peremptory order of his master. This pretended resurrection
of morality by Bonaparte is excessively ridiculous. The bull was not
registered in the Council of State until the 19th of August 1802.
--[The First Consul had on several occasions urged M. de Talleyrand
to return to holy orders. He pointed out to him that that course
world be most becoming his age and high birth, and premised that he
should be made a cardinal, thus raising him to a par with Richelieu,
and giving additional lustre to his administration (Memoirs of the
Duke of Rovigo, vol. i. p. 426).
But M. de Talleyrand vindicated his choice, saying, "A clever wife
often compromises her husband; a stupid one only compromises
herself" (Historical Characters, p.122, Bulwer, Lord Dulling).]--
I will end this chapter by a story somewhat foreign to the preceding
transactions, but which personally concerns myself. On the 20th of July
1801 the First Consul, 'ex proprio motu', named me a Councillor of State
extraordinary. Madame Bonaparte kindly condescended to have an elegant
but somewhat ideal costume made for me. It pleased the First Consul,
however, and he had a similar one made for himself. He wore it a short
time and then left it off. Never had Bonaparte since his elevation shown
himself so amiable as on this occasion.
CHAPTER VI.
1802.
Last chapter on Egypt--Admiral Gantheaume--Way to please Bonaparte--
General Menou's flattery and his reward--Davoust--Bonaparte regrets
giving the command to Menou, who is defeated by Abercromby--Otto's
negotiation in London--Preliminaries of peace.
For the last time in these Memoirs I shall return to the affairs of
Egypt--to that episode which embraces so short a space of time and holds
so high a place in the life of Bonaparte. Of all his conquests he set
the highest value on Egypt, because it spread the glory of his name
throughout the East. Accordingly he left nothing unattempted for the
preservation of that colony. In a letter to General Kleber he said,
"You are as able as I am to understand how important is the possession of
Egypt to France. The Turkish Empire, in which the symptoms of decay are
everywhere discernible, is at present falling to pieces, and the evil of
the evacuation of Egypt by France would now be the greater, as we should
soon see that fine province pass into the possession of some other
European power." The selection of Gantheaume, however, to carry
assistance to Kleber was not judicious. Gantheaume had brought the First
Consul back from Egypt, and though the success of the passage could only
be attributed to Bonaparte's own plan, his determined character, and
superior judgment, yet he preserved towards Gantheaume that favourable
disposition which is naturally felt for one who has shared a great danger
with us, and upon whom the responsibility may be said to have been
imposed.
This confidence in mediocrity, dictated by an honourable feeling, did not
obtain a suitable return. Gantheaume, by his indecision and creeping
about in the Mediterranean, had already failed to execute a commission
entrusted to him. The First Consul, upon finding he did not leave Brest
after he had been ordered to the Mediterranean, repeatedly said to me,
"What the devil is Gantheaume about?" With one of the daily reports sent
to the First Consul he received the following quatrain, which made him
laugh heartily:
"Vaisseaux lestes, tete sans lest,
Ainsi part l'Amiral Gantheaume;
Il s'en va de Brest a Bertheaume,
Et revient de Bertheaume a Brest!"
"With ballast on board, but none in his brain,
Away went our gallant Gantheaume,
On a voyage from Brest to Bertheaume,
And then from Bertheaume--to Brest back again!"
Gantheaume's hesitation, his frequent tergiversations, his arrival at
Toulon, his tardy departure, and his return to that port on the 19th of
February 1801, only ten days prior to Admiral Keith's appearance with Sir
Ralph Abercromby off Alexandria, completely foiled all the plans which
Bonaparte had conceived of conveying succour and reinforcements to a
colony on the brink of destruction.
Bonaparte was then dreaming that many French families would carry back
civilisation, science, and art to that country which was their cradle.
But it could not be concealed that his departure from Egypt in 1799 had
prepared the way for the loss of that country, which was hastened by
Kleber's death and the choice of Menou as his successor.
A sure way of paying court to the First Consul and gaining his favour was
to eulogise his views about Egypt, and to appear zealous for maintaining
the possession of that country. By these means it was that Menou gained
his confidence. In the first year of the occupation of that country he
laid before him his dreams respecting Africa. He spoke of the negroes
of Senegal, Mozambique, Mehedie, Marabout, and other barbarous countries
which were all at once to assume a new aspect, and become civilised,
in consequence of the French possession of Egypt. To Menou's adulation
is to be attributed the favourable reception given him by the First
Consul, even after his return from Egypt, of which his foolish conduct
had allowed the English to get possession. The First Consul appointed
him Governor of Piedmont, and at my request gave my elder brother the
situation of Commissary-General of Police in that country; but I am in
candour obliged to confess that the First Consul was obliged to retract
this mark of his favour in consequence of my brother's making an abuse of
it.
It was also by flattering the First Consul on the question of the East
that Davoust, on his return from Egypt in 1800 in consequence of the
Convention of El-Ariah, insinuated himself into Bonaparte's good graces
and, if he did not deserve, obtained his favour. At that time Davoust
certainly had no title whatever to the good fortune which he suddenly
experienced. He obtained, without first serving in a subordinate rank,
the command-in-chief of the grenadiers of the Consular Guard; and from
that time commenced the deadly hatred which Davoust bore towards me.
Astonished at the great length of time that Bonaparte had been one day
conversing with him I said, as soon as he was gone, "How could you talk
so long with a man whom you have always called a stupid fellow?"--"Ah!
but I did not know him well enough before. He is a better man, I assure
you, than he is thought; and you will come over to my opinion."--"I hope
so." The First Consul, who was often extremely indiscreet, told Davoust
my opinion of him, and his hostility against me ceased but with his life.
The First Consul could not forget his cherished conquest in the East.
It was constantly the object of his thoughts. He endeavoured to send
reinforcements to his army from Brest and Toulon, but without success.
He soon had cause to repent having entrusted to the hands of Menou the
command-in-chief, to which he became entitled only by seniority, after
the assassination of Kleber by Soleiman Heleby. But Bonaparte's
indignation was excited when he became acquainted with Menou's neglect
and mismanagement, when he saw him giving reins to his passion for
reform, altering and destroying everything, creating nothing good in its
stead, and dreaming about forming a land communication with the
Hottentots and Congo instead of studying how to preserve the country.
His pitiful plans of defence, which were useless from their want of
combination, appeared to the First Consul the height of ignorance.
Forgetful of all the principles of strategy, of which Bonaparte's conduct
afforded so many examples, he opposed to the landing of Abercromby a few
isolated corps, which were unable to withstand the enemy's attack, while
the English army might have been entirely annihilated had all the
disposable troops been sent against it.
The great admiration which Menou expressed at the expedition to Egypt;
his excessive fondness for that country, the religion of which he had
ridiculously enough embraced under the name of Abdallah; the efforts he
made, in his sphere, to preserve the colony; his enthusiasm and blind
attachment to Bonaparte; the flattering and encouraging accounts he gave
of the situation of the army, at first had the effect of entirely
covering Menou's incapacity.
--[For a ludicrous description of Menou see the Memoirs of Marmont:-
"Clever and gay, ho was an agreeable talker, but a great liar. He
was not destitute of some education. His character, one of the
oddest in the world, came very near to lunacy: Constantly writing,
always in motion in his room, riding for exercise every day, he was
never able to start on any necessary of useful journey . . . .
When, later, Bonaparte, then First Consul, gave him by special
favour the administration of Piedmont, he put off his departure from
day to day for six months; and then he only did start because his
friend Maret himself put him into his carriage, with post-horses
already harnessed to it . . . . When he left this post they
found in his cabinet 900 letters which he had not opened. He was an
eccentric lunatic, amusing enough sometimes, but a curse to
everything which depended on him " (Memoirs of the Duc de Raguse,
tome i. p. 410).]--
This alone can account for the First Consul's preference of him. But I
am far from concurring in what has been asserted by many persons, that
France lost Egypt at the very moment when it seemed most easy of
preservation. Egypt was conquered by a genius of vast intelligence,
great capacity, and profound military science. Fatuity, stupidity, and
incapacity lost it. What was the result of that memorable expedition?
The destruction of one of our finest armies; the loss of some of our best
generals; the annihilation of our navy; the surrender of Malta; and the
sovereignty of England in the Mediterranean. What is the result at
present? A scientific work. The gossiping stories and mystifications of
Herodotus, and the reveries of the good Rollin, are worth as much, and
have not cost so dear.
The First Consul had long been apprehensive that the evacuation of Egypt
was unavoidable. The last news he had received from that country was not
very encouraging, and created a presentiment of the approach of the
dreaded catastrophe. He, however, published the contrary; but it was
then of great importance that, an account of the evacuation should not
reach England until the preliminaries of peace were signed, for which
purpose M. Otto was exerting all his industry and talent. We made a
great merit of abandoning our conquests in Egypt; but the sacrifice would
not have been considered great if the events which took place at the end
of August had been known in London before the signing of the
preliminaries on the 1st of October. The First Consul himself answered
M. Otto's last despatch, containing a copy of the preliminaries ready to
be adopted by the English Ministry. Neither this despatch nor the answer
was communicated to M. de Talleyrand, then Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The First Consul, who highly appreciated the great talents and knowledge
of that Minister, never closed any diplomatic arrangement without first
consulting him; and he was right in so doing. On this occasion, however,
I told him that as M. de Talleyrand was, for his health, taking the
waters of Bourbon-l'Archambault, four days must elapse before his reply
could be received, and that the delay might cause the face of affairs to
change. I reminded him that Egypt was on the point of yielding. He took
my advice, and it was well for him that he did, for the news of the
compulsory evacuation of Egypt arrived in London the day after the
signing of the preliminaries. M. Otto informed the First Consul by
letter that Lord Hawkesbury, ill communicating to him the news of the
evacuation, told him he was very glad everything was settled, for it
would have been impossible for him to have treated on the same basis
after the arrival of such news. In reality we consented at Paris to the
voluntary evacuation of Egypt, and that was something for England, while
Egypt was at that very time evacuated by a convention made on the spot.
The definitive evacuation of Egypt took place on the 30th of August 1801;
and thus the conquest of that country, which had cost so dear, was
rendered useless, or rather injurious.
CHAPTER VII.
1802.
The most glorious epoch for France--The First Consul's desire of
peace--Malta ceded and kept--Bonaparte and the English journals--
Mr. Addington's letter to the First Consul--Bonaparte prosecutes
Peltier--Leclerc's expedition to St. Domingo--Toussaint Louverture--
Death of Leclerc--Rochambeau, his successor, abandons St. Domingo--
First symptoms of Bonaparte's malady--Josephine's intrigues for the
marriage of Hortense--Falsehood contradicted.
The epoch of the peace of Amiens must be considered as the most glorious
in the history of France, not excepting the splendid period of Louis
XIV.'s victories and the more brilliant era of the Empire. The Consular
glory was then pure, and the opening prospect was full of flattering
hope; whereas those who were but little accustomed to look closely into
things could discern mighty disasters lurking under the laurels of the
Empire.
The proposals which the First Consul made in order to obtain peace
sufficiently prove his sincere desire for it. He felt that if in the
commencement of his administration he could couple his name with so hoped
for an act he should ever experience the affection and gratitude of the
French. I want no other proof of his sentiments than the offer he made
to give up Egypt to the Grand Seignior, and to restore all the ports of
the Gulf of Venice and of the Mediterranean to the States to which they
had previously belonged; to surrender Malta to the order of the Knights
of St. John, and even to raze its fortifications if England should think
such a measure necessary for her interests. In the Indies, Ceylon was to
be left to him,
--[Ceylon belonged to Holland, but was retained by England under the
treaty of Amiens.]--
and he required the surrender of the Cape of Good Hope and all the places
taken by the English in the West Indies.
England had firmly resolved to keep Malta, the Gibraltar of the
Mediterranean, and the Cape of Good Hope, the caravanserai of the Indies.
She was therefore unwilling to close with the proposition respecting
Malta; and she said that an arrangement might be made by which it would
be rendered independent both of Great Britain and France. We clearly saw
that this was only a lure, and that, whatever arrangements might be
entered into, England would keep Malta, because it was not to be expected
that the maritime power would willingly surrender an island which
commands the Mediterranean. I do not notice the discussions respecting
the American islands, for they were, in my opinion, of little consequence
to us.
--[It is strange that Bourrienne does not allude to one of the first
arbitrary acts of Napoleon, the discussions on which formed part of
those conversations between Napoleon and his brother Lucien of which
Bourrienne complained to Josephine he knew nothing. In 1763 France
had ceded to England the part of Louisiana on the east of the
Mississippi, and the part on the west of that river, with New
Orleans, to Spain. By the treaty negotiated with Spain by Lucien
Bonaparte in 1800 her share was given back to France. On the 80th
April 1803 Napoleon sold the whole to the United States for
80,000,000 francs (L 3,260,000), to the intense anger of his
brothers Joseph and Lucien. Lucien was especially proud of having
obtained the cession for which Napoleon was, at that time, very
anxious; but both brothers were horrified when Napoleon disclosed
how little he cared for constitutional forms by telling them that if
the Legislature, as his brothers threatened, would not ratify the
treaty, he would do without the ratification; see Iung's Letter,
tome ii. p. 128.
Napoleon's most obvious motives were want of money and the certainty
of the seizure of the province by England, as the rupture with her
was now certain. But there was perhaps another cause. The States
had already been on the point of seizing the province from Spain,
which had interfered with their trade (Hinton's United States, p.
435, and Thiers tome iv, p. 320).
Of the sum to be paid, 20,000,000 were to go to the States, to cover
the illegal seizures of American ships by the French navy, a matter
which was not settled for many years later. The remaining
80,000,000 were employed in the preparations for the invasion of
England; see Thiers, tome iv. pp. 320 and 326, and Lanfrey, tome
iii. p. 48. The transaction is a remarkable one, as forming the
final withdrawal of France from North America (with the exception of
some islands on the Newfoundland coast), where she had once held
such a proud position. It also eventually made an addition to the
number of slave States.
They cost more than they produce; and they will escape from us, some time
or other, as all colonies ultimately do from the parent country. Our
whole colonial system is absurd; it forces us to pay for colonial produce
at a rate nearly double that for which it may be purchased from our
neighbours.
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