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diff --git a/old/12019-h/12019-h.htm b/old/12019-h/12019-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d581b46 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12019-h/12019-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10513 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta name="generator" content= +"HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 1st February 2004), see www.w3.org"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Queen Hortense, by L. +MÜHLBACH.</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + blockquote {text-align: justify; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%;} + IMG { + BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; + BORDER-TOP: 0px; + BORDER-LEFT: 0px; + BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + .ind { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10% } + .ctr { text-align: center } +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Queen Hortense, by L. Mühlbach + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Queen Hortense + A Life Picture of the Napoleonic Era + +Author: L. Mühlbach + +Release Date: April 14, 2004 [EBook #12019] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEEN HORTENSE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charlie Kirschner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + +<a name="389.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/389.jpg"><img src="images/389.jpg" +width="75%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>General Bonaparte suppressing the Revolt of the +Sections.</b></p> +<br> +<br> +<h1>QUEEN HORTENSE</h1> +<h2>A Life picture of the Napoleonic Era</h2> +<h4>BY</h4> +<h2>L. MÜHLBACH</h2> +<br> +<h5>AUTHOR OF</h5> +<h4>PRINCE EUGENE AND HIS TIMES,<br> +JOSEPH II, AND HIS COURT,<br> +MERCHANT OF BERLIN, ETC.</h4> +<br> +<h5>TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY</h5> +<h3>CHAPMAN COLEMAN</h3> +<h4>1910</h4> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +<h2><a href="#BOOK_I.">BOOK I.</a></h2> +<h3><i>DAYS OF CHILDHOOD AND OF THE REVOLUTION.</i></h3> +<h4>CHAPTER</h4> +<center><a href="#CHAPTER_I.1">I.--Days of Childhood.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II.1">II.--The Prophecy.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III.1">III.--Consequences of the +Revolution.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV.1">IV.--General Bonaparte.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V.1">V.--The Marriage.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI.1">VI.--Bonaparte in Italy.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII.1">VII.--Vicissitudes of Destiny.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII.1">VIII.--Bonaparte's Return from +Egypt.</a></center> +<br> +<h2><a href="#BOOK_II.">BOOK II.</a></h2> +<h3><i>THE QUEEN OF HOLLAND.</i></h3> +<h4>CHAPTER</h4> +<center><a href="#CHAPTER_I.2">I.--A First Love.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II.2">II.--Louis Bonaparte and Duroc.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III.2">III--Consul and King.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV.2">IV.--The Calumny.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V.2">V.--King or Emperor.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI.2">VI.--Napoleon's Heir.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII.2">VII.--Premonitions.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII.2">VIII.--The Divorce.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX.2">IX.--The King of Holland.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X.2">X.--Junot, the Duke d'Abrantes.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI.2">XI.--Louis Napoleon as a Vender of +Violets.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII.2">XII.--The Days of Misfortune.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII.2">XIII.--The Allies in Paris.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV.2">XIV.--Correspondence between the Queen and +Louise de Cochelet.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV.2">XV.--Queen Hortense and the Emperor +Alexander.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI.2">XVI.--The New Uncles.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII.2">XVII.--Death of the Empress +Josephine.</a></center> +<br> +<h2><a href="#BOOK_III.">BOOK III.</a></h2> +<h3><i>THE RESTORATION.</i></h3> +<h4>CHAPTER</h4> +<center><a href="#CHAPTER_I.3">I.--The Return of the +Bourbons.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II.3">II.--The Bourbons and the +Bonapartes.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III.3">III.--Madame de Staël.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV.3">IV.--Madame de Staël's Return to +Paris.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V.3">V.--Madame de Staël's Visit to Queen +Hortense.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI.3">VI.--The Old and New Era.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII.3">VII.--King Louis XVIII.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII.3">VIII.--The Drawing-room of the Duchess of +St. Leu.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX.3">IX.--The Burial of Louis XVI. and his +Wife.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X.3">X.--Napoleon's Return from Elba.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI.3">XI.--Louis XVIII.'s Departure and +Napoleon's Arrival.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII.3">XII.--The Hundred Days.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII.3">XIII.--Napoleon's Last +Adieu.</a></center> +<br> +<h2><a href="#BOOK_IV.">BOOK IV.</a></h2> +<h3><i>THE DUCHESS OF ST. LEU.</i></h3> +<h4>CHAPTER</h4> +<center><a href="#CHAPTER_I.4">I.--The Banishment of the Duchess of +St. Leu.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II.4">II.--Louis Napoleon as a Child.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III.4">III.--The Revolution of 1830.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV.4">IV.--The Revolution in Rome and the Sons of +Hortense.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V.4">V.--The Death of Prince Napoleon.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI.4">VI.--The Flight from Italy.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII.4">VII.--The Pilgrimage.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII.4">VIII.--Louis Philippe and the Duchess of +St. Leu.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX.4">IX.--The Departure of the Duchess from +Paris.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X.4">X.--Pilgrimage through France.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI.4">XI.--Fragment from the Memoirs of Queen +Hortense.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII.4">XII.--The Pilgrim.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII.4">XIII.--Conclusion.</a></center> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> +<center> +<ul> +<li><a href="#389.jpg">General Bonaparte suppressing the Revolt of +the Sections, <i>Frontispiece</i>.</a></li> +<li><a href="#390.jpg">View of the Tuileries.</a></li> +<li><a href="#391.jpg">Portrait of Queen Hortense.</a></li> +<li><a href="#392.jpg">Portrait of Madame de Staël.</a></li> +</ul> +</center> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>QUEEN HORTENSE.</h2> +<br> +<h2><a name="BOOK_I."></a>BOOK I.</h2> +<h3><i>DAYS OF CHILDHOOD AND OF THE REVOLUTION.</i></h3> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I.1"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<h3>DAYS OF CHILDHOOD.</h3> +<br> +<p>"One moment of bliss is not too dearly bought with death," says +our great German poet, and he may be right; but a moment of bliss +purchased with a long lifetime full of trial and suffering is far +too costly.</p> +<p>And when did it come for her, this "moment of bliss?" When could +Hortense Beauharnais, in speaking of herself, declare, "I am happy? +Now, let suffering and sorrow come upon me, if they will; I have +tasted felicity, and, in the memories it has left me, it is +imperishable and eternal!"</p> +<p>Much, very much, had this daughter of an empress and mother of +an emperor to endure.</p> +<p>In her earliest youth she had been made familiar with misfortune +and with tears; and in her later life, as maiden, wife, and mother, +she was not spared.</p> +<p>A touchingly-beautiful figure amid the drama of the Napoleonic +days was this gentle and yet high-spirited queen, who, when she had +descended from the throne and had ceased to be a sovereign, +exhausted and weary of life, found refuge at length in the grave, +yet still survived among us as a queen--no longer, indeed, a queen +of nations, but the Queen of Flowers.</p> +<p>The flowers have retained their remembrance of Josephine's +beautiful daughter; they did not, like so many of her own race, +deny her when she was no longer the daughter of the all-powerful +emperor, but merely the daughter of the "exile." Among the flowers +the lovely Hortense continued to live on, and Gavarni, the great +poet of the floral realm, has reared to her, as Hortensia, the +Flower Queen, an enchanting monument, in his "<i>Fleurs +Animées</i>." Upon a mound of Hortensias rests the image of +the Queen Hortense, and, in the far distance, like the limnings of +a half-forgotten dream, are seen the towers and domes of Paris. +Farther in the foreground lies the grave of Hortense, with the +carved likeness of the queenly sister of the flowers. Loneliness +reigns around the spot, but above it, in the air, hovers the +imperial eagle. The imperial mantle, studded with its golden bees, +undulates behind him, like the train of a comet; the dark-red +ribbon of the Legion of Honor, with the golden cross, hangs around +his neck, and in his beak he bears a full-blooming branch of the +crown imperial.</p> +<p>It is a page of world-renowned history that this charming +picture of Gavarni's conjures up before us--an historical pageant +that sweeps by us in wondrous fantastic forms of light and shadow, +when we scan the life of Queen Hortense with searching gaze, and +meditate upon her destiny. She had known all the grandeur and +splendor of earth, and had seen them all crumble again to dust. No, +not all! Her ballads and poems remain, for genius needs no diadem +to be immortal.</p> +<p>When Hortense ceased to be a queen by the grace of Napoleon, she +none the less continued to be a poetess "by the grace of God." Her +poems are sympathetic and charming, full of tender plaintiveness +and full of impassioned warmth, which, however, in no instance +oversteps the bounds of womanly gentleness. Her musical +compositions, too, are equally melodious and attractive to the +heart. Who does not know the song, "<i>Va t'en, Guerrier</i>," +which Hortense wrote and set to music, and then, at Napoleon's +request, converted into a military march? The soldiers of France +once left their native land, in those days, to the sound of this +march, to carry the French eagles to Russia; and to the same +warlike harmony they have marched forth more recently, toward the +same distant destination. This ballad, written by Hortense, +survived. At one time everybody sang it, joyously, aloud. Then, +when the Bourbons had returned, the scarred and crippled veterans +of the <i>Invalides</i> hummed it under their breath, while they +whispered secretly to each other of the glory of <i>La Belle +France</i>, as of a beautiful dream of youth, now gone forever.</p> +<p>To-day, that song rings out with power again through France, and +mounts in jubilee to the summit of the column on the Place +Vendôme. The bronze visage of the emperor seems to melt into +a smile as these tremulous billows of melody go sweeping around his +brow, and the Hortensias on the queen's grave raise dreamingly +their heads of bloom, in which the dews of heaven, or the tears of +the departed one, glisten like rarest gems, and seem to look forth +lovingly and listen to this ditty, which now for France has won so +holy a significance--holy because it is the master-chant of a +religion which all men and all nations should revere--the "religion +of our memories." Thus, this "<i>Va t'en, Guerrier</i>," which +France now sings, resounds over the grave of the queen, like a +salute of honor over the last resting-place of some brave +soldier.</p> +<p>She had much to contend with--this hapless and amiable +queen--but she ever proved firm, and ever retained one kind of +courage that belongs to woman--the courage to smile through her +tears. Her father perished on the scaffold; her mother, the +doubly-dethroned empress, died of a broken heart; her step-father, +the Emperor Napoleon, pined away, liked a caged lion, on a lone +rock in the sea! Her whole family--all the dethroned kings and +queens--went wandering about as fugitives and pariahs, banished +from their country, and scarcely wringing from the clemency of +those to whom <i>they</i> had been clement, a little spot of earth, +where, far from the bustle and intercourse of the world, they might +live in quiet obscurity, with their great recollections and their +mighty sorrows. Their past lay behind them, like a glittering fairy +tale, which no one now believed; and only the present seemed, to +men and nations, a welcome reality, which they, with envenomed +stings, were eager to brand upon the foreheads of the dethroned +Napoleon race.</p> +<p>Yet, despite all these sorrows and discouragements, Hortensia +had the mental strength not to hate her fellow-beings, but, on the +contrary, to teach her children to love them and do good to them. +The heart of the dethroned queen bled from a thousand wounds, but +she did not allow these wounds to stiffen into callousness, nor her +heart to harden under the broad scars of sorrow that had ceased to +bleed. She cherished her bereavements and her wounds, and kept them +open with her tears; but, even while she suffered measureless woes, +it solaced her heart to relieve the woes and dry the tears of +others. Thus was her life a constant charity; and when she died she +could, like the Empress Josephine, say of herself, "I have wept +much, but never have I made others weep."</p> +<p>Hortense was the daughter of the Viscount de Beauharnais, who, +against the wishes of his relatives, married the beautiful +Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie, a young Creole lady of Martinique. +This alliance, which love alone had brought about, seemed destined, +nevertheless, to no happy issue. While both were young, and both +inexperienced, passionate, and jealous, both lacked the strength +and energy requisite to restrain the wild impulses of their fiery +temperaments within the cool and tranquil bounds of quiet married +life. The viscount was too young to be not merely a lover and +tender husband, but also a sober counsellor and cautious instructor +in the difficult after-day of life; and Josephine was too innocent, +too artless, too sportive and genial, to avoid all those things +that might give to the watchful and hostile family of her husband +an opportunity for ill-natured suspicions, which were whispered in +the viscount's ear as cruel certainties. It may readily be +conceived, then, that such a state of things soon led to violent +scenes and bitter grief. Josephine was too beautiful and amiable +not to attract attention and admiration wherever she went, and she +was not yet <i>blasée</i> and hackneyed enough to take no +pleasure in the court thus paid to her, and the admiration so +universally shown her, nor even to omit doing her part to win them. +But, while she was naive and innocent at heart, she required of her +husband that these trifling outside coquetries should not disquiet +him nor render him distrustful, and that he should repose the most +unshaken confidence in her. Her pride revolted against his +suspicions, as did his jealousy against her seeming frivolity; and +both became quite willing, at last, to separate, notwithstanding +the love they really bore each other at the bottom of their hearts, +had not their children rendered such a separation impossible. These +children were a son, Eugene, and a daughter, Hortense, four years +younger than the boy. Both parents loved these children with +passionate tenderness; and often when one of the stormy scenes at +which we have hinted took place in the presence of the young +people, an imploring word from Eugene or a caress from little +Hortense would suffice to reconcile their father and mother, whose +anger, after all, was but the result of excessive attachment.</p> +<p>But these domestic broils became more violent with time, and the +moment arrived when Eugene was no longer there to stand by his +little sister in her efforts to soothe the irritation of her +parents. The viscount had sent Eugene, who was now seven years of +age, to a boarding-school; and little Hortense, quite disheartened +by the absence of her brother, had no longer the means or the +courage to allay the quarrels that raged between her parents, but +would escape in terror and dismay, when they broke out, to some +lonely corner, and there weep bitterly over a misfortune, the +extent of which her poor little childish heart could not yet +estimate.</p> +<p>In the midst of this gloomy and stormy period, the young +viscountess received a letter from Martinique. It was from her +mother, Madame Tascher de la Pagerie, who vividly depicted to her +daughter the terrors of her lonely situation in her huge, silent +residence, where there was no one around her but servants and +slaves, whose singularly altered and insubordinate manner had, of +late, alarmed the old lady, and filled her with secret +apprehensions for the future. She, therefore, besought her daughter +to come to her, and live with her, so that she might cheer the last +few years of her mother's existence with the bright presence of her +dazzling youth.</p> +<p>Josephine accepted this appealing letter from her mother as a +hint from destiny; and, weary of her domestic wrangles, and +resolved to end them forever, she took her little daughter, +Hortense, then scarcely four years old, and with her sailed away +from France, to seek beyond the ocean and in her mother's arms the +new happiness of undisturbed tranquillity.</p> +<p>But, at that juncture, tranquillity had fled the world. The +mutterings and moanings of the impending tempest could be heard on +all sides. A subterranean rumbling was audible throughout all +lands; a dull thundering and outcry, as though the solid earth were +about to change into one vast volcano--one measureless crater--that +would dash to atoms, and entomb, with its blazing lava-streams and +fiery cinder-showers, the happiness and peace of all humanity. And, +finally, this terrific crater did, indeed, open and hurl +destruction and death on all sides, over the whole world, +uprooting, with demoniac fury, entire races and nations, and +silencing the merry laugh and harmless jest with the overpowering +echoes of its awful voice!</p> +<p>This volcano was the revolution. In France, the first and most +fearful explosion of this terrific crater occurred, but the whole +world shook and heaved with it, and, on all sides, the furious +masses from beneath overflowed on the surface, seeking to reverse +the order of things and place the lowest where the highest had +been. Even away in Martinique this social earthquake was felt, +which had already, in France, flung out the bloody guillotine from +its relentless crater. This guillotine had become the altar of the +so-called enfranchisement of nations, and upon this altar the +intoxicated, unthinking masses offered up to their new idol those +who, until then, had been their lords and masters, and by whose +death they now believed that they could purchase freedom for +evermore.</p> +<p>"<i>Egalité! fraternité! liberté!</i>" Such +was the battle-cry of this howling, murdering populace. Such were +the three words which burned in blood-red letters of fire above the +guillotine, and their mocking emblem was the glittering axe, that +flashed down, to sever from their bodies the heads of the +aristocrats whom, in spite of the new religion represented in those +three words, they would not recognize as brethren and equals, or +admit to the freedom of life and of opinion. And this battle-cry of +the murderous French populace had penetrated as far as Martinique, +where it had aroused the slaves from their sullen obedience to the +point of demanding by force that participation in freedom, +equality, and brotherhood, that had so long been denied them. They, +at last, rose everywhere in open insurrection against their +masters, and the firebrands which they hurled into the dwellings of +the whites served as the bridal torches to their espousal of +liberty.</p> +<p>The house of Madame Tascher de la Pagerie was one of the abodes +in which these firebrands fell.</p> +<p>One night Josephine was awakened by the blinding light of the +flames, which had already penetrated to her chamber. With a shriek +of terror, she sprang from her bed, caught up little Hortense in +her arms from the couch where the child lay quietly slumbering, +wrapped her in the bedclothes, and rushed, in her night-attire, +from the house. She burst, with the lion-like courage of a mother, +through the shouting, fighting crowds of soldiers and blacks +outside, and fled, with all the speed of mortal terror, toward the +harbor. There lay a French vessel, just ready to weigh anchor. An +officer, who at that moment was stepping into the small boat that +was to convey him to the departing ship, saw this young woman, as, +holding her child tightly to her bosom, she sank down, with one +last despairing cry, half inanimate, upon the beach. Filled with +the deepest compassion, he hastened to her, and, raising both +mother and child in his arms, he bore them to his boat, which then +instantly put out from land, and bounded away over the billows with +its lovely burden.</p> +<p>The ship was soon reached, and Josephine, still tightly clasping +her child to her breast, and happy in having saved this only jewel, +climbed up the unsteady ladder to the ship's decks. Until this +moment all her thoughts remained concentrated upon her child, and +it was only when she had seen her little Hortense safely put to bed +in the cabin and free from all danger--only after she had fulfilled +all the duties of a mother, that the woman revived in her breast, +and she cast shamed and frightened glances around her. Only +half-clad, in light, fluttering night-clothes, without any other +covering to her beautiful neck and bosom than her superb, luxuriant +hair, which fell around her and partly hid them, like a thick black +veil, stood the young Viscountess Josephine de Beauharnais, in the +midst of a group of gazing men!</p> +<p>However, some of the ladies on the ship came to her aid, and, so +soon as her toilet had been sufficiently improved, Josephine +eagerly requested to be taken back to land, in order that she might +fly to her mother's assistance.</p> +<p>But the captain opposed this request, as he was unwilling to +give the young fugitive over to the tender mercies of the assassins +who were burning and massacring ashore, and whose murderous yells +could be distinctly heard on board of the vessel. The entire coast, +so far as the eye could reach, looked like another sea--a sea, +though, of flame and smoke, which shot up its leaping billows in +long tongues of fire far against the sky. It was a terrible, an +appalling spectacle; and Josephine fled from it to the bedside of +her little sleeping daughter. Then, kneeling there by the couch of +her child, she uplifted to heaven her face, down which the tears +were streaming, and implored God to spare her mother.</p> +<p>But, meanwhile, the ship weighed anchor, and sped farther and +farther away from this blazing coast.</p> +<p>Josephine stood on the deck and gazed back at her mother's +burning home, which gradually grew less to her sight, then +glimmered only like a tiny star on the distant horizon, and finally +vanished altogether. With that last ray her childhood and past life +had sunk forever in the sea, and a new world and a new life opened +for both mother and child. The past was, like the ships of Cortez, +burned behind her; yet it threw a magic light far away over into +her future, and as Josephine stood there with her little Hortense +in her arms, and sent her last farewell to the island where her +early days had been spent, she bethought her of the old +mulatto-woman who had whispered in her ear one day:</p> +<p>"You will go back to France, and, ere long after that, all +France will be at your feet. You will be greater there than a +queen."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II.1"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<h3>THE PROPHECY.</h3> +<br> +<p>It was toward the close of the year 1790 that Josephine, with +her little daughter, Hortense, arrived in Paris and took up her +residence in a small dwelling. There she soon received the +intelligence of the rescue of her mother, and of the +re-establishment of peace in Martinique. In France, however, the +revolution and the guillotine still raged, and the banner of the +Reign of Terror--the red flag--still cast its bloody shadow over +Paris. Its inhabitants were terror-stricken; no one knew in the +evening that he would still be at liberty on the following day, or +that he would live to see another sunset. Death lay in wait at +every door, and reaped its dread harvest in every house and in +every family. In the face of these horrors, Josephine forgot all +her earlier griefs, all the insults and humiliations to which she +had been subjected by her husband; the old love revived in her +breast, and, as it might well be that on the morrow death would +come knocking at her own door, she wished to devote the present +moment to a reconciliation with her husband, and a reunion with her +son.</p> +<p>But all her attempts in this direction were in vain. The +viscount had felt her flight to Martinique to be too grave an +injury, too great an insult, to be now willing to consent to a +reconciliation with his wife. Sympathizing friends arranged a +meeting between them, without, however, previously informing the +viscount of their design. His anger was therefore great when, on +entering the parlor of Count Montmorin, in response to that +gentleman's invitation, he found there the wife he had so +obstinately and wrathfully avoided. He was about to retire hastily, +when a charming child rushed forward, greeted him tenderly in +silvery tones, and threw herself into his arms. The viscount was +now powerless to fly; he pressed his child, his Hortense, to his +heart, and when the child, with a winning smile, entreated him to +kiss her mamma as he had kissed her; when he saw the beautiful +countenance of Josephine wet with tears; when he heard his father's +voice saying, "My son, reconcile yourself with my daughter! +Josephine is my daughter, and I would not call her so if she were +unworthy," and when he saw his handsome son, Eugene, gazing at him +wistfully, his head resting on his mother's shoulder, his heart +relented. Leading little Hortense by the hand, he stepped forward +to his wife, and, with a loud cry of joy and a blissful greeting of +love, Josephine sank on his bosom.</p> +<p>Peace was re-established, and husband and wife were now united +in a closer bond of love than ever before. The storms seemed to +have spent their rage, and the heaven of their happiness was clear +and cloudless. But this heaven was soon to be overcast with the +black shadow of the revolution.</p> +<p>Viscount Beauharnais, returned by the nobility of Blois to the +new legislative body, the Estates-General, resigned this position, +in order to serve his country with his sword instead of his tongue. +With the rank of adjutant-general, he repaired to the Army of the +North, accompanied by Josephine's blessings and tears. A dread +premonition told her that she would never see the general again, +and this premonition did not deceive her. The spirit of anarchy and +insurrection not only raged among the people of Paris, but also in +the army. The aristocrats, who were given over to the guillotine in +Paris, were also regarded with distrust and hatred in the army, and +Viscount Beauharnais, who, for his gallantry on the battle-field of +Soissons, had been promoted to the position of commanding general, +was accused by his own officers of being an enemy of France and of +the new order of things. He was arrested, taken back to Paris, and +thrown into the prison of the Luxembourg, where so many other +victims of the revolution lay in confinement.</p> +<p>The sad intelligence of her husband's misfortune soon reached +Josephine, and aroused her love to energetic action in his behalf. +She mentally vowed to liberate her husband, the father of her +children, or to die with him. She courageously confronted all +dangers, all suspicions, and was happy when she found him in his +prison, where she visited him, whispering words of consolation and +hope in his ear.</p> +<p>But at that time love and fidelity were also capital crimes, and +Josephine's guilt was twofold: first, because she was an aristocrat +herself, and secondly, because she loved and wept for the fate of +an aristocrat, and an alleged traitor to his country. Josephine was +arrested and thrown into the prison of St. Pelagie.</p> +<p>Eugene and Hortense were now little better than orphans, for the +prisoners of the Luxembourg and St. Pelagie, at that time, only +left their prisons to mount the scaffold. Alone, deprived of all +help, avoided by all whom they had once known and loved, the two +children were threatened with misery, want, and even with hunger, +for the estate of their parents had been confiscated, and, in the +same hour in which Josephine was conducted to prison, the entrances +and doors of their dwelling were sealed, and the poor children left +to find a sheltering roof for themselves. But yet they were not +entirely helpless, not quite friendless, for a friend of Josephine, +a Madame Ho1stein, had the courage to come to the rescue, and take +the children into her own family.</p> +<p>But it was necessary to go to work cautiously and wisely, in +order to avoid exciting the hatred and vengeance of those who, +coming from the scum of the people, were now the rulers of France. +An imprudent word, a look, might suffice to cast suspicion upon, +and render up to the guillotine, this good Madame Ho1stein, this +courageous friend of the two children. It was in itself a capital +crime that she had taken the children of the accused into her +house, and it was therefore necessary to adopt every means of +conciliating the authorities. It was thought necessary that +Hortense should, in company with her protectress, attend the +festivals and patriotic processions, that were renewed at every +decade in honor of the one and indivisible republic, but she was +never required to take an active part in these celebrations. She +was not considered worthy to figure among the daughters of the +people; she had not yet been forgiven for being the daughter of a +viscount, of an imprisoned <i>ci-devant.</i> Eugene had been +apprenticed to a carpenter, and the son of the viscount was now +often seen walking through the streets in a blouse, carrying a +board on his shoulder or a saw under his arm.</p> +<p>While the children of the accused were thus enjoying temporary +security, the future of their parents was growing darker and +darker, and not only the life of the general, but also that of his +wife, was now seriously endangered. Josephine had been removed from +the prison of St. Pelagie to that of the Carmelites, and this +brought her a step nearer the scaffold. But she did not tremble for +herself, she thought only of her children and her husband; she +wrote affectionate letters to the former, which she bribed her +jailer to forward to their destination, but all her efforts to +place herself in communication with her husband were abortive. One +day she received the fearful intelligence that her husband had just +been conducted before the revolutionary tribunal. Josephine waited +for further intelligence in an agony of suspense. Had this tribunal +acquitted her husband, or had it condemned him to death? Was he +already free, or was he free in a higher sense--was he dead? If he +were free, he would have found means to inform her of the fact; and +if he were dead, his name would certainly have been mentioned in +the list of the condemned. In this agony of suspense, Josephine +passed the long day. Night came, but brought no rest for her and +her companions in misery--the other occupants of the prison--who +also looked death in the face, and who watched with her throughout +the long night.</p> +<p>The society assembled in this prison was brilliant and select. +There were the Dowager Duchess de Choiseul, the Viscountess de +Maille, whose seventeen-years-old daughter had just been +guillotined; there was the Marquise de Créqui, the +intellectual lady who has often been called the last marquise of +the <i>ancien régime</i>, and who in her witty memoirs wrote +the French history of the eighteenth century as viewed from an +aristocratic standpoint. There was Abbé Téxier, who, +when the revolutionists threatened him with the lantern, because he +had refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new constitution, +replied: "Will you see any better after having hung me to the +lantern?" And there was yet another, a M. Duvivier, a pupil of +Cagliostro, who, like his master, could read the future, and with +the assistance of a decanter full of water and a "dove," that is, +an innocent young girl of less than seven, could solve the +mysteries of fate.</p> +<p>To him, to the Grand Cophta, Josephine now addressed herself +after this day of dread uncertainty, and demanded information of +the fate of her husband.</p> +<p>In the stillness of the night the gloomy, desolate hall of the +prison now presented a strange aspect. The jailer, bribed with an +assignat of fifty francs, then worth only forty sous, however, had +consented that his little six-years-old daughter should serve the +Grand Cophta as "dove," and had made all other preparations. A +table stood in the middle of the hall, on which was a decanter +filled with clear, fresh water, around which were three candles in +the form of a triangle, and placed as near the decanter as +possible, in order that the dove should be able to see the better. +The little girl, just aroused from sleep and brought from her bed +in her night-gown, sat on a chair close to the table, and behind +her stood the earnest, sombre figure of the Grand Cophta. Around +the table stood the prisoners, these duchesses and marquises, these +ladies of the court of Versailles who had preserved their +aristocratic manners in the prison, and were even here so strictly +observant of etiquette, that those of them who had enjoyed the +honor of the <i>tabouret</i> in the Tuileries, were here accorded +the same precedence, and all possible consideration shown them.</p> +<p>On the other side of the table, in breathless suspense, her +large, dark eyes fastened on the child with a touching expression, +stood the unhappy Josephine, and, at some distance behind the +ladies, the jailer with his wife.</p> +<p>Now the Grand Cophta laid both hands on the child's head and +cried in a loud voice, "Open your eyes and look!"</p> +<p>The child turned pale and shuddered as it fixed its gaze on the +decanter.</p> +<p>"What do you see?" asked the Grand Cophta, "I want you to look +into the prison of General Beauharnais. What do you see?"</p> +<p>"I see a little room," said the child with vivacity. "On a cot +lies a young man who sleeps; at his side stands another man, +writing on a sheet of paper that lies on a large book."</p> +<p>"Can you read?"</p> +<p>"No, citizen. Now the man cuts off his hair, and folds it in the +paper."</p> +<p>"The one who sleeps?"</p> +<p>"No, the one who was just now writing. He is now writing +something on the back of the paper in which he wrapped the hair; +now he opens a little red pocket-book, and takes papers out of it; +they are assignats, he counts them and then puts them back in the +pocket-book. Now he rises and walks softly, softly."</p> +<p>"What do you mean by softly? You have not heard the slightest +noise as yet, have you?"</p> +<p>"No, but he walks through the room on tiptoe."</p> +<p>"What do you see now?"</p> +<p>"He now covers his face with his hands and seems to be +weeping."</p> +<p>"But what did he do with his pocket-book?"</p> +<p>"Ah, he has put the pocket book and the package with the hair in +the pocket of the coat that lies on the sleeping man's bed."</p> +<p>"Of what color is this coat?"</p> +<p>"I cannot see, exactly; it is red or brown, lined with blue silk +and covered with shining buttons."</p> +<p>"That will do," said the Grand Cophta; "you can go to bed, +child."</p> +<p>He stooped down over the child and breathed on her forehead. The +little girl seemed to awaken as from a trance, and hurried to her +parents, who led her from the hall.</p> +<p>"General Beauharnais still lives!" said the Grand Cophta, +addressing Josephine.</p> +<p>"Yes, he still lives," cried she, sadly, "but he is preparing +for death<a name="FNanchor1"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_1">[1]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor1">[1]</a> +This scene is exactly as represented by the Marquise de +Créqui, who was present and relates it in her memoirs, vol. +vi., p. 238.</blockquote> +<p>Josephine was right. A few days later Duchess d'Anville received +a package and a letter. It was sent to her by a prisoner in La +Force, named De Legrois. He had occupied the same cell with General +Beauharnais and had found the package and the letter, addressed to +the duchess, in his pocket on the morning of the execution of the +general.</p> +<p>In this letter the general conjured Duchess D'Anville to deliver +to Josephine the package which contained his hair and his last +adieus to wife and children.</p> +<p>This was the only inheritance which General Beauharnais could +bequeath to his Josephine and her unhappy children!</p> +<p>Josephine was so agitated by the sight of her husband's hair and +his last fond words of adieu, that she fainted away, a stream of +blood gushing from her mouth.</p> +<p>Her companions in misfortune vied with each other in giving her +the most tender attention, and demanded of the jailer that a +physician should be called.</p> +<p>"Why a physician!" said the man, indifferently. "Death is the +best physician. He called the general to-day; in a few days he will +restore to him his wife."</p> +<p>This prophecy was almost verified. Josephine, scarcely recovered +from her illness, received her citation from the Tribunal of +Terror. This was the herald of certain death, and she courageously +prepared for the grave, troubled only by thoughts of the children +she must leave behind.</p> +<p>A fortunate and unforeseen occurrence saved her. The men of the +revolution had now attained the summit of their power, and, as +there was no standing still for them, they sank into the abyss +which themselves had digged.</p> +<p>The fall of Robespierre opened the prisons and set at liberty +thousands of the already condemned victims of the revolution.</p> +<p>Viscountess Josephine left her prison; she was restored to +liberty, and could now hasten to her children, but she came back to +them as a poor widow, for the seals of the "one and indivisible +republic" were on hers and her children's property as well as on +that of all other aristocrats.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III.1"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<h3>CONSEQUENCES OF THE REVOLUTION.</h3> +<br> +<p>France drew a breath of relief; the Reign of Terror was at an +end, and a milder and more moderate government wielded the sceptre +over the poor land that had so lately lain in the agonies of death. +It was no longer a capital offence to bear an aristocratic name, to +be better dressed than the <i>sans-culottes</i>, to wear no +Jacobin-cap, and to be related to the emigrants. The guillotine, +which had ruled over Paris during two years of blood and tears, now +rested from its horrid work, and allowed the Parisians to think of +something else besides making their wills and preparing for +death.</p> +<p>Mindful of the uncertainty of the times, the people were +disposed to make the most of this release from the fear of +immediate death, and to enjoy themselves to the utmost while they +could.</p> +<p>They had so long wept, that they eagerly desired to laugh once +more; so long lived in sorrow and fear, that they now ardently +longed for amusement and relaxation. The beautiful women of Paris, +who had been dethroned by the guillotine, and from whose hands the +reins had been torn, now found the courage to grasp these reins +again, and reconquer the position from which the storm-wind of the +revolution had hurled them.</p> +<p>Madame Tallien, the all-powerful wife of one of the five +directors who now swayed the destinies of France; Madame +Récamier, the friend of all the eminent and distinguished +men of that period; and Madame de Staël, the daughter of +Necker, and the wife of the ambassador of Sweden, whose government +had recognized the republic--these three ladies gave to Paris its +drawing-rooms, its reunions, its <i>fêtes</i>, its fashions, +and its luxury. All Paris had assumed a new form, and, although the +Church had not yet again obtained official recognition, the belief +in a Supreme Being was already re-established. Robespierre had +already been bold enough to cause the inscription, "There is a +Supreme Being," to be placed over the altars of the churches that +had been converted into "Temples of Reason." Yes, there is a +Supreme Being; and Robespierre, who had first acknowledged its +existence, was soon to experience in himself that such was the +case. Betrayed by his own associates, and charged by them with +desiring to make himself dictator, and place himself at the head of +the new Roman-French Republic as a new Caesar, Robespierre fell a +prey to the Tribunal of Terror which he himself had called into +existence. While engaged in the Hôtel de Ville in signing +death-sentences which were to furnish fresh victims to the +guillotine, he was arrested by the Jacobins and National Guards, +who had stormed the gates and penetrated into the building, and the +attempt to blow out his brains with his pistol miscarried. +Bleeding, his jaw shattered by the bullet, he was dragged before +Fouquier-Tainville to receive his sentence, and to be conducted +thence to the scaffold. In order that the proceeding should be +attended with all formalities, he was, however, first conducted to +the Tuileries, where the Committee of Public Safety was then +sitting in the chamber of Queen Marie Antoinette. Into the +bedchamber of the queen whom Robespierre had brought to the +scaffold, the bleeding, half-lifeless dictator was now dragged. +Like a bundle of rags he was contemptuously thrown on the large +table that stood in the middle of the room. But yesterday +Robespierre had been enthroned at this table as almighty ruler over +the lives and possessions of all Frenchmen; but yesterday he had +here issued his decrees and signed the death-sentences, that lay on +the table, unexecuted. These papers were now the only salve the +ghastly, groaning man could apply to the wound in his face, from +which blood poured in streams. The death-sentences signed by +himself now drank his own blood, and he had nothing but a rag of a +tricolor, thrown him by a compassionate <i>sans-culotte</i>, with +which to bind up the great, gaping wound on his head. As he sat +there in the midst of the blood-saturated papers, bleeding, +groaning, and complaining, an old National Guard, with outstretched +arms, pointing to this ghastly object, cried: "Yes, Robespierre was +right. There is a Supreme Being!"</p> +<p>This period of blood and terror was now over; Robespierre was +dead; Théroigne de Méricourt was no longer the +Goddess of Reason, and Mademoiselle Maillard no longer Goddess of +Liberty and Virtue. Women had given up representing divinities, and +desired to be themselves again, and to rebuild in the drawing-rooms +of the capital, by means of their intellect and grace, the throne +which had gone down in the revolution.</p> +<p>Madame Tallien, Madame Récamier, and Madame de +Staël, reorganized society, and all were anxious to obtain +admission to their parlors. To be sure, these entertainments and +reunions still wore a sufficiently strange and fantastic +appearance. Fashion, which had so long been compelled to give way +to the <i>carmagnole</i> and red cap, endeavored to avenge its long +banishment by all manner of caprices and humors, and in doing so +assumed a political, reactionary aspect. <i>Coiffures à la +Jacobine</i> were now supplanted by <i>coiffures à la +victime</i> and <i>au repentir</i>. In order to exhibit one's taste +for the fine arts, the draperies of the statues of Greece and +ancient Rome were now worn. Grecian <i>fêtes</i> were given, +at which the black soup of Lycurgus was duly honored, and Roman +feasts which, in splendor and extravagance, rivalled those of +Lucullus. These Roman feasts were particularly in vogue at the +palace of Luxembourg, where the directors of the republic had now +taken up their residence, and where Madame Tallien exhibited to the +new French society the new wonders of luxury and fashion. Too proud +to wear the generally-adopted costume of the Grecian republic, +Madame Tallien chose the attire of the Roman patrician lady; and +the gold-embroidered purple robes, and the golden tiara in her +black, shining hair, gave to the charming and beautiful daughter of +the republic the magnificence of an empress. She had also drawn +around her a splendid court. All eagerly pressed forward to pay +their respects to and obtain the good will of the mighty wife of +the mighty Tallien. Her house was the great point of attraction to +all those who occupied prominent positions in Paris, or aspired to +such. While in the parlors of Madame Récamier, who, despite +the revolution, had remained a zealous royalist, the past and the +good time of the Bourbons were whispered of, and witty and often +sanguinary <i>bon mots</i> at the expense of the republic +uttered--while in Madame de Staël's parlors art and science +had found an asylum--Madame Tallien and court lived for the +present, and basked in the splendor with which she knew how to +invest the palace of the dictators of France.</p> +<p>In the mean while, Viscountess Josephine Beauharnais had been +living, with her children, in quiet retirement, a prey to sad +memories. A day came, however, when she was compelled to tear +herself from this last consolation of the unhappy, the brooding +over the sorrows and losses of the past, or see her children become +the victims of misery and want. The time had come when she must +leave her retirement, and step, as a petitioner, before those who +had the power to grant, as a favor, that which was hers by right, +and restore to her, at least in part, her sequestered estate. +Josephine had known Madame Tallien when she was still Madame de +Fontenay, and it now occurred to her that she might assist her in +her attempt to recover the inheritance of her father. Madame +Tallien, the "Merveilleuse de Luxembourg," also called by her +admirers, "Notre-dame de Thermidor," felt much nattered at being +called on by a real viscountess, who had filled a distinguished +position at the court of King Louis. She therefore received her +with great amiability, and endeavored to make the charming and +beautiful viscountess her friend. But Josephine found that estates +were more easily lost than recovered. The republic, one and +indivisible, was always ready to take, but not to give; and, even +with the kindly offices of Madame Tallien freely exerted in her +behalf, it was some time before Josephine succeeded in recovering +her estate. In the mean time, she really suffered want, and she and +her children were compelled to bear the hardships and +mortifications which poverty brings in its train. But true friends +still remained to her in her misery; friends who, with true +delicacy, furnished her with the prime necessities of life--with +food and clothing for herself and children. In general, it was +characteristic of this period that no one felt humiliated by +accepting benefits of this kind from his friends. Those who had +lost all had not done so through their own fault; and those who had +saved their property out of the general wreck could not attribute +their fortune to their own merit or wisdom, but merely to chance. +They therefore considered it a sacred duty to divide with those who +had been less fortunate; and the latter would point with pride to +the poverty which proved that they had been true to themselves and +principle, and accept what friendship offered. This was the result +of a kind of community of property, to which the revolution had +given birth. Those who had possessions considered it their duty to +divide with those who had not, and the latter regarded this +division rather as a right than as a benefit conferred.</p> +<p>Josephine could, therefore, accept the assistance of her friends +without blushing; she could, with propriety, allow Madame de +Montmorin to provide for the wardrobe of herself and daughter; and +she and Hortense could accept the invitation of Madame Dumoulin to +dine with her twice a week. There, at Madame Dumoulin's, were +assembled, on certain days, a number of friends, who had been +robbed of their fortunes by the storms of the revolution. Madame +Dumoulin, the wife of a rich army-contractor, gave these dinners to +her friends, but each guest was expected to bring with him his own +white-bread. White-bread was, at that time, considered one of the +greatest dainties; for, there being a scarcity of grain, a law had +been proclaimed allotting to each section of Paris a certain amount +of bread, and providing that no individual should be entitled to +purchase more than two ounces daily. It had, therefore, become the +general custom to add the following to all invitations: "You are +requested to bring your white bread with you," for the reason that +no more than the allotted two ounces could be had for money, and +that amount cost the purchaser dearly<a name= +"FNanchor2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2">[2]</a>. Josephine, however, +had not even the money to buy the portion allowed her by law. An +exception to this rule was, however, made in favor of Josephine and +Hortense; and at Madame Dumoulin's dinners the hostess always +provided white bread for them, and for them alone of all her +guests. Viscountess Beauharnais was soon, however, to be freed from +this want. One day when she had been invited by Madame Tallien to +dinner, and had walked to the palace with Hortense, Tallien +informed her that the government had favorably considered her +petition, and was willing to make some concessions to the widow of +a true patriot who had sealed his devotion to principle with his +blood; that he had procured an ordinance from the administration of +domains, pursuant to which the seals were at once to be removed +from her furniture and other personal property, and that the +republic had remitted to her, through him, an order on the treasury +for her relief, until the sequestration of her landed estates +should be annulled, which he expected would soon take place.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor2">[2]</a> +Mémoires de Monsieur de Bourrienne sur Napoleon, etc., Vol. +i., p. 80.</blockquote> +<p>Josephine found no words in which to express her thanks. She +pressed her daughter to her heart and cried out, her face bathed in +tears: "We shall at last be happy! My children shall no longer +suffer want!" This time the tears Josephine shed were tears of joy, +the first in long years.</p> +<p>Care and want were now over. Josephine could now give her +children an education suitable to their rank; she could now once +more assume the position in society to which her beauty, youth, +amiability, and name entitled her. She no longer came to Madame +Tallien's parlor as a suppliant, she was now its ornament, and all +were eager to do homage to the adored friend of Madame Tallien, to +the beautiful and charming viscountess. But Josephine preferred the +quiet bliss of home-life in the circle of her children to the +brilliant life of society; she gradually withdrew from the noisy +circles of the outer world, in order that she might, in peaceful +retirement, devote herself to the cultivation of the hearts and +minds of her promising children.</p> +<p>Eugene was now a youth of sixteen years, and, as his personal +security no longer required him to deny his name and rank, he had +left his master's carpenter-shop, and laid aside his blouse. He was +preparing himself for military service under the instruction of +excellent teachers, whom he astonished by his zeal and rare powers +of comprehension. The military renown and heroic deeds of France +filled him with enthusiasm; and one day, while speaking with his +teacher of the deeds of Turenne, Eugene exclaimed with sparkling +eyes and glowing countenance: "I too will become a gallant general, +some day!"</p> +<p>Hortense, now a girl of twelve years, lived with her mother, who +was scarcely thirty years old, in the sweet companionship of an +elder and younger sister. They were inseparable companions; Nature +had given Hortense beauty with a lavish hand; her mother gave to +this beauty grace and dignity. Competent teachers instructed her +daughter's intellect, while the mother cultivated her heart. Early +accustomed to care and want, this child had not the giddy, +thoughtless disposition usually characteristic of girls of her age. +She had too early gained an insight into the uncertainty and +emptiness of all earthly magnificence, not to appreciate the +littleness of those things upon which young girls usually place so +high an estimate. Her thoughts were not occupied with the adornment +of her person, and she did not bend her young head beneath the yoke +of capricious fashion: for her, there were higher and nobler +enjoyments, and Hortense was never happier than when her mother +dispensed with her attendance at the entertainments at the house of +Madame Tallien or Madame Barras, and permitted her to remain at +home, to amuse herself with her books and harp in a better and more +useful, if not in a more agreeable manner, than she could have done +in the brilliant parlors to which her mother had repaired. Early +matured in the school of experience and suffering, the girl of +twelve had acquired a womanly earnestness and resolution, and yet +her noble and chaste features still wore the impress of childhood, +and in her large blue eyes reposed a whole heaven of innocence and +peace. When she sat with her harp at the window in the evening +twilight, the last rays of the setting sun gilding her sweet +countenance, and surrounding as with a halo her beautiful blond +hair, Josephine imagined she saw before her one of those +angel-forms of innocence and love which the poet and painter +portray. In a kind of trance she listened to the sweet sounds and +melodies which Hortense lured from her harp, and accompanied with +the silvery tones of her voice, in words composed by herself, +half-childish prayer, half rhapsody of love, and revealing the most +secret thoughts of the fair young being who stood on the threshold +of womanhood, bidding adieu to childhood with a blissful smile, and +dreaming of the future.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV.1"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<h3>GENERAL BUONAPARTE.</h3> +<br> +<p>While Josephine de Beauharnais, after the trials of these long +and stormy years, was enjoying blissful days of quiet happiness and +repose, the gusts of revolution kept bursting forth from time to +time in fits of fury, and tranquillity continued far from being +permanently restored. The clubs, those hot-beds of the revolution, +still exercised their pestilential influence over the populace of +Paris, and stirred the rude masses incessantly to fresh paroxysms +of discontent and disorder.</p> +<p>But already the man had been found who was to crush those wild +masses in his iron grasp, and dash the speakers of the clubs down +into the dust with the flashing master-glance of his resistless +eye.</p> +<p>That man was Napoleon Buonaparte. He was hardly twenty-nine +years of age, yet already all France was talking him as a hero +crowned with laurels, already had he trodden a brilliant career of +victory. As commander of a battalion he had performed prodigies of +valor at the recapture of Toulon; and then, after being promoted to +the rank of general, had gone to the army in Italy on behalf of the +republic. Bedecked with the laurels of his Italian campaign, the +young general of five-and-twenty had returned to France. There, the +government, being still hostile and ill-disposed toward him, wished +to remove him from Paris, and send him to La Vendée as a +brigadier-general. Buonaparte declined this mission, because he +preferred remaining in the artillery service, and, for that reason, +the government of the republic relieved him of his duties and put +him on half-pay.</p> +<p>So, Buonaparte remained in Paris and waited. He waited for the +brilliant star that was soon to climb the firmament for him, and +shed the fulness of its rays over the whole world. Perhaps, the +secret voices which whispered in his breast of a dazzling future, +and a fabulous career of military glory, had already announced the +rising of his star.</p> +<p>So Buonaparte lived on in Paris, and waited. He there passed +quiet, retired, and inactive days, associating with a few devoted +friends only, who aided him, with delicate tact, in his restricted +circumstances. For Buonaparte was poor; he had lost his limited +means in the tempests of the revolution, and all that he possessed +consisted of the laurels he had won on the battle-field, and his +half pay as a brigadier-general. But, like the Viscountess de +Beauharnais, Napoleon had some true friends who deemed it an honor +to receive him as a guest at their table, and also, like Josephine, +he was too poor to bring his wheaten loaf with him to the dinners +that he attended, as was then the prevailing custom. He often +dined, in company with his brother Louis, at the house of his +boyhood's friend Bourrienne, and his future secretary was at that +time still his host, favored of the gods. The young general, +instead of, like his brother, bringing his wheaten loaf, brought +only his ration, which was rye-bread, and this he always abandoned +to his brother Louis, who was very fond of it, while Madame +Bourrienne took care that he should invariably find his supply of +white, bread at his plate. She had managed to get some flour +smuggled into Paris from her husband's estate, and had white-bread +made of it secretly, at the pastry-cook's. Had this been +discovered, it would inevitably have prepared the way for all of +them to the scaffold.</p> +<p>Thus, then, young General Buonaparte, or, as he subsequently +wrote the name himself, "Bonaparte," passed quiet days of +expectation, hoping that, should the existing government, so +hostile to him, be suppressed by another, his wishes might be at +last fulfilled. These wishes were, by the way, of a rather +unpretending character. "If I could only live here quietly, at +Paris," he once remarked to his friend Bourrienne, "and rent that +pretty little house yonder, opposite to my friends, and keep a +carriage besides, I should be the happiest of men!"</p> +<p>He was quite seriously entertaining the idea of renting the +"pretty little house" in common with his uncle Fesch afterward the +cardinal, when the important events that soon shook Paris once more +prevented him, and the famous 13th Vendémiaire, 1795, again +summoned the famous general away from his meditations to stern +practical activity. It was on that day, the 13th Vendémiaire +(October 5th), that there came the outburst of the storm, the +subterranean rumblings of which had been so long perceptible. The +sections of Paris rose against the National Convention which had +given France a new constitution, and so fixed it that two thirds of +the members of the Convention should reappear in the new +legislative body. The sections of Paris, however, were prepared to +accept the new constitution only when it provided that the +legislative body should spring from fresh elections entirely. The +Convention, thus assailed in its ambitious hankering for power, was +resolved to stand its ground, and called upon the representatives +who commanded the armed forces, to defend the republic of their +creation. Barras was appointed the first general commanding the +Army of the Interior, and Bonaparte the second. It was not long +before a ferocious conflict broke out in the streets between the +army and the insurgent sections. At that time the populace were not +always so ready, as they have been since then, to tear up the +pavements for barricades, and the revolters, put to flight by the +terrible fire and the fierce onset of the artillery, made the +Church of St. Roch and the Palais Royal their defensive points; but +they were driven from them also; the struggle in the streets +recommenced, and streams of blood had to flow ere it was over.</p> +<p>After the lapse of two days order was restored, and Barras +declared to the triumphant National Convention that the victory +over the insurgents was chiefly due to the comprehensive and +gallant conduct of General Bonaparte.</p> +<p>The National Convention, as a token of gratitude, conferred upon +the latter the permanent position of second general of the Army of +the Interior, which had been allotted to him temporarily, only on +the day of peril. From that moment, Bonaparte emerged from +obscurity; his name had risen above the horizon!</p> +<p>He now had a position, and he could better comprehend the +whispering voices that sang within his bosom the proud, triumphant +song of his future career. He was now already conscious that he had +a shining goal before his gaze--a goal to which he dared not yet +assign a title, that flitted about him like a dazzling fairy tale, +and which he swore to make reality at last.</p> +<p>One day, there came to the headquarters of the young +general-in-chief a young man who very pressingly asked to see him. +Bonaparte had him admitted, and the dignified form, the courageous, +fiery glance, the noble, handsome countenance of the stranger, at +once prepossessed him in the young man's favor, and he forthwith +questioned him in gentle, friendly tones, concerning the object of +his visit.</p> +<p>"General," said the young man, "my name is Eugene Beauharnais, +and I have served the republic on the Rhine. My father was +denounced before the Committee of Public Safety as a +<i>suspect</i>, and given over to the Revolutionary Tribunal, who +had him murdered, three days before the fall of Robespierre."</p> +<p>"Murdered!" exclaimed Bonaparte, in threatening tones.</p> +<p>"Yes, general, murdered!" repeated Eugene, with resolution. "I +come now to request, in the name of my mother, that you will have +the kindness to bring your influence to bear upon the committee, to +induce them to give me back my father's sword. I will faithfully +use it in fighting the enemies of my country and defending the +cause of the republic."</p> +<p>These proud and noble words called up a gentle, kindly smile to +the stern, pale face of the young general, and the fiery flash of +his eyes grew softer.</p> +<p>"Good! young man, very good!" he said. "I like this spirit, and +this filial tenderness. The sword of your father--the sword of +General Beauharnais--shall be restored to you. Wait!"</p> +<p>"With this, he called one of his adjutants, and gave him the +necessary commands. A short time only had elapsed, when the +adjutant returned, bringing with him the sword of General +Beauharnais.</p> +<p>Bonaparte himself handed it to Eugene. The young overwhelmed +with strong emotion, pressed the weapon--the sole, dear possession +of his father--to his lips and to his heart, and tears of sacred +emotion started into his eyes.</p> +<p>Instantly the general stepped to his side, and his slender white +hand, which knew so well how to wield the sword, and yet was as +soft, as delicate, and as transparent as the hand of a duchess, +rested lightly on Eugene's shoulder.</p> +<p>"My young friend," said he, in that gentle tone which won all +hearts to him, "I should be very happy could I do anything for you +or your family."</p> +<p>Eugene gazed at him with an expression of childish amazement. +"Good general!" he managed to say; "then mamma and my sister will +pray for you."</p> +<p>This ingenuousness made the general smile; and, with a friendly +nod, he desired Eugene to offer his respects to his mother, and to +call upon him soon again.</p> +<p>This meeting of Eugene and General Bonaparte was the +commencement of the acquaintanceship between Bonaparte and +Josephine. The sword of the guillotined General Beauharnais placed +an imperial crown upon the head of his widow, and adorned the brows +of his son and his daughter with royal diadems.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V.1"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<h3>THE MARRIAGE.</h3> +<br> +<p>A few days after this interview between Bonaparte and Eugene, +Josephine met Bonaparte at one of the brilliant +<i>soirées</i> given by Barras, the first general-in-chief. +She asked Barras to introduce her to the young general, and then, +in her usual frank manner, utterly the opposite of all prudery, yet +none the less delicate and decorous, extending her hand to +Bonaparte, she thanked him, with the tender warmth of a mother, for +the friendliness and kindness he had manifested to her son.</p> +<p>The general looked with wondering admiration at this young and +beautiful woman, who claimed to be the mother of a lad grown up to +manhood. Her enchanting face beamed with youth and beauty, and a +sea of warmth and passion streamed from her large, dark eyes, while +the gentle, love-enticing smile that played around her mouth +revealed the tender feminine gentleness and amiability of her +disposition. Bonaparte had never mastered the art of flattering +women in the light, frivolous style of the fashionable coxcomb; and +when he attempted it his compliments were frequently of so unusual +and startling a character that they might just as well contain an +affront as a tribute of eulogy.</p> +<p>"Ah! ah! How striking that looks!" he once said, while he was +emperor, to the charming Duchess de Chevreuse. "What remarkable red +hair you have!"</p> +<p>"Possibly so, sire," she replied, "but this is the first time +that a man ever told me so."</p> +<p>And the duchess was right; for her hair was not red, but of a +very handsome blond<a name="FNanchor3"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_3">[3]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor3">[3]</a> +The Duchess de Chevreuse was shortly afterward banished to Tours, +because she refused to serve us a lady of honor to the Queen of +Spain.</blockquote> +<p>To another lady, whose round, white arms pleased him, he once +said: "Ah, good Heavens, what red arms you have!" Then, again, to +another: "What beautiful hair you have; but what an ugly head-dress +that is! Who could have put it up for you in such ridiculous +style?"</p> +<p>Bonaparte, as I have said, did not know how to compliment women +with words; but Josephine well understood the flattering language +that his eyes addressed to her. She knew that she had, in that very +hour, conquered the bold young lion, and she felt proud and happy +at the thought; for the unusually imposing appearance of the young +hero had awakened her own heart, which she had thought was dead, to +livelier palpitations.</p> +<p>From that time forth they saw each other more frequently, and, +ere long, Josephine heard from Bonaparte's own lips the glowing +confession of his love. She reciprocated it, and promised him her +hand. In vain her powerful friends, Tallien and Barras, endeavored +to dissuade her from marrying this young, penniless general; in +vain did they remind her that he might be killed in the very next +battle, and that she might thus again be left a reduced widow. +Josephine shook her handsome curls with a peculiar smile. Perhaps +she was thinking of the prophecy of the negress at Martinique; +perhaps she had read in the fiery glances of Bonaparte's eye, and +on his broad, thoughtful brow, that he might be the very man to +bring that prophecy to its consummation; perhaps she loved him +ardently enough to prefer an humble lot, when shared with him, to +any richer or more brilliant alliance. The representations of her +friends did not frighten her away, and she remained firm in her +determination to become the wife of the young general, poor as he +was. Their wedding-day was fixed, and both hastened with joyous +impatience to make their modest little preparations for their new +housekeeping establishment. Yet Bonaparte had not been able to +complete his dream of happiness; he possessed neither house nor +carriage, and Josephine, too, was without an equipage.</p> +<p>Thus both of them often had to content themselves with going on +foot through the streets, and it may be that, in this halcyon +period of their felicity, they regarded the circumstance rather as +a favor than as a scurvy trick of Fortune. Their tender and +confidential communications were not disturbed by the loud rattle +of the wheels, and they were not obliged to interrupt their sweet +interchange of sentiment while getting into and out of a vehicle. +Arm-in-arm, they strolled together along the promenades, he smiling +proudly when the passers-by broke out in spontaneous exclamations +of delight at Josephine's beauty, and she happy and exultant as she +overheard the whispered admiration and respect with which the +multitude everywhere greeted Bonaparte, as she pressed with the +general through the throng.</p> +<p>One day, Bonaparte accompanied the viscountess on a visit to +Ragideau, the smallest man but the greatest lawyer in Paris. He had +been the business attorney of the Beauharnais family for a long +time, and Josephine now wished to withdraw from his hands, for her +own disposal, a sum of money belonging to her that had been +deposited with him. Bonaparte remained in the anteroom while +Josephine went into the adjoining apartment, which was Ragideau's +office.</p> +<p>"I have come to tell you that I am going to marry again," said +Josephine, with her winning smile, to Ragideau.</p> +<p>The little attorney gave a friendly nod, as he replied: "You do +well, and I congratulate you with all my heart, viscountess, for I +am satisfied that you have made no other than a worthy choice."</p> +<p>"Undoubtedly, a very worthy choice," exclaimed Josephine, with +the proud and happy look of a person really in love. "My future +husband is General Bonaparte!"</p> +<p>The little great man (of a lawyer) fairly started with alarm. +"How?" said he, "You!--the Viscountess Beauharnais, you--marry this +little General Bonaparte, this general of the republic, which has +already deposed him once, and may depose him again to-morrow, and +throw him back into insignificance?"</p> +<p>Josephine's only reply was this: "I love him."</p> +<p>"Yes you love him, now," exclaimed Ragideau, warmly. "But you +are wrong in marrying him, and you will one day, rue it. You are +committing a folly, viscountess, for you want to marry a man who +has nothing but his hat and his sword."</p> +<p>"But who also has a future," said Josephine, gayly, and then, +turning the conversation, she began to speak of the practical +matters that had brought her thither.</p> +<p>When her business with the notary had been concluded, Josephine +returned to the anteroom where Bonaparte was waiting for her. He +came, smiling, to meet her, but, at the same moment, he gave the +notary, who was with her, so fierce and wrathful a glance that the +latter shrank back in consternation. Josephine also remarked that +Bonaparte's countenance was paler that day than usual, and that he +was less communicative and less disposed to chat with her; but she +had already learned that it was not advisable to question him as to +the cause of his different moods. So, she kept silent on that +score, and her cheerfulness and amiability soon drove away the +clouds that had obscured the general's brow.</p> +<p>The nuptials of Bonaparte and Josephine followed, on the 9th of +March, 1796; and the witnesses, besides Eugene and Hortense, +Josephine's children, were Barras, Jean Lemarois, Tallien, +Calmelet, and Leclerq. The marriage-contract contained, along with +the absolutely requisite facts of the case, a very pleasant piece +of flattery for Josephine, since, in order to establish an equality +of ages between the two parties, Bonaparte had himself put down a +year older, and Josephine four years younger, than they really +were. Bonaparte was not, as the contract states, born on the 5th of +February, 1768 but on the 15th of August, 1769; and Josephine not, +as the document represents, on the 23d of July, 1767, but on the +23d of June, 1763<a name="FNanchor4"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_4">[4]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor4">[4]</a> +Bourrienne, vol. i, p. 350.</blockquote> +<p>Josephine acknowledged this gallant act of her young spouse in +queenly fashion, for she brought him, as her wedding-gift, his +appointment to the command of the Italian army, which Barras and +Tallien had granted to her, at her own request.</p> +<p>But, before the young bridegroom repaired to his new scene of +activity, there to win fresh laurels and renown, he passed a few +happy weeks with his lovely wife and his new family, in the small +residence in the Rue Chautereine, which he had purchased a short +time before his marriage, and which Josephine had fitted up with +that elevated and refined good taste that had always distinguished +her.</p> +<p>One-half of Bonaparte's darling wish was at length fulfilled. He +had his house, which was large enough to receive his friends. There +was now only a carriage to be procured in order to make the general +the "happiest of men."</p> +<p>But, as the wishes of men always aspire still farther the +farther they advance, Bonaparte was no longer content with the +possession of a small house in Paris. He now wanted an +establishment in the country also.</p> +<p>"Look me up a little place in your beautiful valley of the +Yonne," he wrote about this time to Bourrienne, who was then living +on his property near Sens; "and as soon as I get the money, I will +buy it. Then I will retire to it. Now, don't forget that I do not +want any of the national domains<a name="FNanchor5"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_5">[5]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor5">[5]</a> +Bourrienne, vol. i, p. 103.</blockquote> +<p>As for the carriage, the peace of Campo Formio brought the +victorious General Bonaparte a magnificent team of six gray horses, +which was a present to the general of the French Republic from the +Emperor of Austria, who did not dream that, scarcely ten years +later, he would have him for a son-in-law.</p> +<p>These superb grays, however, were--excepting the laurels of +Arcola, Marengo, and Mantua, the only spoils of war that Bonaparte +brought back with him from his famous Italian campaign--the only +gift which the general had not refused to accept.</p> +<p>It is true that the six grays could not be very conveniently +hitched to a simple private carriage, but they had an imposing look +attached to the gilded coach of state in which, a year later, the +first consul made his solemn entry into the Tuileries.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI.1"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<h3>BONAPARTE IN ITALY.</h3> +<br> +<p>Josephine, now the wife of General Bonaparte, had but a few +weeks in which to enjoy her new happiness, and then remained alone +in Paris, doubly desolate, because she had to be separated, not +only from her husband, but from her children. Eugene accompanied +his young step-father to Italy, and Hortense went as a pupil to +Madame Campan's boarding-school. The former, lady-in-waiting to +Queen Marie Antoinette, had, at that time, opened an establishment +for the education of young ladies, at St. Germain, and the greatest +and most eminent families of newly-republicanized France liked to +send their daughters to it, so that they might learn from the +former court-lady the refined style and manners of old royalist +times.</p> +<p>Hortense was, therefore, sent to that boarding-school, and +there, in the society of her new Aunt Caroline--the sister of +Bonaparte, and afterward Queen of Naples--and the young Countess +Stephanie Beauharnais, her cousin, passed a few happy years of +work, of varied study, and of youthful maiden-dreams.</p> +<p>Hortense devoted herself with iron diligence, and untiring +enthusiasm, to her studies, which consisted, not only in the +acquisition of languages, in music, and drawing, history and +geography, but still more in the mastering the so-called <i>bon +ton</i> and that aristocratic <i>savoir vivre</i> of which Madame +Campan was a very model. While Hortense was thus receiving +instruction on the harp from the celebrated Alvimara, in painting +from Isabey, dancing from Coulon, and singing from Lambert, and was +playing on the stage of the amateur theatre at the boarding-school +the parts of heroines and lady-loves; while she was participating +in the balls and concerts that Madame Campan gave in order to show +off the talent of her pupils to the friends she invited; while, in +a word, Hortense was thus being trained up to the accomplishments +of a distinguished woman of the world, she did not dream how useful +all these little details, so trivial, apparently, at the time, +would one day be to her, and how good a thing it was that she had +learned to play parts at Madame Campan's, and to appear in society +as a great lady.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, Josephine was passing days of gratified pride and +exulting triumph at Paris, for the star of her hero was ascending, +brighter and brighter in its effulgence, above the horizon; the +name of Bonaparte was echoing in louder and louder volume through +the world, and filling all Europe with a sort of awe-inspired fear +and trembling, as the sea becomes agitated when the sun begins to +rise. Victory after victory came joyfully heralded from Italy, as +ancient states fell beneath the iron tread of the victor, and new +ones sprang into being. The splendid old Republic of Venice, once +the terror of the whole world, the victorious Queen of the +Adriatic, had to bow her haughty head, and her diadem fell in +fragments at the feet of her triumphant conqueror. The lion of St. +Mark's no longer made mankind tremble at his angry roar, and the +slender monumental pillars on the Piazzetta were all that remained +to the shattered and fallen Venetian Republic of her conquests in +Candia, Cyprus, and the Morea. But, from the dust and ashes of the +old commonwealth, there arose, at Bonaparte's command, a new state, +the Cisalpine Republic, as a new and youthful daughter of the +French Republic; and, when the last Doge of Venice, Luigi Manin, +laid his peaked crown at the feet of Bonaparte, and then fainted +away, another Venetian, Dandolo, the son of a family that had given +Venice the greatest and most celebrated of her doges, stepped to +the front at the head of the new republic--that Dandolo of whom +Bonaparte had said that he was "a man."</p> +<p>"Good God!" exclaimed Bonaparte one day to Bourrienne, "how +seldom one meets <i>men</i> in the world! In Italy there are +eighteen millions of inhabitants, but I have found only two +<i>men</i> among them all--Dandolo and Melzi<a name= +"FNanchor6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6">[6]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor6">[6]</a> +Bourrienne, vol. i, p. 139.</blockquote> +<p>But, while Bonaparte was despairing of <i>men</i>, in the very +midst of his victories, he cherished the warmest, most impassioned +love for his wife, to whom he almost daily wrote the tenderest and +most ardent letters, the answers to which he awaited with the most +impatient longing.</p> +<p>Josephine's letters formed the sole exception to a very unusual +and singular system that Bonaparte had adopted during a part of his +campaign in Italy. This was to leave a11 written communications, +excepting such as came to him by special couriers, unread for three +weeks. He threw them all into a large basket, and opened them only +on the twenty-first day thereafter. Still, General Bonaparte was +more considerate than Cardinal Dubois, who immediately consigned +<i>all</i> the communications he received to the flames, +<i>unread</i>, and--while the fire on his hearth was consuming the +paper on which, perchance, was written the despairing appeal of a +mother, imploring pardon for her son; of a disconsolate wife, +beseeching pity for her husband; or the application of an ambitious +statesman, desiring promotion--would point to them with a sardonic +smile, and say, "There's <i>my</i> correspondence!" Bonaparte, at +least, gave the letters a perusal, three weeks after they reached +him, indeed; but those three weeks saved him and his secretary, +Bourrienne, much time and labor, for, when they finally went to +work on them, time and circumstances had already disposed of four +fifths of them, and thus only one fifth required answers--a result +that made Bonaparte laugh heartily, and filled him with justifiable +pride in what he termed his "happy idea."</p> +<p>Josephine's letters, however, had not an hour or a minute to +wait ere they were read. Bonaparte always received them with his +heart bounding with delight, and invariably answered them, in such +impassioned, glowing language as only his warm southern temperament +could suggest, and contrasted with which even Josephine's missives +seemed a little cool and passionless.</p> +<p>Ere long Bonaparte ceased to be satisfied with merely getting +letters from his Josephine. He desired to have her, in person, with +him; and hardly had the tempest of war begun to lull, ere the +general summoned his beloved to his side at Milan. She obeyed his +call with rapture, and hastened to Italy to join him. Now came +proud days of triumph and gratified affection. All Italy hailed +Bonaparte as the conquering hero; all Italy did homage to the woman +who bore his name, and whose incomparable fascination and +amiability, gracefulness and beauty, won all hearts. Her life now +resembled a magnificent, glorified, triumphal pageant; a dazzling +fairy festival; a tale from the "Arabian Nights" that had become +reality, with Josephine for its enchanted heroine, sparkling with +stars, and gleaming with golden sunshine.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII.1"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<h3>VICISSITUDES OF DESTINY.</h3> +<br> +<p>Resplendent was the triumphal procession with which Bonaparte +made his proud entry into Paris, on his return from Italy. In the +front courtyard of the Luxembourg, the palace occupied by the +<i>Corps Législatif</i>, was erected a vast amphitheatre, in +which sat all the high authorities of France; in the centre of the +amphitheatre stood the altar of the country, surmounted by three +gigantic statues, representing Freedom, Equality, and Peace. As +Bonaparte stepped into this space, all the dense crowd that +occupied the seats of the amphitheatre rose to their feet with +uncovered heads, to hail the conqueror of Italy, and the windows of +the palace were thronged with handsomely dressed ladies, who waved +welcome to the young hero with their handkerchiefs. But suddenly +this splendid festival was marred by a serious mischance. An +officer of the Directory, who, the better to satisfy his curiosity, +had clambered up on the scaffolding of the right-side wing of the +palace, then undergoing extension, fell from it, and struck the +ground almost at Napoleon's feet. A shout of terror burst almost +simultaneously from a thousand throats, and the ladies turned pale +and shrank back, shuddering, from the windows. The palace, which a +moment before had exhibited such a wealth of adornment in these +living flowers, now stood there bare, with empty, gaping casements. +A perceptible thrill ran through the ranks of the <i>Corps +Législatif</i>, and here and there the whisper passed that +this fall of an officer portended the early overthrow of the +Directory itself, and that it, too, would soon, like the +unfortunate victim of the accident, be lying in its death agonies +at the feet of General Bonaparte.</p> +<p>But the Directory, nevertheless, hastened to give the victor of +Arcola new <i>fêtes</i> every day; and when these +<i>fêtes</i> were over, and Bonaparte, fatigued with the +speeches, the festivities, the toasts, etc., would be on his way +returning homeward, there was the populace of Paris, who beset his +path in crowds, to greet him with hearty cheers; and these +persistent friends he had to recognize, with smiles and shakings of +the hand, or with a nod and a pleasant glance.</p> +<p>A universal jubilee of delight had seized upon the French. Each +individual saw in Bonaparte renown and greatness reflected on +himself. Every one regarded him as the most brilliant impersonation +of his own inner personality, and, therefore, felt drawn toward him +with a sort of reverential exultation.</p> +<p>Josephine gave herself up with her whole soul to the enjoyment +of these glorious occasions. While Bonaparte, almost completely +overwhelmed and disturbed, could have held aloof from these +ovations of the people of Paris, they, on the contrary, filled the +heart of his wife with pride and joy. While in the theatre, he +shrank back, abashed, behind his wife's chair when the audience, +learning his presence, filled their noisy plaudits and clamored to +have a glimpse at him, Josephine would thank the crowd on his +behalf with a bewitching smile, and eyes swelling with tears for +this proof of their regard, which to her seemed but a natural and +appropriate tribute to her Achilles, her lion-hearted hero. But +Bonaparte did not allow himself to be blinded by these +demonstrations; and one day, when popular enthusiasm seemed as +though it would never end, and the crowd were untiring in their +cries of "<i>Vive Bonaparte!</i>" while Josephine turned her face +toward him, glowing with delight, and called out, exultingly--"See, +how they love you, these good people of Paris!" he replied, with an +almost melancholy expression "Bah! The crowd would be just as +numerous and noisy if they were conducting me to the scaffold!"</p> +<p>However, these festivals and demonstrations at length subsided, +and his life resumed its more tranquil course.</p> +<p>Bonaparte could now once more spend a few secluded days of rest +and calm enjoyment in his (by this time more richly-decorated) +dwelling in the Rue Chautereine, the name of which the city +authorities had changed to <i>Rue de la Victoire</i>, in honor of +the conqueror at Arcola and Marengo. He could, after so many +battles and triumphs, afford to repose a while in the arms of love +and happiness.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, this inactivity soon began to press heavily on his +restless spirit. He longed for new exploits, for fresh victories. +He felt that he was only at the commencement, and not at the end of +his conquering career; he constantly heard ringing in his ears the +notes of the battle-clarion, summoning him to renewed triumphs and +to other paths of glory. Love could only delight his heart, but +could not completely satisfy it. Repose he deemed but the beginning +of death.</p> +<p>"If I remain here inactive any longer, I am lost," said he. +"They retain the resemblance of nothing whatever in Paris; one +celebrity blots out another in this great Babylon; if I show myself +much oftener to the public, they will cease to look at me, and if I +do not soon undertake something new, they will forget me."</p> +<p>And he did undertake something new, something unprecedented, +that filled all Europe with astonishment. He left the shores of +France with an army to conquer, for the French Republic, that +ancient land of Egypt, on whose pyramids the green moss of +long-forgotten ages was flourishing.</p> +<p>Josephine did not accompany him. She remained behind in Paris; +but she needed consolation and encouragement to enable her to +sustain this separation, which Bonaparte himself had confessed to +her might be just as likely to last six years as six months. And +what could afford better consolation to a heart so tender as +Josephine's than the presence of her beloved daughter? She had +willingly given up her son to her husband, and he had accompanied +the latter to Egypt, but her daughter remained, and her she would +not give up to any one, not even to Madame Campan's +boarding-school.</p> +<p>Besides, the education of Hortense was now completed. She who +had come to St. Germain as a child, left the boarding-school, after +two years' stay, a handsome, blooming young lady, adorned with all +the charms of innocence, youth, grace, and refinement.</p> +<p>Although she was now a young lady of nearly sixteen, she had +retained the thoughts and ways of her childhood. Her heart was as a +white sheet of paper, on which no profane hand had ventured to +write a mortal name. She loved nothing beyond her mother, her +brother, the fine arts, and flowers. She entertained a profound but +speechless veneration for her young step-father. His burning gaze +made her uneasy and timorous; his commanding voice made her heart +throb anxiously; in fine, she reverenced him with adoring but too +agitated an impression of awe to find it possible to love him. He +was for her at all times the hero, the lord and master, the father +to whom she owed implicit obedience, but she dared not love him; +she could only look up to and honor him from a distance.</p> +<p>Hortense loved nothing but her mother, her brother, the fine +arts, and flowers. She still looked out, with the expectant eyes of +a child, upon the world which seemed so beautiful and inviting to +her, and from which she hoped yet to obtain some grand dazzling +piece of good fortune without having any accurate idea in what it +was to consist. She still loved all mankind, and believed in their +truth and rectitude. No thorn had yet wounded her heart; no +disenchantment, no bright illusion dashed to pieces, had yet left +its shadow on that clear, lofty brow of transparent whiteness. The +expression of her large blue eyes was still radiant and undimmed, +and her laugh was so clear and ringing, that it almost made her +mother sad to hear it, for it sounded to her like the last echo of +some sweet, enchanting song of childhood, and she but too well knew +that it would soon be hushed.</p> +<p>But Hortense still laughed, still sang with the birds, rivalling +their melodies; the world still lay before her like an early +morning dream, and she still hoped for the rising of the sun.</p> +<p>Such was Hortense when her mother took her from Madame Campan's +boarding-school, to accompany her to the baths of +Plombières. But there it was that Hortense came near +experiencing the greatest sorrow of her life, in nearly losing her +mother.</p> +<p>She was with Josephine and some other ladies in the drawing-room +of the house they occupied at Plombières. The doors facing +the balcony were open, to let in the warm summer air. Hortense was +sitting by the window painting a nosegay of wild flowers, that she +had gathered with her own hands on the hills of Plombières. +Josephine found the atmosphere of the room too close, and invited +some ladies to step out with her upon the balcony. A moment +afterward there was heard a deafening crash, followed by piercing +shrieks of terror; and when Hortense sprang in desperate fright to +the front entrance, she found that the balcony on which her mother +and the other ladies had stood had disappeared. Its fastenings had +given way, and they had been precipitated with it into the street. +Hortense, in the first impulse of her distress and horror, would +have sprung down after her beloved mother, and could only be held +back with the greatest difficulty. But this time fate had spared +the young girl, and refrained from darkening the pure, unclouded +heaven of her youth. Her mother escaped with no other injury than +the fright, and a slight wound on her arm, while one of the ladies +had both legs broken.</p> +<p>Josephine's time to die had not yet come, for the prophecy of +the fortune-teller had not yet been fulfilled. Josephine was, +indeed, the wife of a renowned general, but she was not yet +"something more than a queen."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII.1"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<h3>BONAPARTE'S RETURN FROM EGYPT.</h3> +<br> +<p>Bonaparte had got back from Egypt. His victory at Aboukir had +adorned his brows with fresh laurels, and all France hailed the +returning conqueror with plaudits of exulting pride. For the first +time, Hortense was present at the festivities which the city of +Paris dedicated to her step-father; for the first time she saw the +homage that men and women, graybeards and children alike, paid to +the hero of Italy and Egypt. These festivities and this homage +filled her heart with a tremor of alarm, and yet, at the same time, +with joyous exultation. In the midst of these triumphs and these +ovations which were thus offered to her second father, the young +girl recalled the prison in which her mother had once languished, +the scaffold upon which the head of her own father had fallen; and +frequently when she glanced at the rich gold-embroidered uniform of +her brother, she reminded him with a roguish smile of the time when +Eugene went in a blue blouse, as a carpenter's apprentice, through +the streets of Paris with a long plank on his shoulder.</p> +<p>These recollections of the first terrible days of her youth kept +Hortense from feeling the pride and arrogance of good fortune, +preserved to her modest, unassuming tone of mind, prevented her +from entertaining any overweening or domineering propensity in her +day of prosperity, or from seeming cast down and hopeless when +adversity came. She never lulled herself with the idea of good +fortune that could not pass away, but her remembrances kept her +eyes wide open, and hence, when misfortune came, it did not take +her by surprise, but found her armed and ready to confront it.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, she drank in the pleasure of these prosperous days +in full draughts, delighted as she was to see the mother, of whom +she was so fond, surrounded by such a halo of glory and gratified +love; and in the name of her murdered father she thanked General +Bonaparte with double fervor, from the bottom of her heart, for +having been the means of procuring for her mother, who had suffered +so deeply in her first wedded life, so magnificent a glow of +splendor and happiness in her second marriage.</p> +<p>In the mean while, new days of storm and tumult were at hand to +dispel this brief period of tranquil enjoyment. A fresh revolution +convulsed all France, and, ere long, Paris was divided into two +hostile camps, burning to begin the work of mutual annihilation. On +one side stood the democratic republicans, who looked back with +longing regret to the days of terrorism and bloodshed, perceiving, +as they did, that tranquillity and protracted peace must soon wrest +the reins of power from their grasp, and therefore anxiously +desiring to secure control through the element of intimidation. +This party declared that liberty was in danger, and the +Constitution threatened; they summoned the <i>sans-culottes</i> and +the loud-mouthed republicans of the clubs to the armed defence of +the imperilled country, and pointed with menacing hands at +Bonaparte as the man who wished to overthrow the republic, and put +France once more in the bonds of servitude.</p> +<p>On the other side stood the discreet friends of the country, the +republicans by compulsion, who denounced terrorism, and had sworn +fidelity to the republic, only because it was under this reptile +disguise alone that they could escape the threatening knife of the +guillotine. On this side were arrayed the men of mind, the artists +and poets who hopefully longed for a new era, because they knew +that the days of terror and of the tyrannical democratic republic +had brought not merely human beings, but also the arts and +sciences, to the scaffold. With them, too, were arrayed the +merchants and artisans, the bankers, the business-men, the +property-owners, all of whom wanted to see the republic at least +established upon a more moderate and quiet foundation, in order to +have confidence in its durability and substantial character, and to +commence the works of peace with a better assurance of success. And +at the head of these moderate republicans stood Bonaparte.</p> +<p>The 18th Brumaire of the year 1798 was the decisive day. It was +a fearful struggle that then began afresh--a struggle, however, in +which little blood was spilt, and not men but principles were +slaughtered.</p> +<p>The Council of Elders, the Council of the Five Hundred, the +Directory, and the Constitution of the year III., fell together, +and from the ruins of the bloody and ferocious democratic republic +arose the moderate, rational republic of the year 1798. At its head +were the three consuls, Bonaparte, Cambacères, and +Lebrun.</p> +<p>On the day following, the 18th Brumaire, these three consuls +entered the Luxembourg, amid the plaudits of the people, and slept, +as conquerors, in the beds of the Directory of yesterday.</p> +<p>From that day forward a new world began to take shape, and the +forms of etiquette which, during the ascendency of the democratic +republic, had slunk away out of sight into the darkest recesses of +the Luxembourg and the Tuileries, began to reappear, slowly and +circumspectly, 'tis true, in broad daylight. People were no longer +required, in accordance with the spirit of equality, to ignore all +distinctions of condition and culture, by the use of the words +"citizen" and "citizeness;" or, in the name of brotherhood, to +endure the close familiarities of every brawling street ruffian; +or, in the name of liberty, to let all his own personal liberty and +inclination be trampled under foot.</p> +<p>Etiquette, as I have said, crept forth from the dark corners +again; and the three consuls, who had taken possession of the +Luxembourg, whispered the word "monsieur" in each other's ears, and +greeted Josephine and her daughter, who were installed in the +apartments prepared for them in the palace on the next day, with +the title of "madame." Yet, only a year earlier, the two words +"monsieur" and "madame" had occasioned revolt in Paris, and brought +about bloodshed. A year earlier General Augereau had promulged the +stern order of the day in his division, that, "whoever should use +the word 'monsieur' or 'madame,' orally or in writing, on pretext +whatever, should be deprived of his rank, and declared incapable of +ever again serving in the army of the republic<a name= +"FNanchor7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7">[7]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor7">[7]</a> +Bourrienne, vol. i., p. 229.</blockquote> +<p>Now, these two proscribed words made their triumphant entry, +along with the three consuls, into the palace of the Luxembourg, +which had been delivered from its democratic tyrants.</p> +<p>Josephine was now, at least, "Madame" Bonaparte, and Hortense +was "Mademoiselle" Beauharnais. The wife of Consul Bonaparte now +required a larger retinue of servants, and a more showy +establishment. Indeed, temerity could not yet go so far as to speak +of the <i>court</i> of Madame Bonaparte and the <i>court ladies</i> +of Mademoiselle Hortense; they had still to be content with the +limited space of the diminutive Luxembourg, but they were soon to +be compensated for all this, and, if they still had to call each +other <i>monsieur</i> and <i>madame</i>, they could, a few years +later, say "your highness," "your majesty," and "monseigneur," in +the Tuileries.</p> +<p>The Luxembourg Palace was soon found to be too small for the +joint residence of the three consuls, and too confined for the +ambition of Bonaparte, who could not brook the near approach of the +other two men who shared the supreme control of France with him. +Too it was also for the longings that now spoke with ever louder +and stronger accents in his breast, and pushed him farther and +farther onward in this path of splendor and renown which, at first, +had seemed to him but as the magic mirage of his dreams, but which +now appeared as the glittering truth and reality of his waking +hours. The Luxembourg was then too small for the three consuls, but +they had to go very circumspectly and carefully to work to prepare +the way to the old royal palace of the Bourbons. It would not do to +oust the representatives of the people, who held their sessions +there, too suddenly; the distrustful republicans must not be made +to apprehend that there was any scheme on foot to revolutionize +France back into monarchy, and to again stifle the many-headed +monster of the republic under a crown and a sceptre. It was +necessary, before entering the Tuileries, to give the French people +proof that men might still be very good republicans, even although +they might wish to be housed in the bedchamber of a king.</p> +<p>Hence, before the three consuls transferred their quarters to +the Tuileries, the royal palace had to be transformed to a +residence worthy of the representatives of the republic. So, the +first move made was to set up a handsome bust of the elder +Brutus--a war-trophy of Bonaparte's, which he had brought with him +from Italy--in one of the galleries of the Tuileries; and then +David had to carve out some other statues of the republican heroes +of Greece and Rome and place them in the saloons. A number of +democratic republicans, who were defeated and exiled on the 13th +Vendémiaire, were permitted to return to France, and news of +the death of WASHINGTON, the noblest and wisest of all republicans, +arriving just at that time, Bonaparte ordered that the whole army +should wear the badge of mourning for ten days. Black bands were +worn on the arm, and sable streamers waved from the standards, in +honor of the deceased republican hero.</p> +<p>However, when these ten days were past, and France and her army +had sufficiently expressed their regret, the three consuls entered +the Tuileries through the grand portal, on the two sides of which +towered aloft two liberty-poles that still bore the old inscription +of the republic of 1792. On the tree to the right was the legend +"August 10, 1792," and on the one to the left, "Royalty in France +is overthrown and will never rise again." It was between these two +significant symbols that Bonaparte first strode into the Tuileries. +It was a very long and imposing procession of carriages which moved +that day toward the palace, through the streets of the capital. +They only lacked the outward pomp and magnificence which rendered +the latter <i>fêtes</i> of the empire so remarkable. With the +exception of the splendid vehicle in which the three consuls rode, +and which was drawn by the six grays presented by the Emperor of +Austria, there were but few good equipages to be seen. France of +the new day had not had the opportunity to build any state-coaches, +and those of old France had been too shamefully misused to admit of +their ever serving again; for it would be out of the question to +employ, in this solemn procession of the three consuls, the +state-carriages of the old aristocracy, that had served as the +vehicles in which the democratic republic had transported dead dogs +to their place of deposit. Such had been the fact in the September +days of the year 1793.</p> +<p>The unclaimed dogs of the fugitive or slaughtered aristocracy at +that time wandered without masters, by thousands, through the +streets and slaked their thirst with the blood which flowed down +from the guillotine and dyed the ground with the purple of the new +system of popular liberty.</p> +<p>The smell of the fresh blood and the ghastly sustenance which +the guillotine yielded them had restored the animals to their +original savage propensities, and hence those who had been so +fortunate as to escape the murderous axe of the +<i>sans-culottes</i> had now to apprehend the danger of falling a +victim to the sharp teeth of these wild blood-hounds; and as the +ferocious brutes knew no difference between aristocrats and +republicans, but fell upon both with equal fury, it became +necessary, at last, to annihilate these new foes of the republic. +So, the Champs Elysées were surrounded with troops, and the +dogs were driven into the Rue Royale and the Place Royale, where +they were mowed down by musketry. On that one day the dead +carcasses of more than three thousand dogs lay about in the streets +of Paris, and there they continued to fester for three days longer, +because a dispute had arisen among the city officials as to whose +duty it was to remove them. At length the Convention undertook that +task, and intrusted the work to representative Gasparin, who was +shrewd enough to convert the removal of the dead animals into a +republican ceremony. These were the dogs of the <i>ci-devants</i> +and aristocrats that were to be buried, and it was quite proper, +therefore, that they should receive aristocratic honors.</p> +<p>Gasparin, acting upon this idea, caused all the coaches of the +fugitive and massacred aristocracy to be brought from their +stables, and the carcasses of the dogs were flung into these +emblazoned and escutcheoned vehicles of old France. Six grand +coaches that had belonged to the king opened the procession, and +the tails, heads, bodies and legs of the luckless quadrupeds could +be seen behind the glittering glass panels heaped together in wild +disorder<a name="FNanchor8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8">[8]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor8">[8]</a> +Mémoires of the Marchioness de Créqui, vol. viii., p. +10.</blockquote> +<p>After this public canine funeral celebration of the one and +indivisible republic, the gilded state-coaches could not be +consistently used for any human and less mournful occasion, and +hence it was that the consular procession to the Tuileries was so +deficient in carriages, and that public hacks on which the numbers +were defaced had to be employed.</p> +<p>"With the entry of Bonaparte into the Tuileries the revolution +was at an end. He laid his victorious sword across the gory, +yawning chasm which had drunk the blood of both aristocrats and +democrats; and of that sword he made a bridge over which society +might pass from one century to the other, and from the republic to +the empire.</p> +<a name="390.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/390.jpg"><img src="images/390.jpg" +width="75%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>View of the Tuileries.</b></p> +<p>As Bonaparte was walking with Josephine and Hortense through the +Diana Gallery on the morning after their entry into the Tuileries, +and was with them admiring the statuary he had caused to be placed +there, both of the ladies possessing much artistic taste, he paused +in front of the statue of the younger Brutus, which stood close to +the statue of Julius Caesar. He gazed long and earnestly at both of +the grave, solemn faces; but, suddenly, as though just awaking from +a deep dream, he sharply raised his head, and, laying his hand with +an abrupt movement upon Josephine's shoulder, as he looked up at +the statue of Brutus with blazing, almost menacing glances, said in +a voice that made the hearts of both the ladies bound within their +bosoms:</p> +<p>"It is not enough to be in the Tuileries: one must remain there. +And whom has not this palace held? Even street thieves and +conventionists have occupied it! Did not I see with my own eyes how +the savage Jacobins and cohorts of <i>sans-culottes</i> surrounded +the palace and led away the good King Louis XVI. as a prisoner! Ah! +never mind, Josephine; have no fear for the future! Let them but +dare to come hither once more<a name="FNanchor9"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_9">[9]</a>!"</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor9">[9]</a> +Bourrienne, vol. vi., p. 3.</blockquote> +<p>And, as Bonaparte stood there and thus spoke in front of the +statues of Brutus and Julius Caesar, his voice re-echoed like angry +thunder through the long gallery, and made the figures of the +heroes of the dead republic tremble on their pedestals.</p> +<p>Bonaparte lifted his arm menacingly toward the statue of Brutus, +as though he would, in that fierce republican who slew Caesar, +challenge all republican France, whose Caesar and Augustus in one +he aspired to be, to mortal combat.</p> +<p>The revolution was closed. Bonaparte had installed himself in +the Tuileries with Josephine and her two children. The son and +daughter of General Beauharnais, whom the republic had murdered, +had now found another father, who was destined to avenge that +murder on the republic itself.</p> +<p>The revolution was over!</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="BOOK_II."></a>BOOK II.</h2> +<h3><i>THE QUEEN OF HOLLAND</i>.</h3> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I.2"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<h3>A FIRST LOVE.</h3> +<br> +<p>With the entry of Bonaparte into the Tuileries, the revolution +closed, and blissful days of tranquillity and gay festivity +followed. Josephine and Hortense were the cynosure of all these +festivals, for they were, likewise, the animating centre whence the +grace and beauty, the attractive charm, and the intellectual +significance of them all, proceeded.</p> +<p>Hortense was passionately fond of dancing, and no one at "the +court of Josephine" tripped it with such gracefulness and such +enchanting delicacy as she. Now, as the reader will observe, people +already began to speak of the "court" of Madame Bonaparte, the +powerful wife of the First Consul of France. Now, also, +<i>audiences</i> were held, and Josephine and Hortense already had +a court retinue who approached them with the same subserviency and +humility as though they had been princesses of the blood.</p> +<p>Madame Bonaparte now rode with her daughter through the streets +of Paris in a richly-gilded coach, under a military escort, and +wherever the populace caught a glimpse of them they greeted the +wife and daughter of the first consul with applauding shouts.</p> +<p>Bonaparte's coachmen and servants had now a livery, and made +their appearance in green coats with gold embroidery and galloons. +There were chamberlains and lackeys, grooms and outriders; splendid +dinners and evening parties were given, and the ambassadors of +foreign powers were received in solemn audience; for, now, all the +European states had recognized the French Republic under the +consulate, and, as Bonaparte had concluded peace with England and +Austria, these two great powers also sent envoys to the court of +the mighty consul.</p> +<p>Instead of warlike struggles, the Tuileries now witnessed +contentions of the toilet, and <i>powder or no powder</i> was one +of the great questions of etiquette in which Josephine gave the +casting vote when she said that "every one should dress as seemed +best and most becoming to each, but yet endeavor to let good taste +pervade the selection."</p> +<p>For some time, meanwhile, Hortense had participated with less +zest than formerly in the amusements and parties of the day; for +some time she had seemed to prefer being alone more than in +previous years, and held herself aloof in the quiet retirement of +her own apartments, where the melancholy, tender, and touching +melodies which she drew from her harp in those lonely hours seemed +to hold her better converse than all the gay and flattering remarks +that she was accustomed to hear in her mother's grand saloons.</p> +<p>Hortense sought solitude, for to solitude alone could she +confide what was weighing on her heart; to it alone could she +venture to confess that she was in love, and with all the innocent +energy, all the warmth and absolute devotion of a first attachment. +How blissful were those hours of reverie, of expectant peering into +the future, which seemed to promise the rising of another sun of +happiness to her beaming gaze! For this young girl's passion had +the secret approbation of her mother and her step-father, and both +of them smilingly pretended not to be, in the least degree, aware +of the tender understanding that subsisted between Hortense and +General Duroc, Bonaparte's chief adjutant; only that, while +Josephine took it to be the first tender fluttering of a young +girl's heart awaking to the world, Bonaparte ascribed a more +serious meaning to it, and bestowed earnest thought upon the idea +of a union between Hortense and his friend. He was anxious, above +all other things, to give Duroc a more important and imposing +status, and therefore sent him as ambassador to St. Petersburg, to +convey to the Emperor Alexander, who had just ascended his father's +throne, the congratulations and good wishes of the First Consul of +France.</p> +<p>The poor young lovers, constantly watched as they were, and as +constantly restrained by the rules of an etiquette which was now +becoming more and more rigid, had not the consolation accorded to +them of exchanging even one last unnoticed pressure of the hand, +one last tender vow of eternal fidelity, when they took leave of +each other. But they hoped in the future, and looked forward to +Duroc's return, and to the precious recompense that Bonaparte had +significantly promised to his friend. That recompense was the hand +of Hortense Until then, they had to content themselves with that +sole and sweetest solace of all parted lovers, the letters that +they interchanged, and which Bourrienne, Bonaparte's secretary, +faithfully and discreetly transmitted.</p> +<p>"Nearly every evening," relates Bourrienne, in his +Mémoires, "I played a game of billiards with Mademoiselle +Hortense, who was an adept at it. "When I said, in a low tone to +her, 'I have a letter,' the game would cease at once, and she would +hasten to her room, whither I followed her, and took the letter to +her. Her eyes would instantly fill with tears of emotion and +delight, and it was only after a long lapse of time that she would +go down to the saloon whither I had preceded her<a name= +"FNanchor10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10">[10]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_10"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor10">[10]</a> Bourrienne, vol. iv., p. 319.</blockquote> +<p>Hortense, thus busied only with her young lover and her innocent +dreams of the future, troubled herself but little concerning what +was taking place around her, and did not perceive that others were +ready to make her young heart the plaything of domestic and +political intrigue.</p> +<p>Bonaparte's brothers, who were jealous of the sway that the +beautiful and fascinating Josephine still exerted over the first +consul, as in the first days of their wedded life, were anxious, by +separating Hortense from her mother, to deprive Josephine of one of +the strongest supports of her influence, and thus, by isolating +Josephine, bring themselves nearer to their brother. They well knew +the affection which Bonaparte, who was particularly fond of +children, entertained for those of his wife, and they also knew +that Eugene and Hortense had, one day, not by their entreaties or +their tears, but by their mere presence, prevented Josephine and +Bonaparte from separating.</p> +<p>This was at the time when the whisperings of his brothers and of +Junot had succeeded in making Bonaparte jealous on his return from +Egypt.</p> +<p>At that time, Bonaparte had resolved to separate from a woman, +against whom, however, his anger was thus fiercely aroused, simply +because he was so strongly attached to her; and when Bourrienne +implored him, at least, to hear Josephine before condemning her, +and to see whether she could not clear herself, or he could not +forgive her, he had replied:</p> +<p>"I forgive her? Never! Were I not sure of myself this time, I +would tear my heart out and throw it into the fire!" And, as +Bonaparte spoke, his voice trembling the while with rage, he +clutched his breast with his hand as though he would indeed rend it +to pieces. This scene occurred in the evening, but, when Bourrienne +came into the office next morning, Bonaparte stepped forward to +meet him with a smile on his face, and a little confused.</p> +<p>"Now, Bourrienne," said he, "you will be content--she is here! +Don't suppose that I have forgiven her--no not at all! No, I +reproached her vehemently, and sent her away. But, what would you +have?--when she left me, weeping, I went after her, and, as she +descended the stairs with her head drooping, I saw Eugene and +Hortense, who went with her, sobbing violently. I have not the +heart to look unmoved on any one in tears. Eugene had accompanied +me to Egypt, and I have accustomed myself to regard him as my +adopted son; he is so gallant, so excellent a young man. Hortense +is just coming out into the world of society, and every one who +knows her speaks well of her. I confess, Bourrienne, that the sight +of her moved me deeply, and the sobbing of those two poor children +made me sad as well. I said to myself, 'Shall they be the victims +of their mother's fault?' I called Eugene back. Hortense turned +round and, along with Josephine, followed her brother. I saw the +movement, and said nothing. What could I do? One cannot be a mortal +man without having his hours of weakness!"</p> +<p>"Be assured, general," exclaimed Bourrienne, "that your adopted +children will reward you for it!"</p> +<p>"They must do so, Bourrienne--they must do so; for it is a great +sacrifice that I have made for them<a name= +"FNanchor11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11">[11]</a>!"</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_11"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor11">[11]</a> Bourrienne, vol. iv., p. 119.</blockquote> +<p>This sacrifice, however, had its recompense immediately, for +Josephine had been able to set herself right, and Bonaparte had +joyfully become convinced that the accusations of his jealous +brothers had been unjust.</p> +<p>Hence it was that Bonaparte's brothers wished to re move +Hortense, since they knew that she was her mother's main stay; that +she, with her gentle, amiable disposition, her tact and good sense, +her penetrating and never-failing sagacity, stood like a wise young +Mentor at the side of her beautiful, attractive, impulsive, +somewhat vain, and very extravagant mother.</p> +<p>It would be easier to set Josephine aside were Hortense first +removed; and Josephine they wanted to get out of the way because +she interfered with the ambitious designs of Bonaparte's brothers. +Since they could not become great and celebrated by their own +merits, they desired to be so through their illustrious brother; +and, in order that they might become kings, Bonaparte must, above +all things, wear a crown. Josephine was opposed to this project; +she loved Bonaparte enough to fear the dangers that a usurpation of +the crown must bring with it, and she had so little ambition as to +prefer her present brilliant and peaceful lot to the proud but +perilous exaltation to a throne.</p> +<p>For this reason, then, Josephine was to be removed, and +Bonaparte must choose another wife--a wife in whose veins there +should course legitimate royal blood, and who would, therefore, be +content to see a crown upon the head of her consort.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II.2"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<h3>LOUIS BONAPARTE AND DUROC.</h3> +<br> +<p>The brothers of Bonaparte went diligently to work then, above +all things, to get Hortense out of the way. They told Bonaparte of +the burning love of the young couple, of the letters which they +sent to each other, and proposed to him that Duroc should be +transferred to the Italian army with a higher command, and that +Hortense should then be given to him. They persuaded the +unsuspecting, magnanimous hero, who was easy to deceive in these +minor matters and thus easy because he was occupied with grand +designs and grand things; they persuaded him to keep the proposed +union a secret for the present, and then on Duroc's early return to +surprise the young couple and Josephine alike.</p> +<p>But Josephine had, this time, seen through the plans of her +hostile brothers-in-law. She felt that her whole existence, her +entire future, was imperilled, should she not succeed in making +friends and allies in the family of Bonaparte itself. There was +only one of Bonaparte's brothers who was not hostile to her, but +loved her as the wife of his brother, to whom he was, at that time, +still devoted with the most enthusiastic and submissive +tenderness.</p> +<p>This one was Bonaparte's brother Louis, a young man of serious +and sedate disposition, more of a scholar than a warrior, more a +man of science than fit for the council-chamber and the +drawing-room. His was a reserved, quiet, somewhat timid character, +which, notwithstanding its apparent gentleness, developed an +inflexible determination and energy at the right, decisive moment, +and then could not be shaken by either threats or entreaties. His +external appearance was little calculated to please, nay, was even +somewhat sinister, and commanded the respect of others only in +moments of excitement, through the fierce blaze of his large blue +eyes, that seemed rather to look inward than outward.</p> +<p>Louis Bonaparte was one of those deep, self-contained, +undemonstrative, and by no means showy natures which are too rarely +understood, because, in the noisy bustle of life, we have not the +time and do not take the pains to analyze them. Only a sister or a +mother is in a position to comprehend and love men of this stamp, +because the confidential home relations of long years have revealed +to them the hidden bloom of these sensitive plants which shrink +back and close their leaves at every rude contact of the world. But +rarely, however, do they find a loving heart outside, for, since +their own hearts are too timid to seek for love, no one gives +himself the trouble to discover them.</p> +<p>The young brother of her husband, now scarcely twenty-four, was +the one who seemed destined in Josephine's eyes to afford her a +point of support in the Bonaparte family.</p> +<p>Madame Letitia loved him more tenderly than she did any of them, +next to her Napoleon, since he was the petted darling of the whole +family of brothers, who had no fear of him, because he was neither +egotistical nor ambitious enough to cross their plans, but quietly +allowed them to have their way, and only asked that they would also +leave him undisturbed to follow out his own quiet and unobtrusive +inclinations. He was the confidant of his young and beautiful +sisters, who were always sure to find in him a discreet counsellor, +and never a betrayer. Finally, he was the one of the whole circle +of brothers toward whom Napoleon felt the sincerest and warmest +inclination, because he could not help esteeming him for his noble +qualities, and because he was never annoyed by him as he was by his +other brothers; for the ambition and the avarice of Jerome, Joseph, +and Lucien, were even then a source of displeasure and chagrin to +Bonaparte.</p> +<p>"Were any one to hear with what persistency my brothers demand +fresh sums of money from me, every day, he would really think that +I had consumed from them the inheritance their father left," said +Bonaparte, one day, to Bourrienne, after a violent scene between +him and Jerome, which had ended, as they all did, in Jerome getting +another draft on the private purse of the first consul.</p> +<p>Louis, however, never asked for money, but always appeared +thankfully content with whatever Bonaparte chose to give him, +unsolicited, and there never were any wranglings with tradesmen on +his account, or any debts of his to pay.</p> +<p>This last circumstance was what filled Josephine with a sort of +respectful deference for her young step-brother. He understood how +to manage his affairs so well as never to run up debts, and this +was a quality that was so sorely lacking in Josephine, that she +could never avoid incurring debt. How many bitter annoyances, how +much care and anxiety had not her debts cost her already; how often +Bonaparte had scolded her about them; how often she had promised to +do differently, and make no more purchases until she should be in a +condition to pay at once!</p> +<p>But this reform was to her thoughtless and magnanimous nature an +impossibility; and however greatly she may have feared the flashing +eyes and thundering voice of her husband when he was angered, she +could not escape his wrath in this one point, for in that point +precisely was it that the penitent sinner continually fell into +fresh transgression--and again ran into debt!</p> +<p>Louis, however, never had debts. He was as cautious and regular +as her own Hortense, and therefore, thought Josephine, these two +young, careful, thoughtful temperaments would be well adapted to +each other, and would know how to manage their hearts as discreetly +as they did their purses.</p> +<p>So she wished to make a step-son of Louis Bonaparte, in order to +strengthen her own position thereby. Josephine already had a +premonitory distrust of the future, and it may sometimes have +happened that she took the mighty eagle that fluttered above her +head for a bird of evil omen whose warning cry she frequently +fancied that she heard in the stillness of the night.</p> +<p>The negress at Martinique had said to her, "You will be more +than a queen." But now, Josephine had visited the new +fortune-teller, Madame Villeneuve, in Paris, and she had said to +her, "You will wear a crown, but only for a short time."</p> +<p>Only for a short time! Josephine was too young, too happy, and +too healthful, to think of her own early death. It must, then, be +something else that threatened her--a separation, perhaps. She had +no children, yet Bonaparte so earnestly desired to have a son, and +his brothers repeated to him daily that this was for him a +political necessity.</p> +<p>Thus Josephine trembled for her future; she stretched out her +hands for help, and in the selfishness of her trouble asked her +daughter to give up her own dreams of happiness, in order to secure +the real happiness of her mother.</p> +<p>Yet Hortense was in love; her young heart throbbed painfully at +the thought of not only relinquishing her own love, but of marrying +an unloved man, whom she had never even thought of, and had +scarcely noticed. She deemed it impossible that she could be asked +to sacrifice her own beautiful and blessed happiness, to a +cold-blooded calculation, an artificial family intrigue; and so, +with all the enthusiasm of a first love, she swore rather to perish +than to forego her lover.</p> +<p>"But Duroc has no fortune and no future to offer you," said +Josephine. "What he is, he is only through the friendship of +Bonaparte. He has no estate, no importance, no celebrity. Were +Bonaparte to abandon him he would fall back into nothingness and +obscurity again."</p> +<p>Hortense replied, smiling through her tears: "I love him, and +have no other ambition than to be his wife."</p> +<p>"But he? Do you think that he too has no other ambition than to +become your husband? Do you think that he loves you for your own +sake alone?"</p> +<p>"I know it," said the young girl, with beaming eyes; "Duroc has +told me that he loved me, and me only. He has sworn eternal +fidelity and love to me. Both of us ask for nothing more than to +belong to each other."</p> +<p>Josephine shrugged her shoulders almost compassionately.</p> +<p>"Suppose," she rejoined, "that I were to affirm that Duroc is +willing to marry you, only because he is ambitious, and thinks that +Bonaparte would then advance him the more rapidly?"</p> +<p>"It is a slander--it is impossible!" exclaimed Hortense, glowing +with honest indignation; "Duroc loves me, and his noble soul is far +from all selfish calculation."</p> +<p>"And if I were to prove the contrary to you?" asked Josephine, +irritated by her daughter's resistance, and made cruel by her alarm +for her own fortunes.</p> +<p>Hortense turned pale, and her face, which had been so animated, +so beautiful, a moment before, blanched as though the icy chill of +death had passed over it.</p> +<p>"If you can prove to me," she said, in a hollow tone, "that +Duroc loves me only through ambitious motives, I am ready to give +him up, and marry whom you will."</p> +<p>Josephine triumphed. "Duroc gets back to-day from his journey," +she replied, "and in three days more I will give you the proof that +he does not love you, but the family alliance which you +present."</p> +<p>Hortense had heard only the first of her mother's words: "Duroc +returns to-day." What cared she for all the rest? She should see +him again--she should read consolation and love's assurance in his +handsome manly face; not that she needed this to confirm her +confidence, for she believed in him, and not the shadow of a doubt +obscured her blissful greeting.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, Josephine's pretty hands were busy drawing the meshes +of this intrigue tighter every moment. She absolutely required a +supporting ally in the family, <i>against</i> the family itself; +and for this reason Louis must become the husband of Hortense.</p> +<p>Bonaparte himself was against this union, and was quite resolved +to marry Duroc to his step-daughter. But Josephine managed to shake +his resolve, by means of entreaties, representations, caresses, and +little endearments, and even succeeded in such eloquent argument to +show that Duroc did not cherish any love whatever for Hortense, but +wanted to make an ambitious speculation out of her, that Bonaparte +resolved, at least, to put his friend to the test, and, if +Josephine turned out to be right, to marry Hortense to his own +brother.</p> +<p>After this last interview with Josephine, Bonaparte went back +into his office, where he found Bourrienne, as ever, at the +writing-desk.</p> +<p>"Where is Duroc?" he hastily asked.</p> +<p>"He has gone out--to the opera, I think."</p> +<p>"So soon as he returns tell him that I have promised him +Hortense--that he shall marry her. But I want the wedding to take +place in two days, at the farthest. I give Hortense five hundred +thousand francs, and I appoint Duroc to the command of the eighth +military division. On the day after his wedding he shall start with +his wife for Toulon, and we shall live apart. I will not have a +son-in-law in my house; and, as I want to see these matters brought +to an end, at last, let me know to-day whether Duroc accepts my +propositions."</p> +<p>"I don't think that he will, general."</p> +<p>"Very good! Then, in that case, Hortense shall marry my brother +Louis."</p> +<p>"Will she consent?"</p> +<p>"She will have to consent, Bourrienne."</p> +<p>Duroc came in at a late hour that evening, and Bourrienne told +him, word for word, the ultimatum of the first consul.</p> +<p>Duroc listened to him attentively; but, as Bourrienne went on +with his communication, his countenance grew darker and darker.</p> +<p>"If such be the case," he exclaimed at last, when Bourrienne had +got through, "if Bonaparte will do nothing more than that for his +son-in-law, I must forego a marriage with Hortense, however painful +it may be to do so: and then, instead of going to Toulon, I can +remain in Paris." And, as he ceased to speak, Duroc took up his +hat, without a trace of excitement or concern, and departed.</p> +<p>That same evening, Josephine received from her husband his full +consent to the marriage of her daughter to Louis Bonaparte.</p> +<p>On that very evening, too, Josephine informed her daughter that +Duroc had not withstood the test, and that he had now relinquished +her, through ambition, as, through ambition, he had previously +feigned to love her.</p> +<p>Hortense gazed at her mother with tearless eyes. She had not a +word of complaint or reproach to utter; she was conscious merely +that a thunder-bolt had just fallen, and had forever dashed to +atoms her love, her hopes, her future, and her happiness.</p> +<p>But she no longer had the strength and the will to escape the +evil that had flung its meshes around her; she submitted meekly to +it. She had been betrayed by love itself; and what cared she now +for her future, her embittered, bloomless, scentless life, when +<i>he</i> had deceived her --<i>he</i>, the only one whom she had +loved?</p> +<p>The next morning Hortense stepped, self-possessed and smiling, +into Josephine's private cabinet, and declared that she was ready +to fulfil her mother's wishes and marry Louis Bonaparte.</p> +<p>Josephine clasped her in her arms, with exclamations of delight. +She little knew what a night of anguish, of wailing, of tears, and +of despair, Hortense had struggled through, or that her present +smiling unconcern was nothing more than the dull hopelessness of a +worn-out heart. She did not see that Hortense smiled now only in +order that Duroc should not observe that she suffered. Her love for +him was dead, but her maidenly pride had survived, and it dried her +tears, and conjured up a smile to her struggling lips; it, too, +enabled her to declare that she was ready to accept the husband +whom her mother might present to her.</p> +<p>Thus, Josephine had accomplished her purpose; she had made one +of Bonaparte's brothers her son. Now there remained the question +whether she should attain her other aim through that son, and +whether she should find in him a support against the intrigues of +the other brothers of the first consul.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III.2"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<h3>CONSUL AND KING.</h3> +<br> +<p>There was only two days' interval between the betrothal of the +young couple and their wedding; and on the 7th of January, 1802, +Hortense was married to Louis Bonaparte, the youngest brother but +one of the first consul. Bonaparte, who contented himself with the +civil ceremony, and had never given his own union with Josephine +the sanction of the Church, was less careless and unconcerned with +regard to this youthful alliance, which had, indeed, great need of +the blessing of Heaven, in order to prove a source of any good +fortune to the young couple. Perhaps he reasoned that the +consciousness of the indissoluble character of their union would +lead them to an honorable and upright effort for a mutual +inclination; perhaps it was because he simply wished to render +their separation impossible. Cardinal Caprara was called into the +Tuileries, after the civil ceremony concluded, and had to bestow +the blessing of God and of the Church upon the bride and +bridegroom.</p> +<p>Yet, not one word or one glance had thus far been interchanged +by the young couple. It was in silence that they stepped, after the +ceremonies were over, into the carriage that bore them to their new +home, in the same small residence in the Rue de la Victoire which +her mother had occupied in the first happy weeks of her youthful +union with Bonaparte.</p> +<p>Now, another young, newly-married pair were making their entry +into this dwelling, but love did not enter with them; affection and +happiness did not shine in their faces, as had been the case with +Bonaparte and Josephine. The eyes of Hortense were dimmed with +tears, and the countenance of her young husband was dark and +gloomy. For, on his side, he, too, felt no love for this young +woman; and, as she never forgave him for having accepted her hand, +although he knew that she loved another, he, in like manner, could +never forgive her having consented to be his wife, although he had +not been the one to solicit it, and although he had never told her +that he loved her. Both had bowed to the will of him who gave the +law, not merely to all France, but also to his own family, and who +had already become the lord and master of the republic. Both had +married through obedience, not for love; and the consciousness of +this compulsion rose like an impassable wall between these two +otherwise tender and confiding young hearts. In the consciousness +of this compulsion, too, they would not even try to love one +another, or find in each other's society the happiness that they +were forbidden to seek elsewhere.</p> +<p>Pale and mournful, in splendid attire, but with a heavy heart, +did Hortense make her appearance at the <i>fêtes</i> which +were given in honor of her marriage; and it was with a beclouded +brow and averted face that Louis Bonaparte received the customary +congratulations. While every one around them exhibited a cheerful +and joyous bearing, while parties were given in their honor, and +people danced and sang, the young couple only, of all present, were +dull and sad. Louis avoided speaking to Hortense, and she turned +her gaze away from him, possibly so that he might not read in it +her deep and angry aversion.</p> +<p>But she had to accept her lot; and, since she was thus +indissolubly bound up with another, she had to try to live with +that other. Hortense, externally so gentle and yielding, so full of +maiden coyness and delicacy, nevertheless possessed a strong and +resolute soul, and, in the noble pride of her wounded heart, was +unwilling to give any one the right to pity her. Her soul wept, but +she restrained her tears and still tried to smile, were it only +that Duroc might not perceive the traces of her grief upon her +sunken cheeks. She had torn this love from her heart, and she +rebuked herself that it had left a wound. She laid claim to +happiness no more; but her youth, her proud self-respect, revolted +at the idea of continuing to be the slave of misfortune henceforth, +and so she formed her firm resolve, saying to herself, with a +melancholy smile, "I must manage to be happy, without happiness. +Let me try!"</p> +<p>And she did try. She once more arrayed herself in smiles, and +again took part in the festivities which now were filling the halls +of St. Cloud, Malmaison, and the Tuileries, and which, too, were +but the dying lay of the swan of the republic, or, if you will, the +cradle-song of reviving monarchy.</p> +<p>For things were daily sweeping nearer and nearer to that great +turning-point, at which the French people would have to choose +between a seeming republic and a real monarchy. France was already +a republic but in name; the new, approaching monarchy was, indeed, +but a new-born, naked infant as yet, but only a bold hand was +wanting, that should possess the determined courage to clothe it +with ermine and purple, in order to transform the helpless babe +into a proud, triumphant man.</p> +<p>That courage Bonaparte possessed; but he had, also, the higher +courage to advance carefully and slowly. He let the infant of +monarchy, that lay there naked and helpless at his feet, shiver +there a little longer; but, lest it should freeze altogether, he +threw over it, for the time being, the mantle of his "consulship +for life." Beneath it, the babe could slumber comfortably a few +weeks longer, while waiting for its purple robes.</p> +<p>Bonaparte was now, by the will of the French people, consul for +life. He stood close to the steps of a throne, and it depended only +upon himself whether he would mount those steps, or whether, like +General Monk, he would recall the fugitive king, and restore to him +the sceptre of his forefathers. The brothers of Bonaparte desired +the first; Josephine implored Heaven for the latter alternative. +She was too completely a loving woman only, to long for the chilly +joys of mere ambition; she was too entirely occupied with her +personal happiness, not to fear every danger that menaced it. +Should Bonaparte place a crown upon his head, he would also have to +think of becoming the founder of a dynasty; and in order to +strengthen and fortify his position, he would have to place a +legitimate heir by his side. Josephine had borne her husband no +children; and she knew that his brothers had, more than once, +proposed to him to dissolve his childless union, and replace it +with the presence of a young wife. Hence, Bonaparte's assumption of +royal dignity meant a separation from her; and Josephine still +loved him too well, and too much with a young wife's love, to take +so great a sacrifice upon her.</p> +<p>Moreover, Josephine was at heart a royalist, and considered the +Count de Lille, who, after so many agitations and wanderings, had +found an asylum at Hartwell, in England, the legitimate King of +France.</p> +<p>The letters which the Count de Lille (afterward King Louis +XVIII.) had written to Bonaparte, had filled Josephine's heart with +emotion, and, with a kind of apprehensive foreboding, she had +conjured her husband to, at least, give the brother of the beheaded +king a mild and considerate answer. Yes, she had even ventured to +beseech Bonaparte to comply with the request that Louis had made, +and give him back the throne of his ancestors. But Bonaparte had +laughed at this suggestion, as he would at some childish joke; for +it had never entered into his head that any one could seriously ask +him to lay his laurels and his trophies at the foot of a throne, +which not he, but a member of that Bourbon family whom France had +banished forever, should ascend.</p> +<p>Louis had written to Bonaparte: "I cannot believe that the +victor at Lodi, Castiglione, and Arcola--the conqueror of Italy and +Egypt--would not prefer real glory to mere empty celebrity. +Meanwhile, you are losing precious time. <i>We</i> can secure the +glory of France; I say <i>we</i>, because I have need of Bonaparte +in the work, and because he cannot complete it without me."</p> +<p>But Bonaparte already felt strong enough to say, not "we," but +"I," and to complete his work alone. Therefore, he replied to the +Count de Lille: "You cannot desire your return to France, for you +would have to enter it over a hundred thousand corpses; sacrifice +your personal interests to the tranquillity and happiness of +France. History will pay you a grateful acknowledgment."</p> +<p>Louis had said in his letter to Bonaparte, "Choose your own +position, and mark out what you want for your friends." And +Bonaparte did choose his position; but unfortunately for the Count +de Lille, it was the very one which the latter had wished to +reserve for himself.</p> +<p>Josephine would have been glad to vacate the king's place for +him, could she but have retained her husband by so doing. She had +no longings for a diadem which, by-the-way, her beautiful head did +not require in order to command admiration.</p> +<p>"You cannot avoid being a queen or an empress, one of these +days," said Bourrienne to her, on a certain occasion.</p> +<p>Josephine replied, with tears: "<i>Mon Dieu</i>! I am far from +cherishing any such ambition. So long as I live, to be the wife of +Bonaparte--of the first consul--is the sum total of my wishes! Tell +him so; conjure him not to make himself king<a name= +"FNanchor12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12">[12]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_12"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor12">[12]</a> Bourrienne, vol. v., p. 47.</blockquote> +<p>But Josephine did not content herself with requesting Bourrienne +to tell her husband this; she had the courage to say so to him +herself.</p> +<p>One day she went into Napoleon's cabinet, and found him at +breakfast, and unusually cheerful and good-humored. She had entered +without having been announced, and crept up on tiptoe to her +husband, who sat with his back turned toward her, and had not yet +noticed her. Lightly throwing her arm around his neck, and letting +herself sink upon his breast, and then stroking his pale cheeks and +glossy brown hair, with an expression of unutterable love and +tenderness, she said:</p> +<p>"I implore you, Bonaparte, do not mount the throne. Your wicked +brother Lucien will urge you to it, but do not listen to him."</p> +<p>Bonaparte laughed. "You are a little goose, poor Josephine," he +said. "It's the old dowagers of the Faubourg St. Germain, and your +La Rochefoucauld, more than all the rest, who tell you these +wonderful stories; but you worry me to death with them. Come, now, +don't bother me about them any more!"</p> +<p>Bonaparte had put off Josephine with a laugh and a jesting word, +but he nevertheless conversed earnestly and seriously with his most +intimate personal friends on the subject of his assuming the crown. +In the course of one of these interviews, Bourrienne said to +him:</p> +<p>"As first consul, you are the leading and most famous man in all +Europe; whereas, if you place the crown upon your head, you will be +only the youngest in date of all the kings, and will have to yield +precedence to them."</p> +<p>Bonaparte's eyes blazed up with fiercer fire, and, with that +daring and imposing look which was peculiar to him in great and +decisive moments, he responded:</p> +<p>"The youngest of the kings! Well, then, I will drive <i>all</i> +the kings from their thrones, and found a new dynasty: then, they +will have to recognize me as the oldest prince of all."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV.2"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<h3>THE CALUMNY.</h3> +<br> +<p>The union of Hortense with Bonaparte's brother had not been +followed by such good results for her as Josephine had anticipated. +She had made a most unfortunate selection, for Louis Bonaparte was, +of all the first consul's brothers, the one who concerned himself +the least about politics, and was the least likely to engage in any +intrigue. Besides, this alliance had materially diminished the +affection which Louis had always previously manifested for +Josephine. He blamed her, in the depths of his noble and upright +heart, for having been so egotistic as to sacrifice the happiness +of her daughter to her own personal welfare; he blamed her, too, +for having forced him into a marriage which love had not concluded, +and, although he never sided with her enemies, Josephine had, at +least, lost a friend in him.</p> +<p>The wedded life of this young couple was something unusually +strange. They had openly confessed the repulsion they felt for each +other, and reciprocally made no secret of the fact that they had +been driven into this union against their own wishes. In this +singular interchange of confidence, they went so far as to +commiserate each other, and to condole with one another as friends, +over the wretchedness they endured in their married bondage.</p> +<p>They said frankly to each other that they could never love; that +they detested one another: but they so keenly felt a mutual +compassion, that out of that very compassion--that very hatred +itself--love might possibly spring into being.</p> +<p>Louis could already sit for hours together beside his wife, +busied with the effort to divert her with amusing remarks, and to +drive away the clouds that obscured her brow; already, too, +Hortense had come to regard it as her holiest and sweetest duty to +endeavor to compensate her husband, by her kindly deportment toward +him, and the delicate and attentive respect that distinguished her +bearing, for the unhappiness he felt beside her; already had both, +in fine, begun to console each other with the reflection that the +child which Hortense now bore beneath her heart would, one day, be +to them a compensation for their ill-starred marriage and their +lost freedom.</p> +<p>"When I present you with a son," said Hortense, smiling, "and +when he calls you by the sweet name of 'father,' you will forgive +me for being his mother."</p> +<p>"And when you press that son to your heart--when you feel that +you love him with boundless affection," said Louis, "you will +pardon me for being your husband, and you will cease to hate me, at +least, for I will be the father of your darling child."</p> +<p>Had sufficient time been allotted to these young, pure, and +innocent hearts, to comprehend one another, they would have +overcome their unhappiness, and love would have sprung up at last +from hatred. But the world was pitiless to them; it had no +compassion for their youth and their sufferings; with cruel hands +it dashed away this tender blossoming of nascent affection, which +was beginning to expand in their hearts. Josephine had wedded +Hortense to her brother-in-law in order to secure in him an ally in +the family, and to keep her daughter by her side; and now that +daughter was made the target of insidious attacks and malicious +calumnies--now another plan was adopted in order to remove Hortense +from the scene. The conspirators had not succeeded in their designs +by means of a matrimonial alliance, so they would now try the +effect of calumny.</p> +<p>They went about whispering from ear to ear that Bonaparte had +married his step-daughter to his brother, simply because he was +attached to her himself, and had been jealous of Duroc.</p> +<p>These slanders were carried so far as to hint that the child +whose birth Hortense expected was more nearly related to Bonaparte +than merely through the fact that his step-daughter was his +brother's wife.</p> +<p>This was an infernal but skilfully-planned calumny; for those +who devised it well knew how Bonaparte detested the merest +suspicion of such immorality, how strict he was in his own +principles, and how repulsive it therefore would be to him to find +himself made the object of such infamous slanders.</p> +<p>The conspirators calculated that, in order to terminate these +evil rumors, the first consul would send his brother and Hortense +away to a distance, and that the fated Josephine, being thus +isolated, could also be the more readily removed. Thus Bonaparte, +being separated from his guardian angel, would no longer hear her +whispering:</p> +<p>"Bonaparte, do not ascend the throne! Be content with the glory +of the greatest of mankind! Place no diadem upon thy brows; do not +make thyself a king!"</p> +<p>In Paris, as I have said, these shameful calumnies were but very +lightly whispered, but abroad they were only the more loudly heard. +Bonaparte's enemies got hold of the scandalous story, and made a +weapon of it with which to assail him as a hero.</p> +<p>One morning Bonaparte was reading an English newspaper which had +always been hostile to him, and which, as he well knew, was the +organ of Count d'Artois, then residing at Hartwell. As he continued +to read, a dark shadow stole over his face, and he crumpled the +paper in his clinched fist with a sudden and vehement motion. Then +as suddenly again his countenance cleared, and a proud smile +flitted across it. He had his master of ceremonies summoned to his +presence, and bade him issue the necessary invitations for a court +ball to be given, on the evening of the next day, at St. Cloud. He +then went to Josephine to inform her in person of the projected +<i>fête</i>, and to say that he wished her to tell Hortense, +who had been ailing for some time, that he particularly desired her +to be present.</p> +<p>Hortense had been too long accustomed to obey her step-father's +requests, to venture a refusal. She rose, therefore, from her couch +on which she had been in the habit, for weeks past, of reclining, +busied with her own dreams and musings, and bade her waiting women +prepare her attire for the ball. Still she felt unwell, and +seriously burdened by this festive attire, which harmonized so +little with her feelings, and was so far from becoming to her +figure, for she was only a few weeks from her confinement; but with +her gentle and yielding disposition she did not venture, even in +thought, to murmur at the compulsion imposed upon her by her +step-father's command. She therefore repaired, at the appointed +hour, to the ball at St. Cloud. Bonaparte stepped forward to meet +her with a friendly smile, and, instead of thanking her for coming +at all, earnestly urged her to dance.</p> +<p>Hortense gazed at him with amazement. She knew that hitherto +Bonaparte had always sought to avoid the sight of a woman in her +condition; he had frequently said that he thought there was nothing +more indecent than for a female to join in the dance under such +circumstances, and now it was he who asked her to do that very +thing.</p> +<p>For this reason Hortense hesitated at first to comply, but +Bonaparte grew only the more pressing and vehement in his +request.</p> +<p>"You know how I like to see you dance, Hortense," he said, with +his irresistible smile; "so do this much for me, even if you take +the floor only once, and that for but a single +<i>contredance</i>."</p> +<p>And Hortense, although most reluctant, although blushing with +shame at the idea of exposing herself in such unseemly shape to the +gaze of all, obeyed and joined the dances.</p> +<p>This took place in the evening--how greatly surprised, then, was +Hortense when next morning she found, in the paper that she usually +read, a poem, extolling her performance in words of ravishing +flattery, and referring to the fact that, notwithstanding her +advanced state of pregnancy, she had consented to tread a measure +in the <i>contredance</i>, as a peculiar trait of amiability!</p> +<p>Hortense, however, far from feeling flattered by this very +emphatic piece of verse, took it as an affront, and hastened at +once to the Tuileries, to complain to her mother, and to ask her +how it was possible that, so early as the very next morning, there +could be verses published in the newspapers concerning what had +taken place at the ball on the preceding evening.</p> +<p>Bonaparte, who happened to be with Josephine when Hortense came +in, and was the first to be questioned by her, gave her only an +evasive and jocose reply, and withdrew. Hortense then turned to her +mother, who was leaning over on the divan, her eyes reddened with +weeping and her heart oppressed with grief. To her, Bonaparte had +given no evasive answer, but had told the whole truth, and +Josephine's heart was at that moment too full of wretchedness, too +overladen with this fresh and bitter trouble, for her possibly to +retain it within her own breast.</p> +<p>Hortense insisted upon an explanation, and her mother gave it. +She told her that Bonaparte had got the poet Esmenard to write the +verses beforehand, and that it was for this reason that he had +urged her to dance; that he had ordered the ball for no other +purpose than to have her dance, and have the poem that complimented +her and referred to her pregnancy published in the next day's +paper.</p> +<p>Then, when Hortense, in terror, begged to be informed of the +ground for all these proceedings, Josephine had the cruel courage +to tell her of the slanders that had been circulated in reference +to herself and Bonaparte, and to say that he had arranged the poem, +the ball, and her participation in the dance, because, on the +preceding day, he had read in an English journal the calumnious +statement that Madame Louis Bonaparte had safely given birth to a +vigorous and healthy child some weeks previously, and he wished in +this manner to refute the malicious statement.</p> +<p>Hortense received this fresh wound with a cold smile of scorn. +She had not a word of anger or indignation for this unheard-of +injury, this shameless slander; she neither wept nor complained, +but, as she rose to take leave of her mother, she swooned away, and +it required hours of exertion to restore her to consciousness.</p> +<p>A few weeks later, Hortense was delivered of a dead male infant, +and so passed away her last dream of happiness; for thus was +destroyed the hope of a better understanding between her and her +husband.</p> +<p>Hortense rose from her sick-bed with a firm, determined heart. +In those long, lonely days that she had passed during her +confinement, she had the time and opportunity to meditate on many +things, and keenly to estimate her whole present position and +probable future. She had now become a mother, without having a +child; yet the resolute energy of a mother remained to her. The +youthful, gentle, dreamy, enthusiastic girl had now become +transformed into a determined, active, energetic woman, that would +no longer bow submissively to the blows of fortune, but would meet +them with an open and defiant brow. Since her fate could not be +changed, she accepted it, all the while resolved no longer to bend +to its yoke, but to subdue it, and try to be happy by force of +resolution; and, since a charming, peaceful, and harmonious +fireside at home was denied her, to at least make her house a +pleasant gathering-point for her friends--for men of scientific and +artistic attainments, for poets and singers, for painters and +sculptors, and for men of learning. Ere long, all Paris was talking +about Madame Louis Bonaparte's drawing-rooms, the agreeable and +elegant entertainments that were given there, and the concerts +there arranged, in which the first singers of the day executed +pieces that Hortense had composed, and Talma recited, with his +wonderful, sonorous voice, the poems that she had written. Every +one was anxious for admission to these entertainments, in which the +participants not merely performed their parts, but greatly enjoyed +themselves as well; where the guests indulged in no backbiting or +abuse, but found more worthy and elevated subjects of conversation; +where, in fine, they could admire the works of poets and artists, +and enjoy the newly, awakened intellectual spirit of the age.</p> +<p>Hortense had firmly made up her mind that, since she had +resigned herself to accept the burden of existence, she would +strive to render it as agreeable as possible, and not to see any of +its hateful and repulsive features, but to turn away from them with +a noble and disdainful pride. She had never even referred to the +frightful calumnies which her mother had privately made known to +her, nor had she deemed any defence or proof of her innocence at +all necessary. She felt that there were certain accusations against +which to even undertake defence is to admit their possibility, and +which, therefore, could only be combated by silence. The slanders +that had been flung at her lay in a plane so far beneath her, that +they could not rise high enough to reach her, but fell powerless at +her feet, whence she did not deem it even worth her while to thrust +them.</p> +<p>But Bonaparte continued to feel outraged and wounded by this +vile story, and it annoyed him deeply to learn that these rumors +were still spread abroad, and that his foes still bestirred +themselves to keep him ever on the alert, and, if possible, to dim +the lustre of his gloriously-won laurels by the shadow of an +infamous crime.</p> +<p>"There are still rumors abroad of a <i>liaison</i> between me +and Hortense," said he one day to Bourrienne. "They have even +invented the most repulsive stories concerning her first infant. At +the time, I thought that these calumnies were circulated among the +public because the latter go earnestly desired that I might have a +child to inherit my name. But it is still spoken of, is it +not?"</p> +<p>"Yes, general, it is still spoken of; and I confess that I did +not believe this calumny would be so long continued."</p> +<p>"This is really abominable!" exclaimed Bonaparte, his eyes +flashing with anger. "You, Bourrienne, you best know what truth +there is in it. You have heard and seen all; not the smallest +circumstance could escape you. You were her confidant in her +love-affair with Duroc. I expect you to clear me of this infamous +reproach if you should some day write my history. Posterity shall +not associate my name with such infamy. I shall depend on you, +Bourrienne, and you will at least admit that you have never +believed in this abominable calumny?"</p> +<p>"No, never, general."</p> +<p>"I shall rely on you, Bourrienne, not only on my own account, +but for the sake of poor Hortense. She is, without this, unhappy +enough, as is my brother also. I am concerned about this, because I +love them both, and because this very circumstance gives color to +the reports which idle chatterboxes have circulated regarding my +relations to her. Therefore, bear this in mind when you write of me +hereafter."</p> +<p>"I shall do so, general; I shall tell the truth, but, +unfortunately, I can not compel the world to believe the +truth."</p> +<p>Bourrienne has, at all events, kept his word, and spoken the +truth. With deep indignation he spurns the calumny with which it +has been attempted to sully the memory of Bonaparte and Hortense, +even down to our time; and, in his anger, he even forgets the +elegant and considerate language of the courteous diplomat, which +is elsewhere always characteristic of his writings.</p> +<p>"He lies in his throat," says Bourrienne, "who asserts that +Bonaparte entertained other feelings for Hortense than those a +step-father should entertain for his step-daughter! Hortense +entertained for the first consul a feeling of reverential fear. She +always spoke to him tremblingly. She never ventured to approach him +with a petition. She was in the habit of coming to me, and I then +submitted her wishes; and only when Bonaparte received them +unfavorably did I mention the name of the petitioner. 'The silly +thing!' said the first consul; 'why does she not speak to me +herself? Is she afraid of me?' Napoleon always entertained a +fatherly affection for her; since his marriage, he loved her as a +father would have loved his child. I, who for years was a witness +of her actions in the most private relations of life, I declare +that I have never seen or heard the slightest circumstance that +would tend to convict her of a criminal intimacy. One must consider +this calumny as belonging to the category of those which malice so +willingly circulates about those persons whose career has been +brilliant, and which credulity and envy so willingly believe. I +declare candidly that, if I entertained the slightest doubt with +regard to this horrible calumny, I would say so. But Bonaparte is +no more! Impartial history must not and shall not give countenance +to this reproach; she should not make of a father and friend a +libertine! Malicious and hostile authors have asserted, without, +however, adducing any proof, that a criminal intimacy existed +between Bonaparte and Hortense. A falsehood, an unworthy falsehood! +And this report has been generally current, not only in France, but +throughout all Europe. Alas! can it, then, be true that calumny +exercises so mighty a charm that, when it has once taken possession +of a man, he can never be freed from it again?"</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V.2"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<h3>KING OR EMPEROR.</h3> +<br> +<p>Josephine's entreaties had been fruitless, or Bonaparte had, at +least, only yielded to them in their literal sense. She had said: +"I entreat you, do not make yourself a king!" Bonaparte did not +make himself king, he made himself emperor. He did not take up the +crown that had fallen from the head of the Bourbons; he created a +new one for himself--a crown which the French people and Senate +had, however, offered him. The revolution still stood a threatening +spectre behind the French people; its return was feared, and, since +the discovery of the conspiracy of Georges, Moreau, and Pichegru, +the people anxiously asked themselves what was to become of France +if the conspirators should succeed in murdering Bonaparte; and when +the republic should again be sent adrift, without a pilot, on the +wild sea of revolution. The people demanded that their institutions +should be securely established and maintained, and believed that +this could only be accomplished by a dynasty--by a monarchical form +of government. The consulate for life must therefore be changed +into an hereditary empire. Had not Bonaparte himself said: "One can +be emperor of a republic, but not king of a republic; these two +terms are incompatible!" They desired to make Napoleon emperor, +because they flattered themselves that in so doing they should +still be able to preserve the republic.</p> +<p>On the 18th of May, of the year 1804, the plan that had been so +long and carefully prepared was carried into execution. On the 18th +of May, the Senate repaired to St. Cloud, to entreat Bonaparte, in +the name of the people and army, to accept the imperial dignity, +and exchange the Roman chair of a consul for the French throne of +an emperor.</p> +<p>Cambacérès, the late second consul of the +republic, stood at the head of the Senate, and upon him devolved +the duty of imparting to Bonaparte the wishes of the French people. +Cambacérès--who, as a member of the Convention, had +voted for the condemnation of Louis XVI., in order that royalty +should be forever banished from French soil--this same +Cambacérès, was now the first to salute Bonaparte +with "imperial majesty," and with the little word, so full of +significance, "sire." He rewarded Cambacérès, for +this by writing to him on the game day, and appointing him high +constable of the empire, as the first act of his imperial rule. In +this letter, the first document in which Bonaparte signed himself +merely Napoleon, the emperor retained the republican style of +writing. He addressed Cambacérès, as "citizen +consul," and followed the revolutionary method of reckoning time, +his letter being dated "the 20th Floréal, of the year +12."</p> +<p>The second act of the emperor, on the first day of his new +dignity, was to invest the members of his family also with new +dignities, and to confer upon them the rank of Princes of France, +with the title "imperial highness." Moreover, he made his brother +Joseph prince elector, and his brother Louis connétable. On +the same day it devolved upon Louis, in his new dignity, to present +the generals and staff officers to the emperor, and then to conduct +them to the empress--the Empress Josephine.</p> +<p>The prophecy of the negress of Martinique was now fulfilled. +Josephine was "more than a queen." But Josephine, in the midst of +the splendor of her new dignity, could only think, with an anxious +heart, of the prophecy of the clairvoyante of Paris, who had told +her, "You will wear a crown, but only for a short time." She felt +that this wondrous fortune could not last long--that the new +emperor would have to do as the kings or old had done, and +sacrifice his dearest possession to Fate, in order to appease the +hungry demons of vengeance and envy; and that he would, therefore, +sacrifice her, in order to secure the perpetuity of his fortune and +dynasty.</p> +<p>It was this that weighed down the heart of the new empress, and +made her shrink in alarm from her new grandeur. It was, therefore, +with a feeling of deep anxiety that she took possession of the new +titles and honors that Fate had showered upon her, as from an +inexhaustible horn of plenty. With a degree of alarm, and almost +with shame, she heard herself addressed with the titles with which +she had addressed the Queen of France years before, in these same +halls, when she came to the Tuileries as Marquise de Beauharnais, +to do homage to the beautiful Marie Antoinette. She had died on the +scaffold and now Josephine was the "majesty" that sat enthroned in +the Tuileries, her brilliant court assembled around her, while in a +retired nook of England the legitimate King of France was leading a +lonely and gloomy life.</p> +<p>Josephine, as we have said, was a good royalist; and, as +empress, she still mourned over the fate of the unfortunate +Bourbons, and esteemed it her sacred duty to assist and advise +those who, true to their principles and duties, had followed the +royal family, or had emigrated, in order that they might, at least, +not be compelled to do homage to the new system. Her purse was +always at the service of the emigrants; and, if Josephine +continually made debts, in spite of her enormous monthly allowance, +her extravagance was not alone the cause, but also her kindly, +generous heart; for she was in the habit of setting apart the half +of her monthly income for the relief of poor emigrants, and, no +matter how great her own embarrassment, or how pressing her +creditors, she never suffered the amount devoted to the relief of +misfortune and the reward of fidelity to be applied to any other +purpose<a name="FNanchor13"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_13">[13]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_13"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor13">[13]</a> Mémoires sur la reine Hortense, par +le Baron van Schelten, vol. i., p. 145.</blockquote> +<p>Now that Josephine was an empress, her daughter, the wife of the +High Constable of France, took the second position at the brilliant +court of the emperor. The daughter of the beheaded viscount was now +a "Princess of France," an "imperial highness," who must be +approached with reverence, who had her court and her maids of +honor, and whose liberty and personal inclinations, as was also the +case with her mother, were confined in the fetters of the strict +etiquette which Napoleon required to be observed at the new +imperial court.</p> +<p>But neither Josephine nor Hortense allowed herself to be blinded +by this new splendor. A crown could confer upon Josephine no +additional happiness; glittering titles could neither enhance +Hortense's youth and beauty, nor alleviate her secret misery. She +would have been contented to live in retirement, at the side of a +beloved husband; her proud position could not indemnify her for her +lost woman's happiness.</p> +<p>But Fate seemed to pity the noble, gentle being, who knew how to +bear misery and grandeur with the same smiling dignity, and offered +her a recompense for the overthrow of her first mother's hope--a +new hope--she promised to become a mother again.</p> +<p>Josephine received this intelligence with delight, for her +daughter's hope was a hope for her too. If Hortense should give +birth to a son, the gods might be reconciled, and misfortune be +banished from the head of the empress. With this son, the dynasty +of the new imperial family would be assured; this son could be the +heir of the imperial crown, and Napoleon could well adopt as his +own the child who was at the same time his nephew and his +grandson.</p> +<p>Napoleon promised Josephine that he would do this; that he would +rather content himself with an adopted son, in whom the blood of +the emperor and of the empress was mixed, than be compelled to +separate himself from her, from his Josephine. Napoleon still loved +his wife; he still compared with all he thought good and beautiful, +the woman who shed around his grandeur the lustre of her grace and +loveliness.</p> +<p>When the people greeted their new emperor with loud cries of joy +and thunders of applause, Napoleon, his countenance illumined with +exultation, exclaimed: "How glorious a music is this! These +acclamations and greetings sound as sweet and soft as the voice of +Josephine! How proud and happy I am, to be loved by such a +people<a name="FNanchor14"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_14">[14]</a>!"</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_14"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor14">[14]</a> Bourrienne, vol. iv., p. 288.</blockquote> +<p>But his proud ambition was not yet sated. As he bad once said, +upon entering the Tuileries as first consul, "It is not enough to +<i>be</i> in the Tuileries; one must also <i>remain</i> there"--he +now said: "It is not enough to have been made emperor by the French +people; one must also have received his consecration as emperor +from the Pope of Rome."</p> +<p>And Napoleon was now mighty enough to give laws to the world; +not only to bend France, but also foreign sovereigns, to his +will.</p> +<p>Napoleon desired for his crown the papal consecration; and the +Pope left the holy city and repaired to Paris, to give the new +emperor the blessing of the Church in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. +This was a new halo around Napoleon's head--a new, an unbounded +triumph, which he celebrated over France, over the whole world and +its prejudices, and over all the dynasties by the "grace of God." +The Pope came to Paris to crown the emperor. The German emperors +had been compelled to make a pilgrimage to Rome, to receive the +papal benediction, and now the Pope made a pilgrimage to Paris to +crown the French emperor, and acknowledge the son of the Revolution +as the consecrated son of the Church. All France was intoxicated +with delight at this intelligence; all France adored the hero, who +made of the wonders of fiction a reality, and converted even the +holy chair at Rome into the footstool of his grandeur. Napoleon's +journey with Josephine through France, undertaken while they +awaited the Pope's coming, was, therefore, a single, continuous +triumph. It was not only the people who received him with shouts of +joy, but the Church also sang to him, everywhere, her <i>sanctus, +sanctus</i>, and the priests received him at the doors of their +churches with loud benedictions, extolling him as the savior of +France. Everywhere, the imperial couple was received with universal +exultation, with the ringing of bells, with triumphal arches, and +solemn addresses of welcome, the latter partaking sometimes of a +transcendental nature.</p> +<p>"God created Bonaparte," said the Prefect of Arras, in his +enthusiastic address to the emperor--"God created Bonaparte, and +then He rested." And Count Louis of Narbonne, at that time not yet +won over by the emperor, and not yet grand-marshal of the imperial +court, whispered, quite audibly: "God would have done better had He +rested a little sooner!"</p> +<p>Finally, the intelligence overran all France, that the wonder, +in which they had not yet dared to believe, had become reality, and +that Pope Pius VII. had crossed the boundaries of France, and was +now approaching the capital. The Holy Father of the Church, that +had now arisen victoriously from the ruins of the revolution, was +everywhere received by the people and authorities with the greatest +honor. The old royal palace at Fontainebleau had, by order of the +emperor, been refurnished with imperial magnificence, and, as a +peculiarly delicate attention, the Pope's bedchamber had been +arranged in exact imitation of his bedchamber in the Quirinal at +Home. The emperor, empress, and their suite, now repaired to +Fontainebleau, to receive Pope Pius VII. The whole ceremony had, +however, been previously arranged, and understanding had with the +Pope concerning the various questions of etiquette. In conformity +with this prearranged ceremony, when the couriers announced the +approach of the Pope, Napoleon rode out to the chase, to give +himself the appearance of meeting the Pope accidentally on his way. +The equipages and the imperial court had taken position in the +forest of Nemours. Napoleon, however, attired in hunting-dress, +rode, with his suite, to the summit of a little hill, which the +Pope's carriage had just reached. The Pope at once ordered a halt, +and the emperor also brought his suite to a stand with a gesture of +his hand. A brief interval of profound silence followed. All felt +that a great historical event was taking place, and the eyes of all +were fastened in wondering expectation on the two chief figures of +this scene--on the emperor, who sat there on his horse, in his +simple huntsman's attire; and on the Pope, in his gold-embroidered +robes, leaning back in his equipage, drawn by six horses.</p> +<p>As Napoleon dismounted, the Pope hastened to descend from his +carriage, hesitating a moment, however, after he had already placed +his foot on the carriage-step; but Napoleon's foot had already +touched the earth. Pius could, therefore, no longer hesitate; he +must make up his mind to step, in his white, gold-embroidered satin +slippers, on the wet soil, softened by a shower of rain, that had +fallen on the previous day. The emperor's hunting-boots were +certainly much better adapted to this meeting in the mud than the +Pope's white satin slippers.</p> +<p>Emperor and Pope approached and embraced each other tenderly; +then, through the inattention of the coachmen, seemingly, the +imperial equipage was set in motion, and, in its rapid advance, +interrupted this tender embrace. It seemed to be the merest +accident that the emperor stood on the right, and the Pope on the +left side of the equipage, that had now been brought to a stand +again. The two doors of the carriage were simultaneously thrown +open by the lackeys; at the same time, the Pope entered the +carriage on the left, and the emperor on the right side, both +seating themselves side by side at the same time. This settled the +question of etiquette. Neither had preceded the other, but the +emperor occupied the seat of honor on the Pope's right.</p> +<p>The coronation of the imperial pair took place on the 2d of +December, 1804, in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. Not only all Paris, +but all France, was in motion on this day. An immense concourse of +people surged to and fro in the streets; the windows of all the +houses were filled with richly-adorned and beautiful women, the +bells were ringing in all the churches, and joyous music, +intermixed with the shouts of the people, was heard in every +direction. For a moment, however, these shouts were changed into +laughter, and that was when the papal procession approached, headed +by an ass led by the halter, in accordance with an ancient custom +of Rome. While the Pope, with the high dignitaries of the Church, +repaired to the cathedral to await there the coming of the imperial +couple, Napoleon was putting on the imperial insignia in the +Tuileries, enveloping himself in the green velvet mantle, bordered +with ermine, and thickly studded with brilliants, and arraying +himself in the whole glittering paraphernalia of his new dignity. +When already on the point of leaving the Tuileries with his wife, +who stood at his side in her imperial attire, Bonaparte suddenly +gave the order that the notary Ragideau should be called to the +palace, as he desired to see him at once.</p> +<p>A messenger was at once sent, in an imperial equipage, to bring +him from his dwelling, and in a quarter of an hour the little +notary Ragideau entered the cabinet of the empress, in which the +imperial pair were alone, awaiting him in their glittering +attire.</p> +<p>His eyes beaming, a triumphant smile on his lips, Napoleon +stepped forward to meet the little notary. "Well, Master Ragideau," +said he, gayly, "I have had you called, merely to ask you whether +General Bonaparte really possesses nothing besides his hat and his +sword, or whether you will now forgive Viscountess Beauharnais for +having married me;" and, as Ragideau looked at him in astonishment, +and Josephine asked the meaning of his strange words, Bonaparte +related how, while standing in Ragideau's antechamber on a certain +occasion, he had heard the notary advising Josephine not to marry +poor little Bonaparte; not to become the wife of the general, who +possessed nothing but his hat and his sword.</p> +<p>The notary's words had entered the ambitious young man's heart +like a dagger, and had wounded him deeply. But he had uttered no +complaint, and made no mention of it; but to-day, on the day of his +supreme triumph, to-day the emperor remembered that moment of +humiliation, and, arrayed with the full insignia of the highest +earthly dignity, he accorded himself the triumph of reminding the +little notary that he had once advised Josephine not to marry him, +because of his poverty.</p> +<p>The poor General Bonaparte had now transformed himself into the +mighty Emperor Napoleon. Then he possessed nothing but his hat and +his sword, but now the Pope awaited him in the cathedral of +Notre-Dame, to place the golden imperial crown on his head.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI.2"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<h3>NAPOLEON'S HEIR.</h3> +<br> +<p>Hortense had not been able to take any part in the festivities +of the coronation; but another festivity had been prepared for her +in the retirement of her apartments. She had given birth to a son; +and in this child the happy mother found consolation and a new +hope.</p> +<p>Josephine, who had assumed the imperial crown with a feeling of +foreboding sadness, received the intelligence of the birth of her +grandson with exultation. It seemed to her that the clouds that had +been gathering over her head were now dissipated, and that a day of +unclouded sunshine now smiled down upon her. Hortense had assured +her mother's future; she had given birth to a son, and had thus +given a first support to the new imperial dynasty. There was now no +longer a reason why Napoleon should entertain the thoughts of a +separation, for there was a son to whom he could one day bequeath +the imperial throne of France.</p> +<p>The emperor also seemed to be disposed to favor Josephine's +wishes, and to adopt his brother's son as his own. Had he not +requested the Pope to delay his departure for a few days, in order +to baptize the child? The Pope performed this sacred rite at St. +Cloud, the emperor holding the child, and Madame Letitia standing +at his side as second witness. Hortense now possessed an object +upon which she could lavish the whole wealth of love that had until +now lain concealed in her heart. The little Napoleon Charles was +Hortense's first happy love; and she gave way to this intoxicating +feeling with the most intense delight.</p> +<p>Josephine's house was now her home in the fullest sense of the +word; she no longer shared her home with her husband, and could now +bestow her undivided love and care upon her child. Louis Napoleon, +the Grand-Constable of France, had been appointed Governor of +Piedmont by Napoleon; and Hortense, owing to her delicate health, +had not been compelled to accompany him, but had been permitted to +remain in her little house in Paris, which she could exchange when +summer came for her husband's new estate, the castle of +Saint-Leu.</p> +<p>But the tranquillity which Josephine enjoyed with her child in +this charming country-resort was to be of short duration. The +brother and sister-in-law of the emperor could not hope to be +permitted to lead a life of retirement. They were rays of the sun +that now dazzled the whole world; they must fulfil their destiny, +and contribute their light to the ruling sun.</p> +<p>An order of Napoleon recalled the constable, who had returned +from Piedmont a short time before, and repaired to Saint-Leu to see +his son, to Paris. Napoleon had appointed his brother to a +brilliant destiny; the Constable of France was to become a king. +Delegates of the Republic of Batavia, the late Holland, had arrived +in Paris, and requested their mighty neighbor, the Emperor +Napoleon, to give them a king, who should unite them with the +glittering empire, through the ties of blood. Napoleon intended to +fulfil their wishes, and present them with a king, in the person of +his brother Louis.</p> +<p>But Louis was rather appalled than dazzled by this offer, and +refused to accept the proposed dignity. In this refusal he was also +in perfect harmony with his wife, who did all in her power to +strengthen his resolution. Both felt that the crown which it was +proposed to place on their heads would be nothing more than a +golden chain of dependence; that the King of Holland could be +nothing more than the vassal of France; and their personal +relations to each other added another objection to this political +consideration.</p> +<p>In Paris, husband and wife could forget the chain that bound +them together; there they were in the circle of their friends, and +could avoid each other. The great, glittering imperial court served +to separate and reconcile the young couple, who had never forgiven +themselves for having fettered each other in this involuntary +union. In Paris they had amusements, friends, society; while in +Holland they would live in entire dependence on each other, and +hear continually the rattling of the chain with which each had +bound the other to the galley of a union without love.</p> +<p>Both felt this, and both were, therefore, united in the endeavor +to ward off this new misfortune that was suspended over their +heads, in the form of a kingly crown.</p> +<p>But how could they resist successfully the iron will of +Napoleon? Hortense had never had the courage to address Napoleon +directly on the subject of her wishes and petitions, and Josephine +already felt that her wishes no longer exercised the power of +earlier days over the emperor. She therefore avoided interceding +where she was not sure of being successful.</p> +<p>At the outset, Louis had the courage to resist his brother +openly; but Napoleon's angry glance annihilated his opposition, and +his gentle, yielding nature was forced to succumb. In the presence +of the deputation of the Batavian Republic, that so ardently longed +for a sceptre and crown, Napoleon appealed to his brother Louis to +accept the crown which had been freely tendered him, and to be to +his country a king who would respect and protect its liberties, its +laws, and its religion.</p> +<p>With emotion, Louis Bonaparte declared himself ready to accept +this crown, and to be a good and true ruler to his new country.</p> +<p>And to keep this oath faithfully was from this time the single +and sacred endeavor to which he devoted his every thought and +energy. The people of Holland having chosen him to be their king, +he was determined to do honor to their choice; having been +compelled to give up his own country and nationality, he determined +to belong to his new country with his whole heart and being--to +become a thorough Hollander, as he could no longer remain a +Frenchman.</p> +<p>This heretofore so gentle and passive nature now developed an +entirely new energy; this dreamer, this pale, silent brother of the +emperor, was now suddenly transformed into a bold, self-reliant man +of action, who had fixed his gaze on a noble aim, and was ready to +devote all the powers of his being to its attainment. As King of +Holland, he desired, above all, to be beloved by his subjects, and +to be able to contribute to their welfare and happiness. He studied +their language with untiring diligence, and made himself acquainted +with their manners and customs, for the purpose of making them his +own. He investigated the sources of their wealth and of their +wants, and sought to develop the former and relieve the latter. He +was restless in his efforts to provide for his country, and to +merit the love and confidence which his subjects bestowed on +him.</p> +<p>His wife also exerted herself to do justice to her new and +glittering position, and to wear worthily the crown which she had +so unwillingly accepted. In her drawing-rooms she brought together, +at brilliant entertainments, the old aristocracy and the new +nobility of Holland, and taught the stiff society of that country +the fine, unconstrained tone, and the vivacious intellectual +conversation of Parisian society. It was under Hortense's fostering +hand that art and science first made their way into the +aristocratic parlors of Holland, giving to their social reunions a +higher and nobler importance.</p> +<p>And Hortense was not only the protectress of art and science, +but also the mother of the poor, the ministering angel of the +unhappy, whose tears she dried, and whose misery she +alleviated--and this royal pair, though adored and blessed by their +subjects, could not find within their palaces the least reflection +of the happiness they so well knew how to confer upon others +without its walls. Between these two beings, so gentle and yielding +to others, a strange antipathy continued to exist, and not even the +birth of a second, and of a third, son could fill up the chasm that +separated them.</p> +<p>And this chasm was soon to be broadened by a new blow of +destiny. Hortense's eldest, the adopted son of Napoleon, the +presumptive heir to his throne, the child that Napoleon loved so +dearly that he often played with him for hours on the terraces of +St. Cloud, the child Josephine worshipped, because its existence +seemed to assure her own happiness, the child that had awakened the +first feeling of motherly bliss in Hortense's bosom, the child that +had often even consoled Louis Bonaparte for the unenjoyable present +with bright hopes for the future--the little Napoleon Charles died +in the year 1807, of the measles.</p> +<p>This was a terrific blow that struck the parents, and the +imperial pair of France with equal force. Napoleon's eyes filled +with tears when this intelligence was brought him, and a cry of +horror escaped Josephine's lips.</p> +<p>"Now I am lost!" she murmured in a low voice; "now my fate is +decided. He will put me away."</p> +<p>But after this first egotistical outburst of her own pain, she +hastened to the Hague to weep with her daughter, and bring her away +from the place associated with her loss and her anguish. Hortense +returned with the empress to St. Cloud; while her husband, who had +almost succumbed to his grief, was compelled to seek renewed health +in the baths of the Pyrenees. The royal palace at the Hague now +stood desolate again; death had banished life and joy from its +halls; and, though the royal pair were subsequently compelled to +return to it, joy and happiness came back with them no more.</p> +<p>King Louis had returned from the Pyrenees in a more gloomy and +ill-natured frame of mind than ever; a sickly distrust, a repulsive +irritability, had taken possession of his whole being, and his +young wife no longer had the good-will to bear with his caprices, +and excuse his irritable disposition. They were totally different +in their views, desires, inclinations, and aspirations; and their +children, instead of being a means of reuniting, seemed to estrange +them the more, for each insisted on considering them his or her +exclusive property, and in having them educated according to his or +her views and wishes.</p> +<p>But Hortense was soon to forget her own household troubles and +cares, in the greater misery of her mother. A letter from +Josephine, an agonized appeal to her daughter for consolation, +recalled Hortense to her mother's side, and she left the Hague and +hastened to Paris.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII.2"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<h3>PREMONITIONS.</h3> +<br> +<p>Josephine's fears, and the prophecies of the French +clairvoyante, were now about to be fulfilled. The crown which +Josephine had reluctantly and sorrowfully accepted, and which she +had afterward worn with so much grace and amiability, with such +natural majesty and dignity, was about to fall from her head. +Napoleon had the cruel courage, now that the dreamed-of future had +been realized, to put away from him the woman who had loved him and +chosen him when he had nothing to offer her but his hopes for the +future. Josephine, who, with smiling courage and brave fidelity, +had stood at his side in the times of want and humiliation, was now +to be banished from his side into the isolation of a glittering +widowhood. Napoleon had the courage to determine that this should +be done, but he lacked the courage to break it to Josephine, and to +pronounce the word of separation himself. He was determined to +sacrifice to his ambition the woman he had so long called his "good +angel;" and he, who had never trembled in battle, trembled at the +thought of her tears, and avoided meeting her sad, entreating +gaze.</p> +<p>But Josephine divined the whole terrible misfortune that hung +threateningly over her head. She read it in the gloomy, averted +countenance of the emperor, who, since his recent return from +Vienna, had caused the door that connected his room with that of +his wife to be locked; she read it in the faces of the courtiers, +who dared to address her with less reverence, but with a touch of +compassionate sympathy; she heard it in the low whispering that +ceased when she approached a group of persons in her parlors; it +was betrayed to her in the covert, mysterious insinuations of the +public press, which attached a deep and comprehensive significance +to the emperor's journey to Vienna.</p> +<p>She knew that her destiny must now be fulfilled, and that she +was too weak to offer any resistance. But she was determined to act +her part as wife and empress worthily to the end. Her tears should +not flow outwardly, but inwardly to her grief-stricken heart; she +suppressed her sighs with a smile, and concealed the pallor of her +cheeks with rouge. But she longed for a heart to whom she could +confide her anguish, and show her tears, and therefore called her +daughter to her side.</p> +<p>How painful was this reunion of mother and daughter, how many +tears were shed, how bitter were the lamentations Josephine +whispered in her daughter's ear!</p> +<p>"If you knew," said she, "in what torments I have passed the +last few weeks, in which I was no longer his wife, although +compelled to appear before the world as such! What glances, +Hortense, what glances courtiers fasten upon a discarded woman! In +what uncertainty, what expectancy more cruel than death, have I +lived and am I still living, awaiting the lightning stroke that has +long glowed in Napoleon's eyes<a name="FNanchor15"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_15">[15]</a>!"</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_15"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor15">[15]</a> Josephine's own words.--Bourrienne, vol. +viii., p. 243.</blockquote> +<p>Hortense listened to her mother's lamentations with a heart full +of bitterness. She thought of how she had been compelled to +sacrifice her own happiness to that of her mother, of how she had +been condemned to a union without love, in order that the happiness +of her mother's union might be established on a firm basis. And now +all had been in vain; the sacrifice had not sufficed to arrest the +tide of misfortune now about to bear down her unhappy mother. +Hortense could do nothing to avert it. She was a queen, and yet +only a weak, pitiable woman, who envied the beggar on the street +her freedom and her humble lot. Both mother and daughter stood on +the summit of earthly magnificence, and yet this empress and this +queen felt themselves so poor and miserable, that they looked back +with envy at the days of the revolution--the days in which they had +led in retirement a life of poverty and want. Then, though +struggling with want and care, they had been rich in hopes, in +wishes, in illusions; now, they possessed all that could adorn +life; now millions of men bowed down to them, and saluted them with +the proud word "majesty," and yet empress and queen were now poor +in hopes and wishes, poor in the illusions that lay shattered at +their feet, and rejoicing only in the one happiness, that of being +able to confide their misery to each other.</p> +<p>A few days after her arrival, the emperor caused Hortense to be +called to his cabinet. He advanced toward her with vivacity, but +before the gaze of her large eyes the glance of the man before whom +the whole world now bowed, almost quailed.</p> +<p>"Hortense," said he, "we are now called on to decide an +important matter, and it is our duty not to recoil. The nation has +done so much for me and my family, that I owe them the sacrifice +which they demand of me. The tranquillity and welfare of France +require that I shall choose a wife who can give the country an heir +to the throne. Josephine has been living in suspense and anguish +for six months, and this must end. You, Hortense, are her dearest +friend and her confidante; she loves you more than all else in the +world. Will you undertake to prepare your mother for this step? You +would thereby relieve my heart of a heavy burden."</p> +<p>Hortense had the strength to suppress her tears, and fasten her +eyes on the emperor's countenance in a firm, determined gaze. His +glance again quailed, as the lion recoils from the angry glance of +a pure, innocent woman. Hortense had the courage to positively +refuse the emperors request.</p> +<p>"How, Hortense!" exclaimed Napoleon with emotion. "You then +refuse my request?"</p> +<p>"Sire," said she, hardly able longer to restrain her tears, +"sire, I have not the strength to stab my mother to the +heart<a name="FNanchor16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16">[16]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_16"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor16">[16]</a> Schelten, vol. ii., p. 45.</blockquote> +<p>And regardless of etiquette, Hortense turned away and left the +emperor's cabinet, the tears pouring in streams from her eyes.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII.2"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<h3>THE DIVORCE.</h3> +<br> +<p>Napoleon made one other attempt to impart to Josephine, through +a third person, the distressing tidings of his determination with +regard to herself. He begged Eugene, the Viceroy of Italy, to come +to Paris, and on his arrival informed him of his intentions and of +his wish. Eugene, like his sister, received this intelligence in +silent submissiveness, but like his sister, he refused to impart to +his mother, tidings that must destroy her happiness forever.</p> +<p>The emperor had finally to make up his mind to impart the +distressing tidings in person.</p> +<p>It was on the 30th of November, 1809. The emperor and empress +dined, as usual, at the same table. His gloomy aspect on entering +the room made Josephine's heart quake; she read in his countenance +that the fatal hour had come. But she repressed the tears which +were rushing to her eyes, and looked entreatingly at her daughter, +who sat on the opposite side of the table, a deathly pallor on her +countenance.</p> +<p>Not a word was spoken during this gloomy, ominous dinner. The +sighs and half-suppressed moaning that escaped Josephine's heaving +breast were quite audible. Without, the wind shrieked and howled +dismally, and drove the rain violently against the window-panes; +within, an ominous, oppressive silence prevailed. The commotion of +Nature contrasted, and yet, at the same time, harmonized strangely +with this human silence. Napoleon broke this silence but once, and +that was when, in a harsh voice, he asked the lackey, who stood +behind him, what time it was. Then all was still as before.</p> +<p>At last Napoleon gave the signal to rise from the table, and +coffee was then taken standing. Napoleon drank hastily, and then +set the cup down with a trembling hand, making it ring out as it +touched the table. With an angry gesture he dismissed the +attendants.</p> +<p>"Sire, may Hortense remain?" asked Josephine, almost +inaudibly.</p> +<p>"No!" exclaimed the emperor, vehemently. Hortense made a +profound obeisance, and, taking leave of her mother with a look of +tender compassion, left the room, followed by the rest.</p> +<p>The imperial pair were now alone. And how horrible was this +being left alone under the circumstances; how sad the silence in +which they sat opposite each other! How strange the glance which +the emperor fastened on his wife!</p> +<p>She read in his excited, quivering features the struggle that +moved his soul, but she also read in them that her hour was +come!</p> +<p>As he now approached her, his outstretched hand trembled, and +Josephine shudderingly recoiled.</p> +<p>Napoleon took her hand in his, and laid it on his heart, +regarding her with a long and sorrowful farewell-glance.</p> +<p>"Josephine," said he, his voice trembling with emotion, "my good +Josephine, you know that I have loved you! To you, and to you +alone, do I owe the only moments of happiness I have enjoyed in +this world. Josephine, my destiny is stronger than my will. My +dearest desires must yield to the interests of France<a name= +"FNanchor17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17">[17]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_17"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor17">[17]</a> The emperor's own words. See Bourrienne, +vol. iii., p. 344.</blockquote> +<p>"Speak no further," cried Josephine, withdrawing her hand +angrily--"no, speak no further. I understand you, and I expected +this, but the blow is not the less deadly."</p> +<p>She could speak no further, her voice failed. A feeling of +despair came over her; the long-repressed storm of agony at last +broke forth. She wept, she wrung her hands; groans escaped her +heaving breast, and a loud cry of anguish burst from her lips. She +at last fainted away, and was thus relieved from a consciousness of +her sufferings.</p> +<p>When she awoke she found herself on her bed, and Hortense and +her physician Corvisart at her side. Josephine stretched out her +trembling arms toward her daughter, who threw herself on her +mother's heart, sobbing bitterly. Corvisart silently withdrew, +feeling that he could be of no further assistance. It had only been +in his power to recall Josephine to a consciousness of her misery; +but for her misery itself he had no medicine; he knew that her +tears and her daughter's sympathy could alone give relief.</p> +<p>Josephine lay weeping in her daughter's arms, when Napoleon came +in to inquire after her condition. As he seated himself at her +bedside, she shrank back with a feeling of horror, her tears ceased +to flow, and her usually so mild and joyous eyes now shot glances +of anger and offended love at the emperor. But love soon conquered +anger. She extended her tremulous hand to Napoleon; the sad, sweet +smile, peculiar to woman, trembled on her lips, and, in a gentle, +touching voice, she said: "Was I not right, my friend, when I +shrank back in terror from the thought of becoming an +empress<a name="FNanchor18"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_18">[18]</a>?"</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_18"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor18">[18]</a> Josephine's own narrative. See Bourrienne, +vol. iii., p. 342, <i>et seq</i>.</blockquote> +<p>Napoleon made no reply. He turned away and wept. But these +farewell tears of his love could not change Josephine's fate; the +emperor had already determined it irrevocably. His demand of the +hand of the Archduchess Marie Louise had already been acceded to in +Vienna. Nothing now remained to be done but to remove Josephine +from the throne, and elevate a new, a legitimate empress, to the +vacant place!</p> +<p>The emperor could not and would not retrace his steps. He +assembled about him all his brothers, all the kings, dukes, and +princes, created by his mighty will, and in the state-chambers of +the Tuileries, in the presence of his court and the Senate, the +emperor appeared; at his side the empress, arrayed for the last +time in all the insignia of the dignity she was about to lay aside +forever.</p> +<p>In a loud, firm voice the emperor declared to the assembly his +determination to divorce himself from his wife; and Josephine, in a +trembling voice, often interrupted by tears, repeated her husband's +words. The arch-chancellor, Cambacérès, then caused +the appropriate paragraph of the <i>Code Civile</i> to be read, +applied it to the case under consideration, in a short, terse +address, and pronounced the union of the emperor and empress +dissolved.</p> +<p>This ended the ceremony, and satisfied the requirements of the +law. Josephine had now only to take leave of her husband and of the +court, and she did this with the gentle, angelic composure, in the +graceful, sweet manner, which was hers in a degree possessed by few +other women.</p> +<p>As she bowed profoundly to Napoleon, her pale face illumined by +inward emotion, his lips murmured a few inaudible words, and his +iron countenance quivered for an instant with pain. As she then +walked through the chamber, her children, Hortense and Eugene, on +either side, and greeted all with a last soft look, a last +inclination of the head, nothing could be heard but weeping, and +even those who rejoiced over her downfall, because they hoped much +from the new empress and the new dynasty, were now moved to tears +by this silent and yet so eloquent leave-taking.</p> +<p>The sacrifice was accomplished. Napoleon had sacrificed his +dearest possession to ambition; he had divorced himself from +Josephine.</p> +<p>On the same day she left the Tuileries to repair to Malmaison, +her future home--to Malmaison, that had once been the paradise, and +was now to be the widow's seat, of her love.</p> +<p>Josephine left the court, but the hearts of those who +constituted this court did not leave her. During the next few weeks +the crowds of the coming and going on the road from Paris to +Malmaison presented the appearance of a procession; the equipages +of all the kings and princes who were sojourning in Paris, and of +all the nobles and dignitaries of the new France, were to be seen +there. Even the Faubourg St.-Germain, that still preserved its +sympathy for the Bourbons, repaired to the empress at Malmaison. +And this pilgrimage was made by the poor and humble, as well as by +the rich and great. All wished to say to the empress that they +still loved and honored her, and that she was still enthroned in +their hearts, although her rule on the throne was at an end.</p> +<p>The whole people mourned with Josephine and her children. It was +whispered about that Napoleon's star would now grow pale; that, +with Josephine, his good angel had left him, and that the future +would avenge her tears.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX.2"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<h3>THE KING OF HOLLAND.</h3> +<br> +<p>While Josephine was weeping over her divorce at Malmaison, +Hortense was seeking one for herself. A divorce which her mother +lamented as a misfortune, because she still loved her husband, +would have conferred happiness upon Hortense, who never had loved +her husband. Once again in harmony with her husband, Hortense +entreated the emperor to permit them to be divorced, and the king +united his entreaties with those of the queen.</p> +<p>But Napoleon was unrelenting. His family should not appear +before the people as disregarding the sanctity of the marriage +bond. For state reasons he had separated from his wife, and for +state reasons he could not give his consent to the dissolution of +the union of his brother and step-daughter. They must, therefore, +continue to drag the chain that united them; and they did, but with +angry hearts.</p> +<p>Louis returned to Holland in a more depressed state of mind than +ever; while Hortense and her two children, in obedience to +Napoleon's express command, remained in Paris for some time. They +were to attend the festivities that were soon to take place at the +imperial court in honor of the marriage of the emperor with the +Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria. The daughter of the divorced +empress, with the emperor's sisters, had been selected to carry the +train of the new empress on the marriage-day. Napoleon wished to +prove to France and to all Europe that there was no other law in +his family than his will, and that the daughter of Josephine had +never ceased to be his obedient daughter also. Napoleon wished, +moreover, to retain near his young wife, in order that she might +have at her side a gentle and tender mentor, the queen who had +inherited Josephine's grace and loveliness, and who, in her noble +womanhood, would set a good example to the ladies of his court. +Hortense mutely obeyed the emperor's command; on the 1st of April, +1810, the day of the union of Marie Louise with the emperor, she, +together with his sisters, bore the train of the new empress. She +alone did this without making any resistance, while it was only +after the most violent opposition to Napoleon's command that his +sisters, Queen Caroline of Naples, the Duchess Pauline of +Guastalla, and the Grand-duchess Elise of Tuscany, consented to +undergo the humiliation of walking behind their new sovereign as +humble subjects. And the emperor's sisters were not the only +persons who regarded the imperial pair with displeasure on the day +of the marriage celebration. Only a small number of the high +dignitaries of the Church had responded to the invitation of the +grand-master of ceremonies, and attended the marriage celebration +in the chapel in the Tuileries.</p> +<p>The emperor, who did not wish to punish his sisters for their +opposition, could at least punish the absence of the cardinals, and +he did this on the following day. He exiled those cardinals who had +not appeared in the chapel, forbade them to appear in their red +robes thenceforth, and condemned them to the black penitent's +dress.</p> +<p>The people of Paris also received the new empress with a languid +enthusiasm. They regarded the new "Austrian" with gloomy +forebodings; and when, on the occasion of the ball given by Prince +Schwartzenberg in honor of the imperial marriage, a short time +afterward, the fearful fire occurred that cost so many human lives +and destroyed so much family happiness, the people remembered with +terror that other misfortune that had occurred on the day of the +entry of Marie Antoinette into Paris, and called this fire an +earnest of the misfortunes which the "Austrian" would bring upon +France and the emperor.</p> +<p>While Hortense was compelled to attend the festivities given in +honor of the new empress in Paris, a dark storm-cloud was gathering +over her husband's head, that was soon to threaten his life and his +crown.</p> +<p>When Louis, at the emperor's command, accepted the crown of +Holland, he had solemnly sworn to be a faithful ruler to his new +people, and to devote his whole being to their welfare. He was too +honest a man not to keep this oath sacredly. His sole endeavor was +to make such arrangements, and provide such laws, as the welfare +and prosperity of Holland seemed to require, without in the least +considering whether these laws were conducive to the interests of +France or not. He would not regard Holland as a province dependent +upon France, of which he was the governor, but as an independent +land that had chosen him to be its free and independent king. But +Napoleon did not view the matter in the same light; in his eyes it +was sacrilege for the kingdom of Holland to refuse to conform +itself in every respect to the interests of its powerful neighbor, +France.</p> +<p>When Napoleon invested his brother with the crown of Holland, he +had charged him "to be a good king to his people, but at the same +time to remain a good Frenchman, and protect the interests of +France." Louis had, however, endeavored to become a good Hollander; +and when the interests of France and Holland came into conflict, +the king took the side of his new country, and acted as a +Hollander. He was of the opinion that the welfare of Holland +depended on its commerce and industry only, and that it could only +be great through its commercial importance; he therefore reduced +the army and navy, making merchantmen of the men-of-war, and +peaceful sailors of their warlike seamen.</p> +<p>Napoleon, however, regarded this conversion with dismay, and +angrily reproached the King of Holland for "disarming whole +squadrons, discharging seamen, and disorganizing the army, until +Holland was without power, both on land and water, as though +warehouses and clerks were the material elements of power." +Napoleon reproached the king still more bitterly, however, for +having re-established commercial relations with England, for having +raised the blockade for Holland which France had established +against England, and for having permitted the American ships, that +had been banished from the ports of France, to anchor quietly in +those of Holland.</p> +<p>The emperor demanded of the King of Holland that he should +conform himself to his will and to the interests of France +unconditionally; that he should immediately break off all +commercial relations between Holland and England; that he should +re-establish a fleet, of forty ships-of-the-line, seven frigates, +and seven brigs, and an army of twenty-five thousand men, and that +he should abolish all the privileges of the nobility that were +contrary to the constitution.</p> +<p>King Louis had the courage to resist these demands, in the name +of Holland, and to refuse to obey instructions, the execution of +which must necessarily have affected the material interests of +Holland most injuriously.</p> +<p>Napoleon responded to this refusal with a declaration of war. +The ambassador of Holland received his passport, and a French army +corps was sent to Holland, to punish the king's insolence.</p> +<p>But the misfortune that threatened Holland had called the king's +whole energy into activity, and Napoleon's anger and threats were +powerless to break his resolution. As the commander of the French +troops, the Duke of Reggio, approached Amsterdam, to lay siege to +that city and thereby compel the king to yield, Louis determined +rather to descend from his throne than to submit to the unjust +demands of France. He, therefore, issued a proclamation to his +people, in which he told them that he, convinced that he could do +nothing more to promote their welfare, and, on the contrary, +believing that he was an obstacle in the way of the restoration of +friendly relations between his brother and Holland, had determined +to abdicate in favor of his two sons, Napoleon Louis and Charles +Louis Napoleon. Until they should attain their majority the queen, +in conformity with the constitution, was to be regent. He then took +leave of his subjects, in a short and touching address. He now +repaired, in disguise, and under the name of Count de St. Leu, +through the states of his brother Jerome, King of Westphalia, and +through Saxony to Töplitz.</p> +<p>Here he learned that Napoleon, far from respecting and +fulfilling the conditions of his abdication, had united the kingdom +of Holland with the empire. The king published a protest against +this action of the emperor, in which, in the name of his son and +heir, Napoleon Louis, he denounced this act of the emperor as a +totally unjustifiable act of violence, and demanded that the +kingdom of Holland should be re-established, in all its integrity, +declaring the annexation of Holland to France to be null and void, +in the name of himself and his sons.</p> +<p>Napoleon responded to this protest by causing the king to be +informed by the French ambassador in Vienna that unless he returned +to France by the 1st of December, 1810, he should be regarded and +treated as a rebel, who dared to resist the head of his family and +violate the constitution of the empire.</p> +<p>Louis neither answered nor conformed to this threat. He repaired +to Grätz, in Styria, and lived there as a private gentleman, +beloved and admired, not only by those who came in contact with him +there, but enjoying the esteem of all Europe, which he had won by +the noble and truly magnanimous manner in which he had sacrificed +his own grandeur to the welfare of his people. Even his and +Napoleon's enemies could not withhold from the King of Holland the +tribute of their respect, and even Louis XVIII. said of him: "By +his abdication, Louis Bonaparte has become a true king; in +renouncing his crown, he has shown himself worthy to wear it. He is +the first monarch who has made so great a sacrifice but of pure +love for his people; others have also relinquished their thrones, +but they did it when weary of power. But in this action of the King +of Holland there is something truly sublime--something that was not +duly appreciated at first, but which will be admired by posterity, +if I mistake not, greatly<a name="FNanchor19"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_19">[19]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_19"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor19">[19]</a> Mémoires d'une Femme de +Qualité, vol. v., p. 47.</blockquote> +<p>In Grätz, Louis Bonaparte, Count de St. Leu, lived a few +peaceful, tranquil years, perhaps the first years of happiness he +had enjoyed in his short and hitherto stormy life. Occupied with +work and study, he easily forgot his former grandeur and +importance. As it had once been his ambition to become a good king, +it was now his ambition to become a good writer. He published his +romance Marie, and, encouraged by the success which it met with in +his circle of friends, he also gave his poems to the public--poems +whose tender and passionate language proved that this so often +misunderstood, so often repulsed, and, therefore, so timid and +distrustful heart, could warm with a tenderness of love that Marie +Pascal, the beautiful artist of the harp, could hardly have had the +cruelty to withstand.</p> +<p>But a day came when Louis Bonaparte closed his ear to all these +sweet voices of happiness, of peace, and of love, to listen only to +the voice of duty, that appealed to him to return to France, to his +brother's side. While the sun of fortune shone over Napoleon, the +king, who had voluntarily descended from a throne, remained in +obscurity; but when the days of misfortune came upon the emperor, +there could be but one place for his brave and faithful brother, +and that was at Napoleon's side.</p> +<p>Madame de St. Elme, who was at Grätz at this time, and who +witnessed the farewell scene between Louis Bonaparte and the +inhabitants of Grätz, says: "On the day when Austria so +unexpectedly sundered its alliance with France, King Louis felt the +necessity of abandoning an asylum, for which he would henceforth +have been indebted to the enemies of France, and hastened to claim +of the great unjust man who had repulsed him, the only place +commensurate with the dignity of his character, the place at his +side.</p> +<p>"This was a subject of profound sorrow and regret for the +inhabitants of Grätz, and of all Styria, for there was not a +pious or useful institution, or a poor family in Styria, that had +not been the object of his beneficence, and yet it was well known +that the king who had descended from his throne so hastily, and +with so little preparation, had but small means, and denied himself +many of the enjoyments of life, in order that he might lend a +helping hand to others. He was entreated, conjured with tears, to +remain, but he held firm to his resolution. And when the horses, +that they had at first determined to withhold from him, were at +last, at his earnest and repeated solicitation, provided, the +people unharnessed these horses from his carriage, in order that +they might take their places, and accompany him to the gates of the +city with this demonstration of their love. This departure had the +appearance of a triumphal procession; and this banished king, +without a country, was greeted with as lively plaudits on leaving +his place of exile as when he mounted his throne<a name= +"FNanchor20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20">[20]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_20"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor20">[20]</a> Mémoires d'une contemporaine, vol. +iv., p. 377.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X.2"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<h3>JUNOT, THE DUKE D'ABRANTES.</h3> +<br> +<p>While the faithful were rallying around Napoleon to render +assistance to the hero in his hour of peril--while even his brother +Louis, forgetting the mortifications and injuries he had sustained +at the emperor's hands, hastened to his side, there was one of the +most devoted kept away from him by fate--one upon whom the emperor +could otherwise have depended in life and death.</p> +<p>This one was his friend and comrade-in-arms, Junot, who, +descended from an humble family, had by his merit and heroism +elevated himself to the rank of a Duke d'Abrantes. He alone failed +to respond when the ominous roll of the war-drum recalled all +Napoleon's generals to Paris. But it was not his will, but fate, +that kept him away.</p> +<p>Junot--the hero of so many battles, the chevalier without fear +and without reproach, the former governor of Madrid, the present +governor of Istria and Illyria--Junot was suffering from a +visitation of the most fearful of all diseases--his brain was +affected! The scars that covered his head and forehead, and +testified so eloquently to his gallantry, announced at the same +time the source of his disease. His head, furrowed by +sabre-strokes, was outwardly healed, but the wounds had affected +his brain.</p> +<p>The hero of so many battles was transported into a madman. And +yet, this madman was still the all-powerful, despotic ruler of +Istria and Illyria. Napoleon, in appointing him governor of these +provinces, had invested him with truly royal authority. Knowing the +noble disposition, fidelity, and devotion of his brother-in-arms, +he had conferred upon him sovereign power to rule in his stead. +There was, therefore, no one who could take the sceptre from his +hand, and depose him from his high position. Napoleon had placed +this sceptre in his hand, and he alone could demand it of him. Even +the Viceroy of Italy--to whom the Chambers of Istria appealed for +help in their anxiety--even Eugene, could afford them no relief. He +could only say to them: "Send a courier to the emperor, and await +his reply."</p> +<p>But at that time it was not so easy a matter to send couriers a +distance of a thousand miles; then there were no railroads, no +telegraphs. The Illyrians immediately sent a courier to the +emperor, with an entreaty for their relief, but the Russian +proverb, "Heaven is high, and the emperor distant," applied to them +also! Weeks must elapse before the courier could return with the +emperor's reply; until then, there was no relief; and until then, +there was no authority to obey but the Duke d'Abrantes, the poor +madman!</p> +<p>No other authority, no institution, had the right to place +itself in his stead, or to assume his prerogatives for an instant +even, without violating the seal of sovereignty that Napoleon had +impressed on the brow of his governor!</p> +<p>Napoleon, whose crown was already trembling on his head, who was +already so near his own fall, still possessed such gigantic power +that its reflection sufficed to protect, at a distance of a +thousand miles from the boundaries of France, the inviolability of +a man who had lost his reason, and no longer had the power of +reflection and volition.</p> +<p>How handsome, how amiable, how chivalrous, had Junot been in his +earlier days! How well he had known how to charm beautiful women in +the drawing-rooms, soldiers on the battle-field, and knights at the +tourney! In all knightly accomplishments he was the master--always +and everywhere the undisputed victor and hero. These +accomplishments had won the heart of Mademoiselle de Premont. The +daughter of the proud baroness of the Faubourg St. Germain had +joyfully determined, in spite of her mother's dismay, to become the +wife of the soldier of the republic, of Napoleon's comrade-in-arms. +Although Junot had no possession but his pay, and no nobility but +his sword and his renown, this nevertheless sufficed to win him the +favor of the daughter of this aristocratic mother--of the daughter +who was yet so proud of being the last descendant of the Comneni. +Napoleon, who loved to see matrimonial alliances consummated +between his generals and his nobility and the old legitimist +nobility of France, rewarded the daughter of the Faubourg St. +Germain richly for the sacrifice she had made for his +comrade-in-arms, in giving up her illustrious name, and her +coat-of-arms, to become the wife of a general without ancestors and +without fortune. He made his friend a duke, and the Duchess +d'Abrantes had no longer cause to be ashamed of her title; the +descendant of the Comneni could content herself with the homage +done her as the wife of the governor of Lisbon, contented with the +laurels that adorned her husband's brow--laurels to which he added +a new branch, but also new wounds, on every battle-field.</p> +<p>The consequences of these wounds had veiled the hero's laurels +with mourning-crape, and destroyed the domestic happiness of the +poor duchess forever. She had first discovered her husband's sad +condition, but she had known how to keep it a secret from the rest +of the world. She had, however, refused to accompany the duke to +Illyria, and had remained in Paris, still hoping that the change of +climate and associations might restore him to health.</p> +<p>But her hopes were not to be realized. The attacks of madness, +that had hitherto occurred at long intervals only, now became more +frequent, and were soon no longer a secret. All Illyria knew that +its governor was a madman, and yet no one dared to oppose his will, +or to refuse to obey his commands; all still bowed to his will, in +humility and silent submissiveness, hopefully awaiting the return +of the courier who had been dispatched to Napoleon at Paris.</p> +<p>"But heaven is high, and the emperor distant!" And much evil +could happen, and did happen, before the courier returned to +Trieste, where Junot resided. The poor duke's condition grew worse +daily; his attacks of madness became more frequent and more +dangerous, and broke out on the slightest provocation.</p> +<p>On one occasion a nightingale, singing in the bushes beneath his +window, had disturbed his rest; on the following morning he caused +the general alarm to be sounded, and two battalions of Croats to be +drawn up in the park, to begin a campaign against the poor +nightingale, who had dared to disturb his repose.</p> +<p>On another occasion, Junot fancied he had discovered a grand +conspiracy of all the sheep of Illyria; against this conspiracy he +brought the vigilance of the police, all the means of the +administration, and the whole severity of the law, into requisition +for its suppression.</p> +<p>At another time, he suddenly became desperately enamoured of a +beautiful Greek girl, who belonged to his household. Upon her +refusal to meet his advances favorably, a passionate desperation +took possession of Junot, and he determined to set fire to his +palace, and perish with his love in the flames. Fortunately, his +purpose was discovered, and the fire he had kindled stifled at +once.</p> +<p>He would suddenly be overcome with a passionate distaste for the +grandeur and splendor that surrounded him, and long to lay aside +his brilliant position, and fly to the retirement of an humble and +obscure life.</p> +<p>It was his dearest wish to become a peasant, and be able to live +in a hut; and, as there was no one who had the right to divest him +of his high dignities and grant his desire, he formed the +resolution to divest himself of this oppressive grandeur, by the +exercise of his own fulness of power, and to withdraw himself from +the annoyances imposed upon him by his high position.</p> +<p>Under the pretence of visiting the provinces, he left Trieste, +to lead for a few weeks an entirely new life--a life that seemed, +for a brief period, to soothe his excited mind. He arrived, almost +incognito, in the little city of Gorizia, and demanded to be +conducted to the most unpretending establishment to which humble +and honest laborers were in the habit of resorting for refreshment +and relaxation. He was directed to an establishment called the +Ice-house, a place to which poor daily laborers resorted, to repose +after the labors of the day, and refresh themselves with a glass of +beer or wine.</p> +<p>In this Ice-house the governor of Illyria now took up his abode. +He seldom quitted it, either by day or night; and here, like +Haroun-al-Raschid, he took part in the harmless merriment of happy +and contented poverty. And here this poor man was to find a last +delight, a last consolation; here he was to find a last friend.</p> +<p>This last friend of the Duke d'Abrantes--this Pylades of the +poor Orestes--was--a madman!--a poor simpleton, of good family, who +was so good-humored and harmless that he was allowed to go at +large, and free scope given to his innocent freaks. He, however, +possessed a kind of droll, pointed wit, which he sometimes brought +to bear most effectively, sparing neither rank nor position. The +half-biting, half-droll remarks of this Diogenes of Istria was all +that now afforded enjoyment to the broken-down old hero. It was +with intense delight that he heard the social grandeur and +distinctions that had cost him so dear made ridiculous by this +half-witted fellow, whose peculiar forte it was to jeer at the pomp +that surrounded the governor, and imitate French elegance in a +highly-burlesque manner; and when he did this, his poor princely +friend's delight knew no bounds.</p> +<p>On one occasion, after the poor fellow had been entertaining him +in this manner, the Duke d'Abrantes threw himself, in his +enthusiasm, in his friend's arms, and invested him with the +insignia of the Legion of Honor, by hanging around his neck the +grand-cross of this order hitherto worn by himself. The emperor had +given Junot authority to distribute this order to the deserving +throughout the provinces of Illyria and Istria, and the governor +himself having invested this mad Diogenes with the decoration, +there was no one who was competent to deprive him of it. For weeks +this mad fool was to be seen in the streets of Gorizia, parading +himself like a peacock, with the grand-cross of the honorable order +of the Emperor Napoleon, and, at the same time, uttering the most +pointed and biting <i>bon mots</i> at the expense of his own +decoration. The duke often accompanied him in his wanderings +through the town, sometimes laughing loudly at the fool's jests, +sometimes listening with earnest attention, as though his +utterances were oracles. Thus this strange couple passed the time, +either lounging through the streets together, or seated side by +side on a stone by the way, engaged in curious reflections on the +passers-by, or philosophizing over the emptiness of all glory and +grandeur, and over the littleness and malice of the world, +realizing the heart-rending, impressive scenes between Lear and his +fool, which Shakespeare's genius has depicted.</p> +<p>After weeks of anxious suspense, the imperial message, relieving +Junot of his authority, and placing the Duke of Otranto in his +place, at last arrived. The poor Duke d'Abrantes left Illyria, and +returned to France, where, in the little town of Maitbart, after +long and painful struggles, he ended, in sadness and solitude, a +life of renown, heroism, and irreproachable integrity.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI.2"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> +<h3>LOUIS NAPOLEON AS A VENDER OF VIOLETS.</h3> +<br> +<p>Gradually, the brilliancy of the sun that had so long dazzled +the eyes of all Europe began to wax pale, and the luminous star of +Napoleon to grow dim among the dark clouds that were gathering +around him. Fortune had accorded him all that it could bestow upon +a mortal. It had laid all the crowns of Europe at his feet, and +made him master of all the monarchies and peoples. Napoleon's +antechamber in Erfurt and in Dresden had been the rendezvous of the +emperors, kings, and princes of Europe, and England alone had never +disguised its hostility beneath the mask of friendship, and bent +the knee to a hated and feared neighbor. Napoleon, the master of +Europe, whom emperors and kings gladly called "brother," could now +proudly remember his past; he had now risen so high that he no +longer had cause to deny his humble origin; this very lowliness had +now become a new triumph of his grandeur.</p> +<p>On one occasion, during the congress at Erfurt, all the +emperors, kings, and princes, were assembled around Napoleon's +table. He occupied the seat between his enthusiastic friend the +Emperor of Russia, and his father-in-law, the Emperor of Austria. +Opposite them sat the King of Prussia, his ally, although Napoleon +had deprived him of the Rhine provinces; and the Kings of Bavaria +and Würtemberg, to whom Napoleon had given crowns, whose +electorate and duchy he had converted into kingdoms, and of whom +the first had given his daughter in marriage to Napoleon's adopted +son, Eugene, and the second his daughter to Napoleon's brother +Jerome. There were, further, at the table, the King of Saxony and +the Grand-duke of Baden, to the latter of whom Napoleon had given +the hand of Josephine's niece, Stephanie de Beauharnais. All these +were princes, "by the grace of God," of brilliant and haughty +dynasties; and in their midst sat the son of the advocate of +Corsica--he, the Emperor of France--he, upon whom the gaze of all +these emperors and kings was fastened in admiration and respect. +Napoleon's extraordinary memory had just been the topic of +conversation, and the emperor was about to explain how he had +brought it to such a state of perfection.</p> +<p>"While I was still a sub-lieutenant," began Napoleon, and +instantly his hearers let fall their gaze, and looked down in shame +at their plates, while a cloud of displeasure passed over the brow +of the emperor of Austria at this mention of the low origin of his +son-in-law. Napoleon observed this, and for an instant his eagle +glance rested on the embarrassed countenances that surrounded him; +he then paused for a moment. He began again, speaking with sharp +emphasis: "When I still had the honor of being a sub-lieutenant," +said he, and the Emperor Alexander of Russia, the only one of the +princes who had remained unembarrassed, laid his hand on the +emperor's shoulder, smiled approvingly, and listened with interest +and pleasure to the emperor's narrative of the time when he "still +had the honor of being a sub-lieutenant<a name= +"FNanchor21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21">[21]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_21"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor21">[21]</a> Bossuet, Mémoires, vol. +V.</blockquote> +<p>Napoleon, as we have said, had already mounted so high that for +him there was no longer a summit to be attained, and now his +heart's last and dearest wish had been granted by destiny. His +wife, Marie Louise, had given birth to a son on the 20th of May, +1811, and the advent of the little King of Rome had fulfilled the +warmest desires of Napoleon and of France. The emperor now had an +heir; Napoleon's dynasty was assured.</p> +<p>Festivities were therefore held in honor of this event, in the +Tuileries, at the courts, of the Queen of Naples, of the +Grand-duchess de Guastalla, of all the dukes of the empire, and of +the Queen of Holland.</p> +<a name="391.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/391.jpg"><img src="images/391.jpg" +width="50%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>Portrait of Queen Hortense.</b></p> +<p>Hortense was ill and in pain; a nervous headache, that she had +been suffering from for some time, betrayed the secret of the pain +and grief she had so long concealed from observation. Her cheeks +had grown pale, and her eyes had lost their lustre. Her mother wept +over her lost happiness in Malmaison, and, when Hortense had wept +with and consoled her mother, she was compelled to dry her eyes and +hasten to the Tuileries, and appear, with a smiling countenance, +before her who was now her empress and her mother's happy +rival.</p> +<p>But Hortense had accepted her destiny, and was determined to +demean herself as became her own and her mother's dignity. She +endeavored to be a true and sincere friend to the young empress, +and fulfil the emperor's wishes, and to give brilliant +entertainments in honor of the King of Rome, in spite of the pain +it must cost her. "The emperor wills it, the emperor requires it;" +that was sufficient for all who were about him, and it was +sufficient for her. Her mother had gone because it was his will, +she had remained because it was his will, and she now gave these +entertainments for the same reason. But there was an element of +sadness and gloom even in these festivities of the carnival of +1813; the presence of so many cripples and invalids recalled the +memory of the reverses of the past year. At the balls there was a +great scarcity of young men who could dance; incessant wars had +made the youth of France old before their time, and had converted +vigorous men into cripples.</p> +<p>Her heart filled with dark forebodings, Hortense silently +prepared herself against the days of misfortune which she knew must +inevitably come. When these days should come, she wished to be +ready to meet them with a brave heart and a resolute soul, and she +also endeavored to impress on the minds of her two beloved sons the +inconstancy of fortune, in order that they might look misfortune +boldly in the face. She had no compassion with the tender youth of +these boys, who were now eight and six years old; no compassion, +because she loved them too well not to strive to prepare them for +adversity.</p> +<p>One day the Duchess of Bassano gave a ball in honor of the +queen, and Hortense, although low-spirited and indisposed, summoned +her resolution to her aid, and arrayed herself for the occasion. +Her blond hair, that reached to her feet when unbound, was dressed +in the ancient Greek style, and adorned with a wreath of flowers, +not natural flowers, however, but consisting of Hortensias in +diamonds. Her dress was of pink-crape embroidered with Hortensias +in silver. The hem of her dress and its train was encircled with a +garland of flowers composed of roses and violets. A bouquet of +Hortensias in diamonds glittered on her bosom, and her necklace and +bracelets consisted of little diamond Hortensias. In this rich and +tasteful attire, a present sent her by the Empress Josephine the +day before, Hortense entered the parlor where the ladies and +gentlemen of her court awaited her, brilliantly arrayed for the +occasion.</p> +<p>The parlor, filled with these ladies glittering with diamonds, +and with these cavaliers in their rich, gold-embroidered uniforms, +presented a brilliant spectacle. The queen's two sons, who came +running into the room at this moment to bid their "bonne petite +maman" adieu, stood still for an instant, dazzled by this +magnificence, and then timidly approached the mother who seemed to +them a queen from the fairy-realm floating in rosy clouds. The +queen divined the thoughts of her boys, whose countenances were for +her an open book in which she read every emotion.</p> +<p>She extended a hand to each of her children, and led them to a +sofa, on which she seated herself, taking the youngest, Louis +Napoleon, who was scarcely six years old, in her lap, while his +elder brother, Napoleon Louis, stood at her side, his curly head +resting on Hortense's shoulder, gazing tenderly into the pale, +expressive face of his beautiful mother.</p> +<p>"I am very prettily dressed to-day, am I not, Napoleon?" said +Hortense, laying her little hand, that sparkled with diamonds, on +the head of her eldest son. "Would you like me less if I were poor, +and wore no diamonds, but merely a plain black dress? Would you +love me less then?"</p> +<p>"No, <i>maman</i>!" exclaimed the boy, almost angrily, and +little Louis Napoleon, who sat in his mother's lap, repeated in his +shrill little voice: "No, <i>maman</i>!"</p> +<p>The queen smiled. "Diamonds and dress do not constitute +happiness, and we three would love each other just as much if we +had no jewelry, and were poor. But tell me, Napoleon, if you had +nothing, and were entirely alone in the world, what would you do +for yourself?"</p> +<p>"I would become a soldier," cried Napoleon, with sparkling eyes, +"and I would fight so bravely that I should soon be made an +officer."</p> +<p>"And you, Louis, what would you do to earn your daily +bread?"</p> +<p>The little fellow had listened earnestly to his brother's words, +and seemed to be thinking over them still. Perhaps he felt that the +knapsack and musket were too heavy for his little shoulders, and +that he was, as yet, too weak to become a soldier.</p> +<p>"I," said he, after a pause, "I would sell bouquets of violets, +like the little boy who stands at the gates of the Tuileries, and +from whom we buy our flowers every day."</p> +<p>The ladies and cavaliers, who had listened to this curious +conversation in silence, now laughed loudly at this naive reply of +the little prince.</p> +<p>"Do not laugh, ladies," said the queen, earnestly, as she now +arose; "it was no jest, but a lesson that I gave my children, who +were so dazzled by jewelry. It is the misfortune of princes that +they believe that everything is subject to them, that they are made +of another stuff than other men, and have no duties to perform. +They know nothing of human suffering and want, and do not believe +that they can ever be affected by anything of the kind. And this is +why they are so astounded, and remain so helpless, when the hand of +misfortune does strike them. I wish to preserve my sons from +this<a name="FNanchor22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22">[22]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_22"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor22">[22]</a> The queen's own words.</blockquote> +<p>She then stooped and kissed her boys, who, while she and her +brilliant suite were driving to the Tuileries, busied their little +heads, considering whether it was easier to earn one's bread as a +soldier, or by selling violets at the gates of the Tuileries, like +the little beggar-boy.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII.2"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> +<h3>THE DAYS OF MISFORTUNE.</h3> +<br> +<p>The round of festivities with which the people of France +endeavored to banish the shadow of impending misfortune, was soon +to be abruptly terminated. The thunder of the cannon on the +battle-fields of Hanau and Leipsic silenced the dancing-music in +the Tuileries; and in the drawing-rooms of Queen Hortense, hitherto +devoted to music and literature, the ladies were now busily engaged +in picking lint for the wounded who were daily arriving at the +hospitals of Paris from the army. The declaration of war of Austria +and Russia had aroused France from its haughty sense of +invincibility. All felt that a crisis was at hand. All were +preparing for the ominous events that were gathering like +storm-clouds over France. Each of the faithful hastened to assume +the position to which honor and duty called him. And it was in +response to such an appeal that Louis Bonaparte now returned from +Grätz to Paris; he had heard the ominous tones of the voice +that threatened the emperor, and wished to be at his side in the +hour of danger.</p> +<p>It was not as the wife, but in the spirit of a Frenchwoman and a +queen, that Hortense received the intelligence of her husband's +return. "I am delighted to hear it," said she; "my husband is a +good Frenchman, and he proves it by returning at the moment when +all Europe has declared against France. He is a man of honor, and +if our characters could not be made to harmonize, it was probably +because we both had defects that were irreconcilable.</p> +<p>"I," added she, with a gentle smile, "I was too proud, I had +been spoiled, and was probably too deeply impressed with a sense of +my own worth; and this defect is not conducive to pleasant +relations with one who is distrustful and low-spirited. But our +interests were always the same, and his hastening to France, to +enroll himself with all his brother Frenchmen, for the defence of +his country, is worthy of the king's character. It is only by doing +thus that we can testify our gratitude for the benefits the people +have conferred upon our family<a name="FNanchor23"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_23">[23]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_23"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor23">[23]</a> Cochelet, Mémoires sur la reine +Hortense, vol. i., p. 167.</blockquote> +<p>In the first days of January, 1814, the news that the enemy had +crossed the boundaries of France, and that the Austrians, Russians, +and Prussians, were marching on Paris, created a panic throughout +the entire city. For the first time, after so many years of +triumph, France trembled for its proud army, and believed in the +possibility of defeat.</p> +<p>In the Tuileries, also, gloom and dejection ruled the hour for +the first time; and while, when the army had heretofore gone forth, +the question had been, "When shall we receive the first +intelligence of victory?" there were now only mute, inquiring +glances bent on the emperor's clouded countenance.</p> +<p>On the 24th of January, Napoleon left Paris, in order to repair +to the army. The empress, whom he had made regent, giving her a +council, consisting of his brothers and the ministers, as a +support--the empress had taken leave of him in a flood of tears, +and Queen Hortense, who had alone been present on this occasion, +had been compelled to remain for some time with the empress, in +order to console and encourage her.</p> +<p>But Hortense was far from feeling the confidence which she +exhibited in the presence of the empress and of her own court. She +had never believed in the duration of these triumphs and of this +fortune; she had always awaited the coming evil in silent +expectation, and she was therefore now ready to face it bravely, +and to defend herself and her children against its attacks. She +therefore was calm and self-possessed, while the entire imperial +family was terror-stricken, while all Paris was in a panic, while +the fearful intelligence, "The Cossacks are coming, the Cossacks +are marching on Paris!" was overrunning the city. "The Grand-duke +Constantine has promised his troops that they shall warm themselves +at the burning ruins of Paris, and the Emperor Alexander has sworn +that he will sleep in the Tuileries."</p> +<p>Nothing was now dreamed of but plundering, murder, and rapine; +people trembled not only for their lives, but also for their +property, and hastened to bury their treasures, their jewelry, +their gold and silver, to secure it from the rapacious hands of the +terrible Cossacks. Treasures were buried in cellars, or hid away in +the walls of houses. The Duchess de Bassano caused all her valuable +effects to be put in a hidden recess, and the entrance to the same +to be walled up and covered with paper. There were among these +valuable effects several large clocks, in golden cases, that were +richly studded with precious stones, but it had unfortunately been +forgotten to stop them, so that for the next week they continued to +strike the hours regularly, and thereby betrayed to the neighbors +the secret the duchess had so anxiously endeavored to conceal.</p> +<p>But the cry, "The Cossacks are coming!" was not the only +alarm-cry of the Parisians. Another, and a long-silent cry, was now +heard in Paris--a strange cry, that had no music for the ear of the +imperialist, but one that, to the royalist, had a sweet and +familiar sound. This cry was, "The Count de Lille!" or, as the +royalists said, "King Louis XVIII." The royalists no longer +whispered this name, but proclaimed it loudly and with enthusiasm, +and even those of them who had attached themselves to the imperial +court, and played a part at the same, now dared to remove their +masks a little, and show their true countenance.</p> +<p>Madame Ducayla, one of the most zealous royalists, although +attached to the court society of the Tuileries, had gone to +Hartwell, to convey to him messages of love and respect in the name +of all the royalists of Paris, and to tell him that they had now +begun to smooth the way for his return to France and the throne of +his ancestors. She had returned with authority to organize the +conspiracy of the royalists, and to give them the king's sanction. +Talleyrand, the minister of Napoleon, the glittering weathercock in +politics, had already experienced a change in disposition, in +consequence of the shifting political wind, and when Countess +Ducayla, provided with secret instructions for Talleyrand from +Louis XVIII., entered his cabinet and said in a loud voice, "I come +from Hartwell, I have seen the king, and he has instructed me--" he +interrupted her in loud and angry tones, exclaiming: "Are you mad, +madame? You dare to confess such a crime to me?" He had, however, +then added in a low voice: "You have seen him, then? Well, I am his +most devoted servant<a name="FNanchor24"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_24">[24]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_24"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor24">[24]</a> Mémoires d'une femme de +qualité, vol. i., p. 133.</blockquote> +<p>The royalists held meetings and formed conspiracies with but +little attempt at concealment, and the minister of police, +Fouché, whose eyes and ears were always on the alert, and +who knew of everything that occurred in Paris, also knew of these +conspiracies of the royalists; he did not prevent them, however, +but advised caution, endeavoring to prove to them thereby the deep +reverence which he himself experienced for the unfortunate royal +family.</p> +<p>In the midst of all this confusion and anxiety, Queen Hortense +alone preserved her composure and courage, and far from +endeavoring, like others, to conceal and secure her treasures, +jewelry, and other valuables, she determined to make no change or +reduction whatever in her manner of living; she wished to show the +Parisians that the confidence of the imperial family in the emperor +and his invincibility was not to be shaken. She therefore continued +to conduct her household in truly royal style, although she had +received from the exhausted state treasury no payment of the +appanage set apart for herself and children for a period of three +months. But she thought little of this; her generous heart was +occupied with entirely different interests than those of her own +pecuniary affairs.</p> +<p>She wished to inspire Marie Louise, whom the emperor had +constituted empress-regent on his departure for the army, with the +courage which she herself possessed. She conjured her to show +herself worthy of the confidence the emperor had reposed in her at +this critical time, and to adopt firm and energetic measures. When, +on the 28th of March, the terror-inspiring news was circulated that +the hostile armies were only five leagues from Paris, and while the +people were flying from the city in troops, Hortense hastened to +the Tuileries to conjure the empress to be firm, and not to leave +Paris. She entreated Marie Louise, in the name of the emperor, her +husband, and the King of Rome, her son, not to heed the voice of +the state council, who, after a long sitting, had unanimously +declared that Paris could not be held, and that the empress, with +her son and her council, should therefore leave the capital.</p> +<p>But Marie Louise had remained deaf to all these pressing and +energetic representations, and the queen had not been able to +inspire her young and weak sister-in-law with her own +resolution.</p> +<p>"My sister," Hortense had said to her, "you will at least +understand that by leaving Paris now you paralyze its defence, and +thereby endanger your crown, but I see that you are resigned to +this sacrifice."</p> +<p>"It is true," Marie Louise had sadly replied. "I well know that +I should act differently, but it is too late. The state council has +decided, and I can do nothing!"</p> +<p>In sadness and dejection Hortense had then returned to her +dwelling, where Lavalette, Madame Ney, and the ladies of her court, +awaited her.</p> +<p>"All is lost," said she, sadly. "Yes, all is lost. The empress +has determined to leave Paris. She lightly abandons France and the +emperor. She is about to depart."</p> +<p>"If she does that," exclaimed General Lavalette, in despair, +"then all is really lost, and yet her firmness and courage might +now save the emperor, who is advancing toward Paris by forced +marches. After all this weighing and deliberating, they have +elected to take the worst course they could choose! But, as this +has finally been determined on, what course will your majesty now +pursue?"</p> +<p>"I remain in Paris," said the queen, resolutely; "as I am +permitted to be mistress of my own actions, I am resolved to remain +here and share the fortunes of the Parisians, be they good or evil! +This is at least a better and worthier course than to incur the +risk of being made a prisoner on the public highway."</p> +<p>Now that she had come to a decision, the queen exhibited a +joyous determination, and her mind recovered from its depression. +She hastened to dispatch a courier to Malmaison to the Empress +Josephine, now forgotten and neglected by all, to conjure her to +leave for Novara at once. She then retired to her bedchamber to +seek the rest she so much needed after so many hours of +excitement.</p> +<p>But at midnight she was aroused from her repose to a sad +awakening. Her husband, with whom she had held no kind of +intercourse since his return, had now, in the hour of danger, +determined to assert his marital authority over his wife and +children. He wrote the queen a letter, requiring her to leave Paris +with her children, and follow the empress.</p> +<p>Hortense replied with a decided refusal. A second categoric +message from her husband was the response. He declared that if she +should not at once conform to his will, and follow the empress with +her children, he would immediately take his children into his own +custody, by virtue of his authority as husband and father.</p> +<p>At this threat, the queen sprang up like an enraged lioness from +her lair. With glowing cheeks and sparkling eyes she commanded that +her children should be at once brought to her, and then, pressing +her two boys to her heart with passionate tenderness, she +exclaimed: "Tell the king that I shall leave the city within the +hour!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII.2"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> +<h3>THE ALLIES IN PARIS.</h3> +<br> +<p>The anxiety of motherly love had effected what neither the +departure of the empress nor the news of the approach of the +Cossacks could do. Hortense had taken her departure. She had +quitted Paris, with her children and suite, which had already begun +to grow sensibly smaller, and arrived, after a hurried flight, +endangered by bands of marauding Cossacks, in Novara, where the +Empress Josephine, with tears of sorrow and of joy alike, pressed +her daughter to her heart. Although her own happiness and grandeur +were gone, and although the misfortunes of the Emperor +Napoleon--whom she still dearly loved--oppressed her heart, +Josephine now had her daughter and dearest friend at her side, and +that was a sweet consolation in the midst of all these misfortunes +and cares.</p> +<p>At Novara, Hortense received the intelligence of the fall of the +empire, of the capitulation of Paris, of the entrance of the +allies, and of the abdication of Napoleon.</p> +<p>When the courier sent by the Duke of Bassano with this +intelligence further informed the Empress Josephine that the island +of Elba had been assigned Napoleon as a domicile, and that he was +on the point of leaving France to go into exile, Josephine fell, +amid tears of anguish, into her daughter's arms, crying: "Hortense, +he is unhappy, and I am not with him! He is banished to Elba! Alas! +but for his wife, I would hasten to his side, to share his +exile!"</p> +<p>While the empress was weeping and lamenting, Hortense had +silently withdrawn to her apartments. She saw and fully appreciated +the consequences that must ensue to the emperor's entire family, +from his fall; she already felt the mortifications and insults to +which the Bonapartes would now be exposed from all quarters, and +she wished to withdraw herself and children from their influence. +She formed a quick resolve, and determined to carry it out at once. +She caused Mademoiselle de Cochelet, one of the few ladies of her +court who had remained faithful, to be called, in order that she +might impart to her her resolution.</p> +<p>"Louise," said she, "I intend to emigrate. I am alone and +defenceless, and ever threatened by a misfortune that would be more +cruel than the loss of crown and grandeur--the misfortune of seeing +my children torn from me by my husband. My mother can remain in +France--her divorce has made her free and independent; but I bear a +name that will no longer be gladly heard in France, now that the +Bourbons are returning. I have no other fortune than my diamonds. +These I shall sell, and then go, with my children, to my mother's +estate in Martinique. I lived there when a child, and have retained +a pleasant remembrance of the place. It is undoubtedly hard to be +compelled to give up country, mother, and friends; but one must +face these great strokes of destiny courageously. I will give my +children a good education, and that shall be my consolation."</p> +<p>Mademoiselle de Cochelet burst into tears, kissed the queen's +extended hand, and begged so earnestly that she might be permitted +to accompany her, that Hortense at last gave a reluctant consent. +It was arranged between them that Louise should hasten to Paris, in +order to make the necessary preparations for the queen's long +journey; and she departed on this mission, under the protection of +the courier, on the following morning.</p> +<p>How changed and terrible was the aspect Paris presented on her +arrival! At the gate through which they entered Cossacks stood on +guard; the streets were filled with Russian, Austrian, and Prussian +soldiery, at whose side the proud ladies of the Faubourg St. +Germain were to be seen walking, in joyous triumph, bestowing upon +the vanquishers of France as great a devotion as they could have +lavished upon the beloved Bourbons themselves, whose return was +expected in a few days.</p> +<p>A Swedish regiment was quartered in the queen's dwelling; her +servants had fled; her glittering drawing-rooms now sheltered the +conquerors of France; and in the Tuileries preparations were +already being made for the reception of the Bourbons.</p> +<p>No one dared to pronounce the name of Napoleon. Those who were +formerly his most zealous flatterers were now the most ready to +condemn him. Those upon whom he had conferred the greatest benefits +were now the first to deny him, hoping thereby to wipe out the +remembrance of the benefits they had received. The most zealous +Napoleonists now became the most ardent royalists, and placed the +largest white cockades in their hats, in order that they might the +sooner attract the attention of the new rulers.</p> +<p>But there was still one man who pronounced the name of Napoleon +loudly, and with affectionate admiration, and publicly accorded him +the tribute of his respect.</p> +<p>This one was the Emperor Alexander of Russia. He had loved +Napoleon so dearly, that even the position of hostility which +policy compelled him to assume could not banish from his heart +friendship for the hero who had so long ruled Europe.</p> +<p>Napoleon's fate was decided; and it was attributable to the +zealous efforts of the czar that the allies had consented to the +emperor's demands, and appointed him sovereign of the island of +Elba. Now that Alexander could do nothing more for Napoleon, he +desired to make himself useful to his family, at least, and thereby +testify the admiration which he still felt for the fallen +Titan.</p> +<p>The Empress Marie Louise and the little King of Rome had no need +of his assistance. The empress had not availed herself of the +permission of the allies to accompany her husband to Elba, but had +placed herself and son under the protection of her father, the +Emperor of Austria.</p> +<p>The Emperor Alexander therefore bestowed his whole sympathy upon +Napoleon's divorced wife and her children, the Viceroy of Italy and +the Queen of Holland. He took so great an interest in the queen, +that he declared his intention, in case Hortense should not come to +Paris, of going to Novara to see her, in order to learn from her +own lips in what manner he could serve her, and how she desired +that her future should be shaped.</p> +<p>Count Nesselrode, the emperor's minister, was also zealous in +his endeavors to serve the queen. The count had long been the +intimate friend of Louise de Cochelet; and, desirous of giving her +a further proof of his friendship, he knew of no better way of +doing so than by rendering a service to Queen Hortense and her +children. Louise informed the count of the queen's intended +departure for Martinique. Count Nesselrode smiled sadly over this +desperate resolve of a brave mother's heart, and instructed Louise +to beg the queen to impart to him, through her confidante, all her +wishes and demands, in order that he might lay them before the +emperor.</p> +<p>The queen's fate was the subject of great sympathy in all +quarters. When, in one of the sessions of the ministers of the +allies, in which the fate of France, of the Bourbons, and of the +Bonapartes, was to be the subject of deliberation, the question of +making some provision for the emperor's family came up for +consideration, the prince of Benevento exclaimed: "I plead for +Queen Hortense alone; for she is the only one for whom I have any +esteem." Count Nesselrode added: "Who would not be proud to claim +her as a countrywoman? She is the pearl of her France!" And +Metternich united with the rest in her praise<a name= +"FNanchor25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25">[25]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_25"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor25">[25]</a> Cochelet, vol. i., p 279.</blockquote> +<p>But it was in vain that Louise de Cochelet imparted this +intelligence to the queen; the entreaties and representations of +her friends were powerless to persuade Hortense to leave her +retirement and come to Paris.</p> +<p>The following letter of the queen, written to Louise, concerning +her affairs, will testify to her beautiful and womanly sentiments. +This letter is as follows:</p> +<p>"My dear Louise,--You and all my friends write me the same +questions: 'What do you want? What do you demand?' I reply to all +of you: I want nothing whatever! What should I desire? Is not my +fate already determined? When one has the strength to form a great +resolution, and when one can firmly and calmly contemplate the idea +of making a journey to India or America, it is unnecessary to +demand any thing of any one. I entreat you to take no steps that I +should be compelled to disavow; I know that you love me, and this +might induce you to do so. I am really not to be pitied; it was in +the midst of grandeur and splendor that I have suffered! I shall +now, perhaps, learn the happiness of retirement, and prefer it to +all the magnificence that once surrounded me. I do not believe I +can remain in France; the lively interest now shown in my behalf +might eventually occasion mistrust. This idea is annihilating; I +feel it, but I shall not willingly occasion sorrow to any one. My +brother will be happy; my mother can remain in her country, and +retain her estates. I, with my children, shall go to a foreign +land, and, as the happiness of those I love is assured, I shall be +able to bear the misfortune that strikes only at my material +interests, but not at my heart. I am still deeply moved and +confounded by the fate that has overtaken the Emperor Napoleon and +his family. Is it true? Has all been finally determined? Write me +on this subject. I hope that my children will not be taken from me; +in that case I should lose all courage. I will so educate them that +they shall be happy in any station of life. I shall teach them to +bear fortune and misfortune with equal dignity, and to seek true +happiness in contentment with themselves. This is worth more than +crowns. Fortunately, they are healthy. Thank Count Nesselrode for +his sympathy. I assure you there are days that are properly called +days of misfortune, and that are yet not without a charm; such are +those that enable us to discern the true sentiments people hold +toward us. I rejoice over the affection which you show me, and it +will always afford me gratification to tell you that I return it. +HORTENSE<a name="FNanchor26"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_26">[26]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_26"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor26">[26]</a> Cochelet, vol. i., pp. 275-277.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV.2"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> +<h3>CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE QUEEN AND LOUISE DE COCHELET.</h3> +<br> +<p>In the meanwhile, Hortense was still living with her mother in +Novara, firmly resolved to remain in her retirement, sorrowing over +the fate of the imperial house, but quite indifferent as to her own +fate.</p> +<p>But her friends--and even in misfortune Hortense still had +friends--and above all her truest friend, Louise de Cochelet, +busied themselves all the more about her future, endeavoring to +rescue out of the general wreck of the imperial house at least a +few fragments for the queen.</p> +<p>Louise de Cochelet was still sojourning in Paris, and the +letters which she daily wrote to the queen at Novara, and in which +she informed her of all that was taking place in the city, are so +true a picture of that strange and confused era, that we cannot +refrain from here inserting some of them.</p> +<p>In one of her first letters Louise de Cochelet relates a +conversation which she had had with Count Nesselrode, in relation +to the queen's future.</p> +<p>"The Bourbons," she writes, "have now been finally accepted. I +asked Count Nesselrode, whom I have just left: 'Do you believe that +the queen will be permitted to remain in France? Will the new +rulers consider this proper?' 'Certainly,' he replied, 'I am sure +of it, for we will make it a condition with them, and without us +they would never have come to the throne at all! It is not the +Bourbons, but it is we, it is all Europe, that arranges and +regulates these matters. I therefore trust that they will never +violate the agreement. Rest assured that the Emperor Alexander will +always support the right.'</p> +<p>"All of these strangers here speak of you, madame, with great +enthusiasm. Metternich, who doubtlessly recollects your great +kindness to his wife and children, inquired after you with lively +interest. Prince Leopold is devotedly attached to yourself and the +Empress Josephine, and ardently desires to be able to serve you +both. Count Nesselrode thinks it would be well for you to write to +the Emperor Alexander, as he takes so warm an interest in your +affairs.</p> +<p>"The old nobility is already much discontented; it considers +itself debased, because it sees itself mixed with so many new +elements."</p> +<p>"Come to Malmaison with the empress," she writes a few days +later, "the Emperor Alexander will then go there at once to meet +you; he is anxious to make your acquaintance, and you already owe +him some thanks, as he devotes himself to your interests as though +they were his own. The Duke of Vicenza, who demeans himself so +worthily with regard to the Emperor Napoleon, requests me to inform +you that the future of your children depends on your coming to +Malmaison.</p> +<p>"The Emperor Napoleon has signed an agreement, that secures the +future of all the members of his family; you can remain in France, +and retain your titles. You are to have for yourself and children +an income of four hundred thousand francs.</p> +<p>"It is said here that the Faubourg St. Germain is furious over +the brilliant positions provided for the imperial family and the +empress. This is their gratitude for all her goodness to them.</p> +<p>"You wish to make Switzerland your home. Count Nesselrode thinks +you may be right, that it is a good retreat; but you should not +give up the one you have here, and should in any event retain the +right to return to France.</p> +<p>"Fancy, madame, Count Nesselrode insists on my seeing his +emperor! I have not yet consented, because I do not like to do any +thing without your assent; but I confess I long to make his +acquaintance. I am made quite happy by hearing you so well spoken +of here.</p> +<p>"Count Nesselrode said to me yesterday: 'Tell the queen that I +shall be happy to fulfil all her wishes, and that I can do so, that +I have the power.' For great security he wishes to have a future +assured you that shall be independent of the treaty. I do not know +what to say to him. Write to me, and demand something, I conjure +you!"</p> +<p>The queen's only response to this appeal was a letter addressed +to the Emperor Napoleon, and sent to Count Nesselrode, with the +request that it should be forwarded to its destination.</p> +<p>"It is strange," wrote Louise de Cochelet in relation to this +matter--"strange that all my efforts to serve you here have had no +other result than your sending a commission to Count Nesselrode to +forward to Fontainebleau a letter addressed to the Emperor +Napoleon. He at first thought I was bringing him the letter he had +solicited for his emperor; but he well knows how to appreciate all +that is noble and great, and as he possesses the most admirable +tact, he thinks the letter cannot well reach the emperor through +him, and will therefore send it to the Duke of Vicenza, at +Fontainebleau, to be delivered by him to the Emperor Napoleon."</p> +<p>Another letter of Louise de Cochelet is as follows: "I have just +seen Count Nesselrode again; he makes many inquiries concerning +you; the Emperor of Russia now resides on the Elysée +Bourbon. The count tells me a story that is in circulation here, +and has reference to the Empress Marie Louise and the kings her +brothers-in-law. They were about to force her to enter a carriage, +in which they were to continue their journey with her; when she +refused to enter, it is said the King of Westphalia became so +violent that he gave her a little beating. She cried for help, and +General Caffarelli<a name="FNanchor27"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_27">[27]</a>, who commanded the guards, came to her +rescue. On the following day she and her son were made prisoners, +and all the crown diamonds in her possession seized by the +authorities; but it seems as though capture was precisely what she +wished.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_27"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor27">[27]</a> According to Napoleon's instructions, his +brothers were to prevent the empress and the King of Rome from +falling into the hands of the enemy. De Baussue narrates this scene +in his memoirs, and it is self-evident that it was not so stormy as +the gossip of Paris portrayed it.</blockquote> +<p>"The Queen of Westphalia has just arrived in Paris; the Emperor +Alexander, her cousin, called on her immediately. It is supposed +that she will return to her father.</p> +<p>"Your brothers future is not yet determined on, but it will +certainly be a desirable and worthy one. There are many intrigues +going on in connection with it, as Count Nesselrode informs me. As +for the kingdom of Naples, it is no longer spoken of. By the +details of the last war with us, narrated to me by the count, I see +that he despises many of our ministers and marshals, and that these +must be very culpable; and yet he tells me that they considered the +result uncertain a week before our overthrow; as late as the 10th +of March they believed that peace had been made with Prussia at +least.</p> +<p>"Do not grieve over the fate of the emperor on the island of +Elba. The emperor selected it himself; the allies would have +preferred any other place.</p> +<p>"All the mails arriving at Paris have been seized by the allies. +Among the letters there was one from the Empress Marie Louise to +her husband. She writes that her son is well, but that on awakening +from a good night's rest he had cried and told her he had dreamed +of his father; notwithstanding all her coaxing and promises of +playthings, he had, however, refused to tell what he had dreamed of +his father, and that this circumstance had made her uneasy in spite +of her will.</p> +<p>"Prince Leopold resides in the same house with Countess Tascher; +he is incessantly busied with yours and your mother's affairs; he +at least is not oblivious of the kindness you have both shown him. +I know that it is his intention to speak to the Emperor of Russia, +and then write to you.</p> +<p>"All your friends say that you must consider the interest of +your children, and accept the future offered you. M. de Lavalette +and the Duke of Vicenza are also of this opinion. You lose enough +without this, and you may well permit the victors to return a small +portion of that which they have taken from you, and which is +rightfully yours.</p> +<p>"In short, all your friends demand that you shall repair to +Malmaison as soon as the Emperor Napoleon shall have departed from +Fontainebleau. I am assured that the Emperor Alexander intends to +hunt you up in Novara if you should not come to Malmaison. It will +therefore be impossible to avoid him. Consider that the fate of +your children lies in his hands! In the treaty of Fontainebleau you +and your children were provided for together; this is a great point +for you, and proves how highly you are thought of.</p> +<p>"It is to the Emperor of Russia alone that you owe this; and +when the Duke of Vicenza submitted this article of the treaty to +the Emperor Napoleon for his signature, it met with his entire +approval. Your sole and undivided authority over your children is +thereby acknowledged. You should, therefore, not reject the good +offered you for your children. I do not think it would require much +persuasion to induce others to accept that which is tendered +you.</p> +<p>"Madame Tascher, who has proved herself to be your true friend +and relative, has just had her first interview with the Duke of +Dalberg, the member of the provisional government. She spoke of +you, and I will here give you his response, word for word: 'She is +considered as being altogether foreign to the Bonaparte family, +because she has separated herself from her husband. She will be the +refuge of her children, who are left to her. She is so dearly +beloved and highly esteemed, that she can be very happy. She can +remain in France, and do whatever she pleases; but she must now +return to Paris.' Countess Tascher came to me immediately after +leaving the duke, in order to acquaint me with what he had +said.</p> +<p>"Friends and foes alike say this about you: 'Those who are not +delighted with what is being done for the queen are bad people! And +as for her, what has she to regret in all this? Only the good she +has done! Now, the world will dare to love her, and to express +their love; she has so few wishes, she is so perfect!'</p> +<p>"In short, it would seem almost that the people are pleased with +the misfortune that places you in the right light, and they say, +'She is far more worthy in herself than when surrounded by a +glittering court!'</p> +<p>"Yesterday I saw the new arrivals from Fontainebleau, M. de +Lascour and M. de Lavoestine. They came to me to learn where you +were to be found, and intend visiting you at once, either at Novara +or at Malmaison, as the case may be. These two gentlemen are true +knights. 'No matter what she is to become,' said they; 'we can now +show our devotion, without incurring the risk of being considered +flatterers.'</p> +<p>"The last two weeks at Fontainebleau have been a period of the +greatest interest. All these young men, together with M. de +Labédoyère and M. de Montesquieu, wished to accompany +the emperor; but he forbade their doing so, and, in taking leave of +them, appealed to them to remain, and to continue to serve their +country zealously.</p> +<p>"Lascour and Lavoestine, together with many other officers of +the army, are much displeased with the generals who left +Fontainebleau without taking leave of the emperor.</p> +<p>"Upon taking leave of the Empress Josephine, the emperor is +reported to have said: 'She was right; my separation from her has +brought misfortune upon my head.'</p> +<p>"It is said that the Duchess of Montebello will leave the +Empress Marie Louise."</p> +<p>But all these entreaties and flatteries, and these appeals to a +mother's heart, were, as yet, powerless to break the queen's pride. +She still considered it more worthy and becoming to remain away +from the city in which the ladies of the Faubourg St. Germain were +celebrating the orgies of their victorious royalism with the +soldiers of the allied armies. Instead of yielding to Louise de +Cochelet's entreaties, the queen wrote her the following +letter:</p> +<p>"My dear Louise,--My resolution gives you pain! You all accuse +me of childish waywardness. You are unjust! My mother can follow +the Duke de Vicenza's counsel; she will go to Malmaison, but <i>I +remain here,</i> and I have good reasons for doing so. I cannot +separate my interests from those of my children. It is they, it is +their nearest relatives, who are being sacrificed by all that is +taking place, and I am, therefore, determined not to approach those +who are working our ruin. I must be saddened by our great +misfortune, and I will appear so, and abstain from approaching +those who would still consider me a supplicant, even though I +should demand nothing of them.</p> +<p>"I can readily believe that the Emperor Alexander is kindly +disposed toward me; I have heard much good of him, even from the +Emperor Napoleon. Although I was once anxious to make his +acquaintance, I at this moment have no desire to see him. Is he not +our vanquisher? In their hearts, your friends must all approve of +my determination, whatever they may say. I find retirement +congenial. When you have seen enough of your friends, you will +return to me. I am suffering in my breast, and shall perhaps go to +some watering-place. I do not know whether it is due to the air of +Novara, but since I have been here I cannot breathe. My friends +maintain that it is due to the mental shocks resulting from the +great events that have transpired; but they are in error; death has +spared us all, and the loss of a glittering position is not the +greatest loss one can sustain. What personal happiness do I lose? +My brother will, I trust, be well and suitably provided for, and he +will be no longer exposed to danger. He must be very uneasy on our +account, and yet I dare not write to him, as my letters would +probably never reach him; if an opportunity should present itself, +please let him know that we are no longer surrounded by dangers. +Adieu. I entreat you once more to undertake nothing in my behalf. I +fear your impetuosity and friendship, and yet I love to be able to +count on you. My children are well. My mother opposes all my plans; +she asserts that she has need of me; but I shall, nevertheless, go +to her who must now be more unhappy than all of us.</p> +<p>HORTENSE."</p> +<p>She of whom Hortense thought that she must be more unhappy than +all of them, was the wife of Napoleon, Marie Louise, who had now +left Blois, to which place she had gone as empress-regent, and +repaired to Rambouillet, to await the decision of the allies with +regard to the future of herself and son. It was certainly one of +the most peculiar features of this period, so rich in extraordinary +occurrences, to see the sovereigns of Europe, the overthrown rulers +of France, and those who were about to grasp the sceptre once more, +thrown confusedly together in Paris, and within a circuit of some +fifty miles around that city: a Bourbon in the Tuileries, Bonaparte +at Fontainebleau, his wife and his son at Rambouillet, the divorced +empress at Novara, the Emperors of Russia and Austria, and the King +of Prussia, at Paris; moreover, a whole train of little German +potentates and princes, and the Napoleonic kings and princes, who +were all sojourning in Paris or its vicinity.</p> +<p>The Queen of Holland considered it her duty, in these days of +misfortune and danger, to stand at the side of her whom Napoleon +had commanded them to consider the head of the family, and to serve +faithfully in life and death. Hortense therefore determined to go +to the Empress Marie Louise at Rambouillet, in accordance with the +emperor's commands.</p> +<p>This determination filled the hearts of the queen's friends with +sorrow; and Louise had no sooner received the letter in which the +queen announced her impending departure, than she hastened to +reply, imploring her to abandon this intention. M. de Marmold, the +queen's equerry, departed with all speed to bring this letter to +the queen at Louis, where she was to pass the night, and to add his +entreaties to those of Louise.</p> +<p>"M. de Marmold, the bearer of this letter, will deliver it to +you at Louis, if he arrives there in good time," wrote Louise de +Cochelet. "If you go to Rambouillet, you will destroy your own +position, and also that of your children; this is the conviction of +all your friends. I was so happy, for Prince Leopold had written +you, in the name of the Emperor Alexander, and begged you to come +to Malmaison. You could not have avoided seeing him, as he would +even have gone to Novara. Instead, however, of returning with the +Empress Josephine, you are on the point of uniting yourself with a +family that has never loved you. With them you will experience +nothing but distress, and they will not be thankful for the +sacrifice you are about to make. You will regret this step when it +is too late. I conjure you, do not go to Rambouillet!</p> +<p>"Your course will touch those to whom you are going but little, +and will displease the allies, who take so much interest in +you.</p> +<p>"The empress is a thorough Austrian at heart, and the visits of +members of her husband's family are regarded with disfavor. I tell +you this at the request of Prince Leopold and Madame de +Caulaincourt. The latter, if you do not come here soon, will go to +you, in spite of her great age. She conjures you not to go to +Rambouillet, as your lady of honor, and the friend of your mother; +she even forbids your doing so.</p> +<p>"When I informed Prince Leopold of your intention to go to the +Empress Marie Louise at Rambouillet, his eyes filled with tears. +'It is beautiful to be proud,' said he, 'but she can no longer +retreat; she is already under obligations to the Emperor of Russia, +who effected the treaty of the 11th of April. I await her reply, to +deliver it to the emperor: she owes him a reply.'</p> +<p>"I passed an hour with our good friend Lavalette this morning. +This excellent man knew nothing of the measures we have been taking +to persuade you to return, and said to me: 'How fortunate it would +be for her and her children, if the emperor should desire to see +her!' Do come, do come; show your friends this favor; we shall all +be in despair if you go to Rambouillet!</p> +<p>"Prince Leopold will write you a few lines. He could not be more +devoted to yourself and the Empress Josephine if you were his +mother and his sister. Count Tschernitscheff has been to see me. +The Emperor of Austria arrives here to-morrow, and the new French +princes and the king will soon follow. What a change!</p> +<p>"You must see the Emperor of Russia, because he so much desires +it. I conjure you, on my knees, to do me this favor! The emperor +conducts himself so handsomely that every one is constrained to +respect him; one forgets that he is the conqueror, and can only +remember him as the protector. He seems to be the refuge of all +those who have lost all, and are in distress. His conduct is +admirable; he receives none but business calls, and such others as +are absolutely necessary. The fair ladies of the Faubourg St. +Germain cannot boast of his attention to them, and this does him +all the more credit, he being, as it is said, very susceptible to +the fair sex. He told Prince Leopold that he intended going to +Novara, adding: 'You know that I love and esteem this family; +Prince Eugene is the prince of knights; I esteem the Empress +Josephine, Queen Hortense, and Prince Eugene, all the more from the +fact that her demeanor toward the Emperor Napoleon has been so much +more noble than that of so many others, who should have shown him +more devotion.' How could it be possible not to respect a man of +such nobility of character? I trust you will soon have an +opportunity of judging of this yourself. For God's sake, +return!</p> +<p>LOUISE."</p> +<br> +<p>But these entreaties were all in vain. M. de Marmold arrived at +Louis in time to see the queen; he delivered the letters of her +friends, and did all that lay in his power to persuade her not to +go to Rambouillet.</p> +<p>But Hortense held firmly to her intention. "You are right," said +she. "All this is true; but I shall, nevertheless, go to the +Empress Marie Louise, for it is my duty to do so. If unpleasant +consequences should result from this step for me, I shall pay no +attention to them, but merely continue to do my duty. Of all of us, +the Empress Marie Louise must be the most unhappy, and must stand +most in need of consolation; it is, therefore, at her side that I +can be of most use, and nothing can alter my determination."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV.2"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> +<h3>QUEEN HORTENSE AND THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER.</h3> +<br> +<p>Queen Hortense had gone to Rambouillet, in spite of the +entreaties and exhortations of her friends. The Empress Marie +Louise had, however, received her with an air of embarrassment. She +had told the queen that she was expecting her father, the Emperor +of Austria, and that she feared the queen's presence might make him +feel ill at ease. Moreover, the young empress, although dejected +and grave, was by no means so sorrowful and miserable as Hortense +expected. The fate of her husband had not wounded the heart of +Marie Louise as deeply as that of the Empress Josephine.</p> +<p>Hortense felt that she was not needed there; that the presence +of the Emperor of Austria would suffice to console the Empress of +France for her husband's overthrow. She thought of Josephine, who +was so deeply saddened by Napoleon's fate; and finding that, +instead of consoling, she only embarrassed the Empress Marie +Louise, she hastened to relieve her of her presence.</p> +<p>And now, at last, Hortense bowed her proud, pure heart beneath +the yoke of necessity; now, at last, she listened to the prayers +and representations of her mother, who had returned to Malmaison, +and of her friends, and went to Paris. It had been too often urged +upon her that she owed it to her sons to secure their fortune and +future, not to overcome her personal repugnance, and conform +herself to this new command of duty.</p> +<p>She had, therefore, returned to Paris for a few days, and taken +up her abode in her dwelling, whose present dreariness recalled, +with sorrowful eloquence, the grandeur of the past.</p> +<p>These drawing-rooms, once the rendezvous of so many kings and +princes, were now desolate, and bore on their soiled floors the +footprints of the hostile soldiers who had recently been quartered +there. At the czar's solicitation, they had now been removed; but +the queen's household servants had also left it. Faithless and +ungrateful, they had turned their backs on the setting sun, and +fled from the storm that had burst over the head of their +mistress.</p> +<p>The Emperor Alexander hastened to the queen's dwelling as soon +as her arrival in Paris was announced, the queen advancing to meet +him as far as the outermost antechamber.</p> +<p>"Sire," said she, with a soft smile, "I have no means of +receiving you with due ceremony; my antechambers are deserted."</p> +<p>The appearance of this solitary woman, this queen without a +crown, without fortune, and without protection and support, who +nevertheless stood before him in all the charms of beauty and +womanhood, a soft smile on her lips, made a deep impression on the +emperor, and his eyes filled with tears.</p> +<p>The queen observed this, and hastened to say, "But what of that? +I do not think that antechambers filled with gold-embroidered +liveries would make those who come to see me happier, and I esteem +myself happy in being able to do you the honors of my house alone. +I have, therefore, only won."</p> +<p>The emperor took her hand, and, while conducting the queen to +her room, conversed with her, with that soft, sad expression +peculiar to him, lamenting with bitter self-reproaches almost that +he was himself, in part, to blame for the misfortunes that had +overtaken the emperor and his family. He then conjured her to +abandon her intention of leaving France, and to preserve herself +for her mother and friends. He told her that, in abandoning her +country, her friends, and her rights, she would be guilty of a +crime against her own children, against her two sons, who were +entitled to demand a country and a fortune at her hands.</p> +<p>The queen, overcome at last by these earnest and eloquent +representations, declared her readiness to remain in France, if the +welfare of her sons should require it.</p> +<p>"Until now," said she, "I had formed all my resolutions with +reference to misfortune. I was entirely resigned, and I never +thought of the possibility of any thing fortunate happening for me; +and even yet, I do not know what I can desire and demand. I am, +however, determined to accept nothing for myself and children that +would be unworthy of us, and I do not know what that could be."</p> +<p>With an assuring smile, the emperor extended his hand to the +queen. "Leave that to me," said he. "It is, then, understood, you +are to remain in France?"</p> +<p>"Sire, you have convinced me that the future of my sons requires +it. I shall therefore remain."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI.2"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> +<h3>THE NEW UNCLES.</h3> +<br> +<p>Malmaison, to which place Hortense had returned after a short +stay in Paris, and where the Empress Josephine was also sojourning, +was a kind of focus for social amusement and relaxation for the +sovereigns assembled in Paris. Each of these kings and princes +wished to pay his homage to the Empress Josephine and her daughter, +and thereby, in a measure, show the last honors to the dethroned +emperor.</p> +<p>On one occasion, when the King of Prussia, with his two sons, +Prince Frederick William (the late king) and William, had come to +Malmaison, and announced their desire to call on the empress, she +sent them an invitation to a family dinner, at which she also +invited the Emperor of Russia and his two brothers to attend.</p> +<p>The emperor accepted this invitation, and on entering, with the +young archdukes, the parlor in which the Duchess de St. Leu was +sitting, he took his two brothers by the hand and conducted them to +Hortense.</p> +<p>"Madame," said he, "I confide my brothers to your keeping. They +are now making their <i>début</i> in society. My mother +fears their heads may be turned by the beauties of France; and in +bringing them to Malmaison, where so many charming persons are +assembled, I am certainly fulfilling my promise to preserve them +from such a fate but poorly."</p> +<p>"Reassure yourself, sire," replied the queen, gravely; "I will +be their mentor, and I promise you a motherly surveillance."</p> +<p>The emperor laughed, and, pointing to Hortense's two sons, who +had just been brought in, he said: "Ah, madame, it would be much +less dangerous for my brothers if they were of the age of these +boys."</p> +<p>He approached the two boys with extended hands, and while +conversing with them in a kindly and affectionate manner, addressed +them with the titles "monseigneur" and "imperial highness."</p> +<p>The children regarded him wonderingly, for the Russian emperor +was the first to address the little Napoleon and his younger +brother, Louis Napoleon, with these imposing titles. The queen had +never allowed them to be called by any but their own names. She +wished to preserve them from vain pride, and teach them to depend +on their own intrinsic merit.</p> +<p>Shortly afterward the King of Prussia and his sons were +announced, and the emperor and his brothers left the young princes, +and advanced to meet the king.</p> +<p>While the emperor and the king were exchanging salutations, +Hortense's two sons inquired of their governess the names of the +gentlemen who had just entered.</p> +<p>"It is the King of Prussia," whispered the governess; "and the +gentleman who has just spoken with you is the Emperor of +Russia."</p> +<p>The little Louis Napoleon regarded the tall figures of those +princes thoughtfully for a moment, by no means impressed by their +imposing titles. He was so accustomed to see his mother surrounded +by kings, and these kings had always been his uncles.</p> +<p>"Mademoiselle," said the little Louis Napoleon, after a short +pause, "are these two new gentlemen, the emperor and the king, also +our uncles, like all the others and must we call them so?"</p> +<p>"No, Louis, you must simply call them 'sire.'"</p> +<p>"But," said the boy, after a moment's reflection, "why is it +that they are not our uncles?"</p> +<p>The governess withdrew with the two children to the back of the +parlor, and explained to them, in a low voice, that the emperors +and kings then in Paris, far from being their uncles, were their +vanquishers.</p> +<p>"Then," exclaimed the elder boy, Napoleon Louis, his face +flushing with anger, "then they are the enemies of my uncle, the +emperor! Why did this Emperor of Russia embrace us?"</p> +<p>"Because he is a noble and generous enemy, who is endeavoring to +serve you and your mother in your present misfortune. Without him +you would possess nothing more in the world, and the fate of your +uncle, the emperor, would be much sadder than it already is."</p> +<p>"Then we ought to love this emperor very dearly?" said the +little Louis Napoleon.</p> +<p>"Certainly; for you owe him many thanks."</p> +<p>The young prince regarded the emperor, who was conversing with +the empress Josephine, long and thoughtfully.</p> +<p>When the emperor returned to Malmaison on the following day, and +while he was sitting at his mother's side in the garden-house, +little Louis Napoleon, walking on tiptoe, noiselessly approached +the emperor from behind, laid a small glittering object in his +hand, and ran away.</p> +<p>The queen called him back, and demanded with earnest severity to +know what he had done.</p> +<p>The little prince returned reluctantly, hanging his head with +embarrassment, and said, blushing deeply: "Ah, <i>maman,</i> it is +the ring Uncle Eugene gave me. I wished to give it to the emperor, +because he is so good to my <i>maman</i>!"</p> +<p>Deeply touched, the emperor took the boy in his arms, seated him +on his knees, and kissed him tenderly.</p> +<p>Then, in order to give the little prince an immediate reward, he +attached the ring to his watch-chain, and swore that he would wear +the token as long as he lived<a name="FNanchor28"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_28">[28]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_28"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor28">[28]</a> Cochelet, vol. i., p. 355.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII.2"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> +<h3>DEATH OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE.</h3> +<br> +<p>Since Napoleon's star had grown pale, and himself compelled to +leave France as an exile, life seemed to Josephine also to be +enveloped in a gloomy mourning-veil; she felt that her sun had set, +and night come upon her. But she kept this feeling a profound +secret, and never allowed a complaint or sigh to betray her grief +to her tenderly-beloved daughter. Her complaints were for the +emperor, her sighs for the fate of her children and grandchildren. +She seemed to have forgotten herself; her wishes were all for +others. With the pleasing address and grace of which age could not +deprive her, she did the honors of her house to the foreign +sovereigns in Malmaison, and assumed a forced composure, in which +her soul had no share. She would have preferred to withdraw with +her grief to the retirement of her chambers, but she thought it her +duty to make this sacrifice for the welfare of her daughter and +grandchildren; and she, the loving mother, could do what Hortense's +pride would not permit--she could entreat the Emperor Alexander to +take pity on her daughter's fate.</p> +<p>When, therefore, the czar had finally succeeded in establishing +her future, and had received the letters-patent which secured to +the queen the duchy of St. Leu Alexander hastened to Malmaison, to +communicate this good news to the Empress Josephine.</p> +<p>She did not reward him with words, but with gushing tears, as +she extended to the emperor both hands. She then begged him, with +touching earnestness, to accept from her a remembrance of this +hour.</p> +<p>The emperor pointed to a cup, on which a portrait of Josephine +was painted, and begged her to give him that.</p> +<p>"<i>No</i>, sire," said she; "such a cup can be bought anywhere. +But I wish to give you something that cannot be had anywhere else +in the world, and that will sometimes remind you of me. It is a +present that I received from Pope Pius VII., on the day of my +coronation. I present you with this token in commemoration of the +day on which you bring my daughter the ducal crown, in order that +it may remind you of mother and daughter alike--of the dethroned +empress and of the dethroned queen."</p> +<p>This present, which she now extended to the emperor with a +charming smile, was an antique cameo, of immense size, and so +wondrously-well executed that the empress could well say its equal +was nowhere to be found in the world. On this cameo the heads of +Alexander the Great and of his father, Philip of Macedonia, were +portrayed, side by side; and the beauty of the workmanship, as well +as the size of the stone, made this cameo a gem of inestimable +value. And for this reason the emperor at first refused to accept +this truly imperial present, and he yielded only when he perceived +that his refusal would offend the empress, who seemed to be more +pale and irritable than usual.</p> +<p>Josephine was, in reality, sadder than usual, for the royal +family of the Bourbons had on this day caused her heart to bleed +anew. Josephine had read an article in the journals, in which, in +the most contemptuous and cruel terms, attention was called to the +fact that the eldest son of the Queen of Holland had been interred +in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, and that the Minister Blacas had +now issued an order to have the coffin removed from its +resting-place, and buried in an ordinary grave-yard.</p> +<p>Hortense, who had read this article, had hastened to Paris, in +order that she might herself superintend the removal of the body of +her beloved child from Notre-Dame, and its reinterment in the +Church of St. Leu.</p> +<p>While she informed the emperor of this new insult, Josephine's +whole figure trembled, and a deathly pallor overspread her +countenance. Josephine lacked the strength to conceal her +sufferings to-day, for the first time; Hortense was not present, +and she might therefore, for once, allow herself the sad +consolation of showing, bereft of its smile and its paint, the pale +countenance, which death had already lightly touched.</p> +<p>"Your majesty is ill!" exclaimed the emperor, in dismay.</p> +<p>With a smile, which brought tears to Alexander's eyes, Josephine +pointed to her breast, and whispered: "Sire, I have received the +death-wound here!"</p> +<p>Yes, she was right; she had received a fatal wound, and her +heart was bleeding to death.</p> +<p>Terrified by Josephine's condition, the emperor hurried to +Paris, and sent his own physician to inquire after her condition. +When the latter returned, he informed the emperor that Josephine +was dangerously ill, and that he did not believe her recovery +possible.</p> +<p>He was right, and Alexander saw the empress no more! Hortense +and Eugene, her two children, held a sad watch at their mother's +bedside throughout the night. The best physicians were called in, +but these only confirmed what the Russian physician had said--the +condition of the empress was hopeless. Her heart was broken! With +strong hands, she had held it together as long as her children's +welfare seemed to require. Now that Hortense's future was also +assured--now that she knew that her grandchildren would, at least, +not be compelled to wander about the world as exiled beggars--now +Josephine withdrew her hands from her heart, and suffered it to +bleed to death.</p> +<p>On the 29th of May, 1814, the Empress Josephine died, of an +illness which had apparently lasted but two days. Hortense had not +heard her mother's death-sigh; when she re-entered the room with +Eugene, after her mother had received the sacrament from +Abbé Bertrand--when she saw her mother, with outstretched +arms, vainly endeavoring to speak to them--Hortense fainted away at +her mother's bedside, and the empress breathed her last sigh in +Eugene's arms.</p> +<p>The intelligence of the death of the empress affected Paris +profoundly. It seemed as though all the city had forgotten for a +day that Napoleon was no longer the ruler of France, and that the +Bourbons had reascended the throne of their fathers. All Paris +mourned; for the hearts of the French people had not forgotten this +woman, who had so long been their benefactress, and of whom each +could relate the most touching traits of goodness, of generosity, +and of gentleness.</p> +<p>Josephine, now that she was dead, was once more enthroned as +empress in the hearts of the French people and thousands poured +into Malmaison, to pay their last homage to their deceased empress. +Even the Faubourg St. Germain mourned with the Parisians; these +haughty and insolent royalists, who had returned with the Bourbons, +may, perhaps, for a moment, have recalled the benefits which the +empress had shown them, when, as the mighty Empress of France, she +employed the half of her allowance for the relief of the emigrants. +They had returned without thinking of the thanks they owed their +forgotten benefactress; now that she was dead, they no longer +withheld the tribute of their admiration.</p> +<p>"Alas!" exclaimed Madame Ducayla, the king's friend; "alas! how +interesting a lady was this Josephine! What tact, what goodness! +How well she knew how to do everything! And she shows her tact and +good taste to the last, in dying just at this moment!"</p> +<p>Immediately after the death of the empress, Eugene had conducted +the queen from the death-chamber, almost violently, and had taken +her and her children to St. Leu. The body of the empress was +interred in Malmaison, and followed to the grave by her two +grandchildren only. Grief had made both of her children severely +ill, and the little princes were followed, not by her relatives, +but by the Russian General Von Sacken, who represented the emperor, +and by the equipages of all those kings and princes who had helped +to hurl the Bonapartes from their thrones and restore the +Bourbons.</p> +<p>The emperor passed his last night in France, before leaving for +England, at St. Leu; and, on taking leave of Eugene and Hortense, +who, at the earnest solicitation of her brother, had left her room +for the first time since her mother's death, for the purpose of +seeing the emperor, he assured them of his unchangeable friendship +and attachment. As he knew that, among those whom he strongly +suspected, Pozzo di Borgo<a name="FNanchor29"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_29">[29]</a>, the ambassador he left behind him in +Paris, was an irreconcilable enemy of Napoleon and his family, he +had assigned to duty at the embassy as <i>attaché</i>, a +gentleman selected for this purpose by Louise de Cochelet--M. de +Boutiakin--and it was through him that the emperor directed that +the letters and wishes of the queen and of her faithful young lady +friend should be received and answered.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_29"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor29">[29]</a> Upon receiving the intelligence of the death +of the emperor at St. Helena, Pozzo di Borgo said: "I did not kill +him, but I threw the last handful of earth on his coffin, in order +that he might never rise again."</blockquote> +<p>A few days later Eugene also left St. Leu and his sister +Hortense, to return, with the King of Bavaria, to his new home in +Germany. It was not until his departure that Hortense felt to its +full extent the gloomy loneliness and dreary solitude by which she +was surrounded. She had not wept over the downfall of all the +grandeur and magnificence by which she had formerly been +surrounded; she had not complained when the whirlwind of fate +hurled to the ground the crowns of all her relations, but had bowed +her head to the storm with resignation, and smiled at the loss of +her royal titles; but now, as she stood in her parlor at St. Leu +and saw none about her but her two little boys and the few ladies +who still remained faithful--now, Hortense wept.</p> +<p>"Alas!" she cried, bursting into tears, as she extended her hand +to Louise de Cochelet, "alas! my courage is at an end! My mother is +dead, my brother has left me, the Emperor Alexander will soon +forget his promised protection, and I alone must contend, with my +two children, against all the annoyances and enmities to which the +name I bear will subject me! I fear I shall live to regret that I +allowed myself to be persuaded to abandon my former plan. Will the +love I bear my country recompense me for the torments which are in +store for me?"</p> +<p>The queen's dark forebodings were to be only too fully realized. +In the great and solemn hour of misfortune, Fate lifts to mortal +vision the veil that conceals the future, and, like the Trojan +prophetess, we see the impending evil, powerless to avert it.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="BOOK_III."></a>BOOK III.</h2> +<h3><i>THE RESTORATION.</i></h3> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I.3"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<h3>THE RETURN OF THE BOURBONS.</h3> +<br> +<p>On the 12th of April, Count d'Artois, whom Louis XVIII. had sent +in advance, and invested with the dignity of a lieutenant-general +of France, made his triumphal entry into Paris. At the gates of the +city, he was received by the newly-formed provisional government, +Talleyrand at its head; and here it was that Count d'Artois replied +to the address of that gentleman in the following words: "Nothing +is changed in France, except that from to-day there will be one +Frenchman more in the land." The people received him with cold +curiosity, and the allied troops formed a double line for his +passage to the Tuileries, at which the ladies of the Faubourg St. +Germain, adorned with white lilies and white cockades, received him +with glowing enthusiasm. Countess Ducayla, afterward the well-known +friend of Louis XVIII., had been one of the most active instruments +of the restoration, and she it was who had first unfolded again in +France the banner of the Bourbons--the white flag. A few days +before the entrance of the prince, she had gone, with a number of +her royalist friends, into the streets, in order to excite the +people to some enthusiasm for the legitimate dynasty. But the +people and the army had still preserved their old love for the +emperor, and the proclamation of Prince Schwartzenberg, read by +Bauvineux in the streets, was listened to in silence. True, the +royalists cried, <i>"Vive le roi!"</i> at the end of this reading, +but the people remained indifferent and mute.</p> +<p>This sombre silence alarmed Countess Ducayla; it seemed to +indicate a secret discontent with the new order of things. She felt +that this sullen people must be inflamed, and made to speak with +energy and distinctness. To awaken enthusiasm by means of words and +proclamations had been attempted in vain; now the countess +determined to attempt to arouse them by another means--to astonish +them by the display of a striking symbol--to show them the white +flag of the Bourbons!</p> +<p>She gave her companion, Count de Montmorency, her handkerchief, +that he might wave it aloft, fastening it to the end of his cane, +in order that it should be more conspicuous. This handkerchief of +Countess Ducayla, fastened to the cane of a Montmorency, was the +first royalist banner that fluttered over Paris, after a banishment +of twenty years. The Parisians looked at this banner with a kind of +reverence and shuddering wonder; they did not greet it with +applause; they still remained silent, but they nevertheless +followed the procession of royalists, who marched to the +boulevards, shouting, <i>"Vive le roi!"</i> They took no part in +their joyful demonstration, but neither did they attempt to prevent +it.</p> +<p>This demonstration of the royalists, and particularly of the +royalist ladies, transcended the bounds of propriety, and of their +own dignity. In their fanaticism for the legitimate dynasty, they +gave the allies a reception, which almost assumed the character of +a declaration of love, on the part of the fair ladies of the +Faubourg St. Germain, for all the soldiers and officers of the +allied army. In a strange confusion of ideas, these warriors, who +had certainly entered France as enemies, seemed to these fair ones +to be a part of the beloved Bourbons; and they loved them with +almost the same love they lavished upon the royal family itself. +During several days they were, in their hearts, the daughters of +all countries except their own!</p> +<p>Louis XVIII. was himself much displeased with this enthusiasm of +the ladies of the Faubourg St. Germain, and openly avowed to +Countess Ducayla his dissatisfaction with the ridiculous and +contemptible behavior of these ladies at that time. He was even of +the opinion that it was calculated to injure his cause, as the +nation had then not yet pronounced in his favor.</p> +<p>"They should," said he, "have received the allies with a +dignified reserve, without frivolous demonstrations, and without +this inconsiderate devotion. Such a demeanor would have inspired +them with respect for the nation, whereas they now leave Paris with +the conviction that we are still--as we were fifty years ago--the +most giddy and frivolous people of Europe. You particularly, +ladies--you have compromised yourselves in an incomprehensible +manner. The allies seemed to you so lovable <i>en masse,</i> that +you gave yourselves the appearance of also loving them <i>en +détail</i>; and this has occasioned reports concerning you +which do little honor to French ladies!"</p> +<p>"But, <i>mon Dieu!</i>" replied Countess Ducayla to her royal +friend, "we wished to show them a well-earned gratitude for the +benefit they conferred in restoring to us your majesty; we wished +to offer them freely what we, tired of resistance, were at last +compelled to accord to the tyrants of the republic and the +sabre-heroes of the empire! None of us can regret what we have done +for our good friends the allies!"</p> +<p>Nevertheless, that which the ladies "had done for their good +friends the allies" was the occasion of many annoying family +scenes, and the husbands who did not fully participate in the +enthusiasm of their wives were of the opinion that they had good +cause to complain of their inordinate zeal.</p> +<p>Count G----, among others, had married a young and beautiful +lady a few days before the restoration. She, in her youthful +innocence, was entirely indifferent to political matters; but her +step-father, her step-mother, and her husband, Count G----, were +royalists of the first water.</p> +<p>On the day of the entrance of the allies into Paris, +step-father, step-mother, and husband, in common with all good +legitimists, hurried forward to welcome "their good friends," and +each of them returned to their dwelling with a stranger--the +husband with an Englishman, the step-mother with a Prussian, and +the step-father with an Austrian. The three endeavored to outdo +each other in the attentions which they showered upon the guests +they had the good fortune to possess. The little countess alone +remained indifferent, in the midst of the joy of her family. They +reproached her with having too little attachment for the good +cause, and exhorted her to do everything in her power to entertain +the gallant men who had restored to France her king.</p> +<p>The husband requested the Englishman to instruct the young +countess in riding; the marquise begged the Prussian to escort her +daughter to the ball, and teach her the German waltz; and, finally, +the marquis, who had discovered a fine taste for paintings in the +Austrian, appealed to this gentleman to conduct the young wife +through the picture-galleries.</p> +<p>In short, every opportunity was given the young countess to +commit a folly, or rather three follies, for she did not like to +give the preference to any one of the three strangers. She was +young, and inexperienced in matters of this kind. Her triple +intrigue was, therefore, soon discovered, and betrayed to her +family; and now husband, step-father, and step-mother, were +exasperated. This exceeded even the demands of their royalism; and +they showered reproaches on the head of the young wife.</p> +<p>"It is not my fault!" cried she, sobbing. "I only did what you +commanded. You ordered me to do everything in my power to entertain +these gentlemen, and I could therefore refuse them nothing."</p> +<p>But there were also cases in which the advances of the +enthusiastic ladies of the Faubourg St. Germain were repelled. Even +the high-born and haughty Marquise M---- was to experience this +mortification. She stepped before the sullen, sombre veterans of +the Old Guard of the empire, who had just allowed Count d'Artois to +pass before their ranks in dead silence. She ardently appealed to +their love for the dynasty of their fathers, and, in her enthusiasm +for royalism, went so far as to offer herself as a reward to him +who should first cry <i>"Vive le roi!"</i> But the faithful +soldiers of the emperor stood unmoved by this generous offer, and +the silence remained unbroken by the lowest cry!</p> +<p>The princes who stood at the head of the allied armies were, of +course, the objects of the most ardent enthusiasm of the royalist +ladies; but it was, above all, with them that they found the least +encouragement. The Emperor of Austria was too much occupied with +the future of his daughter and grandson, and the King of Prussia +was too grave and severe, to find any pleasure in the coquetries of +women. The young Emperor Alexander of Russia, therefore, became the +chief object of their enthusiasm and love. But their enthusiasm +also met with a poor recompense in this quarter. Almost +distrustfully, the czar held himself aloof from the ladies of the +Faubourg St. Germain; and yet it was they who had decided the fate +of France with him, and induced him to give his vote for the +Bourbons; for until then it had remained undetermined whom the +allies should call to the throne of France.</p> +<p>In his inmost heart, the Emperor of Russia desired to see the +universally-beloved Viceroy of Italy, Eugene Beauharnais, elevated +to the vacant throne. The letter with which Eugene replied to the +proposition of the allies, tendering him the ducal crown of Genoa, +had won for Josephine's son the love and esteem of the czar for all +time. Alexander had himself written to Eugene, and proffered him, +in the name of the allies, a duchy of Genoa, if he would desert +Napoleon, and take sides with the allies. Eugene Beauharnais had +replied to him in the following letter:</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>"SIRE,--I have received your majesty's propositions. They are +undoubtedly very favorable, but they are powerless to change my +resolution. I must have known how to express my thoughts but poorly +when I had the honor of seeing you, if your majesty can believe +that I could sully my honor for any, even the highest, reward. +Neither the prospect of possessing the crown of the duchy of Genoa, +nor that of the kingdom of Italy, can induce me to become a +traitor. The example of the King of Naples cannot mislead me; I +will rather be a plain soldier than a traitorous prince.</p> +<p>"The emperor, you say, has done me injustice; I have forgotten +it; I only remember his benefits. I owe all to him--my rank, my +titles, and my fortune, and I owe to him that which I prefer to all +else--that which your indulgence calls my renown. I shall, +therefore, serve him as long as I live; my person is his, as is my +heart. May my sword break in my hands, if it could ever turn +against the emperor, or against France! I trust that my +well-grounded refusal will at least secure to me the respect of +your imperial majesty. I am, etc."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The Emperor of Austria, on the other hand, ardently desired to +secure the throne of France to his grandson, the King of Rome, +under the regency of the Empress Marie Louise; but he did not +venture to make this demand openly and without reservation of his +allies, whose action he had promised to approve and ratify. The +appeals of the Duke of Cadore, who had been sent to her father by +Marie Louise from Blois, urging the emperor to look after her +interests, and to demand of the allies that they should assure the +crown to herself and son, were, therefore, fruitless.</p> +<p>The emperor assured his daughter's ambassador that he had reason +to hope for the best for her, but that he was powerless to insist +on any action in her behalf.</p> +<p>"I love my daughter," said the good emperor, "and I love my +son-in-law, and I am ready to shed my heart's blood for them."</p> +<p>"Majesty," said the duke, interrupting him, "no such sacrifice +is required at your hands."</p> +<p>"I am ready to shed my blood for them," continued the emperor, +"to sacrifice my life for them, and I repeat it, I have promised +the allies to do nothing except in conjunction with them, and to +consent to all they determine. Moreover, my minister, Count +Metternich, is at this moment with them, and I shall ratify +everything which he has signed<a name="FNanchor30"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_30">[30]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_30"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor30">[30]</a> Bourrienne, vol. x., p. 129.</blockquote> +<p>But the emperor still hoped that that which Metternich should +sign for him, would be the declaration that the little King of Rome +was to be the King of France.</p> +<p>But the zeal of the royalists was destined to annihilate this +hope.</p> +<p>The Emperor of Russia had now taken up his residence in +Talleyrand's house. He had yielded to the entreaties of the shrewd +French diplomat, who well knew how much easier it would be to bend +the will of the Agamemnon of the holy alliance<a name= +"FNanchor31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31">[31]</a> to his wishes, +when he should have him in hand, as it were, day and night. In +offering the emperor his hospitality, it was Talleyrand's intention +to make him his prisoner, body and soul, and to use him to his own +advantage.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_31"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor31">[31]</a> Mémoires d'une Femme de +Qualité.</blockquote> +<p>It was therefore to Talleyrand that Countess Ducayla hastened to +concert measures with the Bonapartist of yesterday, who had +transformed himself into the zealous legitimist of to-day.</p> +<p>Talleyrand undertook to secure the countess an audience with the +Russian emperor, and he succeeded.</p> +<p>While conducting the beautiful countess to the czar's cabinet, +Talleyrand whispered in her ear: "Imitate Madame de +Lemallé--endeavor to make a great stroke. The emperor is +gallant, and what he denies to diplomacy he may, perhaps, accord to +the ladies."</p> +<p>He left her at the door, and the countess entered the emperor's +cabinet alone. She no sooner saw him, than she sank on her knees, +and stretched out her arms.</p> +<p>With a knightly courtesy, the emperor immediately hastened +forward to assist her to rise.</p> +<p>"What are you doing?" asked he, almost in alarm. "A noble lady +never has occasion to bend the knee to a cavalier."</p> +<p>"Sire," exclaimed the countess, "I kneel before you, because it +is my purpose to implore of your majesty the happiness which you +alone can restore to us; it will be a double pleasure to possess +Louis XVIII. once more, when Alexander I. shall have given him to +us!"</p> +<p>"Is it then true that the French people are still devoted to the +Bourbon family?"</p> +<p>"Yes, sire, they are our only hope; on them we bestow our whole +love!"</p> +<p>"Ah, that is excellent," cried Alexander; "are all French ladies +filled with the same enthusiasm as yourself, madame?"</p> +<p>"Well, if this is the case, it will be France that recalls Louis +XVIII., and it will not be necessary for us to conduct him back. +Let the legislative bodies declare their will, and it shall be +done<a name="FNanchor32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32">[32]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_32"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor32">[32]</a> Mémoires d'une Femme de +Qualité, vol. i., p. 179.</blockquote> +<p>And of all women, Countess Ducayla was the one to bring the +legislative bodies to the desired declaration. She hastened to +communicate the hopes with which the emperor had inspired her to +all Paris; on the evening after her interview with the emperor, she +gave a grand <i>soirée</i>, to which she invited the most +beautiful ladies of her party, and a number of senators.</p> +<p>"I desired by this means," says she in her memoirs, "to entrap +the gentlemen into making a vow. How simple-minded I was! Did I not +know that the majority of them had already made and broken a dozen +vows?"</p> +<p>On the following day the senate assembled, and elected a +provisional government, consisting of Talleyrand, the Duke of +Dalberg, the Marquis of Jancourt, Count Bournonville, and the +Abbé Montesquieu. The senate and the new provisional +government thereupon declared Napoleon deposed from the throne, and +recalled Louis XVIII. But while the senate thus publicly and +solemnly proclaimed its legitimist sentiments in the name of the +French people, it at the same time testified to its own +unworthiness and selfishness. In the treaty made by the senate with +its recalled king, it was provided in a separate clause, "that the +salary which they had hitherto received, should be continued to +them for life." While recalling Louis XVIII., these senators took +care to pay themselves for their trouble, and to secure their own +future.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II.3"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<h3>THE BOURBONS AND THE BONAPARTES.</h3> +<br> +<p>The allies hastened to consider the declaration of the senate +and provisional government as the declaration of the people, and +recalled to the throne of his fathers Louis XVIII., who, as Count +de Lille, had so long languished in exile at Hartwell.</p> +<p>The Emperor of Austria kept his word; he made no resistance to +the decrees of his allies, and allowed his grandson, the King of +Rome, to be robbed of his inheritance, and the imperial crown to +fall from his daughter's brow. The Emperor Francis was, however, as +much astonished at this result as Marie Louise, for, until their +entrance into Paris, the allies had flattered the Austrian emperor +with the hope that the crown of France would be secured to his +daughter and grandson. The emperor's astonishment at this turn of +affairs was made the subject of a caricature, which, on the day of +the entrance of Louis XVIIL, was affixed to the same walls on which +Chateaubriand's enthusiastic <i>brochure</i> concerning the +Bourbons was posted. In this caricature, of which thousands of +copies were sown broadcast throughout Paris, the Emperor of Austria +was to be seen sitting in an elegant open carriage; the Emperor +Alexander sat on the coachman's box, the Regent of England as +postilion on the lead-horse, and the King of Prussia stood up +behind as a lackey. Napoleon ran along on foot at the side of the +carriage, holding fast to it, and crying out to the Emperor of +Austria, "Father-in-law, they have thrown me out"--"And <i>taken me +in</i>," was the reply of Francis I.</p> +<p>The exultation of the ladies of the Faubourg St. Germain was +great, now that their king was at last restored to them, and they +eagerly embraced every means of showing their gratitude to the +Emperor of Russia. But Alexander remained entirely insusceptible to +their homage; he even went so far as to avoid attending the +entertainments given by the new king at the Tuileries, and society +was shocked at seeing the emperor openly displaying his sympathy +for the family of the Emperor Napoleon, and repairing to Malmaison, +instead of appearing at the Tuileries.</p> +<p>Count Nesselrode at last conjured his friend Louise de Cochelet +to inform the czar of the feeling of dismay that pervaded the +Faubourg St. Germain, when he should come to Queen Hortense's +maid-of-honor, as he was in the habit of doing from time to time, +for the purpose of discussing the queen's interests with her.</p> +<p>"Sire," said she to the czar, "the Faubourg St. Germain regards +your majesty's zeal in the queen's behalf with great jealousy. It +has even caused Count Nesselrode much concern. 'Our emperor,' said +he to me, recently, 'goes to Malmaison much too often; the high +circles of society, and the diplomatic body, are already in dismay +about it; it is feared that he is there subjected to influences to +which policy requires he should not be exposed.'"</p> +<p>"This is characteristic of my Nesselrode," replied the emperor, +laughing, "he is so easily disquieted. What do I care for the +Faubourg St. Germain? It speaks ill enough for these ladies that +they have not made a conquest of me! I prefer the noble qualities +of the soul to all outward appearances; and I find united in the +Empress Josephine, in the Queen of Holland, and in Prince Eugene, +all that is admirable and lovable. I am better pleased to be here +with you in quiet, confidential intercourse, than with those who +really demean themselves as though they were crazed, and who, +instead of enjoying the triumph we have prepared for them, are only +intent on destroying their enemies, and have commenced with those +who formerly accorded them such generous protection; they really +weary one with their extravagances.</p> +<p>"Frenchwomen are coquettish," said the emperor in the course of +the conversation; "I came here in great fear of them, for I knew +how far their amiability could extend; but their heart is +undoubtedly no longer their own. I am therefore on my guard against +being deceived by it, and I fancy these ladies love to please so +well, that they are even angry with those who respond to the +attentions which are so lavishly showered on them, with +conventional politeness only."</p> +<p>Louise de Cochelet undertook to defend the French ladies against +the emperor's attacks. She told him he should not judge of them by +the manner in which they had conducted themselves toward him, as it +was but natural that the ladies should be inspired with enthusiasm +for a young emperor who appeared to them in so favorable a light, +and that they must necessarily, even without being coquettish, +ardently desire to be noticed by him.</p> +<p>"But," said the emperor, with his soft, sad smile, "have these +ladies only been waiting for me in order to feel their heart +palpitate? I seek mind and entertainment, but I fly from all those +who display a desire to exercise a control over my heart; in this I +see nothing but self-love, and I hold myself aloof from such +contact."</p> +<p>While the royalists and the ladies of the Faubourg St. Germain +were lavishing attentions upon the allies, and assuring the +returned king of the boundless delight of his people, this people +was already beginning to grumble. The allies had now completed +their task, they had restored to France its legitimate king, and +they now put the finishing-touch to their work by providing in the +treaty, that France should be narrowed down to the boundaries it +had had before the revolution.</p> +<p>France was compelled to conform to the will of its vanquishers. +From the weakness of the legitimists they now snatched that which +they had been compelled to accord to the strength of the +empire.</p> +<p>All of those fortified places, that had been bought with so much +French blood, and that were still held by Frenchmen, were to be +given up, and the great, extended France was to shrink back into +the France it had been thirty years before! It was this that made +the people murmur. The Frenchmen who had left Napoleon because they +had grown weary of endless wars, were, nevertheless, proud of the +conquests they had made under their emperor. The surrender of these +conquests wounded the national pride, and they were angry with +their king for being so ready to put this shame upon France--for +holding the crown of France in higher estimation than the honor of +France!</p> +<p>It must be conceded, however, that Louis XVIII. had most +bitterly felt the disgrace that attached to him in this +re-establishment of France within its ancient boundaries, and he +had endeavored to protest in every way against this demand of the +allies. But his representative had been made to understand that if +Louis XVIII. could not content himself with the France the allies +were prepared to give him, he was at liberty to relinquish it to +Marie Louise. The king was, therefore, compelled to yield to +necessity; but he did so with bitter mortification, and while his +courtiers were giving free rein to their enthusiasm for the allies, +he was heard to whisper, "<i>Nos chers amis les ennemis</i><a name= +"FNanchor33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33">[33]</a>!"</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_33"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor33">[33]</a> "Our dear friends the enemies!"</blockquote> +<p>Thus embittered against the allies, it was only with great +reluctance, and after a long and bitter struggle, that Louis XVIII. +consented to the demands made by the allies in behalf of the family +of Napoleon. But the Emperor Alexander kept his word; he defended +the rights of the Queen of Holland and her children against the +ill-will of the Bourbons, the dislike of the royalists, and the +disinclination of the allies, alike. The family of the emperor owed +it to him and to his firmness alone that the article of the treaty +of the 11th of April, in which Louis XVIII. agreed "that the titles +and dignities of all the members of the family of the Emperor +Napoleon should be recognized, and that they should not be deprived +of them," remained something more than a mere phrase.</p> +<p>It was only after repeated efforts that the emperor at last +succeeded in obtaining for Hortense, from Louis XVIII., an estate +and a title, that secured her position. King Louis finally yielded +to his urgent solicitations, and conferred upon Hortense the title +of Duchess of St. Leu, and made her estate, St. Leu, a duchy.</p> +<p>But this was done with the greatest reluctance, and only under +the pressure of the king's obligations to the allies, who had given +him his throne; and these obligations the Bourbons would have +forgotten as willingly as the whole period of the revolution and of +the empire.</p> +<p>For the Bourbons seemed but to have awakened from a long sleep, +and were not a little surprised to find that the world had +progressed in the meanwhile.</p> +<p>According to their ideas, every thing must have remained +standing at the point where they had left it twenty years before; +and they were at least determined to ignore all that had happened +in the interval. King Louis therefore signed his first act as in +"the nineteenth" year of his reign, and endeavored in all things to +keep up a semblance of the continuation of his reign since the year +1789. Hence, the letters-patent in which King Louis appointed +Hortense Duchess of St. Leu were drawn up in a manner offensive to +the queen, for they contained the following: "The king appoints +Mademoiselle Hortense de Beauharnais Duchess of St. Leu."</p> +<p>The queen refused to accept this title, under the circumstances, +and rejected the letters-patent. It was not until the czar had +angrily demanded it, that M. de Blacas, the king's premier, +consented to draw up the letters-patent in a different style. They +read: "The king appoints Hortense Eugénie, included in the +treaty of the 11th of April, Duchess of St. Leu." This was, to be +sure, merely a negative and disguised recognition of the former +rank of the queen; but it was, at least no longer a degradation to +accept it.</p> +<p>The Viceroy of Italy, the noble Eugene--who was universally +beloved, and who had come to Paris, at the express wish of the +czar, to secure his future--occasioned the Bourbons quite as much +annoyance and perplexity.</p> +<p>The king could not refuse to recognize the brave hero of the +empire and the son-in-law of the King of Bavaria, who was one of +the allies; and, as Eugene desired an audience of the king, it was +accorded him at once.</p> +<p>But how was he to be received? With what title was Napoleon's +step-son, the Viceroy of Italy, to be addressed? It would have been +altogether too ridiculous to repeat the absurdity contained in +Hortense's letters-patent, and call Eugene "Viscount de +Beauharnais;" but to accord him the royal title would have +compromised the dignity of the legitimate dynasty. A brilliant +solution of this difficult question suggested itself to King Louis. +When the Duke d'Aumont conducted Prince Eugene to the royal +presence, the king advanced, with a cordial smile, and saluted him +with the words, "M. Marshal of France, I am happy to see you."</p> +<p>Eugene, who was on the point of making his salutation, remained +silent, and looked over his shoulder to see whom the king was +speaking with. Louis XVIII. smiled, and continued: "You, my dear +sir, are a marshal of France. I appoint you to this dignity."</p> +<p>"Sire," said Eugene, bowing profoundly, "I am much obliged to +your majesty for your kind intentions, but the misfortune of the +rank to which destiny has called me will not allow me to accept the +high title with which you honor me. I thank you very much, but I +must decline it<a name="FNanchor34"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_34">[34]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_34"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor34">[34]</a> Mémoires d'une Femme de +Qualité, vol. i., p. 267.</blockquote> +<p>The king's stratagem had thus come to grief, and Eugene left the +royal presence with flying colors. He was not under the necessity +of accepting benefits from the King of France, for his step-father, +the King of Bavaria, made Eugene a prince of the royal house of +Bavaria, and created for him the duchy of Leuchtenberg. Hither +Eugene retired, and lived there, surrounded by his wife and +children, in peace and tranquillity, until death tore him from the +arms of his sorrowing family, in the year 1824.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III.3"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<h3>MADAME DE STAËL.</h3> +<br> +<p>The restoration, that had overthrown so many of the great, and +that was destined to restore to the light so many names that had +lain buried in obscurity, now brought back to Paris a person who +had been banished by Napoleon, and who had been adding new lustre +and renown to her name in a foreign land. This personage was Madame +de Staël, the daughter of Necker, the renowned poetess of +"Corinne" and "Delphine."</p> +<p>It had been a long and bitter struggle between Madame de +Staël and the mighty Emperor of the French; and Madame de +Staël, with her genius and her impassioned eloquence, and +adorned with the laurel-wreath of her exile, had perhaps done +Napoleon more harm than a whole army of his enemies. Intense hatred +existed on both sides, and yet it had depended on Napoleon alone to +transform this hatred into love. For Madame de Staël had been +disposed to lavish the whole impassioned enthusiasm of her heart +upon the young hero of Marengo and Arcola--quite disposed to become +the Egeria of this Numa Pompilius. In the warm impulse of her +stormy imagination, Madame de Staël, in reference to +Bonaparte, had even, in a slight measure, been regardless of her +position as a lady, and had only remembered that she was a poetess, +and that, as such, it became her well to celebrate the hero, and to +bestow on the luminous constellation that was rising over France +the glowing dithyrambic of her greetings.</p> +<a name="392.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/392.jpg"><img src="images/392.jpg" +width="50%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>Portrait of Madame de Staël.</b></p> +<p>Madame de Staël had, therefore, not waited for Napoleon to +seek her, but had made the first advances, and sought him.</p> +<p>To the returning victor of Italy she wrote letters filled with +impassioned enthusiasm; but these letters afforded the youthful +general but little pleasure. In the midst of the din of battle and +the grand schemes with which he was continually engaged, Bonaparte +found but little time to occupy himself with the poetical works of +Madame de Staël. He knew of her nothing more than that she was +the daughter of the minister Necker, and that was no recommendation +in Napoleon's eyes, for he felt little respect for Necker's genius, +and even went so far as to call him the instigator of the great +revolution. It was, therefore, with astonishment that the young +general received the enthusiastic letter of the poetess; and, while +showing it to some of his intimate friends, he said, with a shrug +of his shoulders, "Do you understand these extravagances? This +woman is foolish!"</p> +<p>But Madame de Staël did not allow herself to be dismayed by +Bonaparte's coldness and silence--she continued to write new and +more glowing letters.</p> +<p>In one of these letters she went so far in her inconsiderate +enthusiasm as to say, that it was a great error in human +institutions that the gentle and quiet Josephine had united her +faith with his; that she, Madame de Staël, and Bonaparte, were +born for each other, and that Nature seemed to have created a soul +of fire like hers, in order that it might worship a hero such as he +was.</p> +<p>Bonaparte crushed the letter in his hands, and exclaimed, as he +threw it in the fire: "That a blue-stocking, a manufactress of +sentiment, should dare to compare herself to Josephine! I shall not +answer these letters!"</p> +<p>He did not answer them, but Madame de Staël did not, or +rather would not, understand his silence. Little disposed to give +up a resolution once formed, and to see her plans miscarry, Madame +de Staël was now also determined to have her way, and to +approach Bonaparte despite his resistance.</p> +<p>And she did have her way; she succeeded in overcoming all +obstacles, and the interview, so long wished for by her, and so +long avoided by him, at last took place. Madame de Staël was +introduced at the Tuileries, and received by Bonaparte and his +wife. The personal appearance of this intellectual woman was, +however, but little calculated to overcome Bonaparte's prejudice. +The costume of Madame de Staël was on this occasion, as it +always was, fantastic, and utterly devoid of taste, and Napoleon +loved to see women simply but elegantly and tastefully attired. In +this interview with Napoleon, Madame de Staël gave free scope +to her wit; but instead of dazzling him, as she had hoped to do, +she only succeeded in depressing him.</p> +<p>It was while in this frame of mind, and when Madame de +Staël, in her ardor, had endeavored almost to force him to pay +her a compliment, that Napoleon responded to her at least somewhat +indiscreet question: "Who is in your eyes the greatest woman?" with +the sarcastic reply, "She who bears the most children to the +state."</p> +<p>Madame de Staël had come with a heart full of enthusiasm; +in her address to Napoleon, she had called him a "god descended to +earth;" she had come an enthusiastic poetess; she departed an +offended woman. Her wounded vanity never forgave the answer which +seemed to make her ridiculous. She avenged herself, in her +drawing-room, by the biting <i>bon mots</i> which she hurled at +Napoleon and his family, and which were of course faithfully +repeated to the first consul.</p> +<p>But the weapons which this intellectual woman now wielded +against the hero who had scorned her, wounded him more severely +than weapons of steel or iron. In the use of these weapons, Madame +de Staël was his superior, and the consciousness of this +embittered Bonaparte all the more against the lady, who dared prick +the heel of Achilles with the needle of her wit, and strike at the +very point where he was most sensitive.</p> +<p>A long and severe conflict now began between these two greatest +geniuses of that period, a struggle that was carried on by both +with equal bitterness. But Napoleon had outward power on his side, +and could punish the enmity of his witty opponent, as a ruler.</p> +<p>He banished Madame de Staël from Paris, and soon afterward +even from France. She who in Paris had been so ready to sing the +praises of her "god descended from heaven," now went into exile his +enemy and a royalist, to engage, with all her eloquence and genius, +in making proselytes for the exiled Bourbons, and to raise in the +minds of men an invisible but none the less formidable army against +her enemy the great Napoleon.</p> +<p>Madame de Staël soon gave still greater weight to the +flaming eruptions of her hatred of Napoleon, by her own increasing +renown and greatness; and the poetess of Corinne and Delphine soon +became as redoubtable an opponent of Napoleon as England, Russia, +or Austria, could be.</p> +<p>But in the midst of the triumphs she was celebrating in her +exile, Madame de Staël soon began to long ardently to return +to France, which she loved all the more for having been compelled +to leave it. She therefore used all the influence she possessed in +Paris, to obtain from Napoleon permission to return to her home, +but the emperor remained inexorable, even after having read +Delphine.</p> +<p>"I love," said he, "women who make men of themselves just as +little as I love effeminate men. There is an appropriate +<i>rôle</i> for every one in the world. Of what use is this +vagabondizing of fantasy? What does it accomplish? Nothing! All +this is nothing but do rangement of mind and feeling. I dislike +women who throw themselves in my arms, and for this reason, if for +no other, I dislike this woman, who is certainly one of that +number."</p> +<p>Madame de Staël's petitions to be permitted to return to +Paris were therefore rejected, but she was as little disposed to +abandon her purpose now as she was at the time she sought to gain +Bonaparte's good-will. She continued to make attempts to achieve +her aim, for it was not only her country that she wished to +reconquer, but also a million francs which she wished to have paid +to her out of the French treasury.</p> +<p>Her father, Minister Necker, had loaned his suffering country a +million francs, at a time of financial distress and famine, to buy +bread for the starving people, and Louis XVI. had guaranteed, in +writing, that this "national debt of France" should be +returned.</p> +<p>But the revolution that shattered the throne of the unfortunate +king, also buried beneath the ruins of the olden time the promises +and oaths that had been written on parchment and paper.</p> +<p>Madame de Staël now demanded that the emperor should fulfil +the promises of the overthrown king, and that the heir of the +throne of the Bourbons should assume the obligations into which a +Bourbon had entered with her father.</p> +<p>She had once called Napoleon a god descended from heaven; and +she even now wished that he might still prove a god for her, +namely, the god Pluto, who should pour out a million upon her from +his horn of plenty.</p> +<p>As she could not go to France herself, she sent her son to plead +with the emperor, for herself and her children.</p> +<p>Well knowing, however, how difficult it would be, even for her +son to secure an audience of the emperor, she addressed herself to +Queen Hortense in eloquent letters imploring her to exert her +influence in her son's behalf.</p> +<p>Hortense, ever full of pity for misfortune, felt the warmest +sympathy and admiration for the genius of the great poetess, and +interceded for Madame de Staël with great courage and +eloquence. She alone ventured, regardless of Napoleon's frowns and +displeasure, to plead the cause of the poor exile again and again, +and to solicit her recall to France, as a simple act of justice; +she even went so far in her generosity as to extend the +hospitalities of her drawing-rooms to the poetess's son, who was +avoided and fled from by every one else.</p> +<p>Hortense's soft entreaties and representations were at last +successful in soothing the emperor's anger. He allowed Madame de +Staël to return to France, on the condition that she should +never come to Paris or its vicinity; he then also accorded Madame +de Staël's son the long-sought favor of an audience.</p> +<p>This interview of Napoleon with Madame de Staël's son is as +remarkable as it is original. On this occasion, Napoleon openly +expressed his dislike and even his hatred as well of Madame de +Staël as of her father, although he listened with generous +composure to the warm defence of the son and grandson.</p> +<p>Young Staël told the emperor of his mother's longing to +return to her home, and touchingly portrayed the sadness and +unhappiness of her exile.</p> +<p>"Ah, bah!" exclaimed the emperor, "your mother is in a state of +exaltation. I do not say that she is a bad woman. She has wit, and +much intellect, perhaps too much, but hers is an inconsiderate, an +insubordinate spirit. She has grown up in the chaos of a falling +monarchy, and of a revolution, and she has amalgamized the two in +her mind. This is all a source of danger; she would make +proselytes, she must be watched; she does not love me. The +interests of those whom she might compromise, require that I should +not permit her to return to Paris. If I should allow her to do so, +she would place me under the necessity of sending her to +Bicétre, or of imprisoning her in the Temple, before six +months elapsed; that would be extremely disagreeable, for it would +cause a sensation, and injure me in the public opinion. Inform your +mother that my resolution is irrevocable. While I live, she shall +not return to Paris."</p> +<p>It was in vain that young Staël assured him in his mother's +name, that she would avoid giving him the least occasion for +displeasure, and that she would live in complete retirement if +permitted to return to Paris.</p> +<p>"Ah, yes! I know the value of fine promises!" exclaimed the +emperor. "I know what the result would be, and I repeat it, it +cannot be! She would be the rallying-point of the whole Faubourg +St. Germain. She live in retirement! Visits would be made her, and +she would return them; she would commit a thousand indiscretions, +and say a thousand humorous things, to which she attaches no +importance, but which annoy me. My government is no jest, I take +every thing seriously; I wish this to be understood, and you may +proclaim it to the whole world!"</p> +<p>Young Staël had, however, the courage to continue his +entreaties; he even went so far as to inquire in all humility for +the grounds of the emperor's ill-will against his mother. He said +he had been assured that Necker's last work was more particularly +the cause of the emperor's displeasure, and that he believed Madame +de Staël had assisted in writing it. This was, however, not +so, and he could solemnly assure the emperor that his mother had +taken no part in it whatever. Besides, Necker had also done full +justice to the emperor in this work.</p> +<p>"Justice, indeed! He calls me the 'necessary man.' The necessary +man! and yet, according to his book, the first step necessary to be +taken, was to take off this necessary man's head! Yes, I was +necessary to repair all that your grandfather had destroyed! It is +he who overthrew the monarchy, and brought Louis XVI. to the +scaffold!"</p> +<p>"Sire!" exclaimed the young man, deeply agitated, "you are then +not aware that my grandfather's estates were confiscated because he +defended the king!"</p> +<p>"A fine defence, indeed! If I give a man poison, and then, when +he lies in the death-struggle, give him an antidote, can you then +maintain that I wished to save this man? It was in this manner that +M. Necker defended Louis XVI. The confiscations of which you speak +prove nothing. Robespierre's property was also confiscated. Not +even Robespierre, Marat, and Danton, have brought such misery upon +France as Necker; he it is who made the revolution. You did not see +it, but I was present in those days of horror and public distress; +but I give you my word that they shall return no more while I live! +Your schemers write out their utopias, the simple-minded read these +dreams, they are printed and believed in; the common welfare is in +everybody's mouth, and soon there is no more bread for the people; +it revolts, and that is the usual result of all these fine +theories! Your grandfather is to blame for the orgies that brought +France to desperation."</p> +<p>Then lowering his voice, from the excited, almost angry tone in +which he had been speaking, to a milder one, the emperor approached +the young man, who stood before him, pale, and visibly agitated. +With that charming air of friendly intimacy that no one knew so +well how to assume as Napoleon, he gently pinched the tip of the +young man's ear, the emperor's usual way of making peace with any +one to whom he wished well, after a little difficulty.</p> +<p>"You are still young," said he; "if you possessed my age and +experience, you would judge of these matters differently. Your +candor has not offended, but pleased me; I like to see a son defend +his mother's cause! Your mother has entrusted you with a very +difficult commission, and you have executed it with much spirit. It +gives me pleasure to have conversed with you, for I love the young +when they are straightforward and not too 'argumentative.' But I +can nevertheless give you no false hopes! You will accomplish +nothing! If your mother were in prison, I should not hesitate to +grant you her release. But she is in exile, and nothing can induce +me to recall her."</p> +<p>"But, sire, is one not quite as unhappy far from home and +friends, as in prison?"</p> +<p>"Ah, bah! those are romantic notions! You have heard that said +about your mother. She is truly greatly to be pitied. With the +exception of Paris, she has the whole of Europe for her +prison!"</p> +<p>"But, sire, all her friends are in Paris!"</p> +<p>"With her intellect, she will be able to acquire new ones +everywhere. Moreover, I cannot understand why she should desire to +be in Paris. Why does she so long to place herself in the immediate +reach of tyranny? You see I pronounce the decisive word! I am +really unable to comprehend it. Can she not go to Rome, Berlin, +Vienna, Milan, or London? Yes, London would be the right place! +There she can perpetrate libels whenever she pleases. At all of +these places I will leave her undisturbed with the greatest +pleasure; but Paris is my residence, and there I will tolerate +those only who love me! On this the world can depend. I know what +would happen, if I should permit your mother to return to Paris. +She would commit new follies; she would corrupt those who surround +me; she would corrupt Garat, as she once corrupted the tribunal; of +course, she would promise all things, but she would, nevertheless, +not avoid engaging in politics."</p> +<p>"Sire," I can assure you that my mother does not occupy herself +with politics at all; she devotes herself exclusively to the +society of her friends, and to literature."</p> +<p>"That is the right word, and I fully understand it. One talks +politics while talking of literature, of morals, of the fine arts, +and of every conceivable thing! If your mother were in Paris, her +latest <i>bon mots</i> and phrases would be recited to me daily; +perhaps they would be only invented; but I tell you I will have +nothing of the kind in the city in which I reside! It would be best +for her to go to London; advise her to do so. As far as your +grandfather is concerned, I have certainly not said too much; M. +Necker had no administrative ability. Once more, inform your mother +that I shall never permit her to return to Paris."</p> +<p>"But if sacred interests should require her presence here for a +few days, your majesty would at least--"</p> +<p>"What? Sacred interests? What does that mean?"</p> +<p>"Sire," the presence of my mother will be necessary, in order to +procure from your majesty's government the return of a sacred +debt."</p> +<p>"Ah, bah! sacred! Are not all the debts of the state +sacred?"</p> +<p>"Without doubt, sire; but ours is accompanied by peculiar +circumstances."</p> +<p>"Peculiar circumstances!" exclaimed the emperor, rising to +terminate the long interview, that began to weary him. "What +creditor of the state does not say the same of his debt? Moreover, +I know too little of your relations toward my government. This +matter does not concern me, and I will not be mixed up in it. If +the laws are for you, all will go well without my interference; but +if it requires influence, I shall have nothing to do with it, for I +should be rather against than for you!"</p> +<p>"Sire," said young Staël, venturing to speak once more, as +the emperor was on the point of leaving, "sire, my brother and I +were anxious to settle in France; but how could we live in a land +in which our mother would not be allowed to live with us +everywhere?"</p> +<p>Already standing on the threshold of the door, the emperor +turned to him hastily. "I have no desire whatever to have you +settle here," said he; "on the contrary. I advise you not to do so. +Go to England. There they have a <i>penchant</i> for Genevese, +parlor-politicians, etc.; therefore, go to England; for I must say, +I should be rather ill than well disposed toward you<a name= +"FNanchor35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35">[35]</a>!"</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_35"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor35">[35]</a> Bourrienne, vol. viii., p. 355.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV.3"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<h3>MADAME DE STAËL'S RETURN TO PARIS.</h3> +<br> +<p>Madame de Staël returned to her cherished France with the +restoration. She came back thirsting for new honor and renown, and +determined, above all, to have her work republished in Germany, its +publication having been once suppressed by the imperial police. She +entertained the pleasing hope that the new court would forget that +she was Necker's daughter, receive her with open arms, and accord +her the influence to which her active mind and genius entitled +her.</p> +<p>But she was laboring under an error, by which she was not +destined to be long deceived. She was received at court with the +cold politeness which is more terrible than insult. The king, while +speaking of her with his friends, called Madame de Staël "a +Chateaubriand in petticoats." The Duchess d'Angoulême seemed +never to see the celebrated poetess, and never addressed a word to +her; the rest of the court met Madame de Staël armed to the +teeth with all the hatred and prejudices of the olden time.</p> +<p>It was also in vain that Madame de Staël endeavored to act +an important part at the new court; they refused to regard her as +an authority or power, but treated her as a mere authoress; her +counsel was ridiculed, and they dared even to question the renown +of M. Necker.</p> +<p>"I am unfortunate," said Madame de Staël to Countess +Ducayla; "Napoleon hated me because he believed me to possess +intellect; these people repel me because I at least possess +ordinary human understanding! I can certainly get on very well +without them; but, as my presence displeases them, I shall, at +least, endeavor to get my money from them."</p> +<p>The "sacred debt" had not been paid under the empire, and it was +now Madame de Staël's intention to obtain from the king what +the emperor had refused.</p> +<p>She was well aware of the influence which Countess Ducayla +exercised over Louis XVIII., and she now hastened to call on the +beautiful countess--whose acquaintance she had made under peculiar +circumstances, in a romantic love intrigue--in order to renew the +friendship they had then vowed to each other.</p> +<p>The countess had not forgotten this friendship, and she was now +grateful for the service Madame de Staël had then shown her. +She helped to secure the liquidation of the sacred debt, and, upon +the order of King Louis, the million was paid over to Madame de +Staël. "But," says the countess, in her memoirs, "I believe +the recovery of this million cost Madame de Staël four hundred +thousand francs, besides a set of jewelry that was worth at least +one hundred thousand."</p> +<p>The countess's purse and the jewelry case, however, doubtlessly +bore evidence that she might as well have said "I know" as "I +believe."</p> +<p>Besides the four hundred thousand francs and the jewelry, Madame +de Staël also gave the countess a piece of advice. "Make the +most of the favor you now enjoy," said she to her; "but do so +quickly, for, as matters are now conducted, I fear that the +restoration will soon have to be restored."</p> +<p>"What do you mean by that?" asked the countess, smiling.</p> +<p>"I mean that, with the exception of the king, who perhaps does +not say all he thinks, the others are still doing precisely as they +always have done, and Heaven knows to what extremities their folly +is destined to bring them! They mock at the old soldiers and assist +the young priests, and this is the best means of ruining +France."</p> +<p>Countess Ducayla considered this prediction of her intellectual +friend as a mere cloud with which discontent and disappointed +ambition had obscured the otherwise clear vision of Madame de +Staël, and ridiculed the idea, little dreaming how soon her +words were to be fulfilled.</p> +<p>Madame de Staël consoled herself for her cold reception at +court, by receiving the best society of Paris in her parlors, and +entertaining them with biting <i>bon mots</i> and witty +<i>persiflage</i>, at the expense of the grand notabilities, who +had suddenly arisen with their imposing genealogical trees out of +the ruins and oblivion of the past.</p> +<p>Madame de Staël now also remembered the kindness Queen +Hortense had shown her during her exile; and not to her only, but +also to her friend, Madame Récamier, who had also been +exiled by Napoleon, not, however, as his enemies said, "because she +was Madame de Staël's friend," but simply because she +patronized and belonged to the so-called "little church." The +"little church" was an organization born of the spirit of +opposition of the Faubourg St. Germain, and a portion of the +Catholic clergy, and was one of those things appertaining to the +internal relations of France that were most annoying and +disagreeable to the emperor.</p> +<p>Queen Hortense had espoused the cause of Madame de Staël +and of Madame Récamier with generous warmth. She had +eloquently interceded for the recall of both from their exile; and, +now that the course of events had restored them to their home, both +ladies came to the queen to thank her for her kindness and +generosity.</p> +<p>Louise de Cochelet has described this visit of Madame de +Staël so wittily, with so much <i>naïveté</i>, and +with such peculiar local coloring, that we cannot refrain from +laying a literal translation of the same before the reader.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V.3"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<h3>MADAME DE STAËL'S VISIT TO QUEEN HORTENSE.</h3> +<br> +<p>Louise de Cochelet relates as follows: "Madame de Staël and +Madame Récamier had begged permission of the queen to visit +her, for the purpose of tendering their thanks. The queen invited +them to visit her at St. Leu, on the following day.</p> +<p>"She asked my advice as to which of the members of her social +circle were best qualified to cope with Madame de Staël.</p> +<p>"'I, for my part,' said the queen, 'have not the courage to take +the lead in the conversation; one cannot be very intellectual when +sad at heart, and I fear my dullness will infect the others.'</p> +<p>"We let quite a number of amiable persons pass before us in +review, and I amused myself at the mention of each new name, by +saying, 'He is too dull for Madame de Staël.'</p> +<p>"The queen laughed, and the list of those who were to be invited +was at last agreed upon. We all awaited the arrival of the two +ladies in great suspense. The obligation imposed on us by the +queen, of being intellectual at all hazards, had the effect of +conjuring up a somewhat embarrassed and stupid expression to our +faces. We presented the appearance of actors on the stage looking +at each other, while awaiting the rise of the curtain. Jests and +<i>bon mots</i> followed each other in rapid succession until the +arrival of the carriage recalled to our faces an expression of +official earnestness.</p> +<p>"Madame Récamier, still young, and very handsome, and +with an expression of <i>naïveté</i> in her charming +countenance, made the impression on me of being a young lady in +love, carefully watched over by too severe a <i>duenna,</i> her +timid, gentle manner contrasted so strongly with the somewhat too +masculine self-consciousness of her companion. Madame de Staël +is, however, generally admitted to have been good and kind, +particularly to this friend, and I only speak of the impression she +made on one to whom she was a stranger, at first sight.</p> +<p>"Madame de Staël's extremely dark complexion, her original +toilet, her perfectly bare shoulders, of which either might have +been very beautiful, but which harmonized very poorly with each +other; her whole <i>ensemble</i> was far from approximating to the +standard of the ideal I had formed of the authoress of Delphine and +Corinne. I had almost hoped to find in her one of the heroines she +had so beautifully portrayed, and I was therefore struck dumb with +astonishment. But, after the first shock, I was at least compelled +to acknowledge that she possessed very beautiful and expressive +eyes; and yet it seemed impossible for me to find anything in her +countenance on which love could fasten, although I have been told +that she has often inspired that sentiment.</p> +<p>"When I afterward expressed my astonishment to the queen, she +replied: 'It is, perhaps, because she is capable of such great love +herself, that she succeeds in inspiring others with love; moreover, +it flatters a man's self-love to be noticed by such a woman, and, +in the end, one can dispense with beauty, when one has Madame de +Staël's intellect.'</p> +<p>"The queen inquired after Madame de Staël's daughter, who +had not come with her, and who was said to be truly charming. I +believe the young gentlemen of our party could have confronted the +beautiful eyes of the daughter with still greater amiability than +those of the mother, but an attack of toothache had prevented her +coming.</p> +<p>"After the first compliments and salutations, the queen proposed +to the ladies to take a look at her park. They seated themselves on +the cushions of the queen's large <i>char à banc</i>, which +has become historic on account of the many high and celebrated +personages who have been driven in it at different times. The +Emperor Napoleon was, however, not one of this number, as he never +visited St. Leu; but, with this exception, there are few of the +great and celebrated who have not been seated in it at one time or +another.</p> +<p>"As they drove through the park and the forest of Montmorency, +in a walk only, the conversation was kept up as in the parlor, and +the consumption of intellectuality was continued. The beautiful +neighborhood, that reminded one of Switzerland, as it was remarked, +was duly admired. Then Italy was spoken of. The queen, who had been +somewhat <i>distraite</i>, and had good cause to be somewhat sad, +and disposed to commune with herself, addressed Madame de +Staël with the question, 'You have been in Italy, then?'</p> +<p>"Madame de Staël was, as it were, transfixed with dismay, +and the gentlemen exclaimed with one accord: 'And Corinne? and +Corinne?'</p> +<p>"'Ah, that is true,' said the queen, in embarrassment, +awakening, as it were, from her dreams.</p> +<p>"'Is it possible,' asked M. de Canonville, 'your majesty has not +read Corinne?'</p> +<p>"'Yes--no,' said the queen, visibly confused, 'I shall read it +again,' and, in order to conceal an emotion that I alone could +understand, she abruptly changed the topic of conversation.</p> +<p>"She might have said the truth, and simply informed them that +the book had appeared just at the time her eldest son had died in +Holland. The king, disquieted at seeing her so profoundly given up +to her grief, believed, in accordance with Corvisart's advice, that +it was necessary to arouse her from this state of mental dejection +at all hazards. It was determined that I should read 'Corinne' to +her. She was not in a condition to pay much attention to it, but +she had involuntarily retained some remembrance of this romance. +Since then, I had several times asked permission of the queen to +read Corinne to her, but she had always refused. 'No, no,' said +she, 'not yet; this romance has identified itself with my sorrow. +Its name alone recalls the most fearful period of my whole life. I +have not yet the courage to renew these painful impressions.'</p> +<p>"I, alone, had therefore been able to divine what had +embarrassed and moved the queen so much when she replied to the +question addressed to her concerning Corinne. But the authoress +could, of course, only interpret it as indicating indifference for +her master-work, and I told the queen on the following day that it +would have been better to have confessed the cause of her confusion +to Madame de Staël.</p> +<p>"'Madame de Staël would not have understood me,' said she; +'now, I am lost to her good opinion, she will consider me a +simpleton, but it was not the time to speak of myself, and of my +painful reminiscences.'</p> +<p>"The large <i>char à banc</i> was always preferred to the +handsomest carriages (although it was very plain, and consisted of +two wooden benches covered with cushions, placed opposite each +other), because it was more favorable for conversation. But it +afforded no security against inclement weather, and this we were +soon to experience. The rain poured in streams, and we all returned +to the castle thoroughly wet. A room was there prepared and offered +the ladies, in which they might repair the disarrangement of their +toilet caused by the storm. I remained with them long, kept there +by the questions of Madame de Staël concerning the queen and +her son, which questions were fairly showered upon me. There was +now no longer a question of intellectuality, but merely of washing, +hair-dressing, and reposing, with an entire abandonment of the +display of mind, the copiousness of which I had been compelled to +admire but a moment before. I said to myself: 'There they are, face +to face, like the rest of the world, with material life, these two +celebrated women, who are everywhere sought after, and received +with such marked consideration. There they are, as wet as myself, +and as little poetic.' We were really behind the curtain, but it +was shortly to rise again.</p> +<p>"Voices were heard under the window; among other voices, a +German accent was audible, and both ladies immediately exclaimed: +'Ah, that is Prince Augustus of Prussia!'</p> +<p>"No one expected the prince, and this meeting with the two +ladies had therefore the appearance of being accidental. He had +come merely to pay the queen a visit, and it was so near +dinner-time, that politeness required that he should be invited to +remain. And this was doubtless what he wished.</p> +<p>"The prince had the queen on his right, and Madame de Staël +on his left. The servant of the latter had laid a little green twig +on her napkin, which she twisted between her fingers while +speaking, as was her habit. The conversation was animated, and it +was amusing to observe Madame de Staël gesticulating with the +little twig in her fingers. One might have supposed that some fairy +had given her this talisman, and that her genius was dependent upon +this little twig.</p> +<p>"Constantinople, with which city several of the gentlemen were +well acquainted, was now the topic of conversation. Madame de +Staël thought it would be a delightful task for an +intellectual woman, to turn the sultan's head, and then to compel +him to give his Turks a constitution. After dinner, freedom of the +press was also a topic of conversation.</p> +<p>"Madame de Staël astonished me, not only by the brilliancy +of her genius, but also by the deep earnestness with which she +treated questions of that kind, for until then custom had not +allowed women to discuss such matters. At entertainments, +philosophy, morals, sentiment, heroism, and the like, had been the +subjects of conversation, but the emperor monopolized politics. His +era was that of actions, and, we may say it with pride, of great +actions, while the era that followed was essentially that of great +words, and of political and literary controversies.</p> +<p>"Madame de Staël spoke to the queen of her motto: 'Do that +which is right, happen what may.'</p> +<p>"'In my exile, which you so kindly endeavored to terminate,' +said she, 'I often repeated this motto, and thought of you while +doing so.'</p> +<p>"While speaking thus, her countenance was illumined by the +reflection of inward emotion, and I found her beautiful. She was no +longer the woman of mind only, but also the woman of heart and +feeling, and I comprehended at this moment how charming she could +be.</p> +<p>"Afterward, she had a long conversation with the queen touching +the emperor. 'Why was he so angry with me?' asked she. 'He could +not have known how much I admired him! I will see him--I shall go +to Elba! Do you think he would receive me well? I was born to +worship this man, and he has repelled me.'</p> +<p>'Ah, madame,' replied the queen, 'I have often heard the emperor +say that he had a great mission to fulfil, and that he could +compare his labors with the exertions of a man who, having the +summit of a steep mountain ever before his eyes, strains every +nerve to attain it, ever toiling painfully upward, and allowing his +progress to be arrested by no obstacle whatever. "All the worse for +those," said he, "who meet me on my course--I can show them no +consideration."'</p> +<p>"'You met him on his course, madame; perhaps he would have +extended you a helping hand, after having reached the summit of his +mountain.'</p> +<p>"'I must speak with him,' said Madame de Staël; 'I have +been injured in his opinion.'</p> +<p>"'I think so too,' replied the queen, 'but you would judge him +ill, if you considered him capable of hating any one. He believed +you to be his enemy, and he feared you, which was something very +unusual for him,' added she, with a smile. 'Now that he is +unfortunate, you will show yourself his friend, and prove yourself +to be such, and I am satisfied that he will receive you well.'</p> +<p>"Madame de Staël also occupied herself a great deal with +the young princes, but she met with worse success with them than +with us. It was perhaps in order to judge of their mental capacity, +that she showered unsuitable questions upon them.</p> +<p>"'Do you love your uncle?'</p> +<p>"'Very much, madame!'</p> +<p>"'And will you also be as fond of war as he is?'</p> +<p>"'Yes, if it did not cause so much misery.'</p> +<p>'Is it true that he often made you repeat a fable commencing +with the words, "The strongest is always in the right?"'</p> +<p>"'Madame, he often made us repeat fables, but this one not +oftener than any other.'</p> +<p>"Young Prince Napoleon, a boy of astounding mental capacity and +precocious judgment, answered all these questions with the greatest +composure, and, at the conclusion of this examination, turned to me +and said quite audibly: 'This lady asks a great many questions. Is +that what you call being intellectual?'</p> +<p>"After the departure of our distinguished visitors, we all +indulged in an expression of opinion concerning them, and young +Prince Napoleon was the one upon whom the ladies had made the least +flattering impression, but he only ventured to intimate as much in +a low voice.</p> +<p>"I for my part had been more dazzled than gladdened by this +visit. One could not avoid admiring this genius in spite of its +inconsiderateness, and its wanderings, but there was nothing +pleasing, nothing graceful and womanly, in Madame de Staël's +manner<a name="FNanchor36"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_36">[36]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_36"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor36">[36]</a> Cochelet, Mémoires sur la Reine +Hortense, vol. i., pp. 429-440.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI.3"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<h3>THE OLD AND THE NEW ERA.</h3> +<br> +<p>The restoration was accomplished. The allies had at last +withdrawn from the kingdom, and Louis XVIII. was now the +independent ruler of France. In him, in the returned members of his +family, and in the emigrants who were pouring into the country from +all quarters, was represented the old era of France, the era of +despotic royal power, of brilliant manners, of intrigues, of +aristocratic ideas, of ease and luxury. Opposed to them stood the +France of the new era, the generation formed by Napoleon and the +revolution, the new aristocracy, who possessed no other ancestors +than merit and valorous deeds, an aristocracy that had nothing to +relate of the <i>oeil de boeuf</i> and the <i>petites maisons</i>, +but an aristocracy that could tell of the battle-field and of the +hospitals in which their wounds had been healed.</p> +<p>These two parties stood opposed to each other.</p> +<p>Old and young France now carried on an hourly, continuous +warfare at the court of Louis XVIII., with this difference, +however, that young France, hitherto ever victorious, now +experienced a continuous series of reverses and humiliations. Old +France was now victorious. Not victorious through its gallantry and +merit, but through its past, which it endeavored to connect with +the present, without considering the chasm which lay between.</p> +<p>True, King Louis had agreed, in the treaty of the 11th of April, +that none of his subjects should be deprived of their titles and +dignities; and the new dukes, princes, marshals, counts, and +barons, could therefore appear at court, but they played but a sad +and humiliating <i>rôle</i>, and they were made to feel that +they were only tolerated, and not welcome.</p> +<p>The gentlemen who, before the revolution, had been entitled to +seats in the royal equipages, still retained this privilege, but +the doors of these equipages were never opened to the gentlemen of +the new Napoleonic nobility. "The ladies of the old era still +retained their <i>tabouret,</i> as well as their grand and little +<i>entrée</i> to the Tuileries and the Louvre, and it would +have been considered very arrogant if the duchesses of the new era +had made claim to similar honors."</p> +<p>It was the Duchess d'Angoulême who took the lead and set +the Faubourg St. Germain an example of intolerance and arrogant +pretensions in ignoring the empire. She was the most unrelenting +enemy of the new era, born of the revolution, and of its +representatives; it is true, however, that she, who was the +daughter of the beheaded royal pair, and who had herself so long +languished in the Temple, had been familiar with the horrors of the +revolution in their saddest and most painful features. She now +determined, as she could no longer punish, to at least forget this +era, and to seem to be entirely oblivious of its existence.</p> +<p>At one of the first dinners given by the king to the allies, the +Duchess d'Angoulême, who sat next to the King of Bavaria, +pointed to the Grand-duke of Baden, and asked: "Is not this the +prince who married a princess of Bonaparte's making? What weakness +to ally one's self in such a manner with that general!"</p> +<p>The duchess did not or would not remember that the King of +Bavaria, as well as the Emperor of Austria, who sat on her other +side, and could well hear her words, had also allied themselves +with General Bonaparte.</p> +<p>After she had again installed herself in the rooms she had +formerly occupied in the Tuileries, the duchess asked old Dubois, +who had formerly tuned her piano, and had retained this office +under the empire, and who now showed her the new and elegant +instruments provided by Josephine--she asked him: "What has become +of my piano?"</p> +<p>This "piano" had been an old and worn-out concern, and the +duchess was surprised at not finding it, as though almost thirty +years had not passed since she had seen it last; as though the 10th +of August, 1792, the day on which the populace demolished the +Tuileries, had never been!</p> +<p>But the period from 1795 to 1814 was ignored on principle, and +the Bourbons seemed really to have quite forgotten that more than +one night lay between the last levee of King Louis XVI. and the +levee of to-day of King Louis XVIII. They seemed astonished that +persons they had known as children had grown up since they last saw +them, and insisted on treating every one as they had done in +1789.</p> +<p>After the Empress Josephine's death, Count d'Artois paid a visit +to Malmaison, a place that had hardly existed before the +revolution, and which owed its creation to Josephine's love and +taste for art.</p> +<p>The empress, who had a great fondness for botany, had caused +magnificent greenhouses to be erected at Malmaison; in these all +the plants and flowers of the world had been collected. Knowing her +taste, all the princes of Europe had sent her, in the days of her +grandeur, in order to afford her a moment's gratification, the +rarest exotics. The Prince Regent of England had even found means, +during the war with France, to send her a number of rare +West-Indian plants. In this manner her collection had become the +richest and most complete in all Europe.</p> +<p>Count d'Artois, as above said, had come to Malmaison to view +this celebrated place of sojourn of Josephine, and, while being +conducted through the greenhouses, he exclaimed, as though he +recognized his old flowers of 1789: "Ah, here are our plants of +Trianon!"</p> +<p>And, like their masters the Bourbons, the emigrants had also +returned to France with the same ideas with which they had fled the +country. They endeavored, in all their manners, habits, and +pretensions, to begin again precisely where they had left off in +1789. They had so lively an appreciation of their own merit, that +they took no notice whatever of other people's, and yet their +greatest merit consisted in having emigrated.</p> +<p>For this merit they now demanded a reward.</p> +<p>All of these returned emigrants demanded rewards, positions, and +pensions, and considered it incomprehensible that those who were +already in possession were not at once deprived of them. Intrigues +were the order of the day, and in general the representatives of +the old era succeeded in supplanting those of the new era in +offices and pensions as well as in court honors. All the high +positions in the army were filled by the marquises, dukes, and +counts, of the old era, who had sewed tapestry and picked silk in +Coblentz, while the France of the new era was fighting on the +battle-field, and they now began to teach the soldiers of the +empire the old drill of 1780.</p> +<p>The etiquette of the olden time was restored, and the same +luxurious and lascivious disposition prevailed among these +cavaliers of the former century which had been approved in the +<i>oeil de boeuf</i> and in the <i>petites maisons</i> of the old +era.</p> +<p>These old cavaliers felt contempt for the young Frenchmen of the +new era on account of their pedantic morality; they scornfully +regarded men who perhaps had not more than one mistress, and to +whom the wife of a friend was so sacred, that they never dared to +approach her with a disrespectful thought even.</p> +<p>These legitimist gentlemen entertained themselves chiefly with +reflections over the past, and their own grandeur. In the midst of +the many new things by which they were surrounded, some of which +they unfortunately found it impossible to ignore, it was their +sweetest relaxation to give themselves up entirely to the +remembrance of the old <i>régime</i>, and when they spoke of +this era, they forgot their age and debility, and were once more +the young <i>roués</i> of the <i>oeil de boeuf</i>.</p> +<p>Once in the antechamber of King Louis XVIII., while the Marquis +de Chimène and the Duke de Lauraguais, two old heroes of the +frivolous era, in which the boudoir and the <i>petites maisons</i> +were the battle-field, and the myrtle instead of the laurel the +reward of victory, while these gentlemen were conversing of some +occurrence under the old government, the Duke de Lauraguais, in +order to more nearly fix the date of the occurrence of which they +were speaking, remarked to the marquis, "It was in the year in +which I had my <i>liaison</i> with your wife."</p> +<p>"Ah, yes," replied the marquis, with perfect composure, "that +was in the year 1776."</p> +<p>Neither of the gentlemen found anything strange in this allusion +to the past. The <i>liaison</i> in question had been a perfectly +commonplace matter, and it would have been as ridiculous in the +duke to deny it as for the marquis to have shown any +indignation.</p> +<p>The wisest and most enlightened of all these gentlemen was their +head, King Louis XVIII. himself.</p> +<p>He was well aware of the errors of those who surrounded him, and +placed but little confidence in the representatives of the old +court. But he was nevertheless powerless to withdraw himself from +their influence, and after he had accorded the people the charter, +in opposition to the will and opinion of the whole royal family, of +his whole court and of his ministers, and had sworn to support it +in spite of the opposition of "Monsieur" and the Prince de +Condé, who was in the habit of calling the charter +"<i>Mademoiselle la Constitution de 1791,</i>" Louis withdrew to +the retirement of his apartments in the Tuileries, and left his +minister Blacas to attend to the little details of government, the +king deeming the great ones only worthy of his attention.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII.3"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<h3>KING LOUIS XVIII.</h3> +<br> +<p>King Louis XVIII. was, however, in the retirement of his palace, +still the most enlightened and unprejudiced of the representatives +of the old era; he clearly saw many things to which his advisers +purposely closed their eyes. To his astonishment, he observed that +the men who had risen to greatness under Bonaparte, and who had +fallen to the king along with the rest of his inheritance, were not +so ridiculous, awkward, and foolish, as they had been represented +to be.</p> +<p>"I had been made to suppose," said Louis XVIII., "that these +generals of Bonaparte were peasants and ruffians, but such is not +the case. He schooled these men well. They are polite, and quite as +shrewd as the representatives of the old court. We must conduct +ourselves very cautiously toward them."</p> +<p>This kind of recognition of the past which sometimes escaped +Louis XVIII., was a subject of bitter displeasure to the gentlemen +of the old era, and they let the king perceive it.</p> +<p>King Louis felt this, and, in order to conciliate his court, he +often saw himself compelled to humiliate "the <i>parvenus</i>" who +had forced themselves among the former.</p> +<p>Incessant quarrelling and intriguing within the Tuileries was +the consequence, and Louis was often dejected, uneasy, and angry, +in the midst of the splendor that surrounded him.</p> +<p>"I am angry with myself and the others," said he on one occasion +to an intimate friend. "An invisible and secret power is ever +working in opposition to my will, frustrating my plans, and +paralyzing my authority."</p> +<p>"And yet you are king!"</p> +<p>"Undoubtedly I am king!" exclaimed Louis, angrily; "but am I +also master? The king is he who all his life long receives +ambassadors, gives tiresome audiences, listens to annihilating +discourses, goes in state to Notre-Dame, dines in public once a +year, and is pompously buried in St. Denis when he dies. The master +is he who commands and can enforce obedience, who puts an end to +intriguing, and can silence old women as well as priests. Bonaparte +was king and master at the same time! His ministers were his +clerks, the kings his brothers merely his agents, and his courtiers +nothing more than his servants. His ministers vied with his senate +in servility, and his <i>Corps Législatif</i> sought to +outdo his senate and the church in subserviency. He was an +extraordinary and an enviable man, for he had not only devoted +servants and faithful friends, but also an accommodating +church<a name="FNanchor37"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_37">[37]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_37"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor37">[37]</a> Mémoires d'une Femme de +Qualité, vol. v., p. 35.</blockquote> +<p>King Louis XVIII., weary of the incessant intrigues with which +his courtiers occupied themselves, withdrew himself more and more +into the retirement of his palace, and left the affairs of state to +the care of M. de Blacas, who, with all his arrogance and egotism, +knew very little about governing.</p> +<p>The king preferred to entertain himself with his friends, to +read them portions of his memoirs, to afford them an opportunity of +admiring his verses, and to regale them with his witty and not +always chaste anecdotes; he preferred all these things to tedious +and useless disputes with his ministers. He had given his people +the charter, and his ministers might now govern in accordance with +this instrument.</p> +<p>"The people demand liberty," said the king. "I give them enough +of it to protect them against despotism, without according them +unbridled license. Formerly, the taxes appointed by my mere will +would have made me odious; now the people tax themselves. +Hereafter, I have nothing to do but to confer benefits and show +mercy, for the responsibility for all the evil that is done will +rest entirely with my ministers<a name="FNanchor38"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_38">[38]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_38"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor38">[38]</a> Mémoires d'une Femme de +Qualité, vol. i., p. 410.</blockquote> +<p>While his ministers were thus governing according to the +charter, and "doing evil," the king, who now had nothing but "good" +to do, was busying himself in settling the weighty questions of the +old etiquette.</p> +<p>One of the most important features of this etiquette was the +question of the fashions that should now be introduced at court; +for it was, of course, absurd to think of adopting the fashions of +the empire, and thereby recognize at court that there had really +been a change since 1789.</p> +<p>They desired to effect a counter-revolution, not only in +politics, but also in fashions; and this important matter occupied +the attention of the grand dignitaries of the court for weeks +before the first grand levee that the king was to hold in the +Tuilerics. But, as nothing was accomplished by their united wisdom, +the king finally held a private consultation with his most intimate +gentleman and lady friends on this important matter, that had, +unfortunately, not been determined by the charter.</p> +<p>The grand-master of ceremonies, M. de Bregé, declared to +the king that it was altogether improper to continue the fashions +of the empire at the court of the legitimate King of France.</p> +<p>"We are, therefore, to have powder, coats-of-mail, etc.," +observed the king.</p> +<p>M. de Bregé replied, with all gravity, that he had given +this subject his earnest consideration day and night, but that he +had not yet arrived at a conclusion worthy of the grand-master of +ceremonies of the legitimate king.</p> +<p>"Sire," said the Duke de Chartres, smiling, "I, for my part, +demand knee-breeches, shoe-buckles, and the cue."</p> +<p>"But I," exclaimed the Prince de Poir, who had remained in +France during the empire, "I demand damages, if we are to be +compelled to return to the old fashions and clothing before the new +ones are worn out!"</p> +<p>The grand-master of ceremonies replied to this jest at his +expense with a profound sigh only; and the king at last put an end +to this great question, by deciding that every one should be +permitted to follow the old or new fashions, according to his +individual taste and inclination.</p> +<p>The grand-master of ceremonies was compelled to submit to this +royal decision; but in doing so he observed, with profound sadness: +"Your majesty is pleased to smile, but dress makes half the man; +uniformity of attire confounds the distinctions of rank, and leads +directly to an agrarian law."</p> +<p>"Yes, marquis," exclaimed the king, "you think precisely as +Figaro. Many a man laughs at a judge in a short dress, who trembles +before a procurator in a long gown<a name="FNanchor39"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_39">[39]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_39"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor39">[39]</a> Mémoires d'une Femme de +Qualité, vol. i., p. 384.</blockquote> +<p>But while the king suppressed the counter-revolution in +fashions, he allowed the grand-master of ceremonies to reintroduce +the entire etiquette of the old era. In conformity with this +etiquette, the king could not rise from his couch in the morning +until the doors had been opened to all those who had the <i>grande +entrée</i>--that is to say, to the officers of his +household, the marshals of France, several favored ladies; further, +to his <i>cafetier</i>, his tailor, the bearer of his slippers, his +barber, with two assistants, his watchmaker, and his +apothecaries.</p> +<p>The king was dressed in the presence of all these favored +individuals, etiquette permitting him only to adjust his necktie +himself, but requiring him, however, to empty his pockets of their +contents of the previous day.</p> +<p>The usage of the old era, "the public dinner of the royal +family," was also reintroduced; and the grand-master of ceremonies +not only found it necessary to make preparations for this dinner +weeks beforehand, but the king was also compelled to occupy himself +with this matter, and to appoint for this great ceremony the +necessary "officers of provisions"--that is to say, the +wine-taster, the cup-bearers, the grand doorkeepers, and the +cook-in-chief.</p> +<p>At this first grand public dinner, the celebrated and +indispensable "ship" of the royal board stood again immediately in +front of the king's seat. This old "ship" of the royal board, an +antique work of art which the city of Paris had once presented to a +King of France, had also been lost in the grand shipwreck of 1792, +and the grand-master of ceremonies had been compelled to have a new +one made by the court jeweller for the occasion. This "ship" was a +work in gilded silver, in form of a vessel deprived of its masts +and rigging; and in the same, between two golden plates, were +contained the perfumed napkins of the king. In accordance with the +old etiquette, no one, not even the princes and princesses, could +pass the "ship" without making a profound obeisance, which they +were also compelled to make on passing the royal couch.</p> +<p>The king restored yet another fashion of the old era--the +fashion of the "royal lady-friends."</p> +<p>Like his brother the Count d'Artois, Louis XVIII. also had his +lady-friends; and among these the beautiful and witty Countess +Ducayla occupied the first position. It was her office to amuse the +king, and dissipate the dark clouds that were only too often to be +seen on the brow of King Louis, who was chained to his arm-chair by +ill-health, weakness, and excessive corpulency. She narrated to him +the <i>chronique scandaleuse</i> of the imperial court; she +reminded him of the old affairs of his youth, which the king knew +how to relate with so much wit and humor, and which he so loved to +relate; it devolved upon her to examine the letters of the "black +cabinet," and to read the more interesting ones to the king.</p> +<p>King Louis was not ungrateful to his royal friend, and he +rewarded her in a truly royal manner for sometimes banishing +<i>ennui</i> from his apartments. Finding that the countess had no +intimate acquaintance with the contents of the Bible, he gave her +the splendid Bible of Royaumont, ornamented with one hundred and +fifty magnificent engravings, after paintings of Raphael. Instead +of tissue-paper, a thousand-franc note covered each of these +engravings<a name="FNanchor40"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_40">[40]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_40"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor40">[40]</a> Amours et Galanteries des Rois de France, +par St. Edme, vol. ii., p. 383. Mémoires d'une Femme de +Qualité, vol. i., p. 409.</blockquote> +<p>On another occasion, the king gave her a copy of the "Charter;" +and in this each leaf was also covered with a thousand-franc note, +as in the Bible.</p> +<p>For so many proofs of the royal generosity, the beautiful +countess, perhaps willingly, submitted to be called "the royal +snuff-box," which appellation had its origin in the habit which the +king fondly indulged in of strewing snuff on the countess's lovely +shoulder, and then snuffing it up with his nose.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII.3"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<h3>THE DRAWING-KOOM OF THE DUCHESS OF ST. LEU.</h3> +<br> +<p>While the etiquette and frivolity of the old era were being +introduced anew at the Tuileries, and while M. de Blacas was +governing in complacent recklessness, time was progressing, +notwithstanding his endeavors to turn it backward in his +flight.</p> +<p>While, out of the incessant conflict between the old and the new +France, a discontented France was being born, Napoleon, the Emperor +of Elba, was forming great plans of conquest, and preparing in +secret understanding with the faithful, to leave his place of exile +and return to France.</p> +<p>He well knew that he could rely on his old army--on the army who +loudly cried, "<i>Vive le roi!</i>" and then added, <i>sotto +voce</i>, "<i>de Rome, et son petit papa</i><a name= +"FNanchor41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41">[41]</a>!"</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_41"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor41">[41]</a> Cochelet, Mémoires sur la Reine +Hortense, vol. iii, p. 121.</blockquote> +<p>Hortense, the new Duchess of St. Leu, took but little part in +all these things. She had, notwithstanding her youth and beauty, in +a measure taken leave of the world. She felt herself to be no +longer the woman, but only the mother; her sons were the objects of +all her tenderness and love, and she lived for them only. In her +retirement at St. Leu, her time was devoted to the arts, to +reading, and to study; and, after having been thus occupied +throughout the day, she passed the evening in her drawing-room, in +unrestrained intellectual conversation with her friends.</p> +<p>For she had friends who had remained true, notwithstanding the +obscurity into which she had withdrawn herself, and who, although +they filled important positions at the new court, had retained +their friendship for the solitary dethroned queen.</p> +<p>With these friends the Duchess of St. Leu conversed, in the +evening, in her parlor, of the grand and beautiful past, giving +themselves up entirely to these recollections, little dreaming that +this harmless relaxation could awaken suspicion.</p> +<p>For the Duke of Otranto, who had succeeded in his shrewdness in +retaining his position of minister of police, as well under Louis +XVIII. as under Napoleon, had his spies everywhere; he knew of all +that was said in every parlor of Paris; he knew also that it was +the custom, in the parlors of the Duchess of St. Leu, to look from +the dark present back at the brilliant past, and to console one's +self for the littleness of the present, with the recollection of +the grandeur of departed days! And Fouché, or rather the +Duke of Otranto, knew how to utilize everything.</p> +<p>In order to arouse Minister Blacas out of his stupid dream of +security, to a realizing sense of the grave events that were taking +place, Fouché told him that a conspiracy against the +government was being formed in the parlors of the Duchess of St. +Leu; that all those who were secret adherents of Bonaparte were in +the habit of assembling there, and planning the deliverance of the +emperor from Elba. In order, however, on the other hand, to provide +against the possibility of Napoleon's return, the Duke of Otranto +hastened to the Duchess of St. Leu, to warn her and conjure her to +be on her guard against the spies by whom she was surrounded, as +suspicion might be easily excited against her at court.</p> +<p>Hortense paid no attention to this warning; she considered +precaution unnecessary, and was not willing to deprive herself of +her one happiness--that of seeing her friends, and of conversing +with them in a free and unconstrained manner.</p> +<p>The parlors of the duchess, therefore, continued to be thrown +open to her faithful friends, who had also been the faithful +servants of the emperor; and the Dukes of Bassano, of Friaul, of +Ragusa, of the Moskwa, and their wives, as well as the gallant +Charles de Labedoyère, and the acute Count Renault de +Saint-Jean d'Angely, still continued to meet in the parlors of the +Duchess of St. Leu.</p> +<p>The voice of hostility was raised against them with +ever-increasing hostility; the reunions that took place at St. Leu +were day by day portrayed at the Tuileries in more hateful colors; +and the poor duchess, who lived in sorrow and retirement in her +apartments, became an object of hatred and envy to these proud +ladies of the old aristocracy, who were unable to comprehend how +this woman could be thought of while they were near, although she +had been the ornament of the imperial court, and who was considered +amiable, intellectual, and beautiful, even under the legitimate +dynasty.</p> +<p>Hortense heard of the ridiculous and malicious reports which had +been circulated concerning her, and, for the sake of her friends +and sons, she resolved to put an end to them.</p> +<p>"I must leave my dear St. Leu and go to Paris," said she. "There +they can better observe all my actions. Reason demands that I +should conform myself to circumstances."</p> +<p>She therefore abandoned her quiet home at St. Leu, and repaired +with her children and her court to Paris, to again take up her +abode in her dwelling in the Rue de la Victoire.</p> +<p>But this step gave fresh fuel to the calumnies of her enemies, +who saw in her the embodied remembrance of the empire which they +hated and at the same time feared.</p> +<p>The Bonapartists still continued their visits to her parlors, as +before; and no appeals, no representations could induce Hortense to +close her doors against her faithful friends, for fear that their +fidelity might excite suspicion against herself.</p> +<p>In order, however, to contradict the report that adherents of +Napoleon only were in the habit of frequenting her parlors, the +duchess also extended the hospitalities of her parlors to the +strangers who brought letters of recommendation, and who desired to +be introduced to her. Great numbers hastened to avail themselves of +this permission.</p> +<p>The most brilliant and select circle was soon assembled around +the duchess. There, were to be found the great men of the empire, +who came out of attachment; distinguished strangers, who came out +of admiration; and, finally, the aristocrats of the old era, who +came out of curiosity, who came to see if the Duchess of St. Leu +was really so intelligent, amiable, and graceful, as she was said +to be.</p> +<p>The parlors of the duchess were therefore more talked of in +Paris than they had been at St. Leu. The old duchesses and +princesses of the Faubourg St. Germain, with all their ancestors, +prejudices, and pretensions, were enraged at hearing this +everlasting praise of the charming queen, and endeavored to appease +their wrath by renewed hostilities against its object.</p> +<p>It was not enough that she was calumniated, at court and in +society, as a dangerous person; the arm of the press was also +wielded against her.</p> +<p>As we have said, Hortense was the embodied remembrance of the +empire, and it was therefore determined that she should be +destroyed. <i>Brochures</i> and pamphlets were published, in which +the king was appealed to, to banish from Paris, and even from +France, the dangerous woman who was conspiring publicly, and even +under the very eyes of the government, for Napoleon, and to banish +with her the two children also, the two Napoleons; "for," said +these odious accusers, "to leave these two princes here, means to +raise in France wolves that would one day ravage their +country<a name="FNanchor42"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_42">[42]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_42"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor42">[42]</a> Cochelet, Mémoires sur la Reins +Hortense, vol. ii., p. 330.</blockquote> +<p>Hortense paid but little attention to these reports and +calumnies. She was too much accustomed to being misunderstood and +wrongly judged, to allow herself to be disquieted thereby. She knew +that calumnies were never refuted by contradiction, and that it was +therefore better to meet them with proud silence, and to conquer +them by contempt, instead of giving them new life by combating and +contradicting them.</p> +<p>She herself entertained such contempt for calumny that she never +allowed anything abusive to be said in her presence that would +injure any one in her estimation. When, on one occasion, while she +was still Queen of Holland, a lady of Holland took occasion to +speak ill of another lady, on account of her political opinions, +the queen interrupted her, and said: "Madame, here I am a stranger +to all parties, and receive all persons with the same +consideration, for I love to hear every one well spoken of; and I +generally receive an unfavorable impression of those only who speak +ill of others<a name="FNanchor43"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_43">[43]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_43"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor43">[43]</a> Cochelet, vol. i., p. 378.</blockquote> +<p>And, strange to say, she herself was ever the object of calumny +and accusation.</p> +<p>"During twenty-five years, I have never been separated from +Princess Hortense," says Louise de Cochelet, "and I have never +observed in her the slightest feeling of bitterness against any +one; ever good and gentle, she never failed to take an interest in +those who were unhappy; and she endeavored to help them whenever +and wherever they presented themselves. And this noble and gentle +woman was always the object of hatred and absurd calumnies, and +against all this she was armed with the integrity and purity of her +actions and intentions only<a name="FNanchor44"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_44">[44]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_44"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor44">[44]</a> Cochelet, vol. i., p. 378.</blockquote> +<p>Nor did Hortense now think of contradicting the calumnies that +had been circulated concerning her. Her mind was occupied with +other and far more important matters.</p> +<p>An ambassador of her husband, who resided in Florence, had come +to Paris in order to demand of Hortense, in the name of Louis +Bonaparte, his two sons.</p> +<p>After much discussion, he had finally declared that he would be +satisfied, if his wife would send him his eldest son, Napoleon +Louis, only.</p> +<p>But the loving mother could not and would not consent to a +separation from either of her children; and as, in spite of her +entreaties, her husband persisted in refusing to allow her to +retain both of them, she resolved, in the anguish of maternal love, +to resort to the most extreme means to retain the possession of her +sons.</p> +<p>She informed her husband's ambassador that it was her fixed +purpose to retain possession of her children, and appealed to the +law to recognize and protect them, and not allow her sons to be +deprived of their rights as Frenchmen, by going into a compulsory +exile.</p> +<p>While the Duchess of St. Leu was being accused of conspiring in +favor of Napoleon, her whole soul was occupied with the one +question, which was to decide whether one of her sons could be torn +from her side or not; and, if she conspired at all, it was only +with her lawyer in order to frustrate her husband's plans.</p> +<p>But the calumnies and accusations of the press were nevertheless +continued; and at last her friends thought it necessary to lay +before the queen a journal that contained a violent and abusive +article against her, and to request that they might be permitted to +reply to it.</p> +<p>"With a sad smile, Hortense read the article and returned the +newspaper.</p> +<p>"It is extremely mortifying to be scorned by one's countrymen," +said she, "but it would be useless to make any reply. I can afford +to disregard such attacks--they are powerless to harm me."</p> +<p>But when on the following morning the same journal contained a +venomous and odious article levelled at her husband, Louis +Bonaparte, her generous indignation was aroused, and, oblivious of +all their disagreements, and even of the process now pending +between them, she remembered only that it was the father of her +children whom they had dared to attack, and that he was not present +to defend himself. It therefore devolved upon her to defend +him.</p> +<p>"I am enraged, and I desire that M. Després shall reply +to this article at once," said Hortense. "Although paternal love on +the one side, and maternal love on the other, has involved us in a +painful process, it nevertheless concerns no one else, and it +disgraces neither of us. I should be in despair, if this sad +controversy were made the pretext for insulting the father of my +children and the honored name he bears. For the very reason that I +stand alone, am I called on to defend the absent to the best of my +ability. Therefore let M. Després come to me; I will +instruct him how to answer this disgraceful article!"</p> +<p>On the following day, an able and eloquent article in defence of +Louis Bonaparte appeared in the journal--an article that shamed and +silenced his accusers--an article which the prince, whose cause it +so warmly espoused, probably never thought of attributing to the +wife to whose maternal heart be had caused such anguish<a name= +"FNanchor45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45">[45]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_45"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor45">[45]</a> Cochelet, vol. i., p. 303.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX.3"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<h3>THE BURIAL OF LOUIS XVI. AND HIS WIFE.</h3> +<br> +<p>The earnest endeavors of the Bourbon court to find the +resting-place of the remains of the royal couple who had died on +the scaffold, and who had expiated the crimes of their predecessors +rather than their own, were at last successful. The remains of the +illustrious martyrs had been sought for in accordance with the +directions of persons who had witnessed their sorrowful and +contemptuous burial, and the body of Louis XVI. was found in a +desolate corner of the grave-yard of St. Roch, and in another place +also that of Queen Marie Antoinette.</p> +<p>It was the king's wish, and a perfectly natural and just one, to +inter these bodies in the royal vault at St. Denis, but he wished +to do it quietly and without pomp; his acute political tact taught +him that these sad remains should not be made the occasion of a +political demonstration, and that it was unwise to permit the bones +of Louis XVI. to become a new apple of discord.</p> +<p>But the king's court, even his nearest relatives, his ministers, +and the whole troop of arrogant courtiers, who desired, by means of +an ostentatious interment, not only to show a proper respect for +the beheaded royal pair, but also to punish those whom they +covertly called "regicides," and whom they were nevertheless now +compelled to tolerate--the king's entire court demanded a solemn +and ceremonious interment; and Louis, who, as he himself had said, +"was king, but not master," was compelled to yield to this +demand.</p> +<p>Preparations were therefore made for an ostentatious interment +of the royal remains, and it was determined that the melancholy +rites should take place on the 21st of January, 1815, the +anniversary of painful memories and unending regret for the royal +family.</p> +<p>M. de Chateaubriand, the noble and intelligent eulogist and +friend of the Bourbons, caused an article to be inserted in the +<i>Journal des Débats</i>, in which he announced the +impending ceremony. This article was then republished in pamphlet +form; and so great was the sympathy of the Parisians in the +approaching event, that thirty thousand copies were disposed of, in +Paris alone, in one day.</p> +<p>On the 20th of January the graves of the martyrs were opened, +and all the princes of the royal house who were present, knelt down +at the edge of the grave to mingle their prayers with those of the +thousands who had accompanied them to the church-yard.</p> +<p>But the king was right. This act, that appeared to some to be a +mere act of justice, seemed an insult to others, and reminded them +of the dark days of error and fanaticism, in which they had allowed +themselves to be drawn into the vortex of the general delirium. +Many of those who in the Assembly had voted for the death of the +king, were now residing at Paris, and even at court, as for +instance Fouché, and to them the approaching ceremony seemed +an insult.</p> +<p>"Are you aware," exclaimed Descourtis, as he rushed into the +apartment of Cambacérès, who was at that moment +conversing with the Count de Pere, "have you already been informed +that this ceremony is really to take place to-morrow?"</p> +<p>"Yes, to-morrow is the fated day. To-morrow we are to be +delivered over to the daggers of fanatics."</p> +<p>"Is this the pardon that was promised us?"</p> +<p>"As for that," exclaimed the Count de Pere (a good royalist), "I +was not aware that there was an article in the constitution +forbidding the reinterment of the mortal remains of the royal pair. +The proceeding will be perfectly lawful."</p> +<p>"It is their purpose to infuriate the populace," exclaimed +Descourtis, pale with inward agitation. "Old recollections are to +be recalled and a mute accusation hurled at us. But we shall some +day be restored to power again, and then we will remember +also!"</p> +<p>Cambacérès, who had listened to this conversation +in silence, now stepped forward, and, taking Descourtis's hand in +his own, pressed it tenderly.</p> +<p>"Ah, my friend," said he, in sad and solemn tones, "I would we +were permitted to march behind the funeral-car in mourning-robes +to-morrow! We owe this proof of repentance to France and to +ourselves!"</p> +<p>The solemn funeral celebration took place on the following day. +All Paris took part in it. Every one, even the old republicans, the +Bonapartists as well as the royalists, joined the funeral +procession, in order to testify that they had abandoned the past +and were repentant.</p> +<p>Slowly and solemnly, amid the ringing of all the bells, the roll +of the drum, the thunders of artillery, and the chants of the +clergy, the procession moved onward.</p> +<p>The golden crown, which hung suspended over the funeral-car, +shone lustrously in the sunlight. It had fallen from the heads of +the royal pair while they still lived; it now adorned them in +death.</p> +<p>Slowly and solemnly the procession moved onward; it had arrived +at the Boulevards which separates the two streets of Montmartre. +Suddenly a terrible, thousand-voiced cry of horror burst upon the +air.</p> +<p>The crown, which hung suspended over the funeral-car, had fallen +down, touching the coffins with a dismal sound, and then broke into +fragments on the glittering snow of the street.</p> +<p>This occurred on the 21st of January; two months later, at the +same hour, and on the same day, the crown of Louis XVIII. fell from +his head, and Napoleon placed it on his own!</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X.3"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<h3>NAPOLEON'S RETURN FROM ELBA.</h3> +<br> +<p>A cry of tremendous import reverberated through Paris, all +France, and all Europe, in the first days of March, 1815. Napoleon, +it was said, had quitted Elba, and would soon arrive in France!</p> +<p>The royalists heard it with dismay, the Bonapartists with a +delight that they hardly took the pains to conceal.</p> +<p>Hortense alone took no part in the universal delight of the +imperialists. Her soul was filled with profound sadness and dark +forebodings. "I lament this step," said she; "I would have +sacrificed every thing to prevent his return to France, because I +am of the belief that no good can come of it. Many will declare +for, and many against him, and we shall have a civil war, of which +the emperor himself may be the victim<a name= +"FNanchor46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46">[46]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_46"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor46">[46]</a> Cochelet, vol. ii., p. 348.</blockquote> +<p>In the meanwhile the general excitement was continually +increasing; it took possession of every one, and at this time none +would have been capable of giving cool and sensible advice.</p> +<p>Great numbers of the emperor's friends came to the Duchess of +St. Leu, and demanded of her counsel, assistance, and +encouragement, accusing her of indifference and want of sympathy, +because she did not share their hopes, and was sad instead of +rejoicing with them.</p> +<p>But the spies of the still ruling government, who lay in wait +around the queen's dwelling, did not hear her words; they only saw +that the emperor's former generals and advisers were in the habit +of repairing to her parlors, and that was sufficient to stamp +Hortense as the head of the conspiracy which had for its object the +return of Napoleon to France.</p> +<p>The queen perceived the danger of her situation, but she bowed +her head to receive the blows of Fate in silent resignation. "I am +environed by torments and perplexities," said she, "but I see no +means of avoiding them. There is no resource for me but to arm +myself with courage, and that I will do."</p> +<p>The royal government, however, still hoped to be able to stem +the advancing tide, and compel the waves of insurrection to surge +backward and destroy those who had set them in motion.</p> +<p>They proposed to treat the great event which made France glow +with new pulsations, as a mere insurrection, that had been +discovered in good time, and could therefore be easily repressed. +They therefore determined, above all, to seize and render harmless +the "conspirators," that is to say, all those of whom it was known +that they had remained faithful to the emperor in their hearts.</p> +<p>Spies surrounded the houses of all the generals, dukes, and +princes of the empire, and it was only in disguise and by the +greatest dexterity that they could evade the vigilance of the +police.</p> +<p>The Duchess of St. Leu was at last also compelled to yield to +the urgent entreaties of her friends, and seek an asylum during +these days of uncertainty and danger. She quitted her dwelling in +disguise, and, penetrating through the army of spies who lay in +wait around the house and in the street in which she resided, she +happily succeeded in reaching the hiding-place prepared for her by +a faithful servant of her mother. She had already confided her +children to another servant who had remained true to her in her +time of trouble.</p> +<p>The Duke of Otranto, now once more the faithful Fouché of +the empire, was also to have been arrested, but he managed to +effect his escape. General Lavalette--who was aware that the +dwelling of the Duchess of St. Leu was no longer watched by the +police, who had discovered that the duchess was no longer +there--Lavalette took advantage of this circumstance, and concealed +himself in her dwelling, and M. de Dandré, the chief of +police, who had vainly endeavored to catch the so-called +conspirators, exclaimed in anguish: "It is impossible to find any +one; it has been so much noised about that these Bonapartists were +to be arrested, that they are now all hidden away."</p> +<p>Like a bombshell the news suddenly burst upon the anxious and +doubting capital: "The emperor has been received by the people in +Grenoble with exultation, and the troops that were to have been led +against him have, together with their chieftain, Charles de +Labedoyère, gone over to the emperor. The gates of the city +were thrown open, and the people advanced to meet him with shouts +of welcome and applause; and now Napoleon stood no longer at the +head of a little body of troops, but at the head of a small army +that was increasing with every hour."</p> +<p>The government still endeavored, through its officials and +through the public press, to make the Parisians disbelieve this +intelligence.</p> +<p>But the government had lost faith in itself. It heard the old, +the hated cry, "Vive l'empereur!" resounding through the air; it +heard the fluttering of the victorious battle-flags of Marengo, +Arcola, Jena, and Austerlitz! The Emperor Napoleon was still the +conquering hero, who swayed destiny and compelled it to declare for +him.</p> +<p>A perfect frenzy of dismay took possession of the royalists; and +when they learned that Napoleon had already arrived in Lyons, that +its inhabitants had received him with enthusiasm, and that its +garrison had also declared for him, their panic knew no bounds.</p> +<p>The royalist leaders assembled at the house of Count de la Pere, +for the purpose of holding a last great discussion and +consultation. The most eminent persons, men and women, differing +widely on other subjects, but a unit on this point, assembled here +with the same feelings of patriotic horror, and with the same +desire to promote the general welfare. There were Madame de +Staël, Benjamin Constant, Count Lainé, and +Chateaubriand; there were the Duke de Némours, and Count de +la Pere, and around them gathered the whole troop of anxious +royalists, expecting and hoping that the eloquent lips of these +celebrated personages who stood in their midst would give them +consolation and new life.</p> +<p>Benjamin Constant spoke first. He said that, to Napoleon, that +is, to force, force must be opposed. Bonaparte was armed with the +love of the soldiers, they must arm themselves with the love of the +citizens. His appearance was imposing, like the visage of Caesar; +it would be necessary to oppose to him an equally sublime +countenance. Lafayette should, therefore, be made +commander-in-chief of the French army.</p> +<p>M. de Chateaubriand exclaimed, with noble indignation, that the +first step to be taken by the government was to punish severely a +ministry that was so short-sighted, and had committed so many +faults. Lainé declared, with a voice tremulous with emotion, +that all was lost, and that but one means of confounding tyranny +remained; a scene, portraying the whole terror, dismay and grief of +the capital at the approach of the hated enemy, should be arranged. +In accordance with this plan, the whole population of Paris--the +entire National Guard, the mothers, the young girls, the children, +the old and the young--were to pass out of the city, and await the +tyrant; and this aspect of a million of men fleeing from the face +of a single human being was to move or terrify him who came to rob +them of their peace!</p> +<p>In her enthusiastic and energetic manner, Madame de Staël +pronounced an anathema against the usurper who was about to kindle +anew, in weeping, shivering France, the flames of war.</p> +<p>All were touched, enthusiastic, and agitated, but they could do +nothing but utter fine phrases; and all that fell from the eloquent +lips of these celebrated poets and politicians was, as it were, +nothing more than a bulletin concerning the condition of the +patient, and concerning the mortal wounds which he had received. +This patient was France; and the royalists, who were assembled in +the house of Count de la Pere, now felt that the patient's case was +hopeless, and that nothing remained to them but to go into exile, +and bemoan his sad fate<a name="FNanchor47"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_47">[47]</a>!</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_47"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor47">[47]</a> Mémoires d'une Femme de +Qualité, vol. i., p. 99.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI.3"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> +<h3>LOUIS XVIII.'S DEPARTURE AND NAPOLEON'S ARRIVAL.</h3> +<br> +<p>While the royalists were thus considering, hesitating, and +despairing, King Louis XVIII. had alone retained his composure and +sense of security. That is to say, they had taken care not to +inform him of the real state of affairs. On the contrary, he had +been informed that Bonaparte had been everywhere received with +coldness and silence, and that the army would not respond to his +appeal, but would remain true to the king. The exultation with +which the people everywhere received the advancing emperor found, +therefore, no echo in the Tuileries, and the crowd who pressed +around the king when he repaired to the hall of the <i>Corps +Législatif</i> to hold an encouraging address, was not the +people, but the royalists--those otherwise so haughty ladies and +gentlemen of the old nobility, who again, as on the day of the +first entrance, acted the part to which the people were not +disposed to adapt themselves, and transformed themselves for a +moment into the people, in order to show to the king the +demonstrations of his people's love.</p> +<p>The king was completely deceived. M. de Blacas told the king of +continuous reverses to Napoleon's arms, while the emperor's advance +was in reality a continuous triumph. They had carried this +deception so far that they had informed the king that Lyons had +closed its gates to Napoleon, and that Ney was advancing to meet +him, vowing that he would bring the emperor back to Paris in an +iron cage.</p> +<p>The king was therefore composed, self-possessed, and resolute, +when suddenly his brother, the Count d'Artois, and the Duke of +Orleans, who, according to the king's belief, occupied Lyons as a +victor, arrived in Paris alone, as fugitives, abandoned by their +soldiers and servants, and informed Louis that Lyons had received +the emperor with open arms, and that no resource had been left them +but to betake themselves to flight.</p> +<p>And a second, and still more terrible, item of intelligence +followed the first. Ney, the king's hope, the last support of his +tottering throne, Ney had not had the heart to maintain a hostile +position toward his old companion in arms. Ney had gone over to the +emperor, and his army had followed him with exultation.</p> +<p>The king's eyes were now opened, he now saw the truth, and +learned how greatly he had been deceived.</p> +<p>"Alas," cried he, sadly, "Bonaparte fell because he would not +listen to the truth, and I shall fall because they would not tell +me the truth!"</p> +<p>At this moment, and while the king was eloquently appealing to +his brothers and relatives, and to the gentlemen of his court who +surrounded him, to tell him the whole truth, the door opened, and +the Minister Blacas, until then so complacent, so confident of +victory, now stepped in pale and trembling.</p> +<p>The truth, which he had so long concealed from the king, was now +plainly impressed on his pale, terrified countenance. The king had +desired to hear the truth; it stood before him in his trembling +minister.</p> +<p>A short interval of profound silence occurred; the eyes of all +were fastened on the count, and, in the midst of the general +silence, he was heard to say, in a voice choked with emotion: +"Sire, all is lost; the army, as well as the people, betray your +majesty. It will be necessary for your majesty to leave Paris."</p> +<p>The king staggered backward for an instant, and then fastened an +inquiring glance on the faces of all who were present. No one dared +to return his gaze with a glance of hope. They all looked down +sorrowfully.</p> +<p>The king understood this mute reply, and a deep sigh escaped his +breast.</p> +<p>"The tree bears its fruit," said he, with a bitter smile; +"heretofore it has been your purpose to make me govern for you, +hereafter I shall govern for no one. If I shall, however, return to +the throne of my fathers once more, you will be made to understand +that I will profit by the experience you have given me<a name= +"FNanchor48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48">[48]</a>!"</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_48"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor48">[48]</a> The king's own words. Mémoires d'une +Femme de Qualité, vol. i. p. 156.</blockquote> +<p>A few hours later, at nightfall, supported on the arm of Count +Blacas, without any suite, and preceded by a single lackey bearing +a torch, the king left the once more desolate and solitary +Tuileries, and fled to Holland.</p> +<p>Twenty-four hours later, on the evening of the 20th of March, +Napoleon entered the Tuileries, accompanied by the exulting shouts +of the people, and the thundering "<i>Vive l'empereur</i>" of the +troops. On the same place where the white flag of the Bourbons had +but yesterday fluttered, the <i>tricolore</i> of the empire now +flung out its folds to the breeze.</p> +<p>In the Tuileries the emperor found all his old ministers, his +generals, and his courtiers, assembled. All were desirous of seeing +and greeting him. An immense concourse of people surged around the +entrance on the stair-ways and in the halls.</p> +<p>Borne aloft on the arms and shoulders of the people, the emperor +was carried up the stairway, and into his apartments; and, while +shouts of joy were resounding within, the thousands without joined +the more fortunate ones who had borne the emperor to his +apartments, and rent the air with exulting cries of "<i>Vive +l'empereur</i>!"</p> +<p>In his cabinet, to which Napoleon immediately repaired, he was +received by Queen Julia, wife of Joseph Bonaparte, and Queen +Hortense, who had abandoned her place of concealment, and hurried +to the Tuileries to salute the emperor.</p> +<p>Napoleon greeted Hortense coldly, he inquired briefly after the +health of her sons, and then added, almost severely: "You have +placed my nephews in a false position, by permitting them to remain +in the midst of my enemies."</p> +<p>Hortense turned pale, and her eyes filled with tears. The +emperor seemed not to notice it. "You have accepted the friendship +of my enemies," said he, "and have placed yourself under +obligations to the Bourbons. I depend on Eugene; I hope he will +soon be here. I wrote to him from Lyons."</p> +<p>This was the reception Hortense received from the emperor. He +was angry with her for having remained in France, and at the same +time the flying Bourbons, who were on their way to Holland, said of +her: "The Duchess of St. Leu is to blame for all! Her intrigues +alone have brought Napoleon back to Paris."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII.3"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> +<h3>THE HUNDRED DAYS.</h3> +<br> +<p>The hundred days that followed the emperor's return are like a +myth of the olden time, like a poem of Homer, in which heroes +destroy worlds with a blow of the hand, and raise armies out of the +ground with a stamp of the foot; in which nations perish, and new +ones are born within the space of a minute.</p> +<p>These hundred days stand in history as a giant era, and these +hundred days of the restored empire were replete with all the earth +can offer of fortune, of magnificence, of glory, and of victory, as +well as of all that the earth contains that is disgraceful, +miserable, traitorous, and perfidious.</p> +<p>Wondrous and brilliant was their commencement. All France seemed +to hail the emperor's return with exultation. Every one hastened to +assure him of his unchangeable fidelity, and to persuade him that +they had only obeyed the Bourbons under compulsion.</p> +<p>The old splendor of the empire once more prevailed in the +Tuileries, where the emperor now held his glittering court again. +There was, however, this difference: Queen Hortense now did the +honors of the court, in the place of the Empress Marie Louise, who +had not returned with her husband; and the emperor could not now +show the people his own son, but could only point to his two +nephews, the sons of Hortense.</p> +<p>The emperor had quickly reconciled himself to the queen; he had +been compelled to yield to her gentle and yet decided explanations; +he had comprehended that Hortense had sacrificed herself for her +children, in continuing to remain in France notwithstanding her +reluctance. After this reconciliation had taken place, Napoleon +extended his hand to Hortense, with his irresistible smile, and +begged her to name a wish, in order that he might fulfil it.</p> +<p>Queen Hortense, who had been so bitterly slandered and scorned +by the royalists, and who was still considered by the fleeing +Bourbons to be the cause of their overthrow--this same queen now +entreated the emperor to permit the Duchess d'Orleans, who had not +been able to leave Paris on account of a broken limb, to remain, +and to accord her a pension besides. She told the emperor that she +had received a letter from the duchess, in which she begged for her +intercession in obtaining some assistance from the emperor, +assuring her that it was urgently Deeded, in her depressed +circumstances.</p> +<p>The emperor consented to grant this wish of his step-daughter +Hortense; and it was solely at her solicitation that Napoleon +accorded a pension of four hundred thousand francs to the Duchess +d'Orleans, the mother of King Louis Philippe<a name= +"FNanchor49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49">[49]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_49"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor49">[49]</a> La Reine Hortense en Italie, en France, et +en Angleterre. Ecrit par elle-même, p. 185.</blockquote> +<p>A few days later, at Hortense's request, a pension of two +hundred thousand francs was also accorded to the Duchess of +Bourbon, who had also besought the queen to exert her influence in +her behalf; and both ladies now hastened to assure Hortense of +their everlasting gratitude. The fulfilment of her wish filled +Hortense with delight; she was as proud of it as of a victory +achieved.</p> +<p>"I considered it a sacred duty," said she, "to intercede for +these ladies. They were as isolated and desolate as I had been a +few clays before, and I know how sad it is to be in such a +state!"</p> +<p>But Hortense's present state was a very different one. She was +now no longer the Duchess of St. Leu, but the queen and the +ornament of the court once more; all heads now bowed before her +again, and the high-born ladies, who had seemed oblivious of her +existence during the past year, now hastened to do homage to the +queen.</p> +<p>"Majesty," said one of these ladies to the queen, +"unfortunately, you were always absent in the country when I called +to pay my respects during the past winter."</p> +<p>The queen's only response was a gentle "Indeed madame," which +she accompanied with a smile.</p> +<p>Hortense, as has before been said, was now again the grand point +of attraction at court, and, at Napoleon's command, the public +officials now also hastened to solicit the honor of an audience, in +order to pay their respects to the emperor's step-daughter. Each +day beheld new <i>fêtes</i> and ceremonies.</p> +<p>The most sublime and imposing of all these was the ceremony of +the <i>Champ de Mai</i>, that took place on the first of June, and +at which the emperor, in the presence of the applauding populace, +presented to his army the new eagles and flags, which they were +henceforth to carry into battle instead of the lilies of the +Bourbons.</p> +<p>It was a wondrous, an enchanting spectacle to behold the sea of +human beings that surged to and fro on this immense space, and made +the welkin ring with their "<i>Vive l'empereur</i>!"--to behold the +proud, triumphant soldiers receiving from Napoleon the eagles +consecrated by the priests at the altar that stood before the +emperor. It was a wondrous spectacle to behold the hundreds of +richly-attired ladies glittering with diamonds, who occupied the +tiers of seats that stood immediately behind the emperor's chair, +and on which Hortense and her two sons occupied the first +seats.</p> +<p>The air was so balmy, the sun shone so lustriously over all this +splendor and magnificence, the cannon thundered so mightily, and +the strains of music resounded so sweetly on the ear; and, while +all were applauding and rejoicing, Hortense sat behind the +emperor's chair covertly sketching the imposing scene that lay +before her, the grand ceremony, which, a dark foreboding told her, +"might perhaps be the last of the empire<a name= +"FNanchor50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50">[50]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_50"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor50">[50]</a> Cochelet, vol. iii., p. 97.</blockquote> +<p>Hortense alone did not allow herself to be deceived by this +universal delight and contentment.</p> +<p>The heavens still seemed bright and serene overhead, but she +already perceived the gathering clouds, she already heard the +mutterings of the storm that was soon, and this time forever, to +hurl the emperor's throne to the ground. She knew that a day would +suddenly come when all this brightness would grow dim, and when all +those who now bowed so humbly before him, would turn from him +again--a day when they would deny and desert the emperor as they +had already done once before, and that, from that day on, the +present period of grandeur would be accounted to her as a debt. But +this knowledge caused her neither anxiety nor embarrassment.</p> +<p>The emperor was once more there; he was the lord and father left +her by her mother Josephine, and it was her duty and desire to be +true and obedient to him as long as she lived.</p> +<p>The sun still shone lustrously over the restored empire, and in +the parlors of Queen Hortense, where the diplomats, statesmen, +artists, and all the notables of the empire were in the habit of +assembling, gayety reigned supreme. There music and literature were +discussed, and homage done to all the fine arts.</p> +<p>Benjamin Constant, who had with great rapidity transformed +himself from an enthusiastic royalist into an imperial +state-councillor, came to the queen's parlors and regaled her +guests by reading to them his romance Adolphe; and Metternich, the +Austrian ambassador seemed to have no other destiny than to amuse +the queen and the circle of ladies assembled around them, and to +invent new social games for their entertainment.</p> +<p>Metternich knew how to bring thousands of charming little +frivolities into fashion; he taught the ladies the charming and +poetic language of flowers, and made it a symbolic means of +conversation and correspondence in the queen's circle. He also, to +the great delight of the court, invented the alphabet of gems; in +this alphabet each gem represented its initial letter, and, by +combinations, names and devices were formed, which were worn in +necklaces, bracelets, and rings.</p> +<p>The little games with which the diplomatic Metternich occupied +himself during the hundred days at the imperial court at Paris, +were, it appears, of the most innocent and harmless nature.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII.3"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> +<h3>NAPOLEON'S LAST ADIEU.</h3> +<br> +<p>The storm, of the approach of which Queen Hortense had so long +had a foreboding, was preparing to burst over France. All the +princes of Europe who had once been Napoleon's allies had now +declared against him. They all refused to acknowledge Napoleon as +emperor, or to treat with him as one having any authority.</p> +<p>"No peace, no reconciliation with this man," wrote the Emperor +Alexander to Pozzo di Borgo; "all Europe is of the same opinion +concerning him. With the exception of this man, any thing they may +demand; no preference for any one; no war after this man shall have +been set aside<a name="FNanchor51"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_51">[51]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_51"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor51">[51]</a> Cochelet, vol. iii., p. 90.</blockquote> +<p>But, in order to "set this man aside," war was necessary. The +allied armies therefore advanced toward the boundaries of France; +the great powers declared war against France, or rather against the +Emperor Napoleon; and France, which had so long desired peace, and +had only accepted the Bourbons because it hoped to obtain it of +them, France was now compelled to take up the gauntlet.</p> +<p>On the 12th of June the emperor left Paris with his army, in +order to meet the advancing enemy. Napoleon himself, who had +hitherto gone into battle, his countenance beaming with an +assurance of victory, now looked gloomy and dejected, for he well +knew that on the fate of his army now depended his own, and the +fate of France.</p> +<p>This time it was not a question of making conquests, but of +saving the national independence, and it was the mother-earth, red +with the blood of her children, that was now to be defended.</p> +<p>Paris, that for eighty days had been the scene of splendor and +festivity, now put on its mourning attire. All rejoicings were at +an end, and every one listened hopefully to catch the first tones +of the thunder of a victorious battle.</p> +<p>But the days of victory were over; the cannon thundered, the +battle was fought, but instead of a triumph it was an +overthrow.</p> +<p>At Waterloo, the eagles that had been consecrated on the first +of June, on the <i>Champ de Mai</i>, sank in the dust; the emperor +returned to Paris, a fugitive, and broken down in spirit, while the +victorious allies were approaching the capital.</p> +<p>At the first intelligence of his return, Hortense hastened to +the Elysée, where he had taken up his residence, to greet +him. During the last few days she had been a prey to gloomy +thoughts; now that the danger had come, now when all were +despairing, she was composed, resolute, and ready to stand at the +emperor's side to the last.</p> +<p>Napoleon was lost, and Hortense knew it; but he now had most +need of friends, and she remained true, while so many of his +nearest friends and relatives were deserting him.</p> +<p>On the twenty-second day of June the emperor sent in his +abdication in favor of his son, the King of Rome, to the chambers; +and a week later the chambers proclaimed Napoleon's son Emperor of +France, under the name of Napoleon II.</p> +<p>But this emperor was a child of four years, and was, moreover, +not in France, but in the custody of the Emperor of Austria, whose +army was now marching on Paris with hostile intent!</p> +<p>Napoleon, now no longer Emperor of France, had been compelled to +take the crown from his head a second time; and for the second time +he quitted Paris to await the destiny to be appointed him by the +allies.</p> +<p>This time he did not repair to Fontainebleau, but to +Malmaison--to Malmaison, that had once been Josephine's paradise, +and where her heart had at last bled to death. This charming resort +had passed into the possession of Queen Hortense; and Napoleon, who +but yesterday had ruled over a whole empire, and to-day could call +nothing, not even the space of ground on which he stood, his own, +Napoleon asked Hortense to receive him at Malmaison.</p> +<p>Hortense accorded his request joyfully, and, when her friends +learned this, and in their dismay and anxiety conjured her not to +identify in this manner herself and children with the fate of the +emperor, but to consider well the danger that would result from +such a course, the queen replied resolutely: "That is an additional +reason for holding firm to my determination. I consider it my +sacred duty to remain true to the emperor to the last, and the +greater the danger that threatens the emperor, the happier I shall +be in having it in my power to show him my entire devotion and +gratitude."</p> +<p>And when, in this decision, when her whole future hung in the +balance, one of her most intimate lady-friends ventured to remind +the queen of the disgraceful and malicious reports that had once +been put in circulation with regard to her relation to Napoleon, +and suggested that she would give new strength to them by now +receiving the emperor at Malmaison, Hortense replied with dignity: +"What do I care for these calumnies? I fulfil the duty imposed on +me by feeling and principle. The emperor has always treated me as +his child; I shall therefore ever remain his devoted and grateful +daughter; it is my first and greatest necessity to be at peace with +myself<a name="FNanchor52"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_52">[52]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_52"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor52">[52]</a> Cochelet, vol. iii., p. 149.</blockquote> +<p>Hortense therefore repaired with the emperor to Malmaison, and +the faithful, who were not willing to leave him in his misfortune, +gathered around him, watched over his life, and gave to his +residence a fleeting reflection of the old grandeur and +magnificence. For they who now stood around Napoleon, guarding his +person from any immediate danger that threatened him at the hands +of fanatic enemies or hired assassins, were marshals, generals, +dukes, and princes.</p> +<p>But Napoleon's fate was already decided--it was an inevitable +one, and when the intelligence reached Malmaison that the enemy was +approaching nearer and nearer, and that resistance was no longer +made anywhere, and when Napoleon saw that all was lost, his throne, +his crown, and even the love which he imagined he had for ever +built up for himself in the hearts of the French people by his +great deeds and victories--when he saw this he determined to fly, +no matter whither, but away from the France that would no longer +rally to his call, the France that had abandoned him.</p> +<p>The emperor resolved to fly to Rochefort, and to embark there in +order to return to Elba. The provisional government that had +established itself in Paris, and had sent an ambassador to Napoleon +at Malmaison with the demand that he should depart at once, now +instructed this ambassador to accompany the emperor on his journey, +and not to leave him until he should have embarked.</p> +<p>Napoleon was ready to comply with this demand. He determined to +depart on the afternoon of the 30th of June. He had nothing more to +do but to take leave of his friends and family. He did this with +cold, tearless composure, with an immovable, iron countenance; no +muscle of his face quivered, and his glance was severe and +imperious.</p> +<p>But, when Hortense brought in her two sons, when he had clasped +them in his arms for the last time, then a shadow passed over his +countenance; then his pale compressed lips quivered, and he turned +away to conceal the tears that stood in his eyes.</p> +<p>But Hortense had seen them, and in her heart she preserved the +remembrance of these tears as the most precious gem of her departed +fortune. As the emperor then turned to her to bid her adieu in his +former cold and immovable manner, Hortense, who well knew that a +volcano of torments must be glowing under this cold lava, entreated +him to grant her a last favor.</p> +<p>A painful smile illumined the emperor's countenance for a +moment. There was, it seemed, still something that he could grant; +he was not altogether powerless! With a mute inclination of the +head he signified his assent. Hortense handed him a broad black +belt.</p> +<p>"Sire," said she, "wear this belt around your body and beneath +your clothing. Conceal it carefully, but in the time of necessity +remember it and open it."</p> +<p>The emperor took the belt in his hand, and its weight startled +him.</p> +<p>"What does it contain?" asked he: "I must know what it +contains!"</p> +<p>"Sire," said Hortense, blushing and hesitating: "Sire, it is my +large diamond necklace that I have taken apart and sewed in this +belt. Your majesty may need money in a critical moment, and you +will not deny me this last happiness, your acceptance of this +token."</p> +<p>The emperor refused, but Hortense entreated him so earnestly +that he was at last compelled to yield, and accept this +love-offering.</p> +<p>They then took a hasty and mute leave of each other, and +Hortense, in order to hide her tears, hastened with her children +from the room.</p> +<p>The emperor summoned a servant, and ordered that no one else +should be admitted; but at this moment the door was hastily thrown +open, and a national guard entered the room.</p> +<p>"Talma!" exclaimed the emperor, almost gayly, as he extended his +hand.</p> +<p>"Yes, Talma, sire," said he, pressing the emperor's hand to his +lips. "I disguised myself in this dress, in order that I might get +here to take leave of your majesty."</p> +<p>"To take leave, never to see each other more," said the emperor, +sadly. "I shall never be able to admire you in your great +<i>rôles</i> again, Talma. I am about to depart, never to +return again. You will play the emperor on many an evening, but not +I, Talma! My part is at an end!"</p> +<p>"No, sire, you will always remain the emperor!" exclaimed Talma, +with generous enthusiasm; "the emperor, although without the crown +and the purple robe."</p> +<p>"And also the emperor without a people," said Napoleon.</p> +<p>"Sire, you have a people that will ever remain yours, and a +throne that is imperishable! It is the throne that you have erected +for yourself on the battle-fields, that will be recorded in the +books of history. And every one, no matter to what nation he may +belong, who reads of your great deeds, will be inspired by them, +and will acknowledge himself to be one of your people, and bow down +before the emperor in reverence."</p> +<p>"I have no people," murmured Napoleon, gloomily; "they have all +deserted--all betrayed me, Talma!"</p> +<p>"Sire, they will some day regret, as Alexander of Russia will +also one day regret, having deserted the great man he once called +brother!" And, in his delicate and generous endeavor to remind +Napoleon of one of his moments of grandeur, Talma continued: "Your +majesty perhaps remembers that evening at Tilsit, when the Emperor +of Russia made you so tender a declaration of his love, publicly +and before the whole world? But no, you cannot remember it; for you +it was a matter of no moment; but I--I shall never forget it! It +was at the theatre; we were playing 'Oedipus.' I looked up at the +box in which your majesty sat, between the King of Prussia and the +Emperor Alexander. I could see you only--the second Alexander of +Macedon, the second Julius Caesar--and I held my arms aloft and saw +you only when I repeated the words of my part: 'The friendship of a +great man is a gift of the gods!' And as I said this, the Emperor +Alexander arose and pressed you to his heart. I saw this, and tears +choked my utterance. The audience applauded rapturously; this +applause was, however, not for me, but for the Emperor +Alexander<a name="FNanchor53"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_53">[53]</a>!"</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_53"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor53">[53]</a> This scene is entirely historical. See +Bossuet, Mémoires; Bourrienne, Mémoires; Cochelet and +Une Femme de Qualité.</blockquote> +<p>While Talma was speaking, his cheeks glowing and his eyes +flashing, a rosy hue suffused the emperor's countenance, and, for +an instant, he smiled. Talma had attained his object; he had raised +up the humiliated emperor with the recital of his own grandeur.</p> +<p>Napoleon thanked him with a kindly glance, and extended his hand +to bid him adieu.</p> +<p>As Talma approached the emperor, a carriage was heard driving up +in front of the house. It was Letitia, the emperor's mother, who +had come to take leave of her son. Talma stood still, in breathless +suspense; in his heart he thanked Providence for permitting him to +witness this leave-taking.</p> +<p>"Madame mère" walked past Talma in silence, and without +observing him. She saw only her son, who stood in the middle of the +room, his sombre and flashing glance fastened on her with an +unutterable expression. Now they stood face to face, mother and +son. The emperor's countenance remained immovable as though hewn +out of marble.</p> +<p>They stood face to face in silence, but two great tears slowly +trickled down the mother's cheeks. Talma stood in the background, +weeping bitterly. Napoleon remained unmoved. Letitia now raised +both hands and extended them to the emperor. "Adieu, my son!" said +she, in full and sonorous tones.</p> +<p>Napoleon pressed her hands in his own, and gazed at her long and +fixedly; and then, with the same firmness, he said: "My mother, +adieu!"</p> +<p>Once more they gazed at each other; then the emperor let her +hand fall. Letitia turned to go, and at this moment General +Bertrand appeared at the door to announce that all was prepared for +the journey<a name="FNanchor54"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_54">[54]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_54"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor54">[54]</a> This leave-taking was exactly as above +described, and Talma himself narrated it to Louise de Cochelet. See +her Mémoires, vol. iii, P. 173.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="BOOK_IV."></a>BOOK IV.</h2> +<h3><i>THE DUCHESS OF ST. LEU</i>.</h3> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I.4"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<h3>THE BANISHMENT OF THE DUCHESS OF ST. LEU.</h3> +<br> +<p>For the second time, the Bourbons had entered Paris under the +protection of the allies, and Louis XVIII. was once more King of +France. But this time he did not return with his former mild and +conciliatory disposition. He came to punish and to reward; he came +unaccompanied by mercy. The old generals and marshals of the +empire, who had not been able to resist their chieftain's call, +were now banished, degraded, or executed. Ney and +Labédoyère paid for their fidelity to the emperor +with their blood; and all who were in any way connected with the +Bonapartes were relentlessly pursued. The calumnies that had been +circulated in 1814 against the Duchess of St. Leu were now to bear +bitter fruit. These were the dragon's teeth from which the armed +warriors had sprung, who now levelled their swords at the breast of +a defenceless woman.</p> +<p>King Louis had returned to the throne of his fathers, but he had +not forgotten that he had been told on his flight: "The Duchess of +St. Leu is to blame for all! Her intrigues have brought Napoleon +back!" Now that he was again king, he thought of it, and determined +to punish her. He requested it of Alexander, as a favor, that he +should this time not call on the Duchess of St. Leu.</p> +<p>The emperor, dismayed by the odious reports in circulation +concerning Hortense, and already enchained in the mystic glittering +web with which Madame de Krüdener had enveloped him, and +separated from the reality of the world, acceded to the wishes of +the Bourbons, and abandoned the queen. This was the signal that let +loose the general wrath of the royalists; they could now freely +utter their scorn and malice. By low calumnies they could now +compensate themselves for their humiliation of the past, for having +been compelled to approach the daughter of Viscountess de +Beauharnais with the reverence due to a queen.</p> +<p>They could pursue the step-daughter of the emperor with +boundless fury, for this very fury proved their royalism, and to +hate and calumniate Bonaparte and his family was to love and +flatter the Bourbons.</p> +<p>Day by day these royalists hurled new accusations against the +duchess, whose presence in Paris unpleasantly recalled the days of +the empire, and whom they desired to remove from their sight, as +well as the column on the <i>Place Vendôme</i>.</p> +<p>While the poor queen was living in the retirement of her +apartments, in sadness and desolation, the report was circulated +that she was again conspiring, and that she was in the habit of +leaving her house every evening at twilight, in order to incite the +populace to rise and demand the emperor's return, or at least the +instalment of the little King of Rome on the throne instead of +Louis de Bourbon.</p> +<p>When the queen's faithful companion, Louise de Cochelet, +informed her of these calumnies, Hortense remained cold and +indifferent.</p> +<p>"Madame," exclaimed Louise, "you listen with as much composure +as if I were reciting a story of the last century!"</p> +<p>"And it interests me as little," said Hortense, earnestly; "we +have lost all, and I consider any blow that may still strike us, +with the composure of an indifferent spectator. I consider it +natural that they should endeavor to caluminate me, because I bear +a name that has made the whole world tremble, and that will still +be great, though we all be trodden in the dust. But I will shield +myself and children from this hatred. We will leave France and go +to Switzerland, where I possess a little estate on the Lake of +Geneva."</p> +<p>But time was not allowed the duchess to prepare for her +departure. The dogs of calumny and hatred were let loose upon her +to drive her from the city. A defenceless woman with two young +children seemed to be an object of anxiety and terror to the +government, and it made haste to get rid of her.</p> +<p>On the morning of the 17th of July, an adjutant of the Prussian +General de Müffling, the allied commandant of Paris, came to +the dwelling of the Duchess of St. Leu, and informed her intendant, +M. Deveaux, that the duchess must leave Paris within two hours, and +it was only at the urgent solicitation of the intendant, that a +further sojourn of four hours was allowed her.</p> +<p>Hortense was compelled to conform to this military command, and +depart without arranging her affairs or making any preparations for +her journey. Her only possession consisted of jewelry, and this she +of course intended to take with her. But she was warned that a +troop of enraged Bourbonists, who knew of her approaching +departure, had quitted Paris to lie in wait for her on her road, +"in order to rob her of the millions in her custody."</p> +<p>The queen was warned to take no money or articles of value with +her, but only that which was absolutely necessary.</p> +<p>General de Müffling offered her an escort of his soldiers; +Hortense declined this offer, but requested that an Austrian +officer might be allowed to accompany her for the protection of +herself and children on the journey. Count de Boyna, adjutant of +Prince Schwartzenberg, was selected for this purpose.</p> +<p>On the evening of the 17th of July, 1815, the Duchess of St. Leu +took her departure. She left her faithful friend Louise de Cochelet +in Paris to arrange her affairs, and assure the safe-keeping of her +jewelry. Accompanied only by her equerry, M. de Marmold, Count +Boyna, her children, her maid, and a man-servant, she who had been +a queen left Paris to go into exile.</p> +<p>It was a sorrowful journey that Hortense now made through her +beloved France, that she could no longer call her country, and that +now seemed as ill-disposed toward the emperor and his family as it +had once passionately loved them.</p> +<p>In these days of political persecution, the Bonapartists had +everywhere hidden themselves in obscure places, or concealed their +real disposition beneath the mask of Bourbonism. Those whom +Hortense met on her journey were therefore all royalists, who +thought they could give no better testimony to their patriotism +than by persecuting with cries of scorn, with gestures of hatred, +and with loud curses, the woman whose only crime was that she bore +the name of him whom France had once adored, and whom the royalists +hated.</p> +<p>Count Boyna was more than once compelled to protect Hortense and +her children against the furious attacks of royalists--the stranger +against her own countrymen! In Dijon, Count Boyna had found it +necessary to call on the Austrian military stationed there for +assistance in protecting the duchess and her children from the +attacks of an infuriated crowd, led by royal guards and beautiful +ladies of rank, whose hair was adorned with the lilies of the +Bourbons<a name="FNanchor55"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_55">[55]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_55"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor55">[55]</a> Cochelet, vol. iii, p. 289.</blockquote> +<p>Dispirited and broken down by all she had seen and experienced, +Hortense at last reached Geneva, happy at the prospect of being +able to retire to her little estate of Pregny, to repose after the +storms of life. But this refuge was also to be refused her. The +French ambassador in Switzerland, who resided in Geneva, informed +the authorities of that city that his government would not tolerate +the queen's sojourn so near the French boundary, and demanded that +she should depart. The authorities of Geneva complied with this +demand, and ordered the Duchess of St. Leu to leave the city +immediately.</p> +<p>When Count Boyna imparted this intelligence to the duchess, and +asked her to what place she would now go, her long-repressed +despair found utterance in a single cry: "I know not. Throw me into +the lake, then we shall all be at rest!"</p> +<p>But she soon recovered her usual proud resignation, and quietly +submitted to the new banishment that drove her from her last +possession, the charming little Pregny, from her "<i>rêve de +chalet</i>."</p> +<p>In Aix she finally found repose and peace for a few weeks--in +Aix, where she had once celebrated brilliant triumphs as a queen, +and where she was at least permitted to live in retirement with her +children and a few faithful adherents.</p> +<p>But in Aix the most fearful blow that Fate had in store for her +fell upon her!</p> +<p>Her action against her husband had already been decided in 1814, +shortly before the emperor's return, and it had been adjudged that +she should deliver her elder son Napoleon Louis, into the custody +of his father. Now that Napoleon's will no longer restrained him, +Louis demanded that this judgment be carried out, and sent Baron +von Zuyten to Aix to bring back the prince to his father then +residing in Florence.</p> +<p>The unhappy mother was now powerless to resist this hard +command; she was compelled to yield, and send her son from her arms +to a father who was a stranger to the boy, and whom he therefore +could not love.</p> +<p>It was a heart-rending scene this parting between the boy, his +mother, and his young brother Louis, from whom he had never before +been separated for a day, and who now threw his arms around his +neck, tearfully entreating him to stay with him.</p> +<p>But the separation was inevitable. Hortense parted the two +weeping children, taking little Louis Napoleon in her arms, while +Napoleon Louis followed his governor to the carriage, sobbing as +though his heart would break. When Hortense heard the carriage +driving off, she uttered a cry of anguish and fell to the ground in +a swoon, and a long and painful attack of illness was the +consequence of this sorrowful separation.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II.4"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<h3>LOUIS NAPOLEON AS A CHILD.</h3> +<br> +<p>The Duchess of St. Leu was, however, not destined to find repose +in Aix; the Bourbons--not yet weary of persecuting her, and still +fearing the name whose first and greatest representative was now +languishing on a solitary, inhospitable rock-island--the Bourbons +considered it dangerous that Hortense, the emperor's step-daughter, +and her son, whose name of Louis Napoleon seemed to them a living +monument of the past, should be permitted to sojourn so near the +French boundary. They therefore instructed their ambassador to the +government of Savoy to protest against the further sojourn of the +queen in Aix, and Hortense was compelled to undertake a new +pilgrimage, and to start out into the world again in search of a +home.</p> +<p>She first turned to Baden, whose duchess, Stephanie, was so +nearly related to her, and from whose husband she might therefore +well expect a kindly reception. But the grand-duke did not justify +his cousin's hopes; he had not the courage to defy the jealous +fears of France, and it was only at the earnest solicitation of his +wife that he at last consented that Hortense should take up her +residence at the extreme end of the grand-duchy, at Constance, on +the Lake of Constance; and this permission was only accorded her on +the express condition that neither the duchess nor her son should +ever come to Carlsruhe, and that his wife, Stephanie, should never +visit her cousin at Constance.</p> +<p>Hortense accepted this offer with its conditions, contented to +find a place where she could rest after her long wanderings, and +let the bleeding wounds of her heart heal in the stillness and +peace of beautiful natural scenery. She passed a few quiet, happy +years in Constance desiring and demanding nothing but a little rest +and peace, aspiring to but one thing--to make of the son whom +Providence had given her as a compensation for all her sufferings, +a strong, a resolute, and an intelligent man.</p> +<p>Her most tender care and closest attention were devoted to the +education of this son. An excellent teacher, Prof. Lebas, of Paris, +officiated as instructor to the young prince. She herself gave him +instruction in drawing, in music, and in dancing; she read with +him, sang with him, and made herself a child, in order to replace +to her lonely boy the playmate Fate had torn from his side.</p> +<p>While reposing on her <i>chaise-longue</i> on the long quiet +evenings, her boy seated on a cushion at her feet, she would speak +to him of his great uncle, and of his heroic deeds, and of his +country, of France that had discarded them, to be able to return to +which was, however, her most ardent wish, and would continue to be +while life lasted. She would then inspire the boy's soul with the +description of the great battles which his uncle had won in Italy, +on the Nile, on the Rhine, and on the Danube; and the quiet, pale +boy, with the dark, thoughtful eyes, would listen in breathless +suspense, his weak, slender body quivering with emotion when his +mother told him how dearly his uncle had loved France, and that all +his great and glorious deeds had been done for the honor and renown +of France alone.</p> +<p>One day, while he was sitting before her, pale and trembling +with agitation, his mother pointed to David's splendid painting, +representing Napoleon on the heights of the Alps, the genial +conception of which painting is due to Napoleon's own +suggestions.</p> +<p>"Paint me tranquilly seated on a wild horse," Napoleon had said +to David, and David had so painted him--on a rearing steed, on the +summit of a rock which bears the inscription "Hannibal" and +"Caesar." The emperor's countenance is calm, his large eyes full of +a mysterious brilliancy, his hair fluttering in the wind, the whole +expression thoughtful and earnest; the rider heedless of the +rearing steed, which he holds firmly in check with the reins.</p> +<p>A beautiful copy of this great painting hung in the parlor of +the duchess; and to this she now pointed while narrating the +history of the emperor's passage over the Great St. Bernard with an +army, a feat never before performed except by Hannibal and Caesar, +and perhaps never to be performed again.</p> +<p>As she concluded her narrative, an almost angry expression +flitted across the young prince's countenance. Rising from his +seat, and holding himself perfectly erect, he exclaimed: "Oh, +mamma, I shall also cross the Alps some day, as the emperor +did!"</p> +<p>And while thus speaking, a glowing color suffused his face; his +lips trembled, and the feverish beating of his heart was quite +audible.</p> +<p>Hortense turned in some anxiety to her friend Louise de +Cochelet, and begged her in a low voice to soothe the child with +the recital of some merry narrative. As Louise looked around the +room thoughtfully and searchingly, a cup that stood on the +mantel-piece arrested her gaze. She hastened to the mantel, took +the cup, and returned with it to little Louis Napoleon.</p> +<p>"Mamma has been explaining a very grave picture to you, Louis," +said she; "I will now show you a merry one. Look at it--isn't it +charming?"</p> +<p>The prince cast a hasty, absent-minded look at the cup, and +nodded gravely. Louise laughed gayly.</p> +<p>"You see, Louis," said she, "that this is the exact counterpart +of the picture of the Emperor Napoleon, who, while riding over the +Alps, encounters on their summit the great spirits of Hannibal and +Caesar. Here is a little Napoleon, who is not climbing up the Alps, +but climbing down from his bed, and who, on this occasion, meets a +black spirit, in the person of a chimney-sweep. This is the history +of the great and of the little Napoleon; the great meets Hannibal, +the little the chimney-sweep."</p> +<p>"Am I the little Napoleon?" asked the boy, gravely.</p> +<p>"Yes, Louis, you are, and I will now tell you the story of this +cup. One day, when we were all still in Paris, and while your great +uncle was still Emperor of France--one day, you met in your room a +little Savoyard who had just crept out of the chimney in his black +dress, his black broom in his hand. You cried out with horror, and +were about to run away, but I held you back and told you that these +chimney-sweeps were poor boys, and that their parents were so poor +that they could not support their children, but were compelled to +send them to Paris to earn their bread by creeping into and +cleaning our hot and dirty chimneys, with great trouble, and at the +risk of their lives. My story touched you, and you promised me +never to be afraid of the little chimney-sweeps again. A short time +afterward, you were awakened early in the morning by a strange +noise, your brother still lay asleep at your side, and your nurse +was absent from the room. This noise was made by a chimney-sweep +who had just come down the chimney and now stood in your room. As +soon as you saw him, you remembered his poverty, jumped out of bed +in your night-clothes, and ran to the chair on which your clothes +lay. You took out of your pocket the purse you were compelled to +carry with you on your walks to give money to the poor, and you +emptied its entire contents into the black, sooty hand of the young +Savoyard. You then tried to get back to bed, but it was too high +for you; you could not climb over the railing. Seeing this, the +chimney-sweep came to your assistance, and took the little prince +in his arms to help him into bed. At this moment, your nurse +entered the room, and your brother who had just awakened, cried +loudly when he saw Louis in the arms of a chimney-sweep.</p> +<p>"This is the story of little Napoleon and the chimney-sweep! +Your grandmother, the Empress Josephine was so much pleased with +this story, that your mother had the scene painted on a cup, and +presented it to the empress, in order to afford her a +gratification. And what do you think, Louis--this cup was also the +cause of a punishment being remitted your cousin, the King of Rome, +who now lives in Vienna!"</p> +<p>"Tell me all about it, Louise," said the prince, smiling.</p> +<p>"You shall hear it! Your mother had instructed me to take the +cup to Malmaison to the empress. But before going, I endeavored to +obtain some news about the little King of Rome for the empress. +Your good grandmother loved him as though he had been her own +child, although she had never seen him. I therefore went to the +Tuileries to see the little King of Rome, with whose governess, +Madame de Montesquieu, I was intimately acquainted. On entering the +apartment, I saw the king cowering behind a chair in a corner of +the room; Madame de Montesquieu intimated by a look that he was +undergoing a punishment; I understood it, and first conversed with +his governess for a short time. When I then turned and approached +him, he concealed the tearful, flushed face, that his long blond +curls covered as with a golden veil, whenever he moved behind the +chair.</p> +<p>"'Sire,' said Madame de Montesquieu to him, 'sire, do you not +intend to bid Mademoiselle de Cochelet good-morning? She came here +expressly to see you.'</p> +<p>"'Your majesty does not recognize me,' said I, attempting to +take his small hand in mine. He tore it from me, and cried in a +voice almost choked with sobbing: 'She will not let me look at the +soldiers of my papa!'</p> +<p>"Madame de Montesquieu told me that it was the little prince's +greatest pleasure to see the Guards exercising on the <i>Place de +Carrousel</i>, but that she had deprived Mm of this pleasure +to-day, because he had been naughty and disobedient; that, when he +heard the music and drums, his despair and anger had become so +great that she had been forced to resort to severe means, and make +him stand in the corner behind a chair. I begged for the young +king's pardon; I showed him the cup, and explained the scene that +was painted on it. The king laughed, and Madame de Montesquieu +pardoned him for the sake of his little cousin, Louis Napoleon, who +was so well behaved, and who was always held up to him as a +model<a name="FNanchor56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56">[56]</a>. Now +you have heard the whole story, are you pleased with it, +Louis?"</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_56"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor56">[56]</a> Cochelet, vol. i., p. 212.</blockquote> +<p>"I like it very much," said the grave boy, "but I do not like my +cousin's governess, for having intended to prevent him from looking +at his father's soldiers. Oh, how handsome they must have been, the +soldiers of the emperor! Mamma, I wish I were also an emperor, and +had ever so many handsome soldiers."</p> +<p>Hortense smiled sadly, and laid her hand on the boy's head as if +to bless him. "Oh, my son," said she, "it is no enviable fortune to +wear a crown. It is almost always fastened on our head with +thorns!"</p> +<p>From this day on, Prince Louis Napoleon would stand before his +uncle's portrait, lost in thought, and after looking at it to his +satisfaction, he would run out and call the boys of the +neighborhood together, in order to play soldier and emperor with +them in the large garden that surrounded his mother's house, and +teach the boys the first exercise.</p> +<p>One day, in the zeal of play, he had entirely forgotten his +mother's command, not to go out of the garden, and had inarched +into the open field with his soldiers. When his absence from the +garden was noticed, all the servants were sent out to look for him, +and the anxious duchess, together with her ladies, assisted in this +search, walking about in every direction through the cold and the +slush of the thawing snow. Suddenly they came upon the boy +barefooted and in his shirt-sleeves, wading toward them through the +mud and snow. He was alarmed and confused at this unexpected +meeting, and confessed that a moment before, while he had been +playing in front of the garden, a family had passed by so poor and +ragged that it was painful to look at them. As he had no money to +give them, he had put his shoes on one child, and his coat on +another<a name="FNanchor57"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_57">[57]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_57"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor57">[57]</a> Cochelet, vol. iv., p. 303.</blockquote> +<p>The duchess did not have the courage to scold him; she stooped +down and kissed her son; but when her ladies commenced to praise +him, she motioned to them to be silent, and said in a loud voice +that what her son had done was quite a matter of course, and +therefore deserved no praise.</p> +<p>An ardent desire to gladden others and make them presents was +characteristic of little Louis Napoleon. One day, Hortense had +given him three beautiful studs for his shirt, and on the same day +the prince transferred them to one of his friends who admired +them.</p> +<p>When Hortense reproached her son for doing so, and threatened to +make him no more presents, as he always gave them away again +directly, Louis Napoleon replied, "Ah, mamma, this is why your +presents give me double pleasure--once when you give them to me, +and the second time when I make others happy with them<a name= +"FNanchor58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58">[58]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_58"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor58">[58]</a> Cochelet, vol. i, p. 355.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III.4"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<h3>THE REVOLUTION OF 1830.</h3> +<br> +<p>Fate seemed at last weary of persecuting the poor Duchess of St. +Leu. It at least accorded her a few peaceful years of repose and +comfort; it at least permitted her to rest from the weariness of +the past on the bosom of Nature, and to forget her disappointments +and sorrows. The Canton of Thurgau had had the courage to extend +permission to the duchess to take up her residence within its +borders, at the very moment when the Grand-duke of Baden, who had +been urged to the step by Germany and France, had peremptorily +ordered Hortense to leave Constance and his grand-duchy without +delay.</p> +<p>Hortense had thankfully accepted the offer of the Swiss canton, +and had purchased, on the Swiss side of the Lake of Constance, an +estate, whose beautiful situation on the summit of a mountain, +immediately on the banks of the lake, with its magnificent view of +the surrounding country, and its glittering glaciers on the distant +horizon, made it a most delightful place of sojourn. Hortense now +caused the furniture of her dwelling in Paris, that had been sold, +to be sent to her. The sight of these evidences of her former +grandeur awakened sweet and bitter emotions in her heart, as they +were one after another taken out of the cases in which they had +been packed--these sofas, chairs, divans, carpets, chandeliers, +mirrors, and all the other ornaments of the parlors in which +Hortense had been accustomed to receive kings and emperors, and +which were now to adorn the Swiss villa that was outwardly so +beautiful because of the vicinity, and inwardly so plain and +simple.</p> +<p>But Hortense knew how to make an elegant and tasteful +disposition of all these articles; she herself arranged every thing +in her house, and took true feminine delight in her task. And when +all was at last arranged--when she walked, with her son at her +side, through the suite of rooms, in which every ornament and piece +of furniture reminded her of the past--when these things recalled +the proud days of state when so many friends, relatives, and +servants, had surrounded her--a feeling of unutterable loneliness, +of painful desolation, came over her, and she sank down on a sofa +and wept bitterly. But there was nevertheless a consolation in +having these familiar articles in her possession once more; these +mute friends often awakened in the solitary queen's heart memories +that served to entertain and console her. Arenenberg was a perfect +temple of memory; every chair, every table, every article of +furniture, had its history, and this history spoke of Napoleon, of +Josephine, and the great days of the empire.</p> +<p>In Arenenberg Hortense had at last found a permanent home, and +there she passed the greater part of the year; and it was only when +the autumnal storms began to howl through her open and +lightly-constructed villa, that Hortense repaired to Rome, to pass +the winter months in a more genial climate, while her son Louis +Napoleon was pursuing his studies at the artillery school at +Thun.</p> +<p>And thus the years passed on, quiet and peaceful, though +sometimes interrupted by new losses and sorrows. In the year 1821 +the hero, the emperor, to whose laurel-crown the halo of a martyr +had now also been added, died on the island-rock, St. Helena.</p> +<p>In the year 1824 Hortense lost her only brother, Eugene, the +Duke of Leuchtenberg.</p> +<p>The only objects of Hortense's love were now her two sons, who +were prospering in mind and body, and were the pride and joy of +their mother, and an object of annoyance and suspicion to all the +princes of Europe. For these children bore in their countenance, in +their name, and in their disposition, too plain an impress of the +great past, which they could never entirely ignore while Bonaparte +still lived to testify to it.</p> +<p>And they lived and prospered in spite of the Bourbons; they +lived and prospered, although banished from their country, and +compelled to lead an inactive life.</p> +<p>But at last it seemed as though the hour of fortune and freedom +had come for these Bonapartes--as though they, too, were to be +permitted to have a country to which they might give their devotion +and services.</p> +<p>The thundering voice of the revolution of 1830 resounded +throughout trembling Europe. France, on whom the allies had imposed +the Bourbons, arose and shook its mane; with its lion's paw it +overthrew the Bourbon throne, drove out the Jesuits who had stood +behind it, and whom Charles X. had advised to tear the charter to +pieces, to destroy the freedom of the press, and to reintroduce the +<i>autos da fé</i> of the olden time.</p> +<p>France had been treated as a child in 1815, and was now +determined to assert its manhood; it resolved to break entirely +with the past, and with its own strength to build up a future for +itself.</p> +<p>The lilies of the Bourbons were to bloom no more; these last +years of fanatical Jesuit tyranny had deprived them of life, and +France tore the faded lily from her bosom in order to replace it +with a young and vigorous plant. The throne of the Bourbons was +overthrown, but the people, shuddering at the recollection of the +sanguinary republic, selected a king in preference. It stretched +out its hand after him it held dearest; after him who in the past +few years had succeeded in winning the sympathy of France. It +selected the Duke of Orleans, the son of Philippe +Égalité, for its king.</p> +<p>Louis Philippe, the enthusiastic republican of 1790, who at that +time had caused the three words "<i>Liberté, +Égalité, Fraternité</i>" and the inscription +"<i>Vive la République,"</i> to be burnt on his arm, in +order to prove his republicanism; the proscribed Louis Philippe, +who had wandered through Europe a fugitive, earning his bread by +teaching writing and languages--the same Louis Philippe now became +King of France.</p> +<p>The people called him to the throne; they tore the white flag +from the roof of the Tuileries, but they knew no other or better +one with which to replace it than the <i>tricolore</i> of the +empire.</p> +<p>Under the shadow of this <i>tricolore</i> Louis Philippe mounted +the throne, and the people--to whom the three colors recalled the +glorious era of the empire--the people shouted with delight, and in +order to indulge their sympathies they demanded for France--not the +son of Napoleon, not Napoleon II.--but the ashes of Napoleon, and +the emperor's statue on the Palace Vendôme. Louis Philippe +accorded them both, but with these concessions he thought he had +done enough. He had accepted the <i>tricolore</i> of the empire; he +had promised that the emperor should watch over Paris from the +summit of the Vendôme monument, and to cause his ashes to be +brought to Paris--these were sufficient proofs of love.</p> +<p>They might be accorded the dead Napoleon without danger, but it +would be worse to accord them to living Napoleons; such a course +might easily shake the new throne, and recall the allies to +Paris.</p> +<p>The hatred of the princes of Europe against Napoleon was still +continued against his family, and it was with them, as Metternich +said, "a principle never to tolerate another Napoleon on the +throne."</p> +<p>The European powers had signified to the King of France, through +their diplomatic agents, their readiness to acknowledge him, but +they exacted one condition--the condition that Louis Philippe +should confirm or renew the decree of exile fulminated by the +Bourbons against the Bonapartes.</p> +<p>Louis Philippe had accepted this condition; and the Bonapartes, +whose only crime was that they were the brothers and relatives of +the deceased emperor, before whom not only France, but all the +princes of Europe, had once bent the knee--the Bonapartes were once +more declared strangers to their country, and condemned to +exile!</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV.4"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<h3>THE REVOLUTION IN ROME, AND THE SONS OF HORTENSE.</h3> +<br> +<p>It was a terrible blow to the Bonapartes, this new decree of +banishment! Like a stroke of lightning it entered their hearts, +annihilating their holiest hopes and most ardent desires, and their +joy over the glorious and heroic revolution of July gave place to a +bitter sense of disappointment.</p> +<p>Nothing, therefore, remained for them but to continue the life +to which they had become somewhat accustomed, and to console +themselves, for their new disappointment, with the arts and +sciences.</p> +<p>At the end of October, in the year 1830, Hortense determined to +leave Arenenberg and go to Rome with her son, as she was in the +habit of doing every year.</p> +<p>But this time she first went to Florence, where her elder son, +Napoleon Louis, recently married to his cousin, the second daughter +of King Joseph, was now living with his young wife. The heart of +the tender mother was filled with anxiety and care; she felt and +saw that this new French Revolution was likely to infect all +Europe, and that Italy, above all, would be unable to avoid this +infection. Italy was diseased to the core, and it was to be feared +that it would grasp at desperate means in its agony, and proceed to +the blood-letting of a revolution, in order to restore itself to +health. Hortense felt this, and feared for her sons.</p> +<p>She feared that the exiled, the homeless ones who had been +driven from their country, and were not permitted to serve it, +would devote their services to those who were unhappy and who +suffered like themselves. She feared the enthusiasm, the generous +courage, the energy of her sons, and she knew that, if a revolution +should break out in Italy, it would gladly adorn itself with the +name of Napoleon.</p> +<p>Hortense, therefore, conjured her sons to hold themselves aloof +from all dangerous undertakings, and not to follow those who might +appeal to them with the old word of magic power, "liberty;" that, +in spite of the tears and blood it has already caused mankind, can +never lose its wondrous power.</p> +<p>Her two sons promised compliance; and, much relieved, Hortense +left Florence, and went, with her younger son, Louis Napoleon, to +Rome.</p> +<p>But Rome, otherwise so aristocratic and solemn, assumed an +unusual, an entirely new, physiognomy this winter. In society the +topics of conversation were no longer art and poetry, the Pantheon +and St. Peter, or what the newest amusement should be; but politics +and the French Revolution were the all-engrossing topics, and the +populace listened anxiously for the signal that should announce +that the revolution in Italy had at last begun.</p> +<p>Even the populace of Rome, usually addicted to lying so +harmlessly in the sunshine, now assembled in dense groups on the +streets, and strange words were heard when the police cautiously +approached these groups for the purpose of listening. But they now +lacked the courage to arrest those who uttered those words; they +felt that such a provocation might suffice to tear away the veil +behind which the revolution still concealed itself.</p> +<p>The whole energy and watchfulness of the Roman government was +therefore employed in endeavoring to avert the revolution, if +possible; not, however, by removing the cause and occasion, but by +depriving the people of the means. The son of Hortense, Louis +Napoleon, seemed to the government a means which the revolution +might use for its purposes, and it was therefore determined that he +should be removed.</p> +<p>His name, and even the three-colored saddle-blanket of his +horse, with which he rode through the streets of Rome, were +exciting to the populace, in whose veins the fever of revolution +was already throbbing. Louis Napoleon must therefore be +removed.</p> +<p>The Governor of Rome first addressed the prince's great-uncle, +Cardinal Fesch, requesting him to advise the Duchess of St. Leu to +remove the young prince from Rome for a few weeks.</p> +<p>But the cardinal indignantly declared that his nephew, who had +done nothing, should not be compelled to leave Rome merely on +account of his name and his saddle-blanket, and that he would never +advise the Duchess of St. Leu to do anything of the kind.</p> +<p>The Roman government therefore determined to adopt energetic +means. It caused the dwelling of the duchess to be surrounded by +soldiers, while a papal office presented himself before Hortense, +and announced that he had received orders to remove Prince Louis +from the city at once, and to conduct him without the papal +territory.</p> +<p>The fear of approaching evil caused the government to forget the +respect due to nobility in misfortune and the emperor's nephew was +turned out of the city like a criminal!</p> +<p>Hortense received this intelligence almost with joy. Far from +Rome, it seemed to her that he would be safer from the revolution, +whose approach she so much dreaded; and it therefore afforded her +great satisfaction to send the prince to Florence, to his father, +believing that he would there be shielded from the dangerous +political calumnies that threatened him in Rome. She therefore +permitted him to depart; and how could she have prevented his +departure--she, the lone, powerless woman, to whom not even the +French ambassador would have accorded protection! No one interceded +for her--no one protested against the violent and brutal course +pursued toward Louis Napoleon--no one, except the Russian +ambassador.</p> +<p>The Emperor of Russia was the only one of all the sovereigns of +Europe who felt himself strong enough not to ignore the name of +Napoleon, and the consideration due to the family of a hero and of +an emperor.</p> +<p>The Emperor of Russia had, therefore, never refused his +protection and assistance to the Bonapartes, and his ambassador was +now the only one who protested against the violent course taken by +the Roman government.</p> +<p>The revolution at last broke forth. Italy arose as France had +done, resolved to throw off the yoke of tyranny and oppression, and +be free! The storm first broke out in Modena. The duke saw himself +compelled to fly, and a provisional government under General +Menotti placed itself in his stead. But, while this was taking +place in Modena, the populace of Rome was holding high festival in +honor of the newly-chosen Pope Gregory XVI., who had just taken his +seat in the chair of the deceased Pope Pius VIII., and these +festivities, and the Carnival, seemed to occupy the undivided +attention of the Romans; under the laughing mask of these +rejoicings the revolution hid its grave and threatening visage, and +it was not until <i>mardi-gras</i> that it laid this mask aside and +showed its true countenance.</p> +<p>The people had been accustomed to throw confectionery and +flowers on this day, but this time the day was to be made memorable +by a shower of stones and bullets; this time they were not to +appear in the harlequin jacket, but in their true form, earnest, +grand, commanding, self-conscious, and self-asserting.</p> +<p>But the government had been informed of the intention of the +conspirators to avail themselves of the drive to the Corso, to +begin the revolution, and this procession was prohibited an hour +before the time appointed for its commencement.</p> +<p>The people arose against this prohibition, and the revolution +they had endeavored to repress by this means now broke out.</p> +<p>The thunder of cannon and the rattling of musketry now resounded +through the streets of Rome, and the people everywhere resisted the +papal soldiery with energy and determination.</p> +<p>The new pope trembled in the Quirinal, the old cardinals lost +courage, and in dismay recoiled a step at every advancing stride of +the insurgents. Gregory felt that the papal crown he had just +achieved was already on the point of falling from his head, to be +trodden in the dust by the victorious populace; he turned to +Austria, and solicited help and assistance.</p> +<p>But young Italy, the Italy of enthusiasm, of liberty, and of +hope, looked to France for support. Old Italy had turned to Austria +for help; young Italy looked for assistance to the free, +newly-arisen France, in which the revolution had just celebrated a +glorious victory. But France denied its Italian brother, and denied +its own origin; scarcely had the revolution seated itself on the +newly-erected kingly throne and invested itself with the crown and +purple robe, when, for its own safety, it became reactionary, and +denied itself.</p> +<p>With all Italy, Rome was resolved to shake off the yoke of +oppression; the whole people espoused this cause with enthusiasm; +and in the streets of Rome--at other times filled with priests and +monks and holy processions--in these streets, now alive with the +triumphant youth of Rome, resounded exultant songs of freedom.</p> +<p>The strangers, terrified by this change, now quitted the holy +city in crowds, and hastened to their homes. Hortense desired to +remain; she knew that she had nothing to fear from the people, for +all the evil that had hitherto overtaken her, had come, not from +the people, but always from the princes only<a name= +"FNanchor59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59">[59]</a>. However, letters +suddenly arrived from her sons, conjuring her to leave Rome and +announcing that they would leave Florence within the hour, in order +to hasten forward to meet their mother.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_59"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor59">[59]</a> La Reine Hortense, p. 63.</blockquote> +<p>Upon reading this, Hortense cried aloud with terror--she, who +knew and desired no other happiness on earth than the happiness of +her children, she whose only prayer to God had ever been, that her +children might prosper and that she might die before them, now felt +that a fearful danger threatened her sons, and that they were now +about to be swept into the vortex of the revolution.</p> +<p>They had left Florence, and their father, and were now on the +way to Rome, that is, on the way to the revolution that would +welcome them with joy, and inscribe the name Napoleon on its +standards!</p> +<p>But it was perhaps still time to save them; with her prayers and +entreaties she might still succeed in arresting them on the verge +of the abyss into which they were hastening in the intoxication of +their enthusiasm. As this thought occurred to her, Hortense felt +herself strong, determined, and courageous; and, on the same day on +which she had received the letters, she left Rome, and hurried +forward to meet her sons. She still hoped to be in time to save +them; she fancied she saw her sons in every approaching +carriage--but in vain!</p> +<p>They had written that they would meet her on the road, but they +were not there!</p> +<p>Perhaps they had listened to the representations of their +father; perhaps they had remained in Florence and were awaiting +their mother's arrival there.</p> +<p>Tormented by fear and hope, Hortense arrived in Florence and +drove to the dwelling in which her son Louis Napoleon had resided. +Her feet could scarcely bear her up; she hardly found strength to +inquire after her son--he was not there!</p> +<p>But he might be with his father, and Hortense now sent there for +intelligence of her sons. The messenger returned, alone and +dejected: her sons had left the city!</p> +<p>The exultant hymn of liberty had struck on their delighted ear, +and they had responded to the call of the revolution.</p> +<p>General Menotti had appealed to them, in the name of Italy, to +assist the cause of freedom with their name and with their swords, +and they had neither the will nor the courage to disregard this +appeal.</p> +<p>A servant, left behind by her younger son, delivered to the +duchess a letter from her son Louis Napoleon, a last word of adieu +to his beloved mother.</p> +<p>"Your love will understand us," wrote Louis Napoleon. "We cannot +withdraw ourselves from duties that devolve upon us; the name we +bear obliges us to listen to the appeal of unhappy nations. I beg +you to represent this matter to my sister-in-law as though I had +persuaded my brother to accompany me; it grieves him to have +concealed from her one action of his life<a name= +"FNanchor60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60">[60]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_60"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor60">[60]</a> La Reine Hortense, p. 78.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V.4"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<h3>THE DEATH OF PRINCE NAPOLEON.</h3> +<br> +<p>That which Hortense most dreaded had taken place: the voice of +enthusiasm had silenced every other consideration; and the two sons +of the Duchess of St. Leu, the nephews of the Emperor Napoleon, now +stood at the head of the revolution. From Foligno to Civita +Castellano, they organized the defence, and from the cities and +villages the young people joyously hurried forth to enroll +themselves under their banners, and to obey the Princes Napoleon as +their leaders; the crowds which the young princes now led were +scarcely armed, but they nevertheless advanced courageously, and +were resolved to attempt the capture of Civita Castellano, in order +to liberate the state prisoners who had been languishing in its +dungeons for eight years.</p> +<p>This was the intelligence brought back by the couriers whom +Hortense had dispatched to her sons with letters entreating them to +return.</p> +<p>It was too late--they neither would nor could return.</p> +<p>Their father wrung his hands in despair, and conjured his wife, +he being confined to his arm-chair by illness and the gout, to do +all in her power to tear their sons from the fearful danger that +menaced them. For the revolution was lost; all who were cool and +collected felt and saw this. But the youth refused to see it; they +still continued to flock to the revolutionary banners; they still +sang exultant hymns of freedom, and, when their parents endeavored +to hold them back, they fled from the parental house secretly, in +order to answer the call that resounded on their ear in such divine +notes.</p> +<p>One of the sons of the Princess of Canino, the wife of Lucien +Bonaparte, had fled from his father's castle in order to join the +insurgents. They succeeded in finding, and forcing him to return, +and as the family were under obligations to the pope for having +created the principalities of Canino and Musignano, for Lucien +Bonaparte and his eldest son, the most extreme measures were +adopted to prevent the young prince from fighting against the +troops of the pope;</p> +<p>The Princess of Canino, as a favor, requested the Grand-duke of +Tuscany to confine her son in one of the state prisons of Tuscany; +her request was granted, and her son taken to a prison, where he +was kept during the entire revolution. It was proposed to the +Duchess of St. Leu to adopt this same means of prevention, but, in +spite of her anxiety and care, and although, in her restlessness +and feverish disquiet, she wandered through her rooms day and +night, she declined to take such a course. She was not willing to +subject her sons to the humiliation of such compulsion; if their +own reason, if the prayers and entreaties of their mother, did not +suffice, force should not be resorted to, to bring them back. The +whole family was, however, still employing every means to induce +the two Princes Napoleon to withdraw from the revolution, which +must inevitably again draw down upon the name Napoleon the +suspicion of the angry and distrustful princes of Europe.</p> +<p>Cardinal Fesch and King Jerome conjured their nephews, first in +entreating, and then in commanding letters, to leave the insurgent +army.</p> +<p>With the consent of their father, Louis Bonaparte, they wrote to +the provisional government at Bologna that the name of the two +princes was injuring the cause of the revolution, and to General +Armandi, the minister of war of the insurgent government, +entreating him to recall the princes from the army. Every one, +friend and foe, combined to neutralize the zeal and efforts of the +two princes, and to prove to them that they could only injure the +cause to which they gave their names; that foreign powers, +considering the revolution a matter to be decided by Italy alone, +would perhaps refrain from intervening; but that they would become +relentless should a Bonaparte place himself at the head of the +revolution, in order perhaps to shake the thrones of Europe +anew.</p> +<p>The two princes at last yielded to these entreaties and +representations; they gave up their commands, and resigned the rank +that had been accorded them in the insurgent army; but, as it was +no longer in their power to serve the revolution with their name +and with their brains, they were at least desirous of serving it +with their arms: they resigned their commands, but with the +intention of remaining in the army as simple soldiers and +volunteers without any rank.</p> +<p>And when their father and their uncles, not yet satisfied with +what they had done, urged them still further the two princes +declared that, if these cruel annoyances were continued, they would +go to Poland, and serve the revolution there<a name= +"FNanchor61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61">[61]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_61"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor61">[61]</a> La Reine Hortense, p. 93.</blockquote> +<p>Hortense had taken no part in these attempts and efforts of her +family; she knew that it was all in vain; she understood her sons +better than they, and she knew that nothing in the world could +alter a resolution they had once formed. But she also knew that +they were lost, that the revolution must be suppressed, that they +would soon be proscribed fugitives, and she quietly prepared to +assist them when the evil days should come. She armed herself with +courage and determination, and made her soul strong, in order that +she might not be overwhelmed by the misfortune that was so near at +hand.</p> +<p>While all about her were weeping and lamenting, while her +husband was wringing his hands in despair, and complaining of the +present, Hortense quietly and resolutely confronted the future, and +prepared to defy it.</p> +<p>That which she dreaded soon took place. An Austrian fleet sailed +into the Adriatic; an Austrian army was marching on the +insurrectionary Italian provinces. Modena had already been +reconquered; the insurgents were already flying in crowds before +the Austrian cannon, whose thundering salvos were destined to +destroy once more the hopes of the youth of Italy.</p> +<p>Like an enraged lioness glowing with enthusiasm and courage, +Hortense now sprang up. The danger was there, and she must save her +sons! She had long considered how it was to be done, and whither +she was to go with them. She had first resolved to go with them to +Turkey, and to take up her residence in Smyrna, but the presence of +the Austrian fleet which ruled the Adriatic made this plan +impracticable. At this moment of extreme danger, a volume of light +suddenly beamed in upon her soul, and pointed out the way to +safety. "I will take them by a road," said she to herself, "on +which they will be least expected. I will conduct them through +France, through Paris. The death-penalty will there hang suspended +over them, but what care I for that? Liberty, justice, and +humanity, still exercise too much control over France to make me +apprehend such severe measures. I must save my sons; the way +through France is the way of safety, and I shall therefore follow +it!"</p> +<p>And Hortense immediately began to carry her plan into execution. +She requested an Englishman residing in Florence, to whose family +she had once rendered important services in France, to call on her, +and begged him to procure her a passport for an English lady and +her two sons through France to England.</p> +<p>The lord understood her, and gladly consented to assist her and +her two sons.</p> +<p>On the following day he brought her the required passport, and +Hortense, who well knew that the best way to keep a secret was to +have no confidants, now declared to her husband, as well as to her +family and her friends that she was resolved to find her sons, and +to embark with them from Ancona for Corfu!</p> +<p>For this purpose she demanded a passport of the government of +Tuscany, and it was accorded her.</p> +<p>Her sons were still in Bologna, but it was known that this city +must fall into the hands of the Austrians in a few days, and all +was lost unless Hortense arrived there before them. She sent a +trusty servant to her sons to announce her coming. Then, at +nightfall, she herself departed, accompanied by one of her ladies +only. She was courageous and resolute, for she knew that the safety +of her sons, her only happiness, was at stake.</p> +<p>Her rapidly-driven carriage had soon passed without the city, +and she now found herself in a part of the country still occupied +by the insurgents. Here all still breathed courage, joyousness, and +confidence. The entire population, adorned with cockades and +three-colored ribbons, seemed happy and contented, and refused to +believe in the danger that threatened.</p> +<p>Festivals were everywhere being held in honor of the revolution +and of liberty, and those who spoke of the advancing Austrians and +of dangers were ridiculed. Instead of making preparations for their +defence, the insurgents folded their hands in contentment, +rejoicing over that which they had already attained, and blind to +the tide that was rolling down upon them.</p> +<p>In the mean while, the insurgent army was in position near +Bologna, and also still occupied the two cities of Terni and +Soleta, which they had courageously defended against the papal +troops. Every one expected that a decisive battle would soon take +place, and every one looked forward to it with a joyous assurance +of victory.</p> +<p>Hortense was far from participating in this general confidence. +In Foligno, where she had remained to await her sons, she passed +several sorrowful days of expectancy and suspense, alarmed by every +noise, and ever looking forward with an anxiously-throbbing heart +to the moment when her sons should come to her as fugitives, +perhaps covered with wounds, perhaps dying, to tell her that all +was lost! Her anxiety at last became so great, that she could no +longer remain in Foligno; she must be nearer her sons, she must +view the dangers that encompassed them, and, if need be, share +them. Hortense, therefore, left Foligno, and started for +Ancona.</p> +<p>On her arrival at the first station, she saw a man descend from +a carriage and approach her. He was unknown to her, and yet she +felt a dark foreboding at his approach. The mother's heart already +felt the blow that awaited her.</p> +<p>This man was a messenger from her sons. "Prince Napoleon is +ill," said he.</p> +<p>Hortense remembered that she had heard that a contagious disease +was ravaging the vicinity. "Is he indeed ill?" cried she, in +dismay.</p> +<p>"Yes; and he earnestly desires to see you, madame!"</p> +<p>"Oh," exclaimed Hortense, in terror, "if he calls for me, he +must be very ill indeed!--Forward, forward, with all possible +speed; I must see my son!"</p> +<p>And onward they went with the speed of the wind from station to +station, approaching nearer and nearer to their destination; but as +they neared their destination, the faces they met grew sadder and +sadder. At every station groups of people assembled about her +carriage and gazed at her sorrowfully; everywhere she heard them +murmur: "Napoleon is dead! Poor mother! Napoleon is dead!" Hortense +heard, but did not believe it! These words had not been spoken by +men, but were the utterances of her anxious heart! Her son was not +dead, he could not be dead. Napoleon lived, yes, he still lived! +And again the people around her carriage murmured, "Napoleon is +dead!"</p> +<p>Hortense reclined in her carriage, pale and motionless. Her +thoughts were confused, her heart scarcely beat.</p> +<p>At last she reached her destination; her carriage drove up to +the house in Pesaro, where her sons were awaiting her.</p> +<p>At this moment a young man, his countenance of a deathly pallor, +and flooded with tears, rushed out of the door and to her carriage. +Hortense recognized him, and stretched out her arms to him. It was +her son Louis Napoleon, and on beholding his pale, sorrowful +countenance, and his tear-stained eyes, the unhappy mother learned +the truth. Yes, it was not her heart, it was the people who had +uttered the fearful words: "Napoleon is dead! Poor mother! Napoleon +is dead!"</p> +<p>With a heart-rending cry, Hortense sank to the ground in a +swoon.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI.4"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<h3>THE FLIGHT FROM ITALY.</h3> +<br> +<p>But Hortense now had no leisure to weep over the son she had so +dearly loved; the safety of the son who remained to her, whom she +loved no less, and on whom her whole love must now be concentrated, +was at stake.</p> +<p>She still had a son to save, and she must now think of him--of +Louis Napoleon, who stood in sorrow at her side, lamenting that +Fate had not allowed him to die with his brother.</p> +<p>Her son must be saved. This thought restored Hortense to health +and strength. She is informed that the authorities of Bologna have +already tendered submission to the Austrians; that the insurgent +army is already scattering in every direction; that the Austrian +fleet is already to be seen in the distance, approaching, perhaps +with the intention of landing at Sinigaglia, in order to surround +the insurgents and render flight impossible.</p> +<p>This intelligence aroused Hortense from her grief and restored +her energy. She ordered her carriage and drove with her son to +Ancona, in full view of the people, in order that every one should +know that it was her purpose to embark with her son for Corfu at +that seaport. At Ancona, immediately fronting the sea, stood her +nephew's palace, and there Hortense descended from her +carriage.</p> +<p>The waves of the storm-tossed sea sometimes rushed up to the +windows of the room occupied by the duchess; from there she could +see the port, and the crowds of fugitives who were pressing forward +to save themselves on the miserable little vessels that there lay +at anchor.</p> +<p>And these poor people had but little time left them in which to +seek safety. The Austrians were rapidly advancing; on entering the +papal territory, they had proclaimed an amnesty, from the benefits +of which Prince Louis Napoleon, General Zucchi, and the inhabitants +of Modena, were, however, excepted. The strangers who had taken +part in the insurrection were to be arrested and treated with all +the severity of the law.</p> +<p>The young people who had flocked from Modena, Milan, and from +all Italy, to enroll themselves under the banner of the Roman +revolution, now found it necessary to seek safety from the pursuing +Austrians in flight.</p> +<p>Louis Napoleon also had no time to lose; each moment lost might +render flight impossible! Hortense was weary and ill, but she now +had no time to think of herself; she must first save her son, then +she could die, but not sooner.</p> +<p>With perfect composure she prepared for her double (her feigned +and her real) departure.</p> +<p>Outwardly, she purposed embarking with her son at Corfu; +secretly, it was her intention to fly to England through France! +But the English passport that she had received for this purpose +mentioned two sons, and Hortense now possessed but one; and it was +necessary for her to provide a substitute for the one she had +lost.</p> +<p>She found one in the person of the young Marquis Zappi, who, +compromised more than all the rest, joyfully accepted the +proposition of the Duchess of St. Leu, promising to conform himself +wholly to her arrangements, without knowing her plans and without +being initiated in her secrets.</p> +<p>Hortense then procured all that was necessary to the disguise of +the young men as liveried servants, and ordered her carriage to be +held in readiness for her departure.</p> +<p>While this was being done in secret, she publicly caused all +preparations to be made for her journey to Corfu. She sent her +passport to the authorities for the purpose of obtaining the +official <i>visa</i> for herself and sons, and had her trunks +packed. Louis Napoleon had looked on, with cold and mute +indifference, while these preparations were being made. He stood +by, pale and dejected, without complaining or giving utterance to +his grief.</p> +<p>Becoming at last convinced that he was ill, Hortense sent for a +physician.</p> +<p>The latter declared that the prince was suffering from a severe +attack of fever, which might become dangerous unless he sought +repose at once. It was therefore necessary to postpone their +departure for a day, and Hortense passed an anxious night at the +bedside of her fever-shaken, delirious son.</p> +<p>The morning at last dawned, the morning of the day on which they +hoped to fly; but when the rising sun shed its light into the +chamber in which Hortense stood at her son's bedside, who can +describe the unhappy mother's horror when she saw her son's face +swollen, disfigured, and covered with red spots!</p> +<p>Like his brother, Louis Napoleon had also taken the same +disease.</p> +<p>For a moment Hortense was completely overwhelmed, and then, by +the greatest effort of her life, she summoned her fortitude to her +aid. She immediately sent for the physician again, and, trusting to +a sympathetic human heart, she confided all to him, and he did not +disappoint her. What is to be done must be done quickly, +immediately, or it will be in vain!</p> +<p>Hortense thinks of all, and provides for all. Especially, she +causes her son's passport to Corfu to be signed by the authorities, +and a passage to be taken for him on the only ship destined for +Corfu now lying in the harbor. She instructs the servants, who are +conveying trunks and packages to the vessel, to inform the curious +spectators of her son's intended departure on this vessel. She at +the same time causes the report to be circulated that she has +suddenly been taken ill, and can therefore not accompany her +son.</p> +<p>The physician confirms this statement, and informs all Ancona of +the dangerous illness of the Duchess of St. Leu.</p> +<p>And after all this had been done, Hortense causes her son's bed +to be carried into the little cabinet adjoining her room, and +falling on her knees at his bedside, and covering her face with her +hands, she prays to God to preserve the life of her child!</p> +<p>On the evening of this day the vessel destined for Corfu hoisted +its anchor. No one doubted that Louis Napoleon had embarked on it, +and every one pitied the poor duchess, who, made ill by grief and +anxiety, had not been able to accompany her son.</p> +<p>In the mean while Hortense was sitting at the bedside of her +delirious son. But she no longer felt weak or disquieted; nervous +excitement sustained her, and gave her strength and presence of +mind. Her son was at the same time threatened by two dangers--by +the disease, which the slightest mistake might render mortal; and +by the arrival of the Austrians, who had expressly excepted her son +Louis Napoleon from the benefits of the amnesty. She must save her +son from both these dangers--this thought gave her strength.</p> +<p>Two days had now passed; the last two vessels had left the +harbor, crowded with fugitives; and now the advance-guard of the +Austrians was marching into Ancona.</p> +<p>The commandant of the advance-guard, upon whom the duty of +designating quarters for the following army devolved, selected the +palace of Princess Canino, where the Duchess of St. Leu resided, as +headquarters for the commanding general and his staff. Hortense had +expected this, and had withdrawn to a few small rooms in advance, +holding all the parlors and large rooms in readiness for the +general. When they, however, demanded that the entire palace should +be vacated, the wife of the janitor, the only person whom Hortense +had taken into her confidence, informed them that Queen Hortense, +who was ill and unhappy, was the sole occupant of these reserved +rooms.</p> +<p>Strange to relate, the Austrian captain who came to the palace +to make the necessary preparations for his general's reception was +one of those who, in the year 1815, had protected the queen and her +children from the fury of the royalists. For the second time he now +interested himself zealously in behalf of the duchess, and hastened +forward to meet the general-in-chief, Baron Geppert, who was just +entering the city, in order to acquaint him with the state of +affairs. He, in common with all the world, convinced that her son, +Louis Napoleon, had fled to Corfu, declared his readiness to permit +the duchess to retain the rooms she was occupying, and begged +permission to call on her. But the duchess was still ill, and +confined to her bed, and could receive no one.</p> +<p>The Austrians took up their quarters in the palace; and in the +midst of them, separated from the general's room by a locked door +only, were Hortense and her sick son. The least noise might betray +him. When he coughed it was necessary to cover his head with the +bedclothes, in order to deaden the sound; when he desired to speak +he could only do so in a whisper, for his Austrian neighbors would +have been astonished to hear a male voice in the room of the sick +duchess, and their suspicions might have been thereby aroused.</p> +<p>At last, after eight days of torment and anxiety, the physician +declared that Louis Napoleon could now undertake the journey +without danger, and consequently the duchess suddenly recovered! +She requested the Austrian general, Baron Geppert, to honor her +with a call, in order that she might thank him for his protection +and sympathy; she told him that she was now ready to depart, and +proposed embarking at Livorno, in order to join her son at Malta, +and go with him to England. As she would be compelled to pass +through the whole Austrian army-corps on her way, she begged the +general to furnish her with a passport through his lines over his +own signature; requesting in addition that, in order to avoid all +sensation, the instrument should not contain her name.</p> +<p>The general, deeply sympathizing with the unhappy woman who was +about to follow her proscribed son, readily accorded her +request.</p> +<p>Hortense purposed beginning her journey on the following day, +the first day of the Easter festival; and, on sending her farewell +greeting to the Austrian general, she informed him that she would +start at a very early hour, in order to hear mass at Loretto.</p> +<p>During the night all necessary preparations for the journey were +made, and Louis Napoleon was compelled to disguise himself in the +dress of a liveried servant; a similar attire was also sent to +Marquis Zappi, who had hitherto been concealed in the house of a +friend, and in this attire he was to await the duchess below at the +carriage.</p> +<p>At last, day broke and the hour of departure came. The horn of +the postilion resounded through the street. Through the midst of +the sleeping Austrian soldiers who occupied the antechamber through +which they were compelled to pass, Hortense walked, followed by her +son loaded with packages, in his livery. Their departure was +witnessed by no one except the sentinel on duty.</p> +<p>Day had hardly dawned. In the first carriage sat the duchess, +with a lady companion, and in front, on the box, her son, as a +servant, at the side of the postilion; in the second carriage her +maid, behind her the young Marquis Zappi.</p> +<p>As the sun arose and shone down upon the beautiful Easter day, +Ancona was already far behind, and Hortense knelt down at the side +of Louis Napoleon to thank God tearfully for having permitted her +to succeed so far in rescuing her son, and to entreat Him to be +merciful in the future. But there were still many dangers to be +overcome; the slightest accident might still betray them. The +danger consisted not only in having to pass through all the places +where the Austrian troops were stationed; General Geppert's pass +was a sufficient protection against any thing that might threaten +them from this quarter.</p> +<p>The greatest danger was to be apprehended from their +friends--from some one who might accidentally recognize her son, +and unintentionally betray them.</p> +<p>They must pass through the grand-duchy of Tuscany, and there the +greatest danger menaced, for there her son was known to every one, +and every one might betray them. This part of the journey must +therefore be made, as far as possible, by night. The courier whom +they had dispatched in advance had everywhere ordered the necessary +relays of horses; their dismay was, therefore, great when they +found no horses at the station Camoscia, on the boundary of +Tuscany, and were informed that several hours must elapse before +they could obtain any!</p> +<p>These hours of expectation and anxiety were fearful. Hortense +passed them in her carriage, breathlessly listening to the +slightest noise that broke upon the air.</p> +<p>Her son Louis had descended from the carriage, and seated +himself on a stone bench that stood in front of the miserable +little station-house. Worn out by grief and still weak from +disease, indifferent to the dangers that menaced from all sides, +heedless of the night wind that swept, with its icy breath, over +his face, the prince sank down upon this stone bench, and went to +sleep.</p> +<p>Thus they passed the night. Hortense, once a queen, in a +half-open carriage; Louis Napoleon, the present Emperor of France, +on a stone bench, that served him as a couch!</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII.4"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<h3>THE PILGRIMAGE.</h3> +<br> +<p>Heaven took pity on the agony of the unhappy Duchess of St. Leu. +It heard the prayer of her anxious mother's heart, and permitted +mother and son to escape the dangers that menaced them at every +step in Italy.</p> +<p>At Antibes they succeeded in crossing the French boundary +without being recognized. They were now in their own country--in +<i>la belle France</i>, which they still loved and proudly called +their mother, although it had forsaken and discarded them. The +death-penalty threatened the Bonapartes who should dare to set foot +on French soil. But what cared they for that? Neither Hortense nor +her son thought of it. They only knew that they were in their own +country. They inhaled with delight the air that seemed to them +better and purer than any other; with hearts throbbing with joy, +they listened to the music of this beautiful language that greeted +them with the sweet native melodies.</p> +<p>At Cannes they passed the first night. What recollections did +this place recall to Hortense! Here it was that Napoleon had landed +on his return from Elba to France; from Cannes he had commenced his +march to Paris with a handful of soldiers, and had arrived there +with an army. For the people had everywhere received him with +exultation; the regiments that had been sent out against the +advancing general had everywhere joyously gone over to his +standard. Charles de Labédoyère, this enthusiastic +adherent of the emperor, had been the first to do this. He was to +have advanced against the emperor from Grenoble; but, with the +exulting cry, "<i>Vive l'empereur!</i>" the entire regiment had +gone over to its adored chieftain. Labédoyère had +paid dearly for the enthusiasm of those moments; for, the +for-the-second-time restored Bourbons punished his fidelity with +death. Like Marshal Ney, Charles de Labédoyère was +also shot; like the emperor himself, he paid for the triumph of the +hundred days with his liberty and with his life!</p> +<p>Of all these names and events of the past, Hortense thought, +while enjoying the first hours of repose in their room at an hotel +in Cannes. Leaning back in her chair, her large eyes gazing +dreamily at the ceiling above her, she told the attentive prince of +the days that had been, and spoke to him of the days in which they +were now living--of these days of humiliation and obscurity--of +those days in which the French nation had risen, and, shaking its +lion's mane, hurled the Bourbons from their ancestral throne, and +out of the land they had hitherto proudly called their own. On +driving out the Bourbons, the people had freely chosen another +king--not the King of Rome, who, in Vienna, as Duke of Reichstadt, +had been made to forget the brilliant days of his childhood--not +the son of the Emperor Napoleon. The people of France had chosen +the Duke of Orleans as their king, and Louis Philippe's first act +had been to renew the decree of banishment which the Bourbons had +fulminated against the Bonapartes, and which declared it to be a +capital crime if they should ever dare to set foot on the soil of +France.</p> +<p>"The people acted freely and according to their own will," said +Hortense, with a sad smile, as she saw her son turn pale, and +wrinkles gather on his brow. "Honor the will of the people, my son! +In order to reward the emperor for his great services to the +country, the people of France had unanimously chosen him their +emperor. The people who give have also the right to take back +again. The Bourbons, who consider themselves the owners of France, +may reclaim it as an estate of which they have been robbed by the +house of Orleans. But the Bonapartes must remember that they +derived all their power from the will of the people. They must be +content to await the future expression of its will, and then +submit, and conform themselves to it<a name= +"FNanchor62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62">[62]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_62"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor62">[62]</a> The duchess's own words. See La Reine +Hortense en Italie, Suisse, France, etc., p. 79.</blockquote> +<p>Louis Napoleon bowed his head and sighed. He must conform to the +will of the people; cautiously, under a borrowed name, he must +steal into the land of his longing and of his dreams; he must deny +his nationality, and be indebted, for his name and passport, to the +country that had bound his uncle, like a second Prometheus, to the +rock, and left him there to die! But he did it with a sorrowful, +with a bleeding heart; he wandered with his mother, who walked +heavily veiled at his side, from place to place, listening to her +reminiscences of the great past. At her relation of these +reminiscences, his love and enthusiasm for the fatherland, from +which he had so long been banished, burned brighter and brighter. +The sight, the air of this fatherland, had electrified him; he +entertained but one wish: to remain in France, and to serve France, +although in the humble capacity of a private soldier.</p> +<p>One day Louis Napoleon entered his mother's room with a letter +in his hand, and begged her to read it. It was a letter addressed +to Louis Philippe, in which Louis Napoleon begged the French king +to annul his exile, and to permit him to enter the French army as a +private soldier.</p> +<p>Hortense read the letter, and shook her head sadly. It wounded +her just pride that her son, the nephew of the great emperor, +should ask a favor of him who had not hesitated to make the most of +the revolution for himself, but had nevertheless lacked the courage +to help the banished Bonapartes to recover their rights, and enable +them to return to their country. In his ardent desire to serve +France, Louis Napoleon had forgotten this insult of the King of +France.</p> +<p>"My children," says Hortense, in her memoirs, "my children, who +had been cruelly persecuted by all the courts, even by those who +owed every thing to the emperor, their uncle, loved their country +with whole-souled devotion. Their eyes ever turned toward France, +busied with the consideration of institutions that might make +France happy; they knew that the people alone were their friends; +the hatred of the great had taught them this. To conform to the +will of the people with resignation was to them a duty, but to +devote themselves to the service of France was their hearts' +dearest wish. It was for this reason that my son had written to +Louis Philippe hoping to be permitted to make himself useful to his +country in some way."</p> +<p>Hortense advised against this venturous step; and when she saw +how much this grieved her son, and observed his eyes filling with +tears, she begged that he would at least wait and reflect, and +postpone his decision until their arrival in Paris.</p> +<p>Louis Napoleon yielded to his mother's entreaties, and in +silence and sadness these two pilgrims continued their wandering +through the country and cities, that to Hortense seemed transformed +into luminous monuments of departed glory.</p> +<p>In Fontainebleau Hortense showed her son the palace that had +been the witness of the greatest triumphs and also of the most +bitter grief of his great uncle. Leaning on his arm, her +countenance concealed by a heavy black veil, to prevent any one +from recognizing her, Hortense walked through the chambers, in +which she had once been installed as a mighty and honored queen, +and in which she was now covertly an exile menaced with death. The +servants who conducted her were the same who had been there during +the days of the emperor! Hortense recognized them at once; she did +not dare to make herself known, but she nevertheless felt that she, +too, was remembered there. She saw this in the expression with +which the servants opened the rooms she had once occupied; she +heard it in the tone in which they mentioned her name! Every thing +in this palace had remained as it then was! There was the same +furniture in the rooms which the imperial family had occupied after +the peace of Tilsit, and in which they had given such brilliant +<i>fêtes</i>, and received the homage of so many of the kings +and princes of Europe, all of whom had come to implore the +assistance and favor of their vanquisher! There were also the +apartments which the pope had occupied, once voluntarily; +subsequently, under compulsion. Alas! and there was also the little +cabinet, in which the emperor, the once so mighty and illustrious +ruler of Europe, had abdicated the crown which his victories, his +good deeds, and the love of the French people, had placed on his +head! And, finally, there were also the chapel and the altar before +which the Emperor Napoleon had stood god-father to his nephew Louis +Napoleon! All was still as it had been, except that the garden, +that Hortense and her mother had laid out and planted, had grown +more luxuriant, and now sang to the poor banished pilgrim with its +rustling tree-tops a melancholy song of her long separation from +her home!</p> +<p>The sorrowing couple wandered on, and at last arrived before the +gates of Paris. At this moment, Hortense was a Frenchwoman, a +Parisian only, and, forgetting every thing else, all her grief and +sufferings, she sought only to do the honors of Paris for her son. +She ordered the coachman to drive them through the boulevards to +the Rue de la Paix, and then to stop at the first good hotel. This +was the same way over which she had passed sixteen years before, +escorted by an Austrian officer. Then she had quitted Paris by +night, driven out in a measure by the allies, who so much feared +her, the poor, weak woman with her little boys, that troops had +been placed under arms at regular intervals on her way, in order, +as it was given out, to secure her safe passage. Now, after sixteen +years, Hortense returned to Paris by the same route, still exiled +and homeless, at her side the son who was not only menaced by the +French decree of banishment, but also by the Austrian edict of +proscription.</p> +<p>But yet she was once more in Paris, once more at home, and she +wept with joy at beholding once more the streets and places about +which the memories of her youth clustered.</p> +<p>By a strange chance, it was at the "<i>Hôtel de +Hollande</i>" that the former Queen of Holland descended from her +carriage, and took up her residence, holding thus, in a measure, +her entrance into Paris, under the fluttering banner of the past. +In the little <i>Hôtel de Hollande</i>, the Queen of Holland +took possession of the apartments of the first floor, which +commanded a view of the boulevard and the column of the <i>Place +Vendôme.</i> "Say to the column on the <i>Place +Vendôme</i> that I am dying, because I cannot embrace it," +the Duke de Reichstadt once wrote in the album of a French +nobleman, who had succeeded, in spite of the watchful spies, who +surrounded the emperor's son, in speaking to him of his father and +of the empire. This happiness, vainly longed for by the emperor's +son, was at least to be enjoyed by his nephew.</p> +<p>Louis Napoleon could venture to show himself. In Paris he was +entirely unknown, and could therefore be betrayed by no one. He +could go down into the square and hasten to the foot of the +<i>Vendôme</i> column, and in thought at least kneel down +before the monument that immortalized the renown and grandeur of +the emperor. Hortense remained behind, in order to perform a sacred +duty, imposed on her, as she believed, by her own honor and +dignity.</p> +<p>She was not willing to sojourn secretly, like a fugitive +criminal, in the city that in the exercise of its free will had +chosen itself a king, but not a Bonaparte. She was not willing to +partake of French hospitality and enjoy French protection by +stealth; she was not willing to go about in disguise, deceiving the +government with a false pass and a borrowed name. She had the +courage of truth and sincerity, and she resolved to say to the King +of France that she had come, not to defy his decree of banishment +by her presence, not for the purpose of intriguing against his new +crown, by arousing the Bonapartists from their sleep of +forgetfulness by her appearance, but solely because there was no +other means of saving her son; because she must pass through France +with him in order to reach England.</p> +<p>Revolution, which so strangely intermingles the destinies of +men, had surrounded the new king almost entirely with the friends +and servants of the emperor and of the Duchess of St. Leu. But, in +order not to excite suspicion against these, Hortense now addressed +herself to him with whom she had the slightest acquaintance and +whose devotion to the Orleans family was too well known to be +called in doubt by her undertaking. Hortense therefore addressed +herself to M. de Houdetot, the adjutant of the king, or rather, she +caused her friend Mlle. de Massuyer to write to him. She was +instructed to inform the count that she had come to Paris with an +English family, and was the bearer of a commission from the Duchess +of St. Leu to M. de Houdetot.</p> +<p>M. de Houdetot responded to her request, and came to the +<i>Hôtel de Hollande</i> to see Mlle. Massuyer. With surprise +and emotion, he recognized in the supposititious English lady the +Duchess of St. Leu, who was believed by all the world to be on the +way to Malta, and for whom her friends (who feared the fatigue of +so long a journey would be too much for Hortense in her weak state +of health) had already taken steps to obtain for her permission to +pass through France on her way to England.</p> +<p>Hortense informed Count Houdetot of the last strokes of destiny +that had fallen upon her, and expressed her desire to see the king, +in order to speak with him in person about the future of her +son.</p> +<p>M. de Houdetot undertook to acquaint the king with her desire, +and came on the following day to inform the duchess of the result +of his mission. He told the duchess that the king had loudly +lamented her boldness in coming to France, and the impossibility of +his seeing her. He told her, moreover, that, as the king had a +responsible ministry at his side, he had been compelled to inform +the premier of her arrival, and that Minister Casimir Perrier would +call on her during the day.</p> +<p>A few hours later, Louis Philippe's celebrated minister arrived. +He came with an air of earnest severity, as it were to sit in +judgment upon the accused duchess, but her artless sincerity and +her gentle dignity disarmed him, and soon caused him to assume a +more delicate and polite bearing.</p> +<p>"I well know," said Hortense in the course of the conversation, +"I well know that I have broken a law, by coming hither; I fully +appreciate the gravity of this offence; you have the right to cause +me to be arrested, and it would be perfectly just in you to do +so!"--Casimir Perrier shook his head slowly, and replied: "Just, +no! Lawful, yes<a name="FNanchor63"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_63">[63]</a>!"</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_63"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor63">[63]</a> La Reine Hortense: Voyage en Italie, etc., +p. 110.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII.4"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<h3>LOUIS PHILIIPE AND THE DUCHESS OF ST. LEU.</h3> +<br> +<p>The visit which Casimir Perrier had paid the duchess seemed to +have convinced him that the fears which the king and his ministry +had entertained had really been groundless, that the step-daughter +of Napoleon had not come to Paris to conspire and to claim the +still somewhat unstable throne of France for the Duke de Reichstadt +or for Louis Napoleon, but that she had only chosen the way through +France, in the anxiety of maternal love in order to rescue her +son.</p> +<p>In accordance with this conviction, Louis Philippe no longer +considered it impossible to see the Duchess of St. Leu, but now +requested her to call. Perhaps the king, who had so fine a memory +for figures and money-matters, remembered that it had been Hortense +(then still Queen of Holland) who, during the hundred days of the +empire in 1815, had procured for the Duchess +Orleans-Penthièvre, from the emperor, permission to remain +in Paris and a pension of two hundred thousand francs per annum; +that it had been Hortense who had done the same for the aunt of the +present king, the Duchess of Orleans-Bourbon. Then, in their joy +over an assured and brilliant future, these ladies had written the +duchess the most affectionate and devoted letters; then they had +assured Hortense of their eternal and imperishable +gratitude<a name="FNanchor64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64">[64]</a>. +Perhaps Louis Philippe remembered this, and was desirous of +rewarding Hortense for her services to his mother and his aunt.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_64"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor64">[64]</a> La Reine Hortense: Voyage en Italie, etc., +p. 185.</blockquote> +<p>He solicited a visit from Hortense, and, on the second day of +her sojourn in Paris, M. de Houdetot conducted the Duchess of St. +Leu to the Tuileries, in which she had once lived as a young girl, +as the step-daughter of the emperor; then as Queen of Holland, as +the wife of the emperor's brother; and which she now beheld once +more, a poor, nameless pilgrim, a fugitive with shrouded +countenance, imploring a little toleration and protection of those +to whom she had once accorded toleration and protection.</p> +<p>Louis Philippe received the Duchess of St. Leu with all the +elegance and graciousness which the "Citizen King" so well knew how +to assume, and that had always been an inheritance of his house, +with all the amiability and apparent open-heartedness beneath which +he so well knew how to conceal his real disposition. Coming to the +point at once, he spoke of that which doubtlessly interested the +duchess most, of the decree of banishment.</p> +<p>"I am familiar," said the king, "with all the pains of exile, +and it is not my fault that yours have not been alleviated." He +assured her that this decree of banishment against the Bonaparte +family was a heavy burden on his heart; he went so far as to excuse +himself for it by saying that the exile pronounced against the +imperial family was only an article of the same law which the +conventionists had abolished, and the renewal of which had been so +vehemently demanded by the country! Thus it had seemed as though he +had uttered a new decree of banishment, while in point of fact he +had only renewed a law that had already existed under the consulate +of Napoleon. "But," continued the king with exultation, "the time +is no longer distant when there will be no more exiles; I will have +none under my government!"</p> +<p>Then, as if to remind the duchess that there had been exiles and +decrees of banishment at all times, also under the republic, the +consulate, and the kingdom, he spoke of his own exile, of the needy +and humiliating situation in which he had found himself, and which +had compelled him to hire himself out as a teacher and give +instruction for a paltry consideration.</p> +<p>The duchess had listened to the king with a gentle smile, and +replied that she knew the story of his exile, and that it did him +honor.</p> +<p>Then the duchess informed the king that her son had accompanied +her on her journey, and was now with her in Paris; she also told +him that her son, in his glowing enthusiasm for his country, had +written to the king, begging that he might be permitted to enter +the army.</p> +<p>"Lend me the letter," replied Louis Philippe; "Perrier shall +bring it to me, and, if circumstances permit, I shall be perfectly +willing to grant your son's request; and it will also give me great +pleasure to serve you at all times. I know that you have legitimate +claims on the government, and that you have appealed to the justice +of all former ministries in vain. Write out a statement of all that +France owes you, and send it <i>to me alone</i>. I understand +business matters, and constitute myself from this time on your +<i>chargé d'affaires</i><a name="FNanchor65"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_65">[65]</a>. The Duke of Rovigo," he continued, "has +informed me that the other members of the imperial family have +similar claims. It will afford me great pleasure to be of +assistance to all of you, and I shall interest myself particularly +for the Princess de Montfort<a name="FNanchor66"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_66">[66]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_65"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor65">[65]</a> The king's own words. See Voyage en Italie, +etc., p. 201.</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_66"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor66">[66]</a> The Princess de Montfort was the wife of +Jerome, the sister of the King of Würtemberg, and a cousin of +the Emperor of Russia.</blockquote> +<p>Hortense had listened to the king, her whole face radiant with +delight. The king's beneficent countenance, his friendly smile, his +hearty and cordial manner, dispelled all doubt of his sincerity in +Hortense's mind. She believed in his goodness and in his kindly +disposition toward herself; and, in her joyous emotion, she thanked +him with words of enthusiasm for his promised benefits, never +doubting that it was his intention to keep his word.</p> +<p>"Ah, sire!" she exclaimed, "the entire imperial family is in +misfortune, and you will have many wrongs to redress. France owes +us all a great deal, and it will be worthy of you to liquidate +these debts."</p> +<p>The king declared his readiness to do every thing. He who was so +fond of taking in millions and of speculating, smilingly promised, +in the name of France, to disburse millions, and to pay off the old +state debt!</p> +<p>The duchess believed him. She believed in his protestations of +friendship, and in his blunt sincerity. She allowed him to conduct +her to his wife, the queen, and was received by her and Madame +Adelaide with the same cordiality the king had shown. Once only in +the course of the conversation did Madame Adelaide forget her +cordial disposition. She asked the duchess how long she expected to +remain in Paris, and when the latter replied that she intended +remaining three days longer, Madame exclaimed, in a tone of anxious +dismay: "So long! Three days still! And there are so many +Englishmen here who have seen your son in Italy, and might +recognize you here!"</p> +<p>But Fate itself seemed to delay the departure of the duchess and +her son. On returning home from her visit to the Tuileries, she +found her son on his bed in a violent fever, and the physician who +had been called in declared that he was suffering from inflammation +of the throat.</p> +<p>Hortense was to tremble once more for the life of a son, and +this son was the last treasure Fate had left her.</p> +<p>Once more the mother sat at the bedside of her son, watching +over him, lovingly, day and night. That her son's life might be +preserved was now her only wish, her only prayer; all else became +void of interest, and was lost sight of. She only left her son's +side when Casimir Perrier came, as he was in the habit of doing +daily, to inquire after her son's condition in the name of the +king, and to request the duchess to name the amount of her claims +against France, and to impart to him all her wishes with regard to +her future. Hortense now had but one ardent wish--the recovery of +her son; and her only request was, that she might be permitted to +visit the French baths of the Pyrenees during the summer, in order +to restore her failing health.</p> +<p>The minister promised to procure this permission of the king, +and of the Chambers, that were soon to be convened. "In this way we +shall gradually become accustomed to your presence," observed +Casimir Perrier. "As far as you are personally concerned, we shall +be inclined to throw open the gates of the country to you. But with +your son it is different, his name will be a perpetual obstacle in +his way. If he should really desire at any time to take service in +the army, it would be, above all, necessary that he should lay +aside his name. We are in duty bound to consider the wishes of +foreign governments: France is divided into so many parties, that a +war could only be ruinous, and therefore your son must change his +name, if--"</p> +<p>But now the duchess, her cheeks glowing, blushing with +displeasure and anger, interrupted him. "What!" exclaimed she, "lay +aside the noble name with which France may well adorn itself, +conceal it as though we had cause to be ashamed of it?"</p> +<p>Beside herself with anger, regardless, in her agitation, even of +the suffering condition of her son, she hastened to his bedside, to +inform him of the proposition made to her by Louis Philippe's +minister.</p> +<p>The prince arose in his couch, his eyes flaming, and his cheeks +burning at the same time with the fever-heat of disease and of +anger.</p> +<p>"Lay aside my name!" he exclaimed. "Who dares to make such a +proposition to me? Let us think of all these things no more, +mother. Let us go back to our retirement. Ah, you were right, +mother: our time is passed, or it has not yet come!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX.4"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<h3>THE DEPARTURE OF THE DUCHESS FROM PARIS.</h3> +<br> +<p>Excitement had made the patient worse, and caused his fever to +return with renewed violence. Hortense was now inseparable from his +bedside; she herself applied ice to his burning throat, and +assisted in applying the leeches ordered by the physician. But this +continuous anxiety and excitement, all these troubles of the +present, and sad remembrances of the past, had at last exhausted +the strength of the delicate woman; the flush of fever now began to +show itself on her cheeks also, and the physician urged her to take +daily exercise in the open air if she desired to avoid falling +ill.</p> +<p>Hortense followed his advice. In the evening twilight, in plain +attire, her face concealed by a heavy black veil, she now daily +quitted her son's bedside, and went out into the street for a walk, +accompanied by the young Marquis Zappi. No one recognized her, no +one greeted her, no one dreamed that the veiled figure that walked +so quietly and shyly was she who, as Queen of Holland, had formerly +driven through these same streets in gilded coaches, hailed by the +joyous shouts of the people.</p> +<p>But, in these wanderings through Paris, Hortense also lived in +her memories only. She showed the marquis the dwelling she had once +occupied, and which had for her a single happy association: her +sons had been born there. With a soft smile she looked up at the +proud <i>façade</i> of this building, the windows of which +were brilliantly illumined, and in whose parlors some banker or +ennobled provision-dealer was now perhaps giving a ball; pointing +to these windows with her slender white hand, she said: "I wished +to see this house, in order to reproach myself for having been +unhappy in it; yes, I then dared to complain even in the midst of +so much splendor; I was so far from dreaming of the weight of the +misfortune that was one day to come upon me<a name= +"FNanchor67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67">[67]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_67"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor67">[67]</a> The duchess's own words: see Voyage, etc., +p. 225.</blockquote> +<p>She looked down again and passed on, to seek the houses of +several friends, of whom she knew that they had remained faithful; +heavily veiled and enveloped in her dark cloak she stood in front +of these houses, not daring to acquaint her friends with her +presence, contented with the sweet sense of being near them!</p> +<p>When, after having strengthened her heart with the consciousness +of being near friends, she passed on through the streets, in which +she, the daughter of France, was now unknown, homeless, and +forgotten!--no, not forgotten!--as she chanced to glance in at a +store she was just passing, she saw in the lighted window her own +portrait at the side of that of the emperor.</p> +<p>Overcome by a sweet emotion, Hortense stood still and gazed at +these pictures. The laughing, noisy crowd on the sidewalk passed +on, heedless of the shrouded woman who stood there before the +shop-window, gazing with tearful eyes at her own portrait. "It +seems we are still remembered," whispered she, in a low voice. +"Those who wear crowns are not to be envied, and should not lament +their loss; but is it possible that the love of the people, to +receive which is so sweet, has not yet been wholly withdrawn from +us?"</p> +<p>The profound indifference with which France had accepted the +exile of the Bonapartes had grieved her deeply. She had only longed +for some token of love and fidelity in order that she might go back +into exile consoled and strengthened. And now she found it. France +proved to her through these portraits that she was not +forgotten.</p> +<p>Hortense stepped with her companion into the store to purchase +the portraits of herself and of the emperor; and when she was told +that these portraits were in great demand, and that many of them +were sold to the people, she hardly found strength to repress the +tears of blissful emotion that rose from her heart to her eyes. She +took the portraits and hastened home, to show them to her son and +to bring to him with them the love-greetings of France. While the +duchess, her thoughts divided between the remembrances of the past +and the cares and troubles of the present, had been sojourning in +Paris for twelve days, all the papers were extolling the heroism of +the duchess in having saved her son, and of her having embarked at +Malta in order to take him to England.</p> +<p>Even the king's ministerial council occupied itself with this +matter, and thought it proper to make representations to his +majesty on the subject. Marshal Sebastiani informed the king that +the Duchess of St. Leu, to his certain knowledge, had landed at +Corfu. With lively interest he spoke of the fatiguing journey at +sea that the duchess would be compelled to make, and asked almost +timidly if she might not be permitted to travel through France.</p> +<p>The king's countenance assumed an almost sombre look, and he +replied, dryly: "Let her continue her journey." Casimir Perrier +bowed his head over the paper that lay before him, in order to +conceal his mirth, and minister Barthe availed himself of the +opportunity to give a proof of his eloquence and of his severity, +by observing that a law existed against the duchess, and that a law +was a sacred thing that no one should be permitted to evade.</p> +<p>But the presence of the duchess, although kept a secret, began +to cause the king and his premier Casimir Perrier more and more +uneasiness. The latter had already once informed her through M. de +Houdetot that her departure was absolutely necessary and must take +place at once, and he had only been moved to consent to her further +sojourn by the condition of the prince, whose inflammation of the +throat had rendered a second application of leeches necessary.</p> +<p>They were now, however, on the eve of a great and dangerous day, +of the 5th of May<a name="FNanchor68"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_68">[68]</a>. The people of Paris were strangely moved, +and the new government saw with much apprehension the dawn of this +day of such great memories for France. There seemed to be some +justification for this apprehension. Since the break of day, +thousands of people had flocked to the column on the <i>Place +Vendôme</i>. Silently and gravely they approached the +monument, in order to adorn with wreaths of flowers the eagles, or +to lay them at the foot of the column, and then to retire +mournfully.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_68"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor68">[68]</a> The anniversary of Napoleon's +death.</blockquote> +<p>Hortense stood at the window of her apartment, looking on with +folded hands and tears of bliss at the impressive and solemn scene +that was taking place on the <i>Place Vendôme</i> beneath, +when suddenly a violent knocking was heard at her door, and M. de +Houdetot rushed in, a pale and sorrowful expression on his +countenance.</p> +<p>"Duchess," said he breathlessly, "you must depart immediately, +without an hour's delay! I am ordered to inform you of this. Unless +the life of your son is to be seriously endangered, you must leave +at once!"</p> +<p>Hortense listened to him tranquilly. She almost pitied the +king--the government--to whom a weak woman and an invalid youth +could cause such fear. How great must this fear be, when it caused +them to disregard all the laws of hospitality and of decency! What +had she done to justify this fear? She had not addressed herself to +the people of France, in order to obtain help and protection for +her son--for the nephew of the emperor; cautiously and timidly she +had concealed herself from the people, and, far from being disposed +to arouse or agitate her country, she had only made herself known +to the King of France in order to solicit protection and toleration +at his hands.</p> +<p>She was distrusted, in spite of this candor; and her presence, +although known to no one, awakened apprehensions in those in +authority. Hortense pitied them; not a word of complaint or regret +escaped her lips. She sent for her physician at once; and, after +informing him that she must necessarily depart for London, she +asked him if such a journey would endanger her son's life. The +physician declared that, while he could have desired a few days +more of repose, the prince would nevertheless, with proper care and +attention, be able to leave on the following day.</p> +<p>"Inform the king that I shall depart to-morrow," said Hortense; +and, while M. de Houdetot was hastening to the king with this +welcome intelligence, the duchess was making preparations for the +journey, which she began with her son early on the following +morning.</p> +<p>In four days they reached Calais, where they found the ship that +was to convey them to England in readiness to sail. Hortense was to +leave her country once more as a fugitive and exile! She was once +more driven out, and condemned to live in a foreign country! +Because the French people still refused to forget their emperor, +the French kings hated and feared the imperial family. Under the +old Bourbons, they had been hated; Louis Philippe, who had attained +his crown through the people, felt that it was necessary to flatter +the people, and show some consideration for their sympathies. He +declared to the people that he entertained the most profound +admiration for their great emperor, and yet he issued a decree of +banishment against the Bonapartes; he ordered that the +<i>Vendôme</i> column, with its bronze statue of the emperor, +should be adorned, and at the same time his decree banished the +daughter and the nephew of the emperor from France, and drove them +back into a foreign country.</p> +<p>Hortense went, but she felt, in the pain it caused her, that she +was leaving her country--the country in which she had friends whom +she had not seen again; the country in which lay her mother's +grave, which she had not dared to visit; and, finally, the grave of +her son! She once more left behind her all the remembrances of her +youth--all the places she had loved; and her regret and her tears +made known how dear these things still were to her; that the +banished and homeless one was still powerless to banish the love of +country from her heart, and that France was still her home!</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X.4"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<h3>PILGRIMAGE THROUGH FRANCE.</h3> +<br> +<p>The sojourn of the Duchess of St. Leu in England where she +arrived with her son after a stormy passage, was for both a +succession of triumphs and ovations. The high aristocracy of London +heaped upon her proofs of esteem, of reverence, and of love; every +one seemed anxious to atone for the severity and cruelty with which +England had treated the emperor, by giving proofs of their +admiration and respect for his step-daughter. All these proud +English aristocrats seemed desirous of proving to the duchess and +her son that they were not of the same disposition as Hudson Lowe, +who had slowly tormented the chained lion to death with petty +annoyances.</p> +<p>The Duchess of Bedford, Lord and Lady Holland, and Lady Grey, in +particular, were untiring in their efforts to do the honors of +their country to Hortense, and to show her every possible +attention. But Hortense declined their proffered invitations. She +avoided all publicity; she feared, on her own and her son's +account, that the tattle of the world and the newspapers might once +more draw down upon her the distrust and ill-will of the French +government. She feared that this might prevent her returning with +her son, through France, to her quiet retreat on the Lake of +Constance, in Switzerland, to her charming Arenenberg, where she +had passed so many delightful and peaceful years of repose and +remembrance.</p> +<p>Hortense was right. Her sojourn in England excited, as soon as +it became known, in every quarter, care, curiosity, and disquiet. +All parties were seeking to divine the duchess's intention in +residing in London. All parties were convinced that she entertained +plans that might endanger and frustrate their own. The Duchess de +Berri, who resided in Bath, had come to London as soon as she heard +of the arrival of the Duchess of St. Leu, in order to inquire into +Hortense's real intention. The bold and enterprising Duchess de +Berri was preparing to go to France, in order to call the people to +arms for herself and son, to hurl Louis Philippe from his usurped +throne, and to restore to her son his rightful inheritance. They, +therefore, thought it perfectly natural that Hortense should +entertain similar plans for her son; that she, too, should purpose +the overthrow of the French king in order to place her own son, or +the son of the emperor, the Duke de Reichstadt, on the throne.</p> +<p>On the other hand, it had been endeavored to persuade Prince +Leopold, of Coburg, to whom the powers of Europe had just offered +the crown of Belgium, that the Duchess of St. Leu had come to +England in order to possess herself of Belgium by a <i>coup +d'état</i>, and to proclaim Louis Napoleon its king. But +this wise and magnanimous prince laughed at these intimations. He +had known the duchess in her days of magnificence, and he now +hastened to lay the same homage at the foot of the homeless woman +that he had once devoted to the adored and powerful Queen of +Holland. He called on the duchess, conversed with her of her +beautiful and brilliant past, and told her of the hopes which he +himself entertained for the future. Deeply bowed down by the death +of his beloved wife, Princess Charlotte of England, it was his +purpose to seek consolation in his misfortune by striving to make +his people happy. He had therefore accepted the crown tendered him +by the people, and was on the point of departing for Belgium.</p> +<p>While taking leave of the duchess, after a long and cordial +conversation, he remarked, with a gentle smile: "I trust you will +not take my kingdom away from me on your journey through +Belgium?"</p> +<p>While the new government of France, as well as the exiled +Bourbons, suspected the Duchess of St. Leu and her son of +entertaining plans for the subversion of the French throne, the +imperialists and republicans were hoping that Hortense's influence +might be exerted upon the destinies of France. Everywhere in France +as well as in England, the people were of the opinion that the new +throne of Louis Philippe had no vitality, because it had no support +in the heart of the people. The partisans of the Bourbons believed +that France longed for the grandson of St. Louis, for its +hereditary king, Henry V.; the imperialists were convinced that the +new government was about to be overthrown, and that France was more +anxious than ever to see the emperors son, Napoleon II., restored. +The republicans, however, distrusted the people and the army, and +began to perceive that they could only attain the longed-for +republican institutions under a Bonaparte. They therefore sent +their secret emissaries as well to the Duke de Reichstadt as to +Louis Napoleon.</p> +<p>The Duke de Reichstadt, to whom these emissaries proposed that +he should come to France and present himself to the people, +replied: "I cannot go to France as an adventurer; let the nation +call me, and I shall find means to get there."</p> +<p>To the propositions made to him, Louis Napoleon replied that he +belonged to France under all circumstances; that he had proved this +by asking permission to serve France, but he had been rejected. It +would not become him to force to a decision by a <i>coup +d'état</i> the nation whose decrees he would ever hold +sacred.</p> +<p>Hortense regarded these efforts of the imperialists and of the +republicans to win her son to their purposes with a sorrowful and +anxious heart. She hoped and longed for nothing more than the +privilege of living in retirement with her memories; she felt +exhausted and sobered by the few steps she had already taken into +the great world; she, who had ever felt the most tender sympathy +for the misfortunes of others, and the most ardent desire to +alleviate them--she had nowhere found in her misfortune any thing +but injustice, indifference, and calumny.</p> +<p>Hortense longed to be back at Arenenberg, in her Swiss +mountains. Thither she desired to return with her son, in order +that she might there dream with him of the brilliant days that had +been, and sing with him the exalted song of her remembrances! If +the French government should permit her to journey with her son +through France, she could easily and securely reach the Swiss +Canton of Thurgau, where her little estate, Arenenberg, lay under +the protection of the republic; the daughter of the emperor would +there be certain to find peace and repose!</p> +<p>The duchess there wrote to M. de Houdetot, begging him to +procure for her from the French government a passport, permitting +her to travel through France under some assumed name. It was +promised her after long hesitation, but under the condition that +she should not commence her journey until after July, until after +the first anniversary of the coronation of Louis Philippe.</p> +<p>Hortense agreed to this, and received on the first of August a +passport, which permitted her, as Madame Arenenberg, to pass +through France with her son in order to return to her estate in +Switzerland.</p> +<p>It was at first the duchess's intention, notwithstanding the +unquiet movements that were taking place in the capital, to journey +through Paris, for the very purpose of proving, by her quiet and +uninterested demeanor, that she had no share whatever in these +movements and riots.</p> +<p>But, on informing Louis Napoleon of her intention, he exclaimed, +with sparkling eyes: "If we go to Paris, and if I should see the +people sabred before my eyes, I shall not be able to resist the +inclination to place myself on its side<a name= +"FNanchor69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69">[69]</a>!"</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_69"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor69">[69]</a> La Reine Hortense, p. 276.</blockquote> +<p>Hortense clasped her son anxiously in her arms, as if to protect +him from all danger, on her maternal heart. "We shall not go to +Paris," said she, "we will wander through France, and pray before +the monuments of our happiness!"</p> +<p>On the 7th of August the Duchess of St. Leu left England with +her son, Louis Napoleon, and landed after a pleasant passage at +Boulogne.</p> +<p>Boulogne was for Hortense the first monument of her happiness, +at the foot of which she wished to pray! There, during the most +brilliant period of the empire, she had attended the military +<i>fêtes</i>, in the midst of which the emperor was preparing +to go forth to encounter new dangers, and to reap, perhaps, new +renown. A high column designated the place where these +camp-festivals had once taken place. It had been erected under the +empire, but under the restoration the name of Louis XVIII. had been +inscribed on it.</p> +<p>Accompanied by the prince, the Duchess of St. Leu ascended this +column, in order to show him from its summit the beautiful and +flourishing France, that had once been her own and through which +they must now pass with veiled countenances and borrowed names. +From there she pointed out to him the situation of the different +camps, the location of the imperial tent, then the place where the +emperor's throne had stood, and where he had first distributed +crosses of the legion of honor among the soldiers.</p> +<p>With a glowing countenance and in breathless attention, Louis +Napoleon listened to his mother's narrative. Hortense, lost in her +recollections, had not noticed that two other visitors, a lady and +a gentleman, were now also on the platform and had listened to a +part of her narrative. As the duchess ceased speaking, they +approached to tell her with what deep interest they had listened to +her narrative of the most glorious period of French history. They +were a young married couple from Paris, and had much to relate +concerning the parties who were now arrayed against each other in +France, and who made the future of the country so uncertain.</p> +<p>In return for Hortense's so eloquent description of the past, +they now told her of a <i>bon mot</i> of the present that was going +the rounds of Parisian society. It was there said that the best +means of satisfying everybody and all parties would be, to convert +France into a republic and to give it three consuls, the Duke of +Reichstadt, the Duke of Orleans, and the Duke of Bordeaux. "But," +added they, "it might easily end in the first consul's driving out +the other two, and making himself emperor."</p> +<p>Hortense found the courage to answer this jest with a smile, but +she hastened to leave the place and to get away from the couple, +who had perhaps recognized her, and told them of the <i>bon mot</i> +with a purpose.</p> +<p>Sadly and silently, mother and son returned to their hotel, +which was situated on the sea-side, and commanded a fine view of +the surging, foaming waters of the channel and of the lofty column +of the empire.</p> +<p>They both stepped out on the balcony. It was a beautiful +evening; the setting sun shed its purple rays over the surface of +the sea. Murmuring and in melodious <i>tace</i> the foaming waves +rolled in upon the beach; on another side, the lofty column, +glowing in the light of the setting sun, towered aloft like a +pillar of fire, a memorial monument of fire!</p> +<p>Hortense, who for some time had been silently gazing, first at +the column, then at the sea, now turned with a sad smile to her +son.</p> +<p>"Let us spend an hour with recollections of the past," said she. +"In the presence of this foaming sea and of this proud column, I +will show you a picture of the past. Do you wish to see it?"</p> +<p>His gaze fastened on the imperial column, Louis Napoleon +silently nodded assent.</p> +<p>Hortense went to her room, and soon returned to the balcony with +a book, bound in red velvet. Often, during the quiet days of +Arenenberg, the prince had seen her writing in this book, but never +had Hortense yielded to his entreaties and permitted him to read +any part of her memoirs. Unsolicited it was her intention to unfold +before him to-day a brilliant picture; in view of the sad and +desolate present, she wished to portray to him the bright and +glittering past, perhaps only for the purpose of entertaining him, +perhaps in order to console him with the hope that all that is +passes away, and that the present would therefore also come to an +end, and that which once was, again become reality for him, the +heir of the emperor.</p> +<p>She seated herself at her son's side, on a little sofa that +stood on the balcony, and, opening her book, began to read.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI.4"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> +<h3>FRAGMENT FROM THE MEMOIRS OF QUEEN HORTENSE.</h3> +<br> +<p>"The emperor had returned from Italy. The beautiful ceremony of +the distribution of the crosses of the Legion of Honor had taken +place before his departure, and I had been present on the occasion; +the emperor now repaired to Boulogne, in order to make a second +distribution of the order in the army on his birthday. He had made +my husband general of the army of the reserve, and sent him a +courier, with the request that he should come with me and our son +to the camp at Boulogne. My husband did not wish to interrupt the +baths he was taking at St. Amand, but he requested me to go to +Boulogne, to spend a week with the emperor.</p> +<p>"The emperor resided at Boulogne in a little villa called +<i>Pont de Brigue</i>. His sister, Caroline, and Murat, lived in +another little villa near by. I lived with them, and every day we +went to dine with the emperor. During two years, our troops had +been concentrating in full view of England, and every one expected +an attack. The camp at Boulogne was erected on the sea-side, and +resembled a long and regularly-built city. Each hut had a little +garden, flowers, and birds. In the middle of the camp, on an +elevation, stood the emperor's tent; near by, that of Marshal +Berthier. All the men-of-war on the water were drawn up in a line, +only waiting the signal of departure. In the distance we could see +England, and its beautiful ships that were cruising along the coast +seemed to form an impenetrable barrier. This grand spectacle gave +us for the first time an illustration of an unknown, hitherto +not-dreamed-of power that stood opposed to us. Here every thing was +calculated to excite the imagination. This boundless sea might soon +transform itself into a battle-field, and swallow up the +<i>élite</i> of the two greatest nations. Our troops, proud +in the feeling that there were no obstacles for them, made +impatient by two years' repose, glowing with energy and bravery, +already imagined themselves to have attained the opposite coast. +When one considered their bravery and confidence, success seemed +certain; but when the eye turned to the impenetrable forest of +masts on the hostile ships, a feeling of anxiety and fear suddenly +took possession of the heart. And yet nothing seemed to be wanting +to the expedition but a favorable wind.</p> +<p>"Of all the homage that a woman can receive, military homage has +in the highest degree the chivalrous character, and it is +impossible not to feel flattered by it.</p> +<p>"There could not be any thing more delightful or imposing than +the homage of which I was here the object, and it was only here +that it made any impression on me.</p> +<p>"The emperor gave me as an escort his equerry, General Defrance. +Whenever I approached a camp division, the guard was called out and +presented arms.</p> +<p>"I had interceded for several soldiers who were undergoing +punishment for breaches of discipline, and was on this account +received everywhere with the liveliest enthusiasm. The entire +mounted general staff escorted my carriage, and my approach was +everywhere hailed by brilliant music. It was on such an occasion +that I saw for the first time the urn which a grenadier wore +attached to his belt; I was told that the emperor, in order to do +honor to the memory of the gallant Latour d'Auvergne<a name= +"FNanchor70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70">[70]</a>, had caused his +heart to be enclosed in a leaden casket, which he had intrusted to +the oldest soldier of the regiment, commanding that his name should +always be called at the roll-call, as though he were present. He +who bore the heart replied: 'Dead on the field of honor.'</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_70"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor70">[70]</a> Latour d'Auvergne, a descendant of the +celebrated Turenne, was known and honored throughout the whole army +on account of the lion-hearted courage which he had exhibited on so +many occasions. As he invariably declined the many advancements and +honors that were tendered him, Napoleon appointed him first +grenadier of the army. He fell in the action at Neuburg, and the +Viceroy of Italy, Eugene Beauharnais, afterward caused a monument +to be erected there in his memory.</blockquote> +<p>"One day, a breakfast was given me at the camp of Ambleteuse. I +desired to go by water, and, notwithstanding a contrary wind, the +admiral took me. I saw the English ships, and we passed so near +them, that they might easily have captured our yacht. I also +visited the Dutch fleet commanded by Admiral Versuelt, where I was +received with great applause, the sailors little dreaming that I +would be their queen within the space of a year<a name= +"FNanchor71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71">[71]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_71"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor71">[71]</a> In order to reach the harbor of Ambleteuse +to which they had been assigned, the Dutch had first been compelled +to do battle with the English fleet, and in this combat they had +acquitted themselves with the greatest honor.</blockquote> +<p>"On another occasion, the emperor ordered a review. The English, +who felt disquieted, by the appearance of so many troops drawn up +before them, approached nearer and nearer to our coasts, and even +fired a few cannon-shots at us; the emperor was at the head of his +French columns when they replied to these shots, and was thus +placed between two fires. As we had followed him, we were now +compelled to remain at his side. To his uncle's great joy, my son +exhibited no symptom of fear whatever. But the generals trembled at +seeing the emperor exposed to such danger. The ramrod of some +awkward soldier might prove as dangerous as a ball. In the midst of +this imposing spectacle, I was struck with astonishment at the +contrast presented by the troops under different circumstances. +When drawn up in line of battle, they glowed with gallantry and +determination, but, in the days of repose, they resembled +well-behaved children, who could amuse themselves with a flower or +a bird. The most daring warrior was then often converted into the +most diligent and submissive scholar.</p> +<p>"For the breakfast which Marshal Davoust gave me in his tent, +the grenadiers had been preparing to entertain us with several +songs, and came forward to sing them with the bashfulness of young +girls. In the most embarrassed and timid manner, they sang a song +full of the fiercest and most daring threats against England.</p> +<p>"From the emperor's parlor we often saw the soldiers of his +guard assemble on the grass-plot before the castle; one of them +would play the violin and instruct his comrades in dancing. The +beginners would study the '<i>jétés</i>' and +'<i>assemblés</i>' with the closest attention; the more +advanced ones would execute a whole contredance. From behind the +window-blinds we watched them with the greatest pleasure. The +emperor, who often surprised us at this occupation, would laugh +with us and rejoice at the innocent amusements of his soldiers.</p> +<p>"Was this project of a landing in England really intended? Or +was it the emperor's purpose by these enormous preparations to +divert attention from other points, and fix it on this one only? +Even to-day this is a question which I cannot venture to decide; +here, as elsewhere, I only report what I have seen.</p> +<p>"Madame Ney also gave me a brilliant festival at Montreuil, +where her husband the marshal was in command. During the forenoon +the troops were manoeuvred before me, in the evening a ball took +place. But this was suddenly interrupted by the intelligence that +the emperor had just embarked.</p> +<p>"A number of young officers, who had been present at the ball, +rushed out on the road to Boulogne; I followed them with the +rapidity of lightning, escorted as usual by General Defrance, who +burned with impatience to be again at the emperor's side. I myself +felt unutterable emotion at the prospect of witnessing so great an +occurrence. I imagined myself observing the battle from the summit +of the tower that stood near the emperor's tent; beholding our +fleet advance and sink down into the waves, I shuddered in +anticipation.</p> +<p>"At last I arrived. I inquired after the emperor, and learned +that he had actually attended the embarkation of all his troops +during the night, but that he had just returned to his villa.</p> +<p>"I did not see him until dinner, at which he asked Prince +Joseph, who was then colonel of a regiment, whether he had believed +in this pretended embarkation, and what effect it had had on the +soldiers. Joseph said that he, like all the world, had believed +that a departure was really intended, and that the soldiers had +doubted it so little that they had sold their watches. The emperor +also often asked if the telegraph had not yet announced the +approach of the French squadron; his adjutant, Lauriston, was with +the squadron, and the emperor seemed only to be awaiting +Lauriston's arrival and a favorable wind, in order to set sail.</p> +<p>"The eight days' absence accorded me by my husband had expired, +and I took leave of the emperor. I journeyed through Calais and +Dunkirk. I saw troops defiling before me everywhere; and with +regret and fear I left this magnificent army, thinking that they +might perhaps in a few days be exposed to the greatest dangers.</p> +<p>"At St. Amand we were every day expecting to hear of the passage +of our fleet to England, when we suddenly saw the troops arriving +in our neighborhood and passing on in forced marches toward the +Rhine. Austria had broken the peace. We hastened at once to Paris, +to see the emperor once more before his departure for +Germany<a name="FNanchor72"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_72">[72]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_72"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor72">[72]</a> La Reine Hortense en Italie, France, etc., +p. 278.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII.4"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> +<h3>THE PILGRIM.</h3> +<br> +<p>On the following morning the duchess left Boulogne with her son, +in order to wander on with him through the land of her youth and of +her memories.</p> +<p>It was a sad and yet heart-stirring pilgrimage; for, although +banished and nameless, she was nevertheless in her own country--she +still stood on French soil. For sixteen years she had been living +in a foreign land, in a land whose language was unknown to her, and +whose people she could therefore not understand. Now, on this +journey through France, she rejoiced once more in being able to +understand the conversation of the people in the streets, and of +the peasants in the fields. It was a sensation of mingled +bitterness and sweetness to feel that she was not a stranger among +this people, and it therefore now afforded her the greatest delight +to chat with those she met, and to listen to their +<i>naïve</i> and artless words.</p> +<p>As soon as she arrived at her hotel in any city or village in +which she purposed enjoying a day's rest, Hortense would walk out +into the streets on her son's arm. On one occasion she stepped into +a booth, seated herself, and conversed with the people who came to +the store to purchase their daily necessaries; on another occasion, +she accosted a child on the street, kissed it, and inquired after +its parents; then, again, she would converse with the peasants in +the villages about their farms, and the prospects of a plentiful +harvest. The <i>naïve</i>, strong, and healthy disposition of +the people delighted her, and, with the smiling pride of a happy +mother, she showed her son this great and beautiful family, this +French people, to which they, though banished and cast off, still +belonged.</p> +<p>In Chantilly, she showed the prince the palace of Prince +Condé. The forests that stood in the neighborhood had once +belonged to the queen, or rather they had been a portion of the +appendage which the emperor, since the union of Holland and France, +had set apart for her second son, Louis Napoleon. Hortense had +never been in the vicinity, and could therefore visit the castle +without fear of being recognized.</p> +<p>They asked the guide, who had shown them the castle and the +garden, who had been the former possessor of the great forests of +Chantilly.</p> +<p>"The step-daughter of the Emperor Napoleon, Queen Hortense," +replied the man, with perfect indifference. "The people continued +to speak of her here for a long time; it was said that she was +wandering about in the country in disguise, but for the last few +years nothing has been heard of her, and I do not know what has +become of her."</p> +<p>"She is surely dead, the poor queen," said Hortense, with so sad +a smile that her son turned pale, and his eyes filled with +tears.</p> +<p>From Chantilly they wandered on to Ermenonville and Morfontaine, +for Hortense desired to show her son all the places she had once +seen in the days of fortune with the emperor and her mother. These +places now seemed as solitary and deserted as she herself was. How +great the splendor that had once reigned in Ermenonville, when the +emperor had visited the owner of the place in order to enjoy with +him the delights of the chase! In the walks of the park, in which +thousands of lamps had then shone, the grass now grew rankly; a +miserable, leaky boat was now the only conveyance to the Poplar +Island, sacred to the memory of Jean Jacques, on whose monument +Hortense and Louis Napoleon now inscribed their names. Morfontaine +appeared still more desolate; the allies had sacked it in 1815, and +it had not been repaired since then. In Morfontaine, Hortense had +attended a magnificent festival given by Joseph Bonaparte, then its +owner, to his imperial brother.</p> +<p>In St. Denis there were still more sacred and beautiful +remembrances for Hortense, for here was situated the great college +for the daughters of high military officers, of which Hortense had +been the protectress. She dared not show herself, for she well knew +that she was not forgotten here; here there were many who still +knew and loved her, and she could only show herself to strangers. +But she nevertheless visited the church, and descended with Louis +Napoleon into the vaults. Louis XVIII. alone reposed in the halls +which the empire had restored for the reception of the new family +of rulers, adopted by France. Alas! he who built these halls, the +Emperor Napoleon, now reposed under a weeping-willow on a desolate +island in the midst of the sea, and he who had deposed him now +occupied the place intended for the sarcophagus of the emperor.</p> +<p>While wandering through these silent and gloomy halls, Hortense +thought of the day on which she had come hither with the emperor to +inspect the building of the church. And that time she had been ill +and suffering, and with the fullest conviction she had said to her +mother that she, Queen Hortense, would be the first that would be +laid to rest in the vault of St. Denis. Now, after so many years, +she descended into it living and had hardly a right to visit +it.</p> +<p>But there was another grave, another monument to her memories, +beside which Hortense desired to pray. This was the grave of the +Empress Josephine, in the church at Ruelle.</p> +<p>With what emotions did she approach this place and kneel down +beside the grave-mound! Of all that Josephine had loved, there +remained only Hortense and her son, a solitary couple, who were now +secretly visiting the place where Hortense's mother reposed. The +number of flowers that adorned the monument proved that Josephine +was at least resting in the midst of friends, who still held her +memory sacred, and this was a consolation for her daughter.</p> +<p>From Ruelle and its consecrated grave they wandered on to +Malmaison. Above all, Hortense wished to show this palace to her +son! It was from this place that Napoleon had departed to leave +France forever! Here Hortense had had the pleasure of sweetening +for him, by her tender sympathy, the moment when all the world had +abandoned him--the moment when he fell from the heights of renown +into the abyss of misfortune. But, alas! the poor queen was not +even to have the satisfaction of showing to her son the palace, +sacred to so many memories that had once been her own! The present +owner had given strict orders to give admission to the palace only +upon presentation of permits that must be obtained of him +beforehand, and, as Hortense had none, her entreaties were all in +vain.</p> +<p>She was cruelly repelled from the threshold of the palace in +which in former days she had been so joyfully received by her +devoted friends and servants!</p> +<p>Sorrowfully, her eyes clouded with tears, she turned away and +returned to her hotel, leaning on her son's arm.</p> +<p>In silence she seated herself at his side on the stone bench +that stood before the house, and gazed at the palace in which she +had spent such happy and momentous days, lost in the recollections +of the past!</p> +<p>"It is, perhaps, natural," she murmured in a low voice, "that +absence should cause those, who have the happiness to remain in +their homes, to forget us. But, for those who are driven out into +foreign lands, the life of the heart stands still, and the past is +all to them; to the exiled the present and the future are +unimportant. In France every thing has progressed, every thing is +changed, I alone am left behind, with my sentiments of unchangeable +love and fidelity! Alas! how sorrowful and painful it is to be +forgotten<a name="FNanchor73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73">[73]</a>! +How--"</p> +<p>Suddenly she was interrupted by the tones of a piano, that +resounded in her immediate vicinity. Behind the bench on which they +were sitting, were the windows of the parlor of the hotel. These +windows were open, and each tone of the music within could be heard +with the greatest distinctness.</p> +<p>The playing was now interrupted by a female voice, which said: +"Sing us a song, my daughter."</p> +<p>"What shall I sing?" asked another and more youthful voice.</p> +<p>"Sing the beautiful, touching song your brother brought you from +Paris yesterday. The song of Delphine Gay, set to music by M. de +Beauplan."</p> +<p>"Ah, you mean the song about Queen Hortense, who comes to Paris +as a pilgrim? You are right, mamma, it is a beautiful and touching +song, and I will sing it!"</p> +<p>And the young lady struck the keys more forcibly, and began to +play the prelude.</p> +<p>Outside on the stone bench sat she who was once Queen Hortense, +but was now the poor, solitary pilgrim. Nothing remained to her of +the glorious past, but her son, who sat at her side! Hand in hand, +both breathless with emotion, both pale and tearful, they listened +until the young girl concluded her touching song.</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_73"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor73">[73]</a> The duchess's own words. See Voyage en +Italie, etc., p. 305.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII.4"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> +<h3>CONCLUSION.</h3> +<br> +<p>This sorrowful pilgrimage was at last at an end. Hortense was +once more in her mountain-home, in the charming villa overlooking +the Lake of Constance, and commanding a lovely view of the majestic +lake, with its island and its surrounding cities and villages.</p> +<br> +<p>Honor to the Canton Thurgau, which, when all the world turned +its back on the queen upon whom all the governments and destiny +alike frowned--when even her nearest relatives, the Grand-duke and +the Grand-duchess Stephanie of Baden, were compelled to forbid her +residence in their territory--still had the courage to offer the +Duchess of St. Leu an asylum, and to accord her, on the free soil +of the little republic, a refuge from which the ill-will and +distrust of the mighty could not drive her!</p> +<p>In Arenenberg, Hortense reposed from her weariness. With a +bleeding breast she returned home, her heart wounded by a fearful +blow, the loss of a noble and beloved son, broken in spirit, and +bowed down by the coldness and cruelty of the world, which, in the +cowardly fear of its egoism, had become faithless, even to the +holiest and most imperishable of all religions, the religion of +memory!</p> +<p>How many, who had once vowed love and gratitude, had abandoned +her! how many, whom she had benefited had deserted her in the hour +of peril!</p> +<p>In the generosity and kindliness of her heart, she forgave them +all; and, instead of nursing a feeling of bitterness, she pitied +them! She had done with the outer world! Arenenberg was now her +world--Arenenberg, in which her last and only happiness, her son, +the heir of the imperial name, lived with her--Arenenberg, which +was as a temple of memory, in which Hortense was the pious and +believing priestess.</p> +<p>At Arenenberg Hortense wrote the sad and touching story of her +journey through Italy, France, and England, which she undertook, in +the heroism of maternal love, in order to rescue her son. The +noblest womanhood, the most cultivated mind, the proudest and +purest soul, speaks from out this book, with which Hortense has +erected a monument to herself that is more imperishable than all +the monuments of stone and bronze, for this monument speaks to the +heart--those to the eyes only. Hortense wrote this book with her +heart often interrupted by the tears that dimmed her eyes; she +concludes it with a touching appeal to the French people, which it +may well be permitted us to repeat here; it is as follows:</p> +<p>"The renewal of the law of exile, and the assimilation made +between us and the Bourbons, testify to the sentiments and fears +that are entertained respecting us. No friendly voice has been +raised in our behalf; this indifference has doubled the bitterness +of our banishment! May they, however, still be happy--those who +forget! May they, above all, make France happy! This is my +prayer!</p> +<p>"As for the people, it will, if it remembers its glory, its +grandeur, and the incessant care of which it was the object, ever +hold our memory dear. This is my firm conviction, and this thought +is the sweetest consolation of an exile, the sweetest consolation +he can take with him to the grave<a name="FNanchor74"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_74">[74]</a>!"</p> +<p>Hortense still lived a few years of peaceful tranquillity; far +from all she loved--far also from the son who was her last hope, +never dreaming that destiny had so brilliant a future in store for +him, and that Louis Napoleon, whom the Bourbons had banished from +France as a child, and the Orleans as a youth--that Louis Napoleon +would one day be enthroned in Paris as emperor, while the Bourbons +and Orleans languish in foreign lands as exiles!</p> +<p>In the year 1837, Hortense, the flower of the Bonapartes, +died!</p> +<p>Weary, at last, of misfortune, and of the exile in which she +languished, she bowed her head, and went home to her great +dead--home to Napoleon and Josephine!</p> +<blockquote><a name="Footnote_74"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor74">[74]</a> Voyage en Italie, etc., p. 324.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>THE END.</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Queen Hortense, by L. 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