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diff --git a/old/12019.txt b/old/12019.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea7d5ba --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12019.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10813 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Queen Hortense, by L. Muehlbach + +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. Muehlbach + +Release Date: April 14, 2004 [EBook #12019] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEEN HORTENSE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charlie Kirschner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +QUEEN HORTENSE + +A Life picture of the Napoleonic Era + +BY + +L. MUeHLBACH + +AUTHOR OF PRINCE EUGENE AND HIS TIMES, JOSEPH II, AND HIS COURT, +MERCHANT OF BERLIN, ETC. + +TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY + +CHAPMAN COLEMAN + +1910 + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +BOOK I. + +_DAYS OF CHILDHOOD AND OF THE REVOLUTION._ + +CHAPTER + + I.--Days of Childhood. + II.--The Prophecy. + III.--Consequences of the Revolution. + IV.--General Bonaparte. + V.--The Marriage. + VI.--Bonaparte in Italy. + VII.--Vicissitudes of Destiny. +VIII.--Bonaparte's Return from Egypt. + + +BOOK II. + +_THE QUEEN OF HOLLAND._ + +CHAPTER + + I.--A First Love. + II.--Louis Bonaparte and Duroc. + III--Consul and King. + IV.--The Calumny. + V.--King or Emperor. + VI.--Napoleon's Heir. + VII.--Premonitions. +VIII.--The Divorce. + IX.--The King of Holland. + X.--Junot, the Duke d'Abrantes. + XI.--Louis Napoleon as a Vender of Violets. + XII.--The Days of Misfortune. +XIII.--The Allies in Paris. + XIV.--Correspondence between the Queen and Louise de Cochelet. + XV.--Queen Hortense and the Emperor Alexander. + XVI.--The New Uncles. +XVII.--Death of the Empress Josephine. + + +BOOK III. + +_THE RESTORATION._ + +CHAPTER + + I.--The Return of the Bourbons. + II.--The Bourbons and the Bonapartes. + III.--Madame de Stael. + IV.--Madame de Stael's Return to Paris. + V.--Madame de Stael's Visit to Queen Hortense. + VI.--The Old and New Era. + VII.--King Louis XVIII. +VIII.--The Drawing-room of the Duchess of St. Leu. + IX.--The Burial of Louis XVI. and his Wife. + X.--Napoleon's Return from Elba. + XI.--Louis XVIII.'s Departure and Napoleon's Arrival. + XII.--The Hundred Days. +XIII.--Napoleon's Last Adieu. + + +BOOK IV. + +_THE DUCHESS OF ST. LEU._ + +CHAPTER + + I.--The Banishment of the Duchess of St. Leu. + II.--Louis Napoleon as a Child. + III.--The Revolution of 1830. + IV.--The Revolution in Rome and the Sons of Hortense. + V.--The Death of Prince Napoleon. + VI.--The Flight from Italy. + VII.--The Pilgrimage. +VIII.--Louis Philippe and the Duchess of St. Leu. + IX.--The Departure of the Duchess from Paris. + X.--Pilgrimage through France. + XI.--Fragment from the Memoirs of Queen Hortense. + XII.--The Pilgrim. +XIII.--Conclusion. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + +General Bonaparte suppressing the Revolt of the Sections, _Frontispiece_. + +View of the Tuileries. + +Portrait of Queen Hortense. + +Portrait of Madame de Stael. + + + +QUEEN HORTENSE. + +BOOK I. + +_DAYS OF CHILDHOOD AND OF THE REVOLUTION._ + + + +CHAPTER I. + +DAYS OF CHILDHOOD. + +"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. + +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!" + +Much, very much, had this daughter of an empress and mother of an +emperor to endure. + +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. + +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. + +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 +"_Fleurs Animees_." 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. + +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. + +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, "_Va +t'en, Guerrier_," 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 _Invalides_ hummed it +under their breath, while they whispered secretly to each other of the +glory of _La Belle France_, as of a beautiful dream of youth, now +gone forever. + +To-day, that song rings out with power again through France, and mounts +in jubilee to the summit of the column on the Place Vendome. 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 "_Va t'en, +Guerrier_," 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. + +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 _they_ 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. + +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." + +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 _blasee_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +"_Egalite! fraternite! liberte!_" 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. + +The house of Madame Tascher de la Pagerie was one of the abodes in which +these firebrands fell. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +But, meanwhile, the ship weighed anchor, and sped farther and farther +away from this blazing coast. + +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: + +"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." + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE PROPHECY. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _ci-devant._ 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. + +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. + +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 Crequi, the intellectual lady who has often been called the +last marquise of the _ancien regime_, and who in her witty memoirs wrote +the French history of the eighteenth century as viewed from an +aristocratic standpoint. There was Abbe Texier, 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. + +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. + +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 +_tabouret_ in the Tuileries, were here accorded the same precedence, and +all possible consideration shown them. + +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. + +Now the Grand Cophta laid both hands on the child's head and cried in a +loud voice, "Open your eyes and look!" + +The child turned pale and shuddered as it fixed its gaze on the +decanter. + +"What do you see?" asked the Grand Cophta, "I want you to look into the +prison of General Beauharnais. What do you see?" + +"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." + +"Can you read?" + +"No, citizen. Now the man cuts off his hair, and folds it in the paper." + +"The one who sleeps?" + +"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." + +"What do you mean by softly? You have not heard the slightest noise as +yet, have you?" + +"No, but he walks through the room on tiptoe." + +"What do you see now?" + +"He now covers his face with his hands and seems to be weeping." + +"But what did he do with his pocket-book?" + +"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." + +"Of what color is this coat?" + +"I cannot see, exactly; it is red or brown, lined with blue silk and +covered with shining buttons." + +"That will do," said the Grand Cophta; "you can go to bed, child." + +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. + +"General Beauharnais still lives!" said the Grand Cophta, addressing +Josephine. + +"Yes, he still lives," cried she, sadly, "but he is preparing for +death[1]." + +[Footnote 1: This scene is exactly as represented by the Marquise de +Crequi, who was present and relates it in her memoirs, vol. vi., +p. 238.] + +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. + +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. + +This was the only inheritance which General Beauharnais could bequeath +to his Josephine and her unhappy children! + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +The fall of Robespierre opened the prisons and set at liberty thousands +of the already condemned victims of the revolution. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +CONSEQUENCES OF THE REVOLUTION. + +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 _sans-culottes_, 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. + +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. + +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. + +Madame Tallien, the all-powerful wife of one of the five directors who +now swayed the destinies of France; Madame Recamier, the friend of all +the eminent and distinguished men of that period; and Madame de Stael, +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 _fetes_, 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 Hotel 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 _sans-culotte_, 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!" + +This period of blood and terror was now over; Robespierre was dead; +Theroigne de Mericourt 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. + +Madame Tallien, Madame Recamier, and Madame de Stael, 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 _carmagnole_ 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. _Coiffures a la +Jacobine_ were now supplanted by _coiffures a la victime_ and _au +repentir_. 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 _fetes_ 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 Recamier, 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 +_bon mots_ at the expense of the republic uttered--while in Madame de +Stael'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. + +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. + +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[2]. 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. + +[Footnote 2: Memoires de Monsieur de Bourrienne sur Napoleon, etc., Vol. +i., p. 80.] + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +GENERAL BUONAPARTE. + +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. + +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. + +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 Vendee 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. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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 Vendemiaire, 1795, again summoned the famous general +away from his meditations to stern practical activity. It was on that +day, the 13th Vendemiaire (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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +"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 _suspect_, and given over to the +Revolutionary Tribunal, who had him murdered, three days before the fall +of Robespierre." + +"Murdered!" exclaimed Bonaparte, in threatening tones. + +"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." + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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." + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE MARRIAGE. + +A few days after this interview between Bonaparte and Eugene, Josephine +met Bonaparte at one of the brilliant _soirees_ 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. + +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. + +"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!" + +"Possibly so, sire," she replied, "but this is the first time that a +man ever told me so." + +And the duchess was right; for her hair was not red, but of a very +handsome blond[3]. + +[Footnote 3: 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.] + +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?" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"I have come to tell you that I am going to marry again," said +Josephine, with her winning smile, to Ragideau. + +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." + +"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!" + +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?" + +Josephine's only reply was this: "I love him." + +"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." + +"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. + +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. + +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[4]. + +[Footnote 4: Bourrienne, vol. i., p. 350.] + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +"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[5]." + +[Footnote 5: Bourrienne, vol. i., p. 103.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +BONAPARTE IN ITALY. + +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. + +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. + +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 _bon ton_ and that aristocratic _savoir +vivre_ 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. + +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." + +"Good God!" exclaimed Bonaparte one day to Bourrienne, "how seldom one +meets _men_ in the world! In Italy there are eighteen millions of +inhabitants, but I have found only two _men_ among them all--Dandolo and +Melzi[6]." + +[Footnote 6: Bourrienne, vol. i., p. 139.] + +But, while Bonaparte was despairing of _men_, 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. + +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 _all_ the +communications he received to the flames, _unread_, 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 _my_ 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." + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +VICISSITUDES OF DESTINY. + +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 _Corps Legislatif_, 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 _Corps Legislatif_, 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. + +But the Directory, nevertheless, hastened to give the victor of Arcola +new _fetes_ every day; and when these _fetes_ 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. + +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. + +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 "_Vive +Bonaparte!_" 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!" + +However, these festivals and demonstrations at length subsided, and his +life resumed its more tranquil course. + +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 +_Rue de la Victoire_, 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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Such was Hortense when her mother took her from Madame Campan's +boarding-school, to accompany her to the baths of Plombieres. But there +it was that Hortense came near experiencing the greatest sorrow of her +life, in nearly losing her mother. + +She was with Josephine and some other ladies in the drawing-room of the +house they occupied at Plombieres. 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 Plombieres. 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. + +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." + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +BONAPARTE'S RETURN FROM EGYPT. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _sans-culottes_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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, Cambaceres, and Lebrun. + +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. + +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. + +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[7]." + +[Footnote 7: Bourrienne, vol. i., p. 229.] + +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. + +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 _court_ of Madame +Bonaparte and the _court ladies_ 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 _monsieur_ and _madame_, they could, a few years +later, say "your highness," "your majesty," and "monseigneur," in the +Tuileries. + +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. + +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 Vendemiaire, 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. + +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 _fetes_ 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. + +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. + +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 _sans-culottes_ 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 Elysees 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 +_ci-devants_ and aristocrats that were to be buried, and it was quite +proper, therefore, that they should receive aristocratic honors. + +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[8]. + +[Footnote 8: Memoires of the Marchioness de Crequi, vol. viii, p. 10.] + +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. + +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. + +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: + +"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 _sans-culottes_ 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[9]!" + +[Footnote 9: Bourrienne, vol. vi, p. 3.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The revolution was over! + + + +BOOK II. + +_THE QUEEN OF HOLLAND_. + +CHAPTER I. + +A FIRST LOVE. + +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. + +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, _audiences_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +Instead of warlike struggles, the Tuileries now witnessed contentions of +the toilet, and _powder or no powder_ 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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Nearly every evening," relates Bourrienne, in his Memoires, "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[10]." + +[Footnote 10: Bourrienne, vol. iv., p. 319.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: + +"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. + +"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!" + +"Be assured, general," exclaimed Bourrienne, "that your adopted children +will reward you for it!" + +"They must do so, Bourrienne--they must do so; for it is a great +sacrifice that I have made for them[11]!" + +[Footnote 11: Bourrienne, vol. iv., p. 119.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +LOUIS BONAPARTE AND DUROC. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +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! + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +Hortense replied, smiling through her tears: "I love him, and have no +other ambition than to be his wife." + +"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?" + +"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." + +Josephine shrugged her shoulders almost compassionately. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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. + +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. + +"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." + +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." + +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. + +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, _against_ the family itself; and for this reason Louis +must become the husband of Hortense. + +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. + +After this last interview with Josephine, Bonaparte went back into his +office, where he found Bourrienne, as ever, at the writing-desk. + +"Where is Duroc?" he hastily asked. + +"He has gone out--to the opera, I think." + +"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." + +"I don't think that he will, general." + +"Very good! Then, in that case, Hortense shall marry my brother Louis." + +"Will she consent?" + +"She will have to consent, Bourrienne." + +Duroc came in at a late hour that evening, and Bourrienne told him, word +for word, the ultimatum of the first consul. + +Duroc listened to him attentively; but, as Bourrienne went on with his +communication, his countenance grew darker and darker. + +"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. + +That same evening, Josephine received from her husband his full consent +to the marriage of her daughter to Louis Bonaparte. + +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. + +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. + +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 _he_ had deceived her +--_he_, the only one whom she had loved? + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +CONSUL AND KING. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Pale and mournful, in splendid attire, but with a heavy heart, did +Hortense make her appearance at the _fetes_ 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. + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. _We_ can secure the glory of France; I say _we_, because +I have need of Bonaparte in the work, and because he cannot complete it +without me." + +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." + +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. + +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. + +"You cannot avoid being a queen or an empress, one of these days," said +Bourrienne to her, on a certain occasion. + +Josephine replied, with tears: "_Mon Dieu_! 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[12]." + +[Footnote 12: Bourrienne, vol. v., p. 47.] + +But Josephine did not content herself with requesting Bourrienne to tell +her husband this; she had the courage to say so to him herself. + +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: + +"I implore you, Bonaparte, do not mount the throne. Your wicked brother +Lucien will urge you to it, but do not listen to him." + +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!" + +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: + +"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." + +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: + +"The youngest of the kings! Well, then, I will drive _all_ the kings +from their thrones, and found a new dynasty: then, they will have to +recognize me as the oldest prince of all." + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE CALUMNY. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: + +"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!" + +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. + +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 _fete_, 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. + +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. + +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. + +For this reason Hortense hesitated at first to comply, but Bonaparte +grew only the more pressing and vehement in his request. + +"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 _contredance_." + +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. + +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 _contredance_, as +a peculiar trait of amiability! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"There are still rumors abroad of a _liaison_ 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?" + +"Yes, general, it is still spoken of; and I confess that I did not +believe this calumny would be so long continued." + +"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?" + +"No, never, general." + +"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." + +"I shall do so, general; I shall tell the truth, but, unfortunately, I +can not compel the world to believe the truth." + +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. + +"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?" + + + +CHAPTER V. + +KING OR EMPEROR. + +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. + +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. + +Cambaceres, 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. Cambaceres--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 +Cambaceres, was now the first to salute Bonaparte with "imperial +majesty," and with the little word, so full of significance, "sire." He +rewarded Cambaceres, 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 Cambaceres, as "citizen consul," and +followed the revolutionary method of reckoning time, his letter being +dated "the 20th Floreal, of the year 12." + +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 connetable. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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[13]. + +[Footnote 13: Memoires sur la reine Hortense, par le Baron van Schelten, +vol. i., p. 145.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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[14]!" + +[Footnote 14: Bourrienne, vol. iv., p. 288.] + +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 _be_ in +the Tuileries; one must also _remain_ 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." + +And Napoleon was now mighty enough to give laws to the world; not only +to bend France, but also foreign sovereigns, to his will. + +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 +_sanctus, sanctus_, 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. + +"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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +NAPOLEON'S HEIR. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +With emotion, Louis Bonaparte declared himself ready to accept this +crown, and to be a good and true ruler to his new country. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Now I am lost!" she murmured in a low voice; "now my fate is decided. +He will put me away." + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PREMONITIONS. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +"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[15]!" + +[Footnote 15: Josephine's own words.--Bourrienne, vol. viii., p. 243.] + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"How, Hortense!" exclaimed Napoleon with emotion. "You then refuse my +request?" + +"Sire," said she, hardly able longer to restrain her tears, "sire, I +have not the strength to stab my mother to the heart[16]." + +[Footnote 16: Schelten, vol. ii., p. 45.] + +And regardless of etiquette, Hortense turned away and left the emperor's +cabinet, the tears pouring in streams from her eyes. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE DIVORCE. + +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. + +The emperor had finally to make up his mind to impart the distressing +tidings in person. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Sire, may Hortense remain?" asked Josephine, almost inaudibly. + +"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. + +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! + +She read in his excited, quivering features the struggle that moved his +soul, but she also read in them that her hour was come! + +As he now approached her, his outstretched hand trembled, and Josephine +shudderingly recoiled. + +Napoleon took her hand in his, and laid it on his heart, regarding her +with a long and sorrowful farewell-glance. + +"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[17]." + +[Footnote 17: The emperor's own words. See Bourrienne, vol. iii., p. +344.] + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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[18]?" + +[Footnote 18: Josephine's own narrative. See Bourrienne, vol. iii., p. +342, _et seq_.] + +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! + +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. + +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, Cambaceres, then caused the appropriate +paragraph of the _Code Civile_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +The sacrifice was accomplished. Napoleon had sacrificed his dearest +possession to ambition; he had divorced himself from Josephine. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE KING OF HOLLAND. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 Toeplitz. + +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. + +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. + +Louis neither answered nor conformed to this threat. He repaired to +Graetz, 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[19]." + +[Footnote 19: Memoires d'une Femme de Qualite, vol. v., p. 47.] + +In Graetz, 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. + +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. + +Madame de St. Elme, who was at Graetz at this time, and who witnessed the +farewell scene between Louis Bonaparte and the inhabitants of Graetz, +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. + +"This was a subject of profound sorrow and regret for the inhabitants of +Graetz, 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[20]." + +[Footnote 20: Memoires d'une contemporaine, vol. iv., p. 377.] + + + +CHAPTER X. + +JUNOT, THE DUKE D'ABRANTES. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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! + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _bon mots_ 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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +LOUIS NAPOLEON AS A VENDER OF VIOLETS. + +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. + +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 Wuertemberg, 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. + +"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[21]." + +[Footnote 21: Bossuet, Memoires, vol. V.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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?" + +"No, _maman_!" exclaimed the boy, almost angrily, and little Louis +Napoleon, who sat in his mother's lap, repeated in his shrill little +voice: "No, _maman_!" + +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?" + +"I would become a soldier," cried Napoleon, with sparkling eyes, "and I +would fight so bravely that I should soon be made an officer." + +"And you, Louis, what would you do to earn your daily bread?" + +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. + +"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." + +The ladies and cavaliers, who had listened to this curious conversation +in silence, now laughed loudly at this naive reply of the little prince. + +"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[22]." + +[Footnote 22: The queen's own words.] + +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. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE DAYS OF MISFORTUNE. + +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 Graetz 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. + +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. + +"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[23]." + +[Footnote 23: Cochelet, Memoires sur la reine Hortense, vol. i., p. +167.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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[24]." + +[Footnote 24: Memoires d'une femme de qualite, vol. i., p. 133.] + +The royalists held meetings and formed conspiracies with but little +attempt at concealment, and the minister of police, Fouche, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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!" + +In sadness and dejection Hortense had then returned to her dwelling, +where Lavalette, Madame Ney, and the ladies of her court, awaited her. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE ALLIES IN PARIS. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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[25]. + +[Footnote 25: Cochelet, vol. i., p 279.] + +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. + +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: + +"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[26]." + +[Footnote 26: Cochelet, vol. i., pp. 275-277.] + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE QUEEN AND LOUISE DE COCHELET. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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.' + +"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. + +"The old nobility is already much discontented; it considers itself +debased, because it sees itself mixed with so many new elements." + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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!" + +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. + +"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." + +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 Elysee 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[27], 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. + +[Footnote 27: 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.] + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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!' + +"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!' + +"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.' + +"The last two weeks at Fontainebleau have been a period of the greatest +interest. All these young men, together with M. de Labedoyere 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. + +"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. + +"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.' + +"It is said that the Duchess of Montebello will leave the Empress Marie +Louise." + +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: + +"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 remain here,_ 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. + +"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. + +HORTENSE." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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! + +"Your course will touch those to whom you are going but little, and will +displease the allies, who take so much interest in you. + +"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. + +"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.' + +"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! + +"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! + +"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! + +LOUISE." + +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. + +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." + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +QUEEN HORTENSE AND THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Sire," said she, with a soft smile, "I have no means of receiving you +with due ceremony; my antechambers are deserted." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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?" + +"Sire, you have convinced me that the future of my sons requires it. I +shall therefore remain." + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE NEW UNCLES. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Madame," said he, "I confide my brothers to your keeping. They are now +making their _debut_ 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." + +"Reassure yourself, sire," replied the queen, gravely; "I will be their +mentor, and I promise you a motherly surveillance." + +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." + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"It is the King of Prussia," whispered the governess; "and the gentleman +who has just spoken with you is the Emperor of Russia." + +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. + +"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?" + +"No, Louis, you must simply call them 'sire.'" + +"But," said the boy, after a moment's reflection, "why is it that they +are not our uncles?" + +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. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Then we ought to love this emperor very dearly?" said the little Louis +Napoleon. + +"Certainly; for you owe him many thanks." + +The young prince regarded the emperor, who was conversing with the +empress Josephine, long and thoughtfully. + +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. + +The queen called him back, and demanded with earnest severity to know +what he had done. + +The little prince returned reluctantly, hanging his head with +embarrassment, and said, blushing deeply: "Ah, _maman,_ it is the ring +Uncle Eugene gave me. I wished to give it to the emperor, because he is +so good to my _maman_!" + +Deeply touched, the emperor took the boy in his arms, seated him on his +knees, and kissed him tenderly. + +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[28]. + +[Footnote 28: Cochelet, vol. i., p. 355.] + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +DEATH OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The emperor pointed to a cup, on which a portrait of Josephine was +painted, and begged her to give him that. + +"_No_, 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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Your majesty is ill!" exclaimed the emperor, in dismay. + +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!" + +Yes, she was right; she had received a fatal wound, and her heart was +bleeding to death. + +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. + +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. + +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 Abbe 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. + +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. + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + +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[29], 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 _attache_, 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. + +[Footnote 29: 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."] + +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. + +"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?" + +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. + + + +BOOK III. + +_THE RESTORATION._ + +CHAPTER I. + +THE RETURN OF THE BOURBONS. + +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, _"Vive le roi!"_ +at the end of this reading, but the people remained indifferent +and mute. + +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! + +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, _"Vive le roi!"_ They took no part in their +joyful demonstration, but neither did they attempt to prevent it. + +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! + +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. + +"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 _en masse,_ that you gave yourselves the appearance of +also loving them _en detail_; and this has occasioned reports concerning +you which do little honor to French ladies!" + +"But, _mon Dieu!_" 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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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 _"Vive le roi!"_ But the +faithful soldiers of the emperor stood unmoved by this generous offer, +and the silence remained unbroken by the lowest cry! + +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. + +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: + + * * * * * + +"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. + +"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." + + * * * * * + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"Majesty," said the duke, interrupting him, "no such sacrifice is +required at your hands." + +"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[30]." + +[Footnote 30: Bourrienne, vol. x., p. 129.] + +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. + +But the zeal of the royalists was destined to annihilate this hope. + +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[31] 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. + +[Footnote 31: Memoires d'une Femme de Qualite.] + +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. + +Talleyrand undertook to secure the countess an audience with the Russian +emperor, and he succeeded. + +While conducting the beautiful countess to the czar's cabinet, +Talleyrand whispered in her ear: "Imitate Madame de Lemalle--endeavor +to make a great stroke. The emperor is gallant, and what he denies to +diplomacy he may, perhaps, accord to the ladies." + +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. + +With a knightly courtesy, the emperor immediately hastened forward to +assist her to rise. + +"What are you doing?" asked he, almost in alarm. "A noble lady never has +occasion to bend the knee to a cavalier." + +"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!" + +"Is it then true that the French people are still devoted to the Bourbon +family?" + +"Yes, sire, they are our only hope; on them we bestow our whole love!" + +"Ah, that is excellent," cried Alexander; "are all French ladies filled +with the same enthusiasm as yourself, madame?" + +"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[32]." + +[Footnote 32: Memoires d'une Femme de Qualite, vol. i., p. 179.] + +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 _soiree_, to +which she invited the most beautiful ladies of her party, and a number +of senators. + +"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?" + +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 Abbe 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. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE BOURBONS AND THE BONAPARTES. + +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. + +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 +_brochure_ 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 _taken me in_," was the +reply of Francis I. + +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. + +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. + +"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.'" + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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, "_Nos chers amis les ennemis_[33]!" + +[Footnote 33: "Our dear friends the enemies!"] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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 Eugenie, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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." + +"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[34]." + +[Footnote 34: Memoires d'une Femme de Qualite, vol. i., p. 267.] + +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. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +MADAME DE STAEL. + +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 Stael, the daughter of +Necker, the renowned poetess of "Corinne" and "Delphine." + +It had been a long and bitter struggle between Madame de Stael and the +mighty Emperor of the French; and Madame de Stael, 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 +Stael 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 Stael, 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. + +Madame de Stael had, therefore, not waited for Napoleon to seek her, but +had made the first advances, and sought him. + +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 +Stael. 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!" + +But Madame de Stael did not allow herself to be dismayed by Bonaparte's +coldness and silence--she continued to write new and more +glowing letters. + +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 Stael, 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. + +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!" + +He did not answer them, but Madame de Stael 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 Stael was now also +determined to have her way, and to approach Bonaparte despite his +resistance. + +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 Stael 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 Stael 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 Stael gave free scope to her +wit; but instead of dazzling him, as she had hoped to do, she only +succeeded in depressing him. + +It was while in this frame of mind, and when Madame de Stael, 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." + +Madame de Stael 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 _bon mots_ which she +hurled at Napoleon and his family, and which were of course faithfully +repeated to the first consul. + +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 Stael 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. + +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. + +He banished Madame de Stael 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. + +Madame de Stael 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. + +But in the midst of the triumphs she was celebrating in her exile, +Madame de Stael 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. + +"I love," said he, "women who make men of themselves just as little as I +love effeminate men. There is an appropriate _role_ 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." + +Madame de Stael'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. + +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. + +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. + +Madame de Stael 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. + +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. + +As she could not go to France herself, she sent her son to plead with +the emperor, for herself and her children. + +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. + +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 Stael 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. + +Hortense's soft entreaties and representations were at last successful +in soothing the emperor's anger. He allowed Madame de Stael to return to +France, on the condition that she should never come to Paris or its +vicinity; he then also accorded Madame de Stael's son the long-sought +favor of an audience. + +This interview of Napoleon with Madame de Stael'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 Stael as of her father, +although he listened with generous composure to the warm defence of the +son and grandson. + +Young Stael told the emperor of his mother's longing to return to her +home, and touchingly portrayed the sadness and unhappiness of her exile. + +"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 Bicetre, 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." + +It was in vain that young Stael 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. + +"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!" + +Young Stael 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 Stael 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. + +"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!" + +"Sire!" exclaimed the young man, deeply agitated, "you are then not +aware that my grandfather's estates were confiscated because he defended +the king!" + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"But, sire, is one not quite as unhappy far from home and friends, as in +prison?" + +"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!" + +"But, sire, all her friends are in Paris!" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 _bon mots_ +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." + +"But if sacred interests should require her presence here for a few +days, your majesty would at least--" + +"What? Sacred interests? What does that mean?" + +"Sire," the presence of my mother will be necessary, in order to procure +from your majesty's government the return of a sacred debt." + +"Ah, bah! sacred! Are not all the debts of the state sacred?" + +"Without doubt, sire; but ours is accompanied by peculiar +circumstances." + +"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!" + +"Sire," said young Stael, 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?" + +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 _penchant_ for Genevese, parlor-politicians, etc.; therefore, go +to England; for I must say, I should be rather ill than well disposed +toward you[35]!" + +[Footnote 35: Bourrienne, vol. viii., p. 355.] + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +MADAME DE STAEL'S RETURN TO PARIS. + +Madame de Stael 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. + +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 Stael "a Chateaubriand in petticoats." The +Duchess d'Angouleme seemed never to see the celebrated poetess, and +never addressed a word to her; the rest of the court met Madame de Stael +armed to the teeth with all the hatred and prejudices of the olden time. + +It was also in vain that Madame de Stael 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. + +"I am unfortunate," said Madame de Stael 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." + +The "sacred debt" had not been paid under the empire, and it was now +Madame de Stael's intention to obtain from the king what the emperor +had refused. + +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. + +The countess had not forgotten this friendship, and she was now grateful +for the service Madame de Stael 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 Stael. "But," says the countess, +in her memoirs, "I believe the recovery of this million cost Madame de +Stael four hundred thousand francs, besides a set of jewelry that was +worth at least one hundred thousand." + +The countess's purse and the jewelry case, however, doubtlessly bore +evidence that she might as well have said "I know" as "I believe." + +Besides the four hundred thousand francs and the jewelry, Madame de +Stael 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." + +"What do you mean by that?" asked the countess, smiling. + +"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." + +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 Stael, and ridiculed +the idea, little dreaming how soon her words were to be fulfilled. + +Madame de Stael consoled herself for her cold reception at court, by +receiving the best society of Paris in her parlors, and entertaining +them with biting _bon mots_ and witty _persiflage_, 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. + +Madame de Stael now also remembered the kindness Queen Hortense had +shown her during her exile; and not to her only, but also to her friend, +Madame Recamier, who had also been exiled by Napoleon, not, however, as +his enemies said, "because she was Madame de Stael'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. + +Queen Hortense had espoused the cause of Madame de Stael and of Madame +Recamier 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. + +Louise de Cochelet has described this visit of Madame de Stael so +wittily, with so much _naivete_, and with such peculiar local coloring, +that we cannot refrain from laying a literal translation of the same +before the reader. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MADAME DE STAEL'S VISIT TO QUEEN HORTENSE. + +Louise de Cochelet relates as follows: "Madame de Stael and Madame +Recamier 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. + +"She asked my advice as to which of the members of her social circle +were best qualified to cope with Madame de Stael. + +"'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.' + +"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 Stael.' + +"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 _bon mots_ followed each other in +rapid succession until the arrival of the carriage recalled to our faces +an expression of official earnestness. + +"Madame Recamier, still young, and very handsome, and with an expression +of _naivete_ in her charming countenance, made the impression on me of +being a young lady in love, carefully watched over by too severe a +_duenna,_ her timid, gentle manner contrasted so strongly with the +somewhat too masculine self-consciousness of her companion. Madame de +Stael 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. + +"Madame de Stael'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 +_ensemble_ 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. + +"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 Stael's intellect.' + +"The queen inquired after Madame de Stael'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. + +"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 _char a banc_, 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. + +"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 _distraite_, and +had good cause to be somewhat sad, and disposed to commune with herself, +addressed Madame de Stael with the question, 'You have been in +Italy, then?' + +"Madame de Stael was, as it were, transfixed with dismay, and the +gentlemen exclaimed with one accord: 'And Corinne? and Corinne?' + +"'Ah, that is true,' said the queen, in embarrassment, awakening, as it +were, from her dreams. + +"'Is it possible,' asked M. de Canonville, 'your majesty has not read +Corinne?' + +"'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. + +"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.' + +"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 Stael. + +"'Madame de Stael 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.' + +"The large _char a banc_ 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 Stael 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. + +"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!' + +"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. + +"The prince had the queen on his right, and Madame de Stael 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 +Stael 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. + +"Constantinople, with which city several of the gentlemen were well +acquainted, was now the topic of conversation. Madame de Stael 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. + +"Madame de Stael 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. + +"Madame de Stael spoke to the queen of her motto: 'Do that which is +right, happen what may.' + +"'In my exile, which you so kindly endeavored to terminate,' said she, +'I often repeated this motto, and thought of you while doing so.' + +"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. + +"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.' + +'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."' + +"'You met him on his course, madame; perhaps he would have extended you +a helping hand, after having reached the summit of his mountain.' + +"'I must speak with him,' said Madame de Stael; 'I have been injured in +his opinion.' + +"'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.' + +"Madame de Stael 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. + +"'Do you love your uncle?' + +"'Very much, madame!' + +"'And will you also be as fond of war as he is?' + +"'Yes, if it did not cause so much misery.' + +'Is it true that he often made you repeat a fable commencing with the +words, "The strongest is always in the right?"' + +"'Madame, he often made us repeat fables, but this one not oftener than +any other.' + +"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?' + +"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. + +"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 Stael's manner[36]." + +[Footnote 36: Cochelet, Memoires sur la Reine Hortense, vol. i., pp. +429-440.] + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE OLD AND THE NEW ERA. + +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 _oeil de boeuf_ and the _petites maisons_, but +an aristocracy that could tell of the battle-field and of the hospitals +in which their wounds had been healed. + +These two parties stood opposed to each other. + +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. + +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 +_role_, and they were made to feel that they were only tolerated, and +not welcome. + +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 _tabouret,_ as +well as their grand and little _entree_ 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." + +It was the Duchess d'Angouleme 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. + +At one of the first dinners given by the king to the allies, the Duchess +d'Angouleme, 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!" + +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. + +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?" + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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. + +For this merit they now demanded a reward. + +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. + +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 _oeil de boeuf_ and in the +_petites maisons_ of the old era. + +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. + +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 +_regime_, and when they spoke of this era, they forgot their age and +debility, and were once more the young _roues_ of the _oeil de boeuf_. + +Once in the antechamber of King Louis XVIII., while the Marquis de +Chimene and the Duke de Lauraguais, two old heroes of the frivolous era, +in which the boudoir and the _petites maisons_ 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 _liaison_ with your wife." + +"Ah, yes," replied the marquis, with perfect composure, "that was in the +year 1776." + +Neither of the gentlemen found anything strange in this allusion to the +past. The _liaison_ 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. + +The wisest and most enlightened of all these gentlemen was their head, +King Louis XVIII. himself. + +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 Conde, who was in the habit of calling the +charter "_Mademoiselle la Constitution de 1791,_" 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. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +KING LOUIS XVIII. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +King Louis felt this, and, in order to conciliate his court, he often +saw himself compelled to humiliate "the _parvenus_" who had forced +themselves among the former. + +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. + +"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." + +"And yet you are king!" + +"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 _Corps Legislatif_ 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[37]." + +[Footnote 37: Memoires d'une Femme de Qualite, vol. v., p. 35.] + +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. + +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. + +"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[38]." + +[Footnote 38: Memoires d'une Femme de Qualite, vol. i., p. 410.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The grand-master of ceremonies, M. de Brege, 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. + +"We are, therefore, to have powder, coats-of-mail, etc.," observed the +king. + +M. de Brege 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. + +"Sire," said the Duke de Chartres, smiling, "I, for my part, demand +knee-breeches, shoe-buckles, and the cue." + +"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!" + +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. + +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." + +"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[39]." + +[Footnote 39: Memoires d'une Femme de Qualite, vol. i., p. 384.] + +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 _grande entree_--that is to say, to the +officers of his household, the marshals of France, several favored +ladies; further, to his _cafetier_, his tailor, the bearer of his +slippers, his barber, with two assistants, his watchmaker, and his +apothecaries. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The king restored yet another fashion of the old era--the fashion of the +"royal lady-friends." + +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 _chronique +scandaleuse_ 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. + +King Louis was not ungrateful to his royal friend, and he rewarded her +in a truly royal manner for sometimes banishing _ennui_ 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[40]. + +[Footnote 40: Amours et Galanteries des Rois de France, par St. Edme, +vol. ii., p. 383. Memoires d'une Femme de Qualite, vol. i., p. 409.] + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE DRAWING-KOOM OF THE DUCHESS OF ST. LEU. + +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. + +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. + +He well knew that he could rely on his old army--on the army who loudly +cried, "_Vive le roi!_" and then added, _sotto voce_, "_de Rome, et son +petit papa_[41]!" + +[Footnote 41: Cochelet, Memoires sur la Reine Hortense, vol. iii, p. +121.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 Fouche, or rather the Duke of Otranto, knew how to utilize +everything. + +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, Fouche +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. + +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. + +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 Labedoyere, and the +acute Count Renault de Saint-Jean d'Angely, still continued to meet in +the parlors of the Duchess of St. Leu. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +As we have said, Hortense was the embodied remembrance of the empire, +and it was therefore determined that she should be destroyed. +_Brochures_ 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[42]." + +[Footnote 42: Cochelet, Memoires sur la Reins Hortense, vol. ii., p. +330.] + +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. + +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[43]." + +[Footnote 43: Cochelet, vol. i., p. 378.] + +And, strange to say, she herself was ever the object of calumny and +accusation. + +"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[44]." + +[Footnote 44: Cochelet, vol. i., p. 378.] + +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. + +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. + +After much discussion, he had finally declared that he would be +satisfied, if his wife would send him his eldest son, Napoleon +Louis, only. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"With a sad smile, Hortense read the article and returned the newspaper. + +"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." + +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. + +"I am enraged, and I desire that M. Despres 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. Despres come to me; I will +instruct him how to answer this disgraceful article!" + +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[45]. + +[Footnote 45: Cochelet, vol. i., p. 303.] + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE BURIAL OF LOUIS XVI. AND HIS WIFE. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +M. de Chateaubriand, the noble and intelligent eulogist and friend of +the Bourbons, caused an article to be inserted in the _Journal des +Debats_, 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. + +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. + +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 Fouche, and to them the +approaching ceremony seemed an insult. + +"Are you aware," exclaimed Descourtis, as he rushed into the apartment +of Cambaceres, 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?" + +"Yes, to-morrow is the fated day. To-morrow we are to be delivered over +to the daggers of fanatics." + +"Is this the pardon that was promised us?" + +"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." + +"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!" + +Cambaceres, who had listened to this conversation in silence, now +stepped forward, and, taking Descourtis's hand in his own, pressed +it tenderly. + +"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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + + + +CHAPTER X. + +NAPOLEON'S RETURN FROM ELBA. + +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! + +The royalists heard it with dismay, the Bonapartists with a delight that +they hardly took the pains to conceal. + +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[46]." + +[Footnote 46: Cochelet, vol. ii., p. 348.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The Duke of Otranto, now once more the faithful Fouche 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 Dandre, +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." + +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 Labedoyere, 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." + +The government still endeavored, through its officials and through the +public press, to make the Parisians disbelieve this intelligence. + +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. + +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. + +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 Stael, Benjamin Constant, Count Laine, and Chateaubriand; +there were the Duke de Nemours, 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. + +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. + +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. Laine +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! + +In her enthusiastic and energetic manner, Madame de Stael pronounced an +anathema against the usurper who was about to kindle anew, in weeping, +shivering France, the flames of war. + +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[47]! + +[Footnote 47: Memoires d'une Femme de Qualite, vol. i., p. 99.] + + + +CHAPTER XI + +LOUIS XVIII.'S DEPARTURE AND NAPOLEON'S ARRIVAL. + +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 +_Corps Legislatif_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The king's eyes were now opened, he now saw the truth, and learned how +greatly he had been deceived. + +"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!" + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +The king understood this mute reply, and a deep sigh escaped his breast. + +"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[48]!" + +[Footnote 48: The king's own words. Memoires d'une Femme de Qualite, +vol. i. p. 156.] + +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. + +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 "_Vive l'empereur_" of the troops. On the +same place where the white flag of the Bourbons had but yesterday +fluttered, the _tricolore_ of the empire now flung out its folds to +the breeze. + +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. + +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 "_Vive l'empereur_!" + +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. + +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." + +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." + +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." + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE HUNDRED DAYS. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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[49]. + +[Footnote 49: La Reine Hortense en Italie, en France, et en Angleterre. +Ecrit par elle-meme, p. 185.] + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + +"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." + +The queen's only response was a gentle "Indeed madame," which she +accompanied with a smile. + +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 +_fetes_ and ceremonies. + +The most sublime and imposing of all these was the ceremony of the +_Champ de Mai_, 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. + +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 "_Vive l'empereur_!"--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. + +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[50]." + +[Footnote 50: Cochelet, vol. iii., p. 97.] + +Hortense alone did not allow herself to be deceived by this universal +delight and contentment. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +NAPOLEON'S LAST ADIEU. + +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. + +"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[51]." + +[Footnote 51: Cochelet, vol. iii., p. 90.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +But the days of victory were over; the cannon thundered, the battle was +fought, but instead of a triumph it was an overthrow. + +At Waterloo, the eagles that had been consecrated on the first of June, +on the _Champ de Mai_, sank in the dust; the emperor returned to Paris, +a fugitive, and broken down in spirit, while the victorious allies were +approaching the capital. + +At the first intelligence of his return, Hortense hastened to the +Elysee, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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[52]." + +[Footnote 52: Cochelet, vol. iii., p. 149.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +The emperor took the belt in his hand, and its weight startled him. + +"What does it contain?" asked he: "I must know what it contains!" + +"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." + +The emperor refused, but Hortense entreated him so earnestly that he was +at last compelled to yield, and accept this love-offering. + +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. + +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. + +"Talma!" exclaimed the emperor, almost gayly, as he extended his hand. + +"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." + +"To take leave, never to see each other more," said the emperor, sadly. +"I shall never be able to admire you in your great _roles_ 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!" + +"No, sire, you will always remain the emperor!" exclaimed Talma, with +generous enthusiasm; "the emperor, although without the crown and the +purple robe." + +"And also the emperor without a people," said Napoleon. + +"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." + +"I have no people," murmured Napoleon, gloomily; "they have all +deserted--all betrayed me, Talma!" + +"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[53]!" + +[Footnote 53: This scene is entirely historical. See Bossuet, Memoires; +Bourrienne, Memoires; Cochelet and Une Femme de Qualite.] + +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. + +Napoleon thanked him with a kindly glance, and extended his hand to bid +him adieu. + +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. + +"Madame mere" 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. + +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. + +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!" + +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[54]. + +[Footnote 54: This leave-taking was exactly as above described, and +Talma himself narrated it to Louise de Cochelet. See her Memoires, vol. +iii, P. 173.] + + + +BOOK IV. + +_THE DUCHESS OF ST. LEU_. + +CHAPTER I. + +THE BANISHMENT OF THE DUCHESS OF ST. LEU. + +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 Labedoyere 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. + +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. + +The emperor, dismayed by the odious reports in circulation concerning +Hortense, and already enchained in the mystic glittering web with which +Madame de Kruedener 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. + +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. + +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 _Place Vendome_. + +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. + +When the queen's faithful companion, Louise de Cochelet, informed her of +these calumnies, Hortense remained cold and indifferent. + +"Madame," exclaimed Louise, "you listen with as much composure as if I +were reciting a story of the last century!" + +"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." + +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. + +On the morning of the 17th of July, an adjutant of the Prussian General +de Mueffling, 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. + +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." + +The queen was warned to take no money or articles of value with her, but +only that which was absolutely necessary. + +General de Mueffling 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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[55]. + +[Footnote 55: Cochelet, vol. iii, p. 289.] + +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. + +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!" + +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 "_reve de chalet_." + +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. + +But in Aix the most fearful blow that Fate had in store for her fell +upon her! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +LOUIS NAPOLEON AS A CHILD. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +While reposing on her _chaise-longue_ 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. + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +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!" + +And while thus speaking, a glowing color suffused his face; his lips +trembled, and the feverish beating of his heart was quite audible. + +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. + +"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?" + +The prince cast a hasty, absent-minded look at the cup, and nodded +gravely. Louise laughed gayly. + +"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." + +"Am I the little Napoleon?" asked the boy, gravely. + +"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. + +"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!" + +"Tell me all about it, Louise," said the prince, smiling. + +"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. + +"'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.' + +"'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!' + +"Madame de Montesquieu told me that it was the little prince's greatest +pleasure to see the Guards exercising on the _Place de Carrousel_, 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[56]. Now you have heard the whole story, are you pleased with +it, Louis?" + +[Footnote 56: Cochelet, vol. i., p. 212.] + +"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." + +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!" + +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. + +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[57]. + +[Footnote 57: Cochelet, vol. iv., p. 303.] + +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. + +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. + +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[58]." + +[Footnote 58: Cochelet, vol. i, p. 355.] + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE REVOLUTION OF 1830. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In the year 1824 Hortense lost her only brother, Eugene, the Duke of +Leuchtenberg. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _autos da fe_ of the olden time. + +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. + +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 Egalite, for its king. + +Louis Philippe, the enthusiastic republican of 1790, who at that time +had caused the three words "_Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite_" and the +inscription "_Vive la Republique,"_ 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. + +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 _tricolore_ of the empire. + +Under the shadow of this _tricolore_ 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 Vendome. Louis Philippe accorded them both, but with these +concessions he thought he had done enough. He had accepted the +_tricolore_ of the empire; he had promised that the emperor should watch +over Paris from the summit of the Vendome monument, and to cause his +ashes to be brought to Paris--these were sufficient proofs of love. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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! + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE REVOLUTION IN ROME, AND THE SONS OF HORTENSE. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Her two sons promised compliance; and, much relieved, Hortense left +Florence, and went, with her younger son, Louis Napoleon, to Rome. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _mardi-gras_ that it laid this mask aside and showed its +true countenance. + +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. + +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. + +The people arose against this prohibition, and the revolution they had +endeavored to repress by this means now broke out. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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[59]. 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. + +[Footnote 59: La Reine Hortense, p. 63.] + +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. + +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! + +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! + +They had written that they would meet her on the road, but they were not +there! + +Perhaps they had listened to the representations of their father; +perhaps they had remained in Florence and were awaiting their mother's +arrival there. + +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! + +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! + +The exultant hymn of liberty had struck on their delighted ear, and they +had responded to the call of the revolution. + +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. + +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. + +"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[60]." + +[Footnote 60: La Reine Hortense, p. 78.] + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE DEATH OF PRINCE NAPOLEON. + +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. + +This was the intelligence brought back by the couriers whom Hortense had +dispatched to her sons with letters entreating them to return. + +It was too late--they neither would nor could return. + +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. + +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; + +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. + +Cardinal Fesch and King Jerome conjured their nephews, first in +entreating, and then in commanding letters, to leave the insurgent army. + +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. + +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. + +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[61]. + +[Footnote 61: La Reine Hortense, p. 93.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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. + +The lord understood her, and gladly consented to assist her and her two +sons. + +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! + +For this purpose she demanded a passport of the government of Tuscany, +and it was accorded her. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +This man was a messenger from her sons. "Prince Napoleon is ill," said +he. + +Hortense remembered that she had heard that a contagious disease was +ravaging the vicinity. "Is he indeed ill?" cried she, in dismay. + +"Yes; and he earnestly desires to see you, madame!" + +"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!" + +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!" + +Hortense reclined in her carriage, pale and motionless. Her thoughts +were confused, her heart scarcely beat. + +At last she reached her destination; her carriage drove up to the house +in Pesaro, where her sons were awaiting her. + +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!" + +With a heart-rending cry, Hortense sank to the ground in a swoon. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE FLIGHT FROM ITALY. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +With perfect composure she prepared for her double (her feigned and her +real) departure. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _visa_ 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. + +Becoming at last convinced that he was ill, Hortense sent for a +physician. + +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. + +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! + +Like his brother, Louis Napoleon had also taken the same disease. + +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! + +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. + +The physician confirms this statement, and informs all Ancona of the +dangerous illness of the Duchess of St. Leu. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The general, deeply sympathizing with the unhappy woman who was about to +follow her proscribed son, readily accorded her request. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The greatest danger was to be apprehended from their friends--from some +one who might accidentally recognize her son, and unintentionally +betray them. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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! + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE PILGRIMAGE. + +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. + +At Antibes they succeeded in crossing the French boundary without being +recognized. They were now in their own country--in _la belle France_, +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. + +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 Labedoyere, 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, +"_Vive l'empereur!_" the entire regiment had gone over to its adored +chieftain. Labedoyere 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 Labedoyere was also +shot; like the emperor himself, he paid for the triumph of the hundred +days with his liberty and with his life! + +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. + +"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[62]." + +[Footnote 62: The duchess's own words. See La Reine Hortense en Italie, +Suisse, France, etc., p. 79.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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 _fetes_, 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! + +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. + +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. + +By a strange chance, it was at the "_Hotel de Hollande_" 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 _Hotel de Hollande_, 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 _Place +Vendome._ "Say to the column on the _Place Vendome_ 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. + +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 _Vendome_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +M. de Houdetot responded to her request, and came to the _Hotel de +Hollande_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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[63]!" + +[Footnote 63: La Reine Hortense: Voyage en Italie, etc., p. 110.] + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +LOUIS PHILIIPE AND THE DUCHESS OF ST. LEU. + +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. + +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-Penthievre, 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[64]. +Perhaps Louis Philippe remembered this, and was desirous of rewarding +Hortense for her services to his mother and his aunt. + +[Footnote 64: La Reine Hortense: Voyage en Italie, etc., p. 185.] + +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. + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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 _to +me alone_. I understand business matters, and constitute myself from +this time on your _charge d'affaires_[65]. 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[66]." + +[Footnote 65: The king's own words. See Voyage en Italie, etc., p. 201.] + +[Footnote 66: The Princess de Montfort was the wife of Jerome, the +sister of the King of Wuertemberg, and a cousin of the Emperor +of Russia.] + +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. + +"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." + +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! + +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!" + +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. + +Hortense was to tremble once more for the life of a son, and this son +was the last treasure Fate had left her. + +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. + +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--" + +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?" + +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. + +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. + +"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!" + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE DEPARTURE OF THE DUCHESS FROM PARIS. + +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. + +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. + +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 _facade_ +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[67]." + +[Footnote 67: The duchess's own words: see Voyage, etc., p. 225.] + +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! + +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. + +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?" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +They were now, however, on the eve of a great and dangerous day, of the +5th of May[68]. 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 _Place Vendome_. 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. + +[Footnote 68: The anniversary of Napoleon's death.] + +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 _Place Vendome_ 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. + +"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!" + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +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 _Vendome_ +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. + +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! + + + +CHAPTER X. + +PILGRIMAGE THROUGH FRANCE. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _coup d'etat_, 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. + +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?" + +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. + +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." + +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 _coup d'etat_ the nation whose +decrees he would ever hold sacred. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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[69]!" + +[Footnote 69: La Reine Hortense, p. 276.] + +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!" + +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. + +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 _fetes_, 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. + +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. + +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. + +In return for Hortense's so eloquent description of the past, they now +told her of a _bon mot_ 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." + +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 _bon mot_ with a purpose. + +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. + +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 _tace_ 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! + +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. + +"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?" + +His gaze fastened on the imperial column, Louis Napoleon silently nodded +assent. + +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. + +She seated herself at her son's side, on a little sofa that stood on the +balcony, and, opening her book, began to read. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +FRAGMENT FROM THE MEMOIRS OF QUEEN HORTENSE. + +"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. + +"The emperor resided at Boulogne in a little villa called _Pont de +Brigue_. 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 _elite_ 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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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[70], +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.' + +[Footnote 70: 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.] + +"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[71]. + +[Footnote 71: 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.] + +"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. + +"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. + +"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 '_jetes_' and '_assembles_' 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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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[72]." + +[Footnote 72: La Reine Hortense en Italie, France, etc., p. 278.] + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE PILGRIM. + +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. + +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 +_naive_ and artless words. + +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 _naive_, 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. + +In Chantilly, she showed the prince the palace of Prince Conde. 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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +Sorrowfully, her eyes clouded with tears, she turned away and returned +to her hotel, leaning on her son's arm. + +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! + +"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[73]! How--" + +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. + +The playing was now interrupted by a female voice, which said: "Sing us +a song, my daughter." + +"What shall I sing?" asked another and more youthful voice. + +"Sing the beautiful, touching song your brother brought you from Paris +yesterday. The song of Delphine Gay, set to music by M. de Beauplan." + +"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!" + +And the young lady struck the keys more forcibly, and began to play the +prelude. + +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. + +[Footnote 73: The duchess's own words. See Voyage en Italie, etc., p. +305.] + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +CONCLUSION. + +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. + +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! + +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! + +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! + +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. + +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: + +"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! + +"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[74]!" + +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! + +In the year 1837, Hortense, the flower of the Bonapartes, died! + +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! + +[Footnote 74: Voyage en Italie, etc., p. 324.] + +THE END. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Queen Hortense, by L. 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