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diff --git a/3899-0.txt b/3899-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..71adc63 --- /dev/null +++ b/3899-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13186 @@ +Project Gutenberg’s Memoirs of the Court of St. Cloud, Complete, +by Lewis Goldsmith + +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: Memoirs of the Court of St. Cloud, Complete + Being Secret Letters from a Gentleman at Paris to a Nobleman in London + +Author: Lewis Goldsmith + +Release Date: September 11, 2006 [EBook #3899] +Last Updated: August 23, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COURT OF ST. CLOUD *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF ST. CLOUD + +By Lewis Goldsmith + +Being Secret Letters from a Gentleman at Paris to a Nobleman in London + + + +PUBLISHERS’ NOTE. + + +The present work contains particulars of the great Napoleon not to be +found in any other publication, and forms an interesting addition to the +information generally known about him. + +The writer of the Letters (whose name is said to have been Stewarton, and +who had been a friend of the Empress Josephine in her happier, if less +brilliant days) gives full accounts of the lives of nearly all Napoleon’s +Ministers and Generals, in addition to those of a great number of other +characters, and an insight into the inner life of those who formed +Napoleon’s Court. + +All sorts and conditions of men are dealt with--adherents who have come +over from the Royalist camp, as well as those who have won their way +upwards as soldiers, as did Napoleon himself. In fact, the work abounds +with anecdotes of Napoleon, Talleyrand, Fouche, and a host of others, and +astounding particulars are given of the mysterious disappearance of those +persons who were unfortunate enough to incur the displeasure of Napoleon. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +At Cardinal Caprara’s + +Cardinal Fesch + +Episode at Mme. Miot’s + +Napoleon’s Guard + +A Grand Dinner + +Chaptal + +Turreaux + +Carrier + +Barrere + +Cambaceres + +Pauline Bonaparte + + + + +SECRET COURT MEMOIRS. + +THE COURT OF ST. CLOUD. + +INTRODUCTORY LETTER. + + +PARIS, November 10th, 1805. + +MY LORD,--The Letters I have written to you were intended for the private +entertainment of a liberal friend, and not for the general perusal of a +severe public. Had I imagined that their contents would have penetrated +beyond your closet or the circle of your intimate acquaintance, several +of the narratives would have been extended, while others would have been +compressed; the anecdotes would have been more numerous, and my own +remarks fewer; some portraits would have been left out, others drawn, and +all better finished. I should then have attempted more frequently to +expose meanness to contempt, and treachery to abhorrence; should have +lashed more severely incorrigible vice, and oftener held out to ridicule +puerile vanity and outrageous ambition. In short, I should then have +studied more to please than to instruct, by addressing myself seldomer to +the reason than to the passions. + +I subscribe, nevertheless, to your observation, “that the late long war +and short peace, with the enslaved state of the Press on the Continent, +would occasion a chasm in the most interesting period of modern history, +did not independent and judicious travellers or visitors abroad collect +and forward to Great Britain (the last refuge of freedom) some materials +which, though scanty and insufficient upon the whole, may, in part, rend +the veil of destructive politics, and enable future ages to penetrate +into mysteries which crime in power has interest to render impenetrable +to the just reprobation of honour and of virtue.” If, therefore, my +humble labours can preserve loyal subjects from the seduction of +traitors, or warn lawful sovereigns and civilized society of the alarming +conspiracy against them, I shall not think either my time thrown away, or +fear the dangers to which publicity might expose me were I only suspected +here of being an Anglican author. Before the Letters are sent to the +press I trust, however, to your discretion the removal of everything that +might produce a discovery, or indicate the source from which you have +derived your information. + +Although it is not usual in private correspondence to quote authorities, +I have sometimes done so; but satisfied, as I hope you are, with my +veracity, I should have thought the frequent productions of any better +pledge than the word of a man of honour an insult to your feelings. I +have, besides, not related a fact that is not recent and well known in +our fashionable and political societies; and of ALL the portraits I have +delineated, the originals not only exist, but are yet occupied in the +present busy scene of the Continent, and figuring either at Courts, in +camps, or in Cabinets. + + + + +LETTER I. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--I promised you not to pronounce in haste on persons and events +passing under my eyes; thirty-one months have quickly passed away since I +became an attentive spectator of the extraordinary transactions, and of +the extraordinary characters of the extraordinary Court and Cabinet of +St. Cloud. If my talents to delineate equal my zeal to inquire and my +industry to examine; if I am as able a painter as I have been an +indefatigable observer, you will be satisfied, and with your approbation +at once sanction and reward my labours. + +With most Princes, the supple courtier and the fawning favourite have +greater influence than the profound statesman and subtle Minister; and +the determinations of Cabinets are, therefore, frequently prepared in +drawing-rooms, and discussed in the closet. The politician and the +counsellor are frequently applauded or censured for transactions which +the intrigues of antechambers conceived, and which cupidity and favour +gave power to promulgate. + +It is very generally imagined, but falsely, that Napoleon Bonaparte +governs, or rather tyrannizes, by himself, according to his own capacity, +caprices, or interest; that all his acts, all his changes, are the sole +consequence of his own exclusive, unprejudiced will, as well as unlimited +authority; that both his greatness and his littleness, his successes and +his crimes, originate entirely with himself; that the fortunate hero who +marched triumphant over the Alps, and the dastardly murderer that +disgraced human nature at Jaffa, because the same person, owed victory to +himself alone, and by himself alone commanded massacre; that the same +genius, unbiased and unsupported, crushed factions, erected a throne, and +reconstructed racks; that the same mind restored and protected +Christianity, and proscribed and assassinated a D’Enghien. + +All these contradictions, all these virtues and vices, may be found in +the same person; but Bonaparte, individually or isolated, has no claim to +them. Except on some sudden occasions that call for immediate decision, +no Sovereign rules less by himself than Bonaparte; because no Sovereign +is more surrounded by favourites and counsellors, by needy adventurers +and crafty intriguers. + +What Sovereign has more relatives to enrich, or services to recompense; +more evils to repair, more jealousies to dread, more dangers to fear, +more clamours to silence; or stands more in need of information and +advice? Let it be remembered that he, who now governs empires and +nations, ten years ago commanded only a battery; and five years ago was +only a military chieftain. The difference is as immense, indeed, between +the sceptre of a Monarch and the sword of a general, as between the wise +legislator who protects the lives and property of his contemporaries, and +the hireling robber who wades through rivers of blood to obtain plunder +at the expense and misery of generations. The lower classes of all +countries have produced persons who have distinguished themselves as +warriors; but what subject has yet usurped a throne, and by his eminence +and achievements, without infringing on the laws and liberties of his +country, proved himself worthy to reign? Besides, the education which +Bonaparte received was entirely military; and a man (let his innate +abilities be ever so surprising or excellent) who, during the first +thirty years of his life, has made either military or political tactics +or exploits his only study, certainly cannot excel equally in the Cabinet +and in the camp. It would be as foolish to believe, as absurd to expect, +a perfection almost beyond the reach of any man; and of Bonaparte more +than of any one else. A man who, like him, is the continual slave of his +own passions, can neither be a good nor a just, an independent nor +immaculate master. + +Among the courtiers who, ever since Bonaparte was made First Consul, have +maintained a great ascendency over him, is the present Grand Marshal of +his Court, the general of division, Duroc. With some parts, but greater +presumption, this young man is destined by his master to occupy the most +confidential places near his person; and to his care are entrusted the +most difficult and secret missions at foreign Courts. When he is absent +from France, the liberty of the Continent is in danger; and when in the +Tuileries, or at St. Cloud, Bonaparte thinks himself always safe. + +Gerard Christophe Michel Duroc was born at Ponta-Mousson, in the +department of Meurthe, on the 25th of October, 1772, of poor but honest +parents. His father kept a petty chandler’s shop; but by the interest +and generosity of Abbe Duroc, a distant relation, he was so well educated +that, in March, 1792, he became a sub-lieutenant of the artillery. In +1796 he served in Italy, as a captain, under General Andreossy, by whom +he was recommended to General l’Espinasse, then commander of the +artillery of the army of Italy, who made him an aide-de-camp. In that +situation Bonaparte remarked his activity, and was pleased with his +manners, and therefore attached him as an aide-de-camp to himself. Duroc +soon became a favourite with his chief, and, notwithstanding the +intrigues of his rivals, he has continued to be so to this day. + +It has been asserted, by his enemies no doubt, that by implicit obedience +to his general’s orders, by an unresisting complacency, and by executing, +without hesitation, the most cruel mandates of his superior, he has fixed +himself so firmly in his good opinion that he is irremovable. It has +also been stated that it was Duroc who commanded the drowning and burying +alive of the wounded French soldiers in Italy, in 1797; and that it was +he who inspected their poisoning in Syria, in 1799, where he was wounded +during the siege of St. Jean d’ Acre. He was among the few officers whom +Bonaparte selected for his companions when he quitted the army of Egypt, +and landed with him in France in October, 1799. + +Hitherto Duroc had only shown himself as a brave soldier and obedient +officer; but after the revolution which made Bonaparte a First Consul, he +entered upon another career. He was then, for the first time, employed +in a diplomatic mission to Berlin, where he so far insinuated himself +into the good graces of their Prussian Majesties that the King admitted +him to the royal table, and on the parade at Potsdam presented him to his +generals and officers as an aide-de-camp ‘du plus grand homme que je +connais; whilst the Queen gave him a scarf knitted by her own fair hands. + +The fortunate result of Duroc’s intrigues in Prussia, in 1799, encouraged +Bonaparte to despatch him, in 1801, to Russia; where Alexander I. +received him with that noble condescension so natural, to this great and +good Prince. He succeeded at St. Petersburg in arranging the political +and commercial difficulties and disagreements between France and Russia; +but his proposal for a defensive alliance was declined. + +An anecdote is related of his political campaign in the North, upon the +barren banks of the Neva, which, in causing much entertainment to the +inhabitants of the fertile banks of the Seine, has not a little +displeased the military diplomatist. + +Among Talleyrand’s female agents sent to cajole Paul I. during the latter +part of his reign, was a Madame Bonoeil, whose real name is De F-----. +When this unfortunate Prince was no more, most of the French male and +female intriguers in Russia thought it necessary to shift their quarters, +and to expect, on the territory of neutral Prussia, farther instructions +from Paris, where and how to proceed. Madame Bonoeil had removed to +Konigsberg. In the second week of May, 1801, when Duroc passed through +that town for St. Petersburg, he visited this lady, according to the +orders of Bonaparte, and obtained from her a list of the names of the +principal persons who were inclined to be serviceable to France, and +might be trusted by him upon the present occasion. By inattention or +mistake she had misspelled the name of one of the most trusty and active +adherents of Bonaparte; and Duroc, therefore, instead of addressing +himself to the Polish Count de S--------lz, went to the Polish Count de +S-----tz. This latter was as much flattered as surprised, upon seeing an +aide-de-camp and envoy of the First Consul of France enter his +apartments, seldom visited before but by usurers, gamesters, and +creditors; and, on hearing the object of this visit, began to think +either the envoy mad or himself dreaming. Understanding, however, that +money would be of little consideration, if the point desired by the First +Consul could be carried, he determined to take advantage of this +fortunate hit, and invited Duroc to sup with him the same evening; when +he promised him he should meet with persons who could do his business, +provided his pecuniary resources were as ample as he had stated. + +This Count de S-----tz was one of the most extravagant and profligate +subjects that Russia had acquired by the partition of Poland. After +squandering away his own patrimony, he had ruined his mother and two +sisters, and subsisted now entirely by gambling and borrowing. Among his +associates, in similar circumstances with himself, was a Chevalier de +Gausac, a French adventurer, pretending to be an emigrant from the +vicinity of Toulouse. To him was communicated what had happened in the +morning, and his advice was asked how to act in the evening. It was soon +settled that De Gausac should be transformed into a Russian Count de +W-----, a nephew and confidential secretary of the Chancellor of the same +name; and that one Caumartin, another French adventurer, who taught +fencing at St. Petersburg, should act the part of Prince de M-----, an +aide-de-camp of the Emperor; and that all three together should strip +Duroc, and share the spoil. At the appointed hour Bonaparte’s agent +arrived, and was completely the dupe of these adventurers, who plundered +him of twelve hundred thousand livres. Though not many days passed +before he discovered the imposition, prudence prevented him from +denouncing the impostors; and this blunder would have remained a secret +between himself, Bonaparte, and Talleyrand, had not the unusual expenses +of Caumartin excited the suspicion of the Russian Police Minister, who +soon discovered the source from which they had flowed. De Gausac had the +imprudence to return to this capital last spring, and is now shut up in +the Temple, where he probably will be forgotten. + +As this loss was more ascribed to the negligence of Madame Bonoeil than +to the mismanagement of Duroc, or his want of penetration, his reception +at the Tuileries, though not so gracious as on his return from Berlin, +nineteen months before, was, however, such as convinced him that if he +had not increased, he had at the same time not lessened, the confidence +of his master; and, indeed, shortly afterwards, Bonaparte created him +first prefect of his palace, and procured him for a wife the only +daughter of a rich Spanish banker. Rumour, however, says that Bonaparte +was not quite disinterested when he commanded and concluded this match, +and that the fortune of Madame Duroc has paid for the expensive supper of +her husband with Count de S-----tz at St. Petersburg. + + + + +LETTER II. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Though the Treaty of Luneville will probably soon be buried in +the rubbish of the Treaty of Amiens, the influence of their parents in +the Cabinet of St. Cloud is as great as ever: I say their parents, +because the crafty ex-Bishop, Talleyrand, foreseeing the short existence +of these bastard diplomatic acts, took care to compliment the innocent +Joseph Bonaparte with a share in the parentage, although they were his +own exclusive offspring. + +Joseph Bonaparte, who in 1797, from an attorney’s clerk at Ajaccio, in +Corsica, was at once transformed into an Ambassador to the Court of Rome, +had hardly read a treaty, or seen a despatch written, before he was +himself to conclude the one, and to dictate the other. Had he not been +supported by able secretaries, Government would soon have been convinced +that it is as impossible to confer talents as it is easy to give places +to men to whom Nature has refused parts, and on whom a scanty or +neglected education has bestowed no improvements. Deep and reserved, +like a true Italian, but vain and ambitious, like his brothers, under the +character of a statesman, he has only been the political puppet of +Talleyrand. If he has sometimes been applauded upon the stages where he +has been placed, he is also exposed to the hooting and hisses of the +suffering multitude; while the Minister pockets undisturbed all the +entrance-money, and conceals his wickedness and art under the cloak of +Joseph; which protects him besides against the anger and fury of +Napoleon. No negotiation of any consequence is undertaken, no diplomatic +arrangements are under consideration, but Joseph is always consulted, and +Napoleon informed of the consultation. Hence none of Bonaparte’s +Ministers have suffered less from his violence and resentment than +Talleyrand, who, in the political department, governs him who governs +France and Italy. + +As early as 1800, Talleyrand determined to throw the odium of his own +outrages against the law of nations upon the brother of his master. +Lucien Bonaparte was that year sent Ambassador to Spain, but not sharing +with the Minister the large profits of his appointment, his diplomatic +career was but short. Joseph is as greedy and as ravenous as Lucien, but +not so frank or indiscreet. Whether he knew or not of Talleyrand’s +immense gain by the pacification at Luneville in February, 1801, he did +not neglect his own individual interest. The day previous to the +signature of this treaty, he despatched a courier to the rich army +contractor, Collot, acquainting him in secret of the issue of the +negotiation, and ordering him at the same time to purchase six millions +of livres--L 250,000--in the stocks on his account. On Joseph’s arrival +at Paris, Collot sent him the State bonds for the sum ordered, together +with a very polite letter; but though he waited on the grand pacificator +several times afterwards, all admittance was refused, until a douceur of +one million of livres--nearly L 42,000--of Collot’s private profit opened +the door. In return, during the discussions between France and England +in the summer of 1801, and in the spring of 1802, Collot was continued +Joseph’s private agent, and shared with his patron, within twelve months, +a clear gain of thirty-two millions of livres. + +Some of the secret articles of the Treaty of Luneville gave Austria, +during the insurrection in Switzerland, in the autumn of 1802, an +opportunity and a right to make representations against the interference +of France; a circumstance which greatly displeased Bonaparte, who +reproached Talleyrand for his want of foresight, and of having been +outwitted by the Cabinet of Vienna. The Minister, on the very next day, +laid before his master the correspondence that had passed between him and +Joseph Bonaparte, during the negotiation concerning these secret +articles, which were found to have been entirely proposed and settled by +Joseph; who had been induced by his secretary and factotum (a creature of +Talleyrand) to adopt sentiments for which that Minister had been paid, +according to report, six hundred thousand livres--L25,000. Several other +tricks have in the same manner been played upon Joseph, who, +notwithstanding, has the modesty to consider himself (much to the +advantage and satisfaction of Talleyrand) the first statesman in Europe, +and the good fortune to be thought so by his brother Napoleon. + +When a rupture with England was apprehended, in the spring of 1803, +Talleyrand never signed a despatch that was not previously communicated +to, and approved by Joseph, before its contents were sanctioned by +Napoleon. This precaution chiefly continued him in place when Lord +Whitworth left this capital,--a departure that incensed Napoleon to such +a degree that he entirely forgot the dignity of his rank amidst his +generals, a becoming deportment to the members of the diplomatic corps, +and his duty to his mother and brothers, who all more or less experienced +the effects of his violent passions. He thus accosted Talleyrand, who +purposely arrived late at his circle: + +“Well! the English Ambassador is gone; and we must again go to war. Were +my generals as great fools as some of my Ministers, I should despair +indeed of the issue of my contest with these insolent islanders. Many +believe that had I been more ably supported in my Cabinet, I should not +have been under the necessity of taking the field, as a rupture might +have been prevented.” + +“Such, Citizen First Consul!” answered the trembling and bowing Minister, +“is not the opinion of the Counsellor of State, Citizen Joseph +Bonaparte.” + +“Well, then,” said Napoleon, as recollecting himself, “England wishes for +war, and she shall suffer for it. This shall be a war of extermination, +depend upon it.” + +The name of Joseph alone moderated Napoleon’s fury, and changed its +object. It is with him what the harp of David was with Saul. Talleyrand +knows it, and is no loser by that knowledge. I must, however, in +justice, say that, had Bonaparte followed his Minister’s advice, and +suffered himself to be entirely guided by his counsel, all hostilities +with England at that time might have been avoided; her Government would +have been lulled into security by the cession of Malta, and some +commercial regulations, and her future conquest, during a time of peace, +have been attempted upon plans duly organized, that might have ensured +success. He never ceased to repeat, “Citizen First Consul! some few +years longer peace with Great Britain, and the ‘Te Deums’ of modern +Britons for the conquest and possession of Malta, will be considered by +their children as the funeral hymns of their liberty and independence.” + +It was upon this memorable occasion of Lord Whitworth’s departure, that +Bonaparte is known to have betrayed the most outrageous acts of passion; +he rudely forced his mother from his closet, and forbade his own sisters +to approach his person; he confined Madame Bonaparte for several hours to +her chamber; he dismissed favourite generals; treated with ignominy +members of his Council of State; and towards his physician, secretaries, +and principal attendants, he committed unbecoming and disgraceful marks +of personal outrage. I have heard it affirmed that, though her husband, +when shutting her up in her dressing-room, put the key in his pocket, +Madame Napoleon found means to resent the ungallant behaviour of her +spouse, with the assistance of Madame Remusat. + + + + +LETTER III. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--No act of Bonaparte’s government has occasioned so many, so +opposite, and so violent debates, among the remnants of revolutionary +factions comprising his Senate and Council of State, as the introduction +and execution of the religious concordat signed with the Pope. Joseph +was here again the ostensible negotiator, though he, on this as well as +on former occasions, concluded nothing that had not been prepared and +digested by Talleyrand. + +Bonaparte does not in general pay much attention to the opinions of +others when they do not agree with his own views and interests, or +coincide with his plans of reform or innovation; but having in his public +career professed himself by turns an atheist and an infidel, the +worshipper of Christ and of Mahomet, he could not decently silence those +who, after deserting or denying the God of their forefathers and of their +youth, continued constant and firm in their apostasy. Of those who +deliberated concerning the restoration or exclusion of Christianity, and +the acceptance or rejection of the concordat, Fouche, Francois de Nantz, +Roederer, and Sieges were for the religion of Nature; Volney, Real, +Chaptal, Bourrienne, and Lucien Bonaparte for atheism; and Portalis, +Gregoire, Cambaceres, Lebrun, Talleyrand, Joseph and Napoleon Bonaparte +for Christianity. Besides the sentiments of these confidential +counsellors, upwards of two hundred memoirs, for or against the Christian +religion, were presented to the First Consul by uninvited and volunteer +counsellors,--all differing as much from one another as the members of +his own Privy Council. + +Many persons do Madame Bonaparte, the mother, the honour of supposing +that to her assiduous representations is principally owing the recall of +the priests, and the restoration of the altars of Christ. She certainly +is the most devout, or rather the most superstitious of her family, and +of her name; but had not Talleyrand and Portalis previously convinced +Napoleon of the policy of reestablishing a religion which, for fourteen +centuries, had preserved the throne of the Bourbons from the machinations +of republicans and other conspirators against monarchy, it is very +probable that her representations would have been as ineffective as her +piety or her prayers. So long ago as 1796 she implored the mercy of +Napoleon for the Roman Catholics in Italy; and entreated him to spare the +Pope and the papal territory, at the very time that his soldiers were +laying waste and ravaging the legacy of Bologna and of Ravenna, both +incorporated with his new-formed Cisalpine Republic; where one of his +first acts of sovereignty, in the name of the then sovereign people, was +the confiscation of Church lands and the sale of the estates of the +clergy. + +Of the prelates who with Joseph Bonaparte signed the concordat, the +Cardinal Gonsalvi and the Bishop Bernier have, by their labours and +intrigues, not a little contributed to the present Church establishment, +in this country; and to them Napoleon is much indebted for the intrusion +of the Bonaparte, dynasty, among the houses of sovereign Princes. The +former, intended from his youth for the Church, sees neither honour in +this world, nor hopes for any blessing in the next, but exclusively from +its bosom and its doctrine. With capacity to figure as a country curate, +he occupies the post of the chief Secretary of State to the Pope; and +though nearly of the same age, but of a much weaker constitution than his +Sovereign, he was ambitious enough to demand Bonaparte’s promise of +succeeding to the Papal See, and weak and wicked enough to wish and +expect to survive a benefactor of a calmer mind and better health than +himself. It was he who encouraged Bonaparte to require the presence of +Pius VII. in France, and who persuaded this weak pontiff to undertake a +journey that has caused so much scandal among the truly faithful; and +which, should ever Austria regain its former supremacy in Italy, will +send the present Pope to end his days in a convent, and make the +successors of St. Peter what this Apostle was himself, a Bishop of Rome, +and nothing more. + +Bernier was a curate in La Vendee before the Revolution, and one of those +priests who lighted the torch of civil war in that unfortunate country, +under pretence of defending the throne of his King and the altars of his +God. He not only possessed great popularity among the lower classes, but +acquired so far the confidence of the Vendean chiefs that he was +appointed one of the supreme and directing Council of the Royalists and +Chouans. Even so late as the summer of 1799 he continued not only +unsuspected, but trusted by the insurgents in the Western departments. In +the winter, however, of the same year he had been gained over by +Bonaparte’s emissaries, and was seen at his levies in the Tuileries. It +is stated that General Brune made him renounce his former principles, +desert his former companions, and betray to the then First Consul of the +French Republic the secrets of the friends of lawful monarchy, of the +faithful subjects of Louis XVIII. His perfidy has been rewarded with one +hundred and fifty thousand livres in ready money, with the see of +Orleans, and with a promise of a cardinal’s hat. He has also, with the +Cardinals Gonsalvi, Caprara, Fesch, Cambaceres, and Mauri, Bonaparte’s +promise, and, of course, the expectation of the Roman tiara. He was one +of the prelates who officiated at the late coronation, and is now +confided in as a person who has too far committed himself with his +legitimate Prince, and whose past treachery, therefore, answers for his +future fidelity. + +This religious concordat of the 10th September, 1801, as well as all +other constitutional codes emating from revolutionary authorities, +proscribes even in protecting. The professors and protectors of the +religion of universal peace, benevolence, and forgiveness banish in this +concordat from France forever the Cardinals Rohan and Montmorency, and +the Bishop of Arras, whose dutiful attachment to their unfortunate Prince +would, in better times and in a more just and generous nation, have been +recompensed with distinctions, and honoured even by magnanimous foes. + +When Madame Napoleon was informed by her husband of the necessity of +choosing her almoner and chaplain, and of attending regularly the Mass, +she first fell a-laughing, taking it merely for a joke; the serious and +severe looks, and the harsh and threatening expressions of the First +Consul soon, however, convinced her how much she was mistaken. To evince +her repentance, she on the very next day attended her mother-in-law to +church, who was highly edified by the sudden and religious turn of her +daughter, and did not fail to ascribe to the efficacious interference of +one of her favourite saints this conversion of a profane sinner. But +Napoleon was not the dupe of this church-going mummery of his wife, whom +he ordered his spies to watch; these were unfortunate enough to discover +that she went to the Mass more to fill her appointments with her lovers +than to pray to her Saviour; and that even by the side of her mother she +read billets-doux and love-letters when that pious lady supposed that she +read her prayers, because her eyes were fixed upon her breviary. Without +relating to any one this discovery of his Josephine’s frailties, +Napoleon, after a violent connubial fracas and reprimand, and after a +solitary confinement of her for six days, gave immediate orders to have +the chapels of the Tuileries and of St. Cloud repaired; and until these +were ready, Cardinal Cambaceres and Bernier, by turns, said the Mass, in +her private apartments; where none but selected favourites or favoured +courtiers were admitted. Madame Napoleon now never neglects the Mass, +but if not accompanied by her husband is escorted by a guard of honour, +among whom she knows that he has several agents watching her motions and +her very looks. + +In the month of June, 1803; I dined with Viscomte de Segur, and Joseph +and Lucien Bonaparte were among the guests. The latter jocosely remarked +with what facility the French Christians had suffered themselves to be +hunted in and out of their temples, according to the fanaticism or policy +of their rulers; which he adduced as a proof of the great progress of +philosophy and toleration in France. A young officer of the party, +Jacquemont, a relation of the former husband of the present Madame +Lucien, observed that he thought it rather an evidence of the +indifference of the French people to all religion; the consequence of the +great havoc the tenets of infidelity and of atheism had made among the +flocks of the faithful. This was again denied by Bonaparte’s +aide-de-camp, Savary, who observed that, had this been the case, the +First Consul (who certainly was as well acquainted with the religious +spirit of Frenchmen as anybody else) would not have taken the trouble to +conclude a religious concordat, nor have been at the expense of providing +for the clergy. To this assertion Joseph nodded an assent. + +When the dinner was over, De Segur took me to a window, expressing his +uneasiness at what he called the imprudence of Jacquemont, who, he +apprehended, from Joseph’s silence and manner, would not escape +punishment for having indirectly blamed both the restorer of religion and +his plenipotentiary. These apprehensions were justified. On the next +day Jacquemont received orders to join the colonial depot at Havre; but +refusing to obey, by giving in his resignation as a captain, he was +arrested, shut up in the Temple, and afterwards transported to Cayenne or +Madagascar. His relatives and friends are still ignorant whether he is +dead or alive, and what is or has been his place of exile. To a petition +presented by Jacquemont’s sister, Madame de Veaux, Joseph answered that +“he never interfered with the acts of the haute police of his brother +Napoleon’s Government, being well convinced both of its justice and +moderation.” + + + + +LETTER IV. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--That Bonaparte had, as far back as February, 1803 (when the +King of Prussia proposed to Louis XVIII. the formal renunciation of his +hereditary rights in favour of the First Consul), determined to assume +the rank and title, with the power of a Sovereign, nobody can doubt. Had +it not been for the war with England, he would, in the spring of that +year, or twelve months earlier, have proclaimed himself Emperor of the +French, and probably would have been acknowledged as such by all other +Princes. To a man so vain and so impatient, so accustomed to command and +to intimidate, this suspension of his favourite plan was a considerable +disappointment, and not a little increased his bitter and irreconcilable +hatred of Great Britain. + +Here, as well as in foreign countries, the multitude pay homage only to +Napoleon’s uninterrupted prosperity; without penetrating or considering +whether it be the consequence of chance or of well-digested plans; +whether he owes his successes to his own merit or to a blind fortune. He +asserted in his speech to the constitutional authorities, immediately +after hostilities had commenced with England, that the war would be of +short duration, and he firmly believed what he said. Had he by his +gunboats, or by his intrigues or threats, been enabled to extort a second +edition of the Peace of Amiens, after a warfare of some few months, all +mouths would have been ready to exclaim, “Oh, the illustrious warrior! +Oh, the profound politician!” Now, after three ineffectual campaigns on +the coast, when the extravagance and ambition of our Government have +extended the contagion of war over the Continent; when both our direct +offers of peace, and the negotiations and mediations of our allies, have +been declined by, or proved unavailing with, the Cabinet of St. James, +the inconsistency, the ignorance, and the littleness of the fortunate +great man seem to be not more remembered than the outrages and +encroachments that have provoked Austria and Russia to take the field. +Should he continue victorious, and be in a position to dictate another +Peace of Luneville, which probably would be followed by another pacific +overture to or from England, mankind will again be ready to call out, +“Oh, the illustrious warrior! Oh, the profound politician! He foresaw, +in his wisdom, that a Continental war was necessary to terrify or to +subdue his maritime foe; that a peace with England could be obtained only +in Germany; and that this war must be excited by extending the power of +France on the other side of the Alps. Hence his coronation as a King of +Italy; hence his incorporation of Parma and Genoa with France; and hence +his donation of Piombino and Lucca to his brother-in-law, Bacchiochi!” + Nowhere in history have I read of men of sense being so easily led astray +as in our times, by confounding fortuitous events with consequences +resulting from preconcerted plans and well-organized designs. + +Only rogues can disseminate and fools believe that the disgrace of +Moreau, and the execution of the Duc d’Enghien, of Pichegru, and Georges, +were necessary as footsteps to Bonaparte’s Imperial throne; and that +without the treachery of Mehee de la Touche, and the conspiracy he +pretended to have discovered, France would still have been ruled by a +First Consul. It is indeed true, that this plot is to be counted (as the +imbecility of Melas, which lost the battle of Marengo) among those +accidents presenting themselves apropos to serve the favourite of fortune +in his ambitious views; but without it, he would equally have been hailed +an Emperor of the French in May, 1804. When he came from the coast, in +the preceding winter, and was convinced of the impossibility of making +any impression on the British Islands with his flotilla, he convoked his +confidential Senators, who then, with Talleyrand, settled the Senatus +Consultum which appeared five months afterwards. Mehee’s correspondence +with Mr. Drake was then known to him; but he and the Minister of Police +were both unacquainted with the residence and arrival of Pichegru and +Georges in France, and of their connection with Moreau; the particulars +of which were first disclosed to them in the February following, when +Bonaparte had been absent from his army of England six weeks. The +assumption of the Imperial dignity procured him another decent +opportunity of offering his olive-branch to those who had caused his +laurels to wither, and by whom, notwithstanding his abuse, calumnies, and +menaces, he would have been more proud to be saluted Emperor than by all +the nations upon the Continent. His vanity, interest, and policy, all +required this last degree of supremacy and elevation at that period. + +Bonaparte had so well penetrated the weak side of Moreau’s character +that, although he could not avoid doing justice to this general’s +military talents and exploits, he neither esteemed him as a citizen nor +dreaded him as a rival. Moreau possessed great popularity; but so did +Dumourier and Pichegru before him: and yet neither of them had found +adherents enough to shake those republican governments with which they +avowed themselves openly discontented, and against which they secretly +plotted. I heard Talleyrand say, at Madame de Montlausier’s, in the +presence of fifty persons, “Napoleon Bonaparte had never anything to +apprehend from General Moreau, and from his popularity, even at the head +of an army. Dumourier, too, was at the head of an army when he revolted +against the National Convention; but had he not saved himself by flight +his own troops would have delivered him up to be punished as a traitor. +Moreau, and his popularity, could only be dangerous to the Bonaparte +dynasty were he to survive Napoleon, had not this Emperor wisely averted +this danger.” From this official declaration of Napoleon’s confidential +Minister, in a society of known anti-imperialists, I draw the conclusion +that Moreau will never more, during the present reign, return to France. +How very feeble, and how badly advised must this general have been, when, +after his condemnation to two years’ imprisonment, he accepted a +perpetual exile, and renounced all hopes of ever again entering his own +country. In the Temple, or in any other prison, if he had submitted to +the sentence pronounced against him, he would have caused Bonaparte more +uneasiness than when at liberty, and been more a point of rally to his +adherents and friends than when at his palace of Grosbois, because +compassion and pity must have invigorated and sharpened their feelings. + +If report be true, however, he did not voluntarily exchange imprisonment +for exile; racks were shown him; and by the act of banishment was placed +a poisonous draught. This report gains considerable credit when it is +remembered that, immediately after his condemnation, Moreau furnished his +apartments in the Temple in a handsome manner, so as to be lodged well, +if not comfortably, with his wife and child, whom, it is said, he was not +permitted to see before he had accepted Bonaparte’s proposal of +transportation. + +It may be objected to this supposition that the man in power, who did not +care about the barefaced murder of the Duc d’Enghien, and the secret +destruction of Pichegru, could neither much hesitate, nor be very +conscientious about adding Moreau to the number of his victims. True, +but the assassin in authority is also generally a politician. The +untimely end of the Duc d’Enghien and of Pichegru was certainly lamented +and deplored by the great majority of the French people; but though they +had many who pitied their fate, but few had any relative interest to +avenge it; whilst in the assassination of Moreau, every general, every +officer, and every soldier of his former army, might have read the +destiny reserved for himself by that chieftain, who did not conceal his +preference of those who had fought under him in Italy and Egypt, and his +mistrust and jealousy of those who had vanquished under Moreau in +Germany; numbers of whom had already perished at St. Domingo, or in the +other colonies, or were dispersed in separate and distant garrisons of +the mother country. It has been calculated that of eighty-four generals +who made, under Moreau, the campaign of 1800, and who survived the Peace +of Lundville, sixteen had been killed or died at St. Domingo, four at +Guadeloupe, ten in Cayenne, nine at Ile de France, and eleven at l’Ile +Reunion and in Madagascar. The mortality among the officers and men has +been in proportion. + +An anecdote is related of Pichegru, which does honour to the memory of +that unfortunate general. Fouche paid him a visit in prison the day +before his death, and offered him “Bonaparte’s commission as a +Field-marshal, and a diploma as a grand officer of the Legion of Honour, +provided he would turn informer against Moreau, of whose treachery +against himself in 1797 he was reminded. On the other hand, he was +informed that, in consequence of his former denials, if he persisted in +his refractory conduct, he should never more appear before any judge, but +that the affairs of State and the safety of the country required that he +should be privately despatched in his gaol.” + +“So,” answered this virtuous and indignant warrior, “you will spare my +life only upon condition that I prove myself unworthy to live. As this +is the case, my choice is made without hesitation; I am prepared to +become your victim, but I will never be numbered among your accomplices. +Call in your executioners; I am ready to die as I have lived, a man of +honour, and an irreproachable citizen.” + +Within twenty-four hours after this answer, Pichegru was no more. + +That the Duc d’Enghien was shot on the night of the 21st of March, 1804, +in the wood or in the ditch of the castle at Vincennes, is admitted even +by Government; but who really were his assassins is still unknown. Some +assert that he was shot by the grenadiers of Bonaparte’s Italian guard; +others say, by a detachment of the Gendarmes d’Elite; and others again, +that the men of both these corps refused to fire, and that General Murat, +hearing the troops murmur, and fearing their mutiny, was himself the +executioner of this young and innocent Prince of the House of Bourbon, by +riding up to him and blowing out his brains with a pistol. Certain it is +that Murat was the first, and Louis Bonaparte the second in command, on +this dreadful occasion. + + + + +LETTER V. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Thanks to Talleyrand’s political emigration, our Government has +never been in ignorance of the characters and foibles of the leading +members among the emigrants in England. Otto, however, finished their +picture, but added, some new groups to those delineated by his +predecessor. It was according to his plan that the expedition of Mehee +de la Touche was undertaken, and it was in following his instructions +that the campaign of this traitor succeeded so well in Great Britain. + +Under the Ministry of Vergennes, of Montmorin, and of Delessart, Mehee +had been employed as a spy in Russia, Sweden, and Poland, and acquitted +himself perfectly to the satisfaction of his masters. By some accident +or other, Delessart discovered, however, in December, 1791, that he had, +while pocketing the money of the Cabinet of Versailles, sold its secrets +to the Cabinet of St. Petersburg. He, of course, was no longer trusted +as a spy, and therefore turned a Jacobin, and announced himself to +Brissot as a persecuted patriot. All the calumnies against this Minister +in Brissot’s daily paper, Le Patriote Francois, during January, February, +and March, 1792, were the productions of Mehee’s malicious heart and able +pen. Even after they had sent Delessart a State prisoner to Orleans, his +inveteracy continued, and in September the same year he went to +Versailles to enjoy the sight of the murder of his former master. Some +go so far as to say that the assassins were headed by this monster, who +aggravated cruelty by insult, and informed the dying Minister of the +hands that stabbed him, and to whom he was indebted for a premature +death. + +To these and other infamous and barbarous deeds, Talleyrand was not a +stranger when he made Mehee his secret agent, and entrusted him with the +mission to England. He took, therefore, such steps that neither his +confidence could be betrayed, nor his money squandered. Mehee had +instructions how to proceed in Great Britain, but he was ignorant of the +object Government had in view by his mission; and though large sums were +promised if successful, and if he gave satisfaction by his zeal and +discretion, the money advanced him was a mere trifle, and barely +sufficient to keep him from want. He was, therefore, really distressed, +when he fixed upon some necessitous and greedy emigrants for his +instruments to play on the credulity of the English Ministers in some of +their unguarded moments. Their generosity in forbearing to avenge upon +the deluded French exiles the slur attempted to be thrown upon their +official capacity, and the ridicule intended to be cast on their private +characters, has been much approved and admired here by all liberal-minded +persons; but it has also much disappointed Bonaparte and Talleyrand, who +expected to see these emigrants driven from the only asylum which +hospitality has not refused to their misfortunes and misery. + +Mehee had been promised by Talleyrand double the amount of the sums which +he could swindle from your Government; but though he did more mischief to +your country than was expected in this, and though he proved that he had +pocketed upwards of ten thousand English guineas, the wages of his +infamy, when he hinted about the recompense he expected here, Durant, +Talleyrand’s chef du bureau, advised him, as a friend, not to remind the +Minister of his presence in France, as Bonaparte never pardoned a +Septembrizer, and the English guineas he possessed might be claimed and +seized as national property, to compensate some of the sufferers by the +unprovoked war with England. In vain did he address himself to his +fellow labourer in revolutionary plots, the Counsellor of State, Real, +who had been the intermedium between him and Talleyrand, when he was +first enlisted among the secret agents; instead of receiving money he +heard threats; and, therefore, with as good grace as he could, he made +the best of his disappointment; he sported a carriage, kept a mistress, +went to gambling-houses, and is now in a fair way to be reduced to the +status quo before his brilliant exploits in Great Britain. + +Real, besides the place of a Counsellor of State, occupies also the +office of a director of the internal police. Having some difference with +my landlord, I was summoned to appear before him at the prefecture of the +police. My friend, M. de Sab-----r, formerly a counsellor of the +Parliament at Rouen, happened to be with me when the summons was +delivered, and offered to accompany me, being acquainted with Real. +Though thirty persons were waiting in the antechamber at our arrival, no +sooner was my friend’s name announced than we were admitted, and I +obtained not only more justice than I expected, or dared to claim, but an +invitation to Madame Real’s tea-party the same evening. This justice and +this politeness surprised me, until my friend showed me an act of forgery +in his possession, committed by Real in 1788, when an advocate of the +Parliament, and for which the humanity of my friend alone prevented him +from being struck off the rolls, and otherwise punished. + +As I conceived my usual societies and coteries could not approve my +attendance at the house of such a personage, I was intent upon sending an +apology to Madame Real. My friend, however, assured me that I should +meet in her salon persons of all classes and of all ranks, and many I +little expected to see associating together. I went late, and found the +assembly very numerous; at the upper part of the hall were seated +Princesses Joseph and Louis Bonaparte, with Madame Fouche, Madame +Roederer, the cidevant Duchesse de Fleury, and Marquise de Clermont. They +were conversing with M. Mathew de Montmorency, the contractor (a +ci-devant lackey) Collot, the ci-devant Duc de Fitz-James, and the +legislator Martin, a ci-devant porter: several groups in the several +apartments were composed of a similar heterogeneous mixture of ci-devant +nobles and ci-devant valets, of ci-devant Princesses, Marchionesses, +Countesses and Baronesses, and of ci-devant chambermaids, mistresses and +poissardes. Round a gambling-table, by the side of the ci-devant Bishop +of Autun, Talleyrand, sat Madame Hounguenin, whose husband, a ci-devant +shoeblack, has, by the purchase of national property, made a fortune of +nine millions of livres--L375,000. Opposite them were seated the +ci-devant Prince de Chalais, and the present Prince Cambaceres with the +ci-devant Comtesse de Beauvais, and Madame Fauve, the daughter of a +fishwoman, and the wife of a tribune, a ci-devant barber. In another +room, the Bavarian Minister Cetto was conferring with the spy Mehee de la +Touche; but observed at a distance by Fouche’s secretary, Desmarets, the +son of a tailor at Fontainebleau, and for years a known spy. When I was +just going to retire, the handsome Madame Gillot, and her sister, Madame +de Soubray, joined me. You have perhaps known them in England, where, +before their marriage, they resided for five years with their parents, +the Marquis and Marquise de Courtin; and were often admired by the +loungers in Bond Street. The one married for money, Gillot, a ci-devant +drummer in the French Guard, but who, since the Revolution, has, as a +general; made a large fortune; and the other united herself to a +ci-devant Abbe, from love; but both are now divorced from their husbands, +who passed them without any notice while they were chatting with me. I +was handing Madame Gillot to her carriage, when, from the staircase, +Madame de Soubray called to us not to quit her, as she was pursued by a +man whom she detested, and wished to avoid. We had hardly turned round, +when Mehee offered her his arm, and she exclaimed with indignation, “How +dare you, infamous wretch, approach me, when I have forbidden you ever to +speak to me? Had you been reduced to become a highwayman, or a +housebreaker, I might have pitied your infamy; but a spy is a villain who +aggravates guilt by cowardice and baseness, and can inspire no noble soul +with any other sentiment but abhorrence, and the most sovereign +contempt.” Without being disconcerted, Mehee silently returned to the +company, amidst bursts of laughter from fifty servants, and as many +masters, waiting for their carriages. M. de Cetto was among the latter, +but, though we all fixed our eyes steadfastly upon him, no alteration +could be seen on his diplomatic countenance: his face must surely be made +of brass or his heart of marble. + + + + +LETTER VI. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--The day on which Madame Napoleon Bonaparte was elected an +Empress of the French, by the constitutional authorities of her husband’s +Empire, was, contradictory as it may seem, one of the most uncomfortable +in her life. After the show and ceremony of the audience and of the +drawing-room were over, she passed it entirely in tears, in her library, +where her husband shut her up and confined her. + +The discipline of the Court of St. Cloud is as singular as its +composition is unique. It is, by the regulation of Napoleon, entirely +military. From the Empress to her lowest chambermaid, from the Emperor’s +first aide-de-camp down to his youngest page, any slight offence or +negligence is punished with confinement, either public or private. In +the former case the culprits are shut up in their own apartments, but in +the latter they are ordered into one of the small rooms, constructed in +the dark galleries at the Tuileries and St. Cloud, near the kitchens, +where they are guarded day and night by sentries, who answer for their +persons, and that nobody visits them. + +When, on the 28th of March, 1804, the Senate had determined on offering +Bonaparte the Imperial dignity, he immediately gave his wife full powers, +with order to form her household of persons who, from birth and from +their principles, might be worthy, and could be trusted to encompass the +Imperial couple. She consulted Madame Remusat, who, in her turn, +consulted her friend De Segur, who also consulted his bonne amie, Madame +de Montbrune. This lady determined that if Bonaparte and his wife were +desirous to be served, or waited on, by persons above them by ancestry +and honour, they should pay liberally for such sacrifices. She was not +therefore idle, but wishing to profit herself by the pride of upstart +vanity, she had at first merely reconnoitred the ground, or made distant +overtures to those families of the ancient French nobility who had been +ruined by the Revolution, and whose minds she expected to have found on a +level with their circumstances. These, however, either suspecting her +intent and her views, or preferring honest poverty to degrading and +disgraceful splendour, had started objections which she was not prepared +to encounter. Thus the time passed away; and when, on the 18th of the +following May, the Senate proclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte Emperor of the +French, not a Chamberlain was ready to attend him, nor a Maid of Honour +to wait on his wife. + +On the morning of the 20th May, the day fixed for the constitutional +republican authorities to present their homage as subjects, Napoleon +asked his Josephine who were the persons, of both sexes, she had engaged, +according to his carte blanche given her, as necessary and as unavoidable +decorations of the drawing-room of an Emperor and Empress, as thrones and +as canopies of State. She referred him to Madame Remusat, who, though +but half-dressed, was instantly ordered to appear before him. This lady +avowed that his grand master of the ceremonies, De Segur, had been +entrusted by her with the whole arrangement, but that she feared that he +had not yet been able to complete the full establishment of the Imperial +Court. The aide-de-camp Rapp was then despatched after De Segur, who, as +usual, presented himself smiling and cringing. + +“Give me the list,” said Napoleon, “of the ladies and gentlemen you have +no doubt engaged for our household.” + +“May it please Your Majesty,” answered De Segur, trembling with fear, “I +humbly supposed that they were not requisite before the day of Your +Majesty’s coronation.” + +“You supposed!” retorted Napoleon. “How dare you suppose differently +from our commands? Is the Emperor of the Great Nation not to be +encompassed with a more numerous retinue, or with more lustre, than a +First Consul? Do you not see the immense difference between the +Sovereign Monarch of an Empire, and the citizen chief magistrate of a +commonwealth? Are there not starving nobles in my empire enough to +furnish all the Courts in Europe with attendants, courtiers, and valets? +Do you not believe that with a nod, with a single nod, I might have them +all prostrated before my throne? What can, then, have occasioned this +impertinent delay?” + +“Sire!” answered De Segur, “it is not the want of numbers, but the +difficulty of the choice among them. I will never recommend a single +individual upon whom I cannot depend; or who, on some future day, may +expose me to the greatest of all evils, the displeasure of my Prince.” + +“But,” continued Napoleon, “what is to be done to-day that I may augment +the number of my suite, and by it impose upon the gaping multitude and +the attending deputations?”--“Command,” said De Segur, “all the officers +of Your Majesty’s staff, and of the staff of the Governor of Paris, +General Murat, to surround Your Majesty’s sacred person, and order them +to accoutre themselves in the most shining and splendid manner possible. +The presence of so many military men will also, in a political point of +view, be useful. It will lessen the pretensions of the constituted +authorities, by telling them indirectly, ‘It is not to your Senatus +Consultum, to your decrees, or to your votes, that I am indebted for my +present Sovereignty; I owe it exclusively to my own merit and valour, and +to the valour of my brave officers and men, to whose arms I trust more +than to your counsels.’” + +This advice obtained Napoleon’s entire approbation, and was followed. De +Segur was permitted to retire, but when Madame Remusat made a curtsey +also to leave the room, she was stopped with his terrible ‘aux arrets’ +and left under the care and responsibility of his aide-de-camp, Lebrun, +who saw her safe into her room, at the door of which he placed two +grenadiers. Napoleon then went out, ordering his wife, at her peril, to +be in time, ready and brilliantly dressed, for the drawing-room. + +Dreading the consequences of her husband’s wrath, Madame Napoleon was not +only punctual, but so elegantly and tastefully decorated with jewels and +ornaments that even those of her enemies or rivals who refused her +beauty, honour, and virtue, allowed her taste and dignity. She thought +that even in the regards of Napoleon she read a tacit approbation. When +all the troublesome bustle of the morning was gone through, and when +Senators, legislators, tribunes, and prefects had complimented her as a +model of female perfection, on a signal from her husband she accompanied +him in silence through six different apartments before he came to her +library, where he surlily ordered her to enter and to remain until +further orders. + +“What have I done, Sire! to deserve such treatment?” exclaimed Josephine, +trembling. + +“If,” answered Napoleon, “Madame Remusat, your favourite, has made a fool +of you, this is only to teach you that you shall not make a fool of me: +Had not De Segur fortunately for him--had the ingenuity to extricate us +from the dilemma into which my confidence and dependence on you had +brought me, I should have made a fine figure indeed on the first day of +my emperorship. Have patience, Madame; you have plenty of books to +divert you, but you must remain where you are until I am inclined to +release you.” So saying, Napoleon locked the door and put the key in his +pocket. + +It was near two o’clock in the afternoon when she was thus shut up. +Remembering the recent flattery of her courtiers, and comparing it with +the unfeeling treatment of her husband, she found herself so much the +more unfortunate, as the expressions of the former were regarded by her +as praise due to her merit, while the unkindness of the latter was +unavailingly resented as the undeserved oppression of a capricious +despot. + +Business, or perhaps malice, made Napoleon forget to send her any dinner; +and when, at eight o’clock, his brothers and sisters came, according to +invitation, to take tea, he said coldly: + +“Apropos, I forgot it. My wife has not dined yet; she is busy, I +suppose, in her philosophical meditations in her study.” + +Madame Louis Bonaparte, her daughter, flew directly towards the study, +and her mother could scarcely, for her tears, inform her that--she was a +prisoner, and that her husband was her gaoler. + +“Oh, Sire!” said Madame Louis, returning, “even this remarkable day is a +day of mourning for my poor mother!” + +“She deserves worse,” answered Napoleon, “but, for your sake, she shall +be released; here is the key, let her out.” + +Madame Napoleon was, however, not in a situation to wish to appear before +her envious brothers and sisters-in-law. Her eyes were so swollen with +crying that she could hardly see; and her tears had stained those +Imperial robes which the unthinking and inconsiderate no doubt believed a +certain preservative against sorrow and affliction. At nine o’clock, +however, another aide-de-camp of her husband presented himself, and gave +her the choice either to accompany him back to the study or to join the +family party of the Bonapartes. + +In deploring her mother’s situation, Madame Louis Bonaparte informed her +former governess, Madame Cam---n, of these particulars, which I heard her +relate at Madame de M----r’s, almost verbatim as I report them to you. +Such, and other scenes, nearly of the same description, are neither rare +nor singular, in the most singular Court that ever existed in civilized +Europe. + + + + +LETTER VII. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Though Government suffer a religious, or, rather, +anti-religious liberty of the Press, the authors who libel or ridicule +the Christian, particularly the Roman Catholic, religion, are excluded +from all prospect of advancement, or if in place, are not trusted or +liked. Cardinal Caprara, the nuncio of the Pope, proposed last year, in a +long memorial, the same severe restrictions on the discussions or +publications in religious matters as were already ordered in those +concerning politics. But both Bonaparte and his Minister in the affairs +of the Church, Portalis, refused the introduction of what they called a +tyranny on the conscience. Caprara then addressed himself to the +ex-Bishop Talleyrand, who, on this occasion, was more explicit than he +generally is. + +“Bonaparte,” said he, “rules not only over a fickle, but a gossiping +(bavard) people, whom he has prudently forbidden all conversation and +writing concerning government of the State. They would soon (accustomed +as they are, since the Revolution, to verbal and written debates) be +tired of talking about fine weather or about the opera. To occupy them +and their attention, some ample subject of diversion was necessary, and +religion was surrendered to them at discretion; because, enlightened as +the world now is, even athiests or Christian fanatics can do but little +harm to society. They may spend rivers of ink, but they will be unable +to shed a drop of blood.” + +“True,” answered the Cardinal, “but only to a certain degree. The +licentiousness of the Press, with regard to religious matters, does it +not also furnish infidelity with new arms to injure the faith? And have +not the horrors from which France has just escaped proved the danger and +evil consequences of irreligion, and the necessity of encouraging and +protecting Christianity? By the recall of the clergy, and by the +religious concordat, Bonaparte has shown himself convinced of this +truth.” + +“So he is,” interrupted Talleyrand; “but he abhors intoleration and +persecution” (not in politics). “I shall, however, to please Your +Eminence, lay the particulars of your conversation before him.” + +Some time afterwards, when Talleyrand and Bonaparte must have agreed +about some new measure to indirectly chastise impious writers, the +Senators Garat, Jaucourt, Roederer, and Demeunier, four of the members of +the senatorial commission of the liberty of the Press, were sent for, and +remained closeted with Napoleon, his Minister Portalis, and Cardinal +Caprara for two hours. What was determined on this occasion has not +transpired, as even the Cardinal, who is not the most discreet person +when provoked, and his religious zeal gets the better of his political +prudence, has remained silent, though seemingly contented. + +Two rather insignificant authors, of the name of Varennes and Beaujou, +who published some scandalous libels on Christianity, have since been +taken up, and after some months’ imprisonment in the Temple been +condemned to transportation to Cayenne for life,--not as infidels or +atheists, but as conspirators against the State, in consequence of some +unguarded expressions which prejudice or ill-will alone would judge +connected with politics. Nothing is now permitted to be printed against +religion but with the author’s name; but on affixing his name, he may +abuse the worship and Gospel as much as he pleases. Since the example of +severity alluded to above, however, this practice is on the decline. Even +Pigault-Lebrun, a popular but immoral novel writer, narrowly escaped +lately a trip to Cayenne for one of his blasphemous publications, and +owes to the protection of Madame Murat exclusively that he was not sent +to keep Varennes and Beaujou company. Some years ago, when Madame Murat +was neither so great nor so rich as at present, he presented her with a +copy of his works, and she had been unfashionable enough not only to +remember the compliment, but wished to return it by nominating him her +private secretary; which, however, the veto of Napoleon prevented. + +Of Napoleon Bonaparte’s religious sentiments, opinions are not divided in +France. The influence over him of the petty, superstitious Cardinal +Caprara is, therefore, inexplicable. This prelate has forced from him +assent to transactions which had been refused both to his mother and his +brother Joseph, who now often employ the Cardinal with success, where +they either dare not or will not show themselves. It is true His +Eminence is not easily rebuked, but returns to the charge unabashed by +new repulses; and be obtains by teasing more than by persuasion; but a +man by whom Bonaparte suffers, himself to be teased with impunity is no +insignificant favourite, particularly when, like this Cardinal, he unites +cunning with devotion, craft with superstition; and is as accessible to +corruption as tormented by ambition. + +As most ecclesiastical promotions passed through his pure and +disinterested hands, Madame Napoleon, Talleyrand, and Portalis, who also +wanted some douceurs for their extraordinary expenses, united together +last spring to remove him from France. Napoleon was cajoled to nominate +him a grand almoner of the Kingdom of Italy, and the Cardinal set out for +Milan. He was, however, artful enough to convince his Sovereign of the +propriety of having his grand almoner by his side; and he is, therefore, +obliged to this intrigue of his enemies that he now disposes of the +benefices in the Kingdom of Italy, as well as those of the French Empire. + +During the Pope’s residence in this capital, His Holiness often made use +of Cardinal Caprara in his secret negotiations with Bonaparte; and +whatever advantages were obtained by the Roman Pontiff for the Gallican +Church His Eminence almost extorted; for he never desisted, where his +interest or pride were concerned, till he had succeeded. It is said that +one day last January, after having been for hours exceedingly teasing and +troublesome, Bonaparte lost his patience, and was going to treat His +Eminence as he frequently does his relatives, his Ministers, and +counsellors,--that is to say, to kick him from his presence; but suddenly +recollecting himself, he said: “Cardinal, remain here in my closet until +my return, when I shall have more time to listen to what you have to +relate.” It was at ten o’clock in the morning, and a day of great +military audience and grand review. In going out he put the key in his +pocket, and told the guards in his antechamber to pay no attention if +they should hear any noise in his closet. + +It was dark before the review was over, and Bonaparte had a large party +to dinner. When his guests retired, he went into his wife’s +drawing-room, where one of the Pope’s chamberlains waited on him with the +information that His Holiness was much alarmed about the safety of +Cardinal Caprara, of whom no account could be obtained, even with the +assistance of the police, to whom application had been made, since His +Eminence had so suddenly disappeared. + +“Oh! how absent I am,” answered Napoleon, as with surprise; “I entirely +forgot that I left the Cardinal in my closet this morning. I will go +myself and make an apology for my blunder.” + +His Eminence, quite exhausted, was found fast asleep; but no sooner was +he a little recovered than he interrupted Bonaparte’s affected apology +with the repetition of the demand he had made in the morning; and so well +was Napoleon pleased with him, for neglecting his personal inconvenience +only to occupy himself with the affairs of his Sovereign, that he +consented to what was asked, and in laying his hand upon the shoulders of +the prelate, said: + +“Faithful Minister! were every Prince as well served as your Sovereign +is by you, many evils might be prevented, and much good effected.” + +The same evening Duroc brought him, as a present, a snuffbox with +Bonaparte’s portrait, set round with diamonds, worth one thousand louis +d’or. The adventures of this day certainly did not lessen His Eminence +in the favour of Napoleon or of Pius VII. + +Last November, some not entirely unknown persons intended to amuse +themselves at the Cardinal’s expense. At seven o’clock one evening, a +young Abbe presented himself at the Cardinal’s house, Hotel de Montmorin, +Rue Plumet, as by appointment of His Eminence, and was, by his secretary, +ushered into the study and asked to wait there. Hardly half an hour +afterwards, two persons, pretending to be agents of the police, arrived +just as the Cardinal’s carriage had stopped. They informed him that the +woman introduced into his house in the dress of an Abby was connected +with a gang of thieves and housebreakers, and demanded his permission to +arrest her. He protested that, except the wife of his porter, no woman +in any dress whatever could be in his house, and that, to convince +themselves, they were very welcome to accompany his valet-de-chambre into +every room they wished to see. To the great surprise of his servant, a +very pretty girl was found in the bed of His Eminence’s bed-chamber, +which joined his study, who, though the pretended police agents insisted +on her getting up, refused, under pretence that she was there waiting for +her ‘bon ami’, the Cardinal. + +His Eminence was no sooner told of this than he shut the gate of his +house, after sending his secretary to the commissary of police of the +section. In the meantime, both the police agents and the girl entreated +him to let them out, as the whole was merely a badinage; but he remained +inflexible, and they were all three carried by the real police commissary +to prison. + +Upon a complaint made by His Eminence to Bonaparte, the Police Minister, +Fouche, received orders to have those who had dared thus to violate the +sacred character of the representative of the Holy Pontiff immediately, +and without further ceremony, transported to Cayenne. The Cardinal +demanded, and obtained, a process verbal of what had occurred, and of the +sentence on the culprits, to be laid before his Sovereign. As Eugene de +Beauharnais interested himself so much for the individuals involved in +this affair as both to implore Bonaparte’s pardon and the Cardinal’s +interference for them, many were inclined to believe that he was in the +secret, if not the contriver of this unfortunate joke. This supposition +gained credit when, after all his endeavours to save them proved vain, he +sent them seventy-two livres L 3,000--to Rochefort, that they might, on +their arrival at Cayenne, be able to buy a plantation. He procured them +also letters to the Governor, Victor Hughes, recommending that they +should be treated differently from other transported persons. + + + + +LETTER VIII. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--I was particularly attentive in observing the countenances and +demeanour of the company at the last levee which Madame Napoleon +Bonaparte held, previous to her departure with her husband to meet the +Pope at Fontainebleau. I had heard from good authority that “to those +whose propensities were known, Duroc’s information that the Empress was +visible was accompanied with a kind of admonitory or courtly hint, that +the strictest decency in dress and manners, and a conversation chaste, +and rather of an unusually modest turn, would be highly agreeable to +their Sovereigns, in consideration of the solemn occasion of a Sovereign +Pontiff’s arrival in France,--an occurrence that had not happened for +centuries, and probably would not happen for centuries to come.” I went +early, and was well rewarded for my punctuality. + +There came the Senator Fouche, handing his amiable and chaste spouse, +walking with as much gravity as formerly, when a friar, he marched in a +procession. Then presented themselves the Senators Sieyes and Roederer, +with an air as composed as if the former had still been an Abbe and the +confessor of the latter. Next came Madame Murat, whom three hours before +I had seen in the Bois de Boulogne in all the disgusting display of +fashionable nakedness, now clothed and covered to her chin. She was +followed by the pious Madame Le Clerc, now Princesse Borghese, who was +sighing deeply and loudly. After her came limping the godly Talleyrand, +dragging his pure moiety by his side, both with downcast and edifying +looks. The Christian patriots, Gravina and Lima, Dreyer and Beust, +Dalberg and Cetto, Malsburgh and Pappenheim, with the Catholic +Schimmelpenninck and Mohammed Said Halel Effendi,--all presented +themselves as penitent sinners imploring absolutions, after undergoing +mortifications. + +But it would become tedious and merely a repetition, were I to depict +separately the figures and characters of all the personages at this +politico-comical masquerade. Their conversation was, however, more +uniform, more contemptible, and more laughable, than their accoutrements +and grimaces were ridiculous. To judge from what they said, they +belonged no longer to this world; all their thoughts were in heaven, and +they considered themselves either on the borders of eternity or on the +eve of the day of the Last Judgment. The truly devout Madame Napoleon +spoke with rapture of martyrs and miracles, of the Mass and of the +vespers, of Agnuses and relics of Christ her Saviour, and of Pius VII., +His vicar. Had not her enthusiasm been interrupted by the enthusiastic +commentaries of her mother-in-law, I saw every mouth open ready to cry +out, as soon as she had finished, “Amen! Amen! Amen!” + +Napoleon had placed himself between the old Cardinal de Bellois and the +not young Cardinal Bernier, so as to prevent the approach of any profane +sinner or unrepentant infidel. Round him and their clerical chiefs, all +the curates and grand vicars, almoners and chaplains of the Court, and +the capitals of the Princess, Princesses, and grand officers of State, +had formed a kind of cordon. “Had,” said the young General Kellerman to +me, “Bonaparte always been encompassed by troops of this description, he +might now have sung hymns as a saint in heaven, but he would never have +reigned as an Emperor upon earth.” This indiscreet remark was heard by +Louis Bonaparte, and on the next morning Kellerman received orders to +join the army in Hanover, where he was put under the command of a general +younger than himself. He would have been still more severely punished, +had not his father, the Senator (General Kellerman), been in so great +favour at the Court of St. Cloud, and so much protected by Duroc, who had +made, in 1792, his first campaign under this officer, then +commander-in-chief of the army of the Ardennes. + +When this devout assembly separated, which was by courtesy an hour +earlier than usual, I expected every moment to hear a chorus of +horse-laughs, because I clearly perceived that all of them were tired of +their assumed parts, and, with me, inclined to be gay at the expense of +their neighbours. But they all remembered also that they were watched by +spies, and that an imprudent look or an indiscreet word, gaiety instead +of gravity, noise when silence was commanded, might be followed by an +airing in the wilderness of Cayenne. They, therefore, all called out, +“Coachman, to our hotel!” as if to say, “We will to-day, in compliment to +the new-born Christian zeal of our Sovereigns, finish our evening as +piously as we have begun it.” But no sooner were they out of sight of +the palace than they hurried to the scenes of dissipation, all +endeavouring, in the debauchery and excesses so natural to them, to +forget their unnatural affectation and hypocrisy. + +Well you know the standard of the faith even of the members of the +Bonaparte family. Two days before this Christian circle at Madame +Napoleon’s, Madame de Chateaureine, with three other ladies, visited the +Princesse Borghese. Not seeing a favourite parrot they had often +previously admired, they inquired what was become of it. + +“Oh, the poor creature!” answered the Princess; “I have disposed of it, +as well as of two of my monkeys. The Emperor has obliged me to engage an +almoner and two chaplains, and it would be too extravagant in me to keep +six useless animals in my hotel. I must now submit to hearing the +disgusting howlings of my almoner instead of the entertaining chat of my +parrot, and to see the awkward bows and kneelings of my chaplains instead +of the amusing capering of my monkeys. Add to this, that I am forced to +transform into a chapel my elegant and tasty boudoir, on the +ground-floor, where I have passed so many delicious tete-a-tetes. Alas! +what a change! what a shocking fashion, that we are now all again to be +Christians!” + + + + +LETTER IX. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Notwithstanding what was inserted in our public prints to the +contrary, the reception Bonaparte experienced from his army of England in +June last year, the first time he presented himself to them as an +Emperor, was far from such as flattered either his vanity or views. For +the first days, some few solitary voices alone accompanied the “Vive +l’Empereur!” of his generals, and of his aides-de-camp. This +indifference, or, as he called it, mutinous spirit, was so much the more +provoking as it was unexpected. He did not, as usual, ascribe it to the +emissaries or gold of England, but to the secret adherents of Pichegru +and Moreau amongst the brigades or divisions that had served under these +unfortunate generals. He ordered, in consequence, his Minister Berthier +to make out a list of all these corps. Having obtained this, he +separated them by ordering some to Italy, others to Holland, and the rest +to the frontiers of Spain and Germany. This act of revenge or jealousy +was regarded, both by the officers and men, as a disgrace and as a doubt +thrown out against their fidelity, and the murmur was loud and general. +In consequence of this, some men were shot, and many more arrested. + +Observing, however, that severity had not the desired effect, Bonaparte +suddenly changed his conduct, released the imprisoned, and rewarded with +the crosses of his Legion of Honour every member of the so lately +suspected troops who had ever performed any brilliant or valorous +exploits under the proscribed generals. He even incorporated among his +own bodyguards and guides men who had served in the same capacity under +these rival commanders, and numbers of their children were received in +the Prytanees and military free schools. The enthusiastic exclamation +that soon greeted his ears convinced him that he had struck upon the +right string of his soldiers’ hearts. Men who, some few days before, +wanted only the signal of a leader to cut an Emperor they hated to +pieces, would now have contended who should be foremost to shed their +last drop of blood for a chief they adored. + +This affected liberality towards the troops who had served under his +rivals roused some slight discontent among those to whom he was chiefly +indebted for his own laurels. But if he knew the danger of reducing to +despair slighted men with arms in their hands, he also was well aware of +the equal danger of enduring licentiousness or audacity among troops who +had, on all occasions, experienced his preference and partiality; and he +gave a sanguinary proof of his opinion on this subject at the grand +parade of the 12th of July, 1804, preparatory to the grand fete of the +14th. + +A grenadier of the 21st Regiment (which was known in Italy under the name +of the Terrible), in presetting arms to him, said: “Sire! I have served +under you four campaigns, fought under you in ten battles or engagements; +have received in your service seven wounds, and am not a member of your +Legion of Honour; whilst many who served under Moreau, and are not able +to show a scratch from an enemy, have that distinction.” + +Bonaparte instantly ordered this man to be shot by his own comrades in +the front of the regiment. The six grenadiers selected to fire, seeming +to hesitate, he commanded the whole corps to lay down their arms, and +after being disbanded, to be sent to the different colonial depots. To +humiliate them still more, the mutinous grenadier was shot by the +gendarmes. When the review was over, “Vive l’Empereur!” resounded from +all parts, and his popularity among the troops has since rather increased +than diminished. Nobody can deny that Bonaparte possesses a great +presence of mind, an undaunted firmness, and a perfect knowledge of the +character of the people over whom he reigns. Could but justice and +humanity be added to his other qualities, but, unfortunately for my +nation, I fear that the answer of General Mortier to a remark of a friend +of mine on this subject is not problematical: “Had,” said this Imperial +favourite, “Napoleon Bonaparte been just and humane, he would neither +have vanquished nor reigned.” + +All these scenes occurred before Bonaparte, seated on a throne, received +the homage, as a Sovereign, of one hundred and fifty thousand warriors, +who now bowed as subjects, after having for years fought for liberty and +equality, and sworn hatred to all monarchical institutions; and who +hitherto had saluted and obeyed him only as the first among equals. What +an inconsistency! The splendour and show that accompanied him +everywhere, the pageantry and courtly pomp that surrounded him, and the +decorations of the stars and ribands of the Legion of Honour, which he +distributed with bombastic speeches among troops--to whom those political +impositions and social cajoleries were novelties--made such an impression +upon them, that had a bridge been then fixed between Calais and Dover, +brave as your countrymen are, I should have trembled for the liberty and +independence of your country. The heads and imagination of the soldiers, +I know from the best authority, were then so exalted that, though they +might have been cut to pieces, they could never have been defeated or +routed. I pity our children when I reflect that their tranquillity and +happiness will, perhaps, depend upon such a corrupt and unprincipled +people of soldiers,--easy tools in the hands of every impostor or +mountebank. + +The lively satisfaction which Bonaparte must have felt at the pinnacle of +grandeur where fortune had placed him was not, however, entirely unmixed +with uneasiness and vexation. Except at Berlin, in all the other great +Courts the Emperor of the French was still Monsieur Bonaparte; and your +country, of the subjugation of which he had spoken with such lightness +and such inconsideration, instead of dreading, despised his boasts and +defied his threats. Indeed, never before did the Cabinet of St. James +more opportunely expose the reality of his impotency, the impertinence of +his menaces, and the folly of his parade for the invasion of your +country, than by declaring all the ports containing his invincible armada +in a state of blockade. I have heard from an officer who witnessed his +fury when in May, 1799, he was compelled to retreat from before St. Jean +d’Acre, and who was by his side in the camp at Boulogne when a despatch +informed him of this circumstance, that it was nothing compared to the +violent rage into which he flew upon reading it. For an hour afterwards +not even his brother Joseph dared approach him; and his passion got so +far the better of his policy, that what might still have long been +concealed from the troops was known within the evening to the whole camp. +He dictated to his secretary orders for his Ministers at Vienna, Berlin, +Lisbon, and Madrid, and couriers were sent away with them; but half an +hour afterwards other couriers were despatched after them with other +orders, which were revoked in their turn, when at last Joseph had +succeeded in calming him a little. He passed, however, the whole +following night full dressed and agitated; lying down only for an +instant, but having always in his room Joseph and Duroc, and deliberating +on a thousand methods of destroying the insolent islanders; all equally +violent, but all equally impracticable. + +The next morning, when, as usual, he went to see the manoeuvres of his +flotilla, and the embarkation and landing of his troops, he looked so +pale that he almost excited pity. Your cruisers, however, as if they had +been informed of the situation of our hero, approached unusually near, to +evince, as it were, their contempt and, derision. He ordered instantly +all the batteries to fire, and went himself to that which carried its +shot farthest; but that moment six of your vessels, after taking down +their sails, cast anchors, with the greatest sang-froid, just without the +reach of our shot. In an unavailing anger he broke upon the spot six +officers of artillery, and pushed one, Captain d’ Ablincourt, down the +precipice under the battery, where he narrowly escaped breaking his neck +as well as his legs; for which injury he was compensated by being made an +officer of the Legion of Honour. Bonaparte then convoked upon the spot a +council of his generals of artillery and of the engineers, and, within an +hour’s time, some guns and mortars of still heavier metal and greater +calibre were carried up to replace the others; but, fortunately for the +generals, before a trial could be made of them the tide changed, and your +cruisers sailed. + +In returning to breakfast at General Soult’s, he observed the +countenances of his soldiers rather inclined to laughter than to wrath; +and he heard some jests, significant enough in the vocabulary of +encampments, and which informed him that contempt was not the sentiment +with which your navy had inspired his troops. The occurrences of these +two days hastened his departure from the coast for Aix-la-Chapelle, where +the cringing of his courtiers consoled him, in part, for the want of +respect or gallantry in your English tars. + + + + +LETTER X. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--According to a general belief in our diplomatic circles, it was +the Austrian Ambassador in France, Count von Cobenzl, who principally +influenced the determination of Francis II. to assume the hereditary +title of Emperor of Austria, and to acknowledge Napoleon Emperor of the +French. + +Johann Philipp, Count von Cobenzl, enjoys, not only in his own country, +but through all Europe, a great reputation as a statesman, and has for a +number of years been employed by his Court in the most intricate and +delicate political transactions. In 1790 he was sent to Brabant to treat +with the Belgian insurgents; but the States of Brabant refusing to +receive him, he retired to Luxembourg, where he published a proclamation, +in which Leopold II. revoked all those edicts of his predecessor, Joseph +II., which had been the principal cause of the troubles; and +reestablished everything upon the same footing as during the reign of +Maria Theresa. In 1791 he was appointed Ambassador to the Court of St. +Petersburg, where his conduct obtained the approbation of his own Prince +and of the Empress of Russia. + +In 1793 the Committee of Public Safety nominated the intriguer, De +Semonville, Ambassador to the Ottoman Porte. His mission was to excite +the Turks against Austria and Russia, and it became of great consequence +to the two Imperial Courts to seize this incendiary of regicides. He was +therefore stopped, on the 25th of July, in the village of Novate, near +the lake of Chiavenne. A rumour was very prevalent at this time that +some papers were found in De Semonville’s portfolio implicating Count von +Cobenzl as a correspondent with the revolutionary French generals. The +continued confidence of his Sovereign contradicts, however, this +inculpation, which seems to have been merely the invention of rivalry or +jealousy. + +In October, 1795, Count von Cobenzl signed, in the name of the Emperor, a +treaty with England and Russia; and in 1797 he was one of the Imperial +plenipotentiaries sent to Udine to negotiate with Bonaparte, with whom, +on the 17th of October, he signed the Treaty of Campo Formio. In the +same capacity he went afterwards to Rastadt, and when this congress broke +up, he returned again as an Ambassador to St. Petersburg. + +After the Peace of Lunwille, when it required to have a man of experience +and talents to oppose to our so deeply able Minister, Talleyrand, the +Cabinet of Vienna removed him from Russia to France, where, with all +other representatives of Princes, he has experienced more of the frowns +and rebukes, than of the dignity and good grace, of our present +Sovereign. + +Count von Cobenzl’s foible is said to be a passion for women; and it is +reported that our worthy Minister, Talleyrand, has been kind enough to +assist him frequently in his amours. Some adventures of this sort, which +occurred at Rastadt, afforded much amusement at the Count’s expense. +Talleyrand, from envy, no doubt, does not allow him the same political +merit as his other political contemporaries, having frequently repeated +that “the official dinners of Count von Cobenzl were greatly preferable +to his official notes.” + +So well pleased was Bonaparte with this Ambassador when at +Aix-la-Chapelle last year, that, as a singular favour, he permitted him, +with the Marquis de Gallo (the Neapolitan Minister and another +plenipotentiary at Udine), to visit the camps of his army of England on +the coast. It is true that this condescension was, perhaps, as much a +boast, or a threat, as a compliment. + +The famous diplomatic note of Talleyrand, which, at Aix-la-Chapelle +proscribed en masse all your diplomatic agents, was only a slight revenge +of Bonaparte’s for your mandate of blockade. Rumour states that this +measure was not approved of by Talleyrand, as it would not exclude any of +your Ambassadors from those Courts not immediately under the whip of our +Napoleon. For fear, however, of some more extravagant determination, +Joseph Bonaparte dissuaded him from laying before his brother any +objections or representations. “But what absurdities do I not sign!” + exclaimed the pliant Minister. + +Bonaparte, on his arrival at Aix-la-Chapelle, found there, according to +command, most of the members of the foreign diplomatic corps in France, +waiting to present their new credentials to him as Emperor. Charlemagne +had been saluted as such, in the same place, about one thousand years +before,--an inducement for the modern Charlemagne to set all these +Ambassadors travelling some hundred miles, without any other object but +to gratify his impertinent vanity. Every spot where Charlemagne had +walked, sat, slept, talked, eaten or prayed, was visited by him with +great ostentation; always dragging behind him the foreign +representatives, and by his side his wife. To a peasant who presented +him a stone upon which Charlemagne was said to have once kneeled, he gave +nearly half its weight in gold; on a priest who offered him a small +crucifix, before which that Prince was reported to have prayed, he +bestowed an episcopal see; to a manufacturer he ordered one thousand +louis for a portrait of Charlemagne, said to be drawn by his daughter, +but which, in fact, was from the pencil of the daughter of the +manufacturer; a German savant was made a member of the National Institute +for an old diploma, supposed to have been signed by Charlemagne, who many +believed was not able to write; and a German Baron, Krigge, was +registered in the Legion of Honour for a ring presented by this Emperor +to one of his ancestors, though his nobility is well known not to be of +sixty years’ standing. But woe to him who dared to suggest any doubt +about what Napoleon believed, or seemed to believe! A German professor, +Richter, more a pedant than a courtier, and more sincere than wise, +addressed a short memorial to Bonaparte, in which he proved, from his +intimacy with antiquity, that most of the pretended relics of Charlemagne +were impositions on the credulous; that the portrait was a drawing of +this century, the diploma written in the last; the crucifix manufactured +within fifty, and the ring, perhaps, within ten years. The night after +Bonaparte had perused this memorial, a police commissary, accompanied by +four gendarmes, entered the professor’s bedroom, forced him to dress, and +ushered him into a covered cart, which carried him under escort to the +left bank of the Rhine; where he was left with orders, under pain of +death, never more to enter the territory of the French Empire. This +expeditious and summary justice silenced all other connoisseurs and +antiquarians; and relics of Charlemagne have since poured in in such +numbers from all parts of France, Italy, Germany, and even Denmark, that +we are here in hope to see one day established a Museum Charlemagne, by +the side of the museums Napoleon and Josephine. A ballad, written in +monkish Latin, said to be sung by the daughters and maids of Charlemagne +at his Court on great festivities, was addressed to Duroc, by a Danish +professor, Cranener, who in return was presented, on the part of +Bonaparte, with a diamond ring worth twelve thousand livres--L 500. This +ballad may, perhaps, be the foundation of future Bibliotheque or Lyceum +Charlemagne. + + + + +LETTER XI. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--On the arrival of her husband at Aix-la-Chapelle, Madame +Napoleon had lost her money by gambling, without recovering her health by +using the baths and drinking the waters; she was, therefore, as poor as +low-spirited, and as ill-tempered as dissatisfied. Napoleon himself was +neither much in humour to supply her present wants, provide for her +extravagances, or to forgive her ill-nature; he ascribed the inefficacy +of the waters to her excesses, and reproached her for her too great +condescension to many persons who presented themselves at her +drawing-room and in her circle, but who, from their rank in life, were +only fit to be seen as supplicants in her antechambers, and as associates +with her valets or chambermaids. + +The fact was that Madame Napoleon knew as well as her husband that these +gentry were not in their place in the company of an Empress; but they +were her creditors, some of them even Jews; and as long as she continued +debtor to them she could not decently--or rather, she dared not prevent +them from being visitors to her. By confiding her situation to her old +friend, Talleyrand, she was, however, soon released from those +troublesome personages. When the Minister was informed of the occasion +of the attendance of these impertinent intruders, he humbly proposed to +Bonaparte not to pay their demands and their due, but to make them +examples of severe justice in transporting them to Cayenne, as the only +sure means to prevent, for the future, people of the same description +from being familiar or audacious. + +When, thanks to Talleyrand’s interference, these family arrangements were +settled, Madame Napoleon recovered her health with her good-humour; and +her husband, who had begun to forget the English blockade, only to think +of the papal accolade (dubbing), was more tender than ever. I am assured +that, during the fortnight he continued with his wife at Aix-la-Chapelle, +he only shut her up or confined her twice, kicked her three times, and +abused her once a day. + +It was during their residence in that capital that Comte de Segur at last +completed the composition of their household, and laid before them the +list of the ladies and gentlemen who had consented to put on their +livery. This De Segur is a kind of amphibious animal, neither a royalist +nor a republican, neither a democrat nor an aristocrat, but a disaffected +subject under a King, a dangerous citizen of a Commonwealth, ridiculing +both the friend of equality and the defender of prerogatives; no exact +definition can be given, from his past conduct and avowed professions, of +his real moral and political character. One thing only is certain;--he +was an ungrateful traitor to Louis XVI., and is a submissive slave under +Napoleon the First. + +Though not of an ancient family, Comte de Segur was a nobleman by birth, +and ranked among the ancient French nobility because one of his ancestors +had been a Field-marshal. Being early introduced at Court, he acquired, +with the common corruption, also the pleasing manners of a courtier; and +by his assiduities about the Ministers, Comte de Maurepas and Comte de +Vergennes, he procured from the latter the place of an Ambassador to the +Court of St. Petersburg. With some reading and genius, but with more +boasting and presumption, he classed himself among French men of letters, +and was therefore as such received with distinction by Catharine II., on +whom, and on whose Government, he in return published a libel. He was a +valet under La Fayette, in 1789, as he has since been under every +succeeding King of faction. The partisans of the Revolution pointed him +out as a fit Ambassador from Louis XVI. to the late King of Prussia; and +he went in 1791 to Berlin, in that capacity; but Frederick William II. +refused him admittance to his person, and, after some ineffectual +intrigues with the Illuminati and philosophers at Berlin, he returned to +Paris as he left it; provided, however, with materials for another libel +on the Prussian Monarch, and on the House of Brandenburgh, which he +printed in 1796. Ruined by the Revolution which he had so much admired, +he was imprisoned under Robespierre, and was near starving under the +Directory, having nothing but his literary productions to subsist on. In +1799, Bonaparte made him a legislator, and in 1803, a Counsellor of +State,--a place which he resigned last year for that of a grand master of +the ceremonies at the present Imperial Court. His ancient inveteracy +against your country has made him a favourite with Bonaparte. The +indelicate and scandalous attacks, in 1796 and 1797, against Lord +Malmesbury, in the then official journal, Le Redacteur, were the +offspring of his malignity and pen; and the philippics and abusive notes +in our present official Moniteur, against your Government and country, +are frequently his patriotic progeny, or rather, he often shares with +Talleyrand and Hauterive their paternity. + +The Revolution has not made Comte de Segur more happy with regard to his +family, than in his circumstances, which, notwithstanding his brilliant +grand-mastership, are far from being affluent. His amiable wife died of +terror, and brokenhearted from the sufferings she had experienced, and +the atrocities she had witnessed; and when he had enticed his eldest son +to accept the place of a sub-prefect under Bonaparte, his youngest son, +who never approved our present regeneration, challenged his brother to +fight, and, after killing him in a duel, destroyed himself. Comte de +Segur is therefore, at present, neither a husband nor a father, but only +a grand master of ceremonies! What an indemnification! + +Madame Napoleon and her husband are both certainly under much obligation +to this nobleman for his care to procure them comparatively decent +persons to decorate their levees and drawing-rooms, who, though they have +no claim either to morality or virtue, either to honour or chastity, are +undoubtedly a great acquisition at the Court of St. Cloud, because none +of them has either been accused of murder, or convicted of plunder; which +is the case with some of the Ministers, and most of the generals, +Senators and counsellors. It is true that they are a mixture of beggared +nobles and enriched valets, of married courtesans and divorced wives, +but, for all that, they can with justice demand the places of honour of +all other Imperial courtiers of both sexes. + +When Bonaparte had read over the names of these Court recruits, engaged +and enlisted by De Segur, he said, “Well, this lumber must do until we +can exchange it for better furniture.” At that time, young Comte d’ +Arberg (of a German family, on the right bank of the Rhine), but whose +mother is one of Madame Bonaparte’s Maids of Honour, was travelling for +him in Germany and in Prussia, where, among other negotiations, he was +charged to procure some persons of both sexes, of the most ancient +nobility, to augment Napoleon’s suite, and to figure in his livery. More +individuals presented themselves for this honour than he wanted, but they +were all without education and without address: ignorant of the world as +of books; not speaking well their own language, much less understanding +French or Italian; vain of their birth, but not ashamed of their +ignorance, and as proud as poor. This project was therefore relinquished +for the time; but a number of the children of the principal ci-devant +German nobles, who, by the Treaty of Luneville and Ratisbon, had become +subjects of Bonaparte, were, by the advice of Talleyrand, offered places +in French Prytanees, where the Emperor promised to take care of their +future advancement. Madame Bonaparte, at the same time, selected +twenty-five young girls of the same families, whom she also offered to +educate at her expense. Their parents understood too well the meaning of +these generous offers to dare decline their acceptance. These children +are the plants of the Imperial nursery, intended to produce future pages, +chamberlains, equerries, Maids of Honour and ladies in waiting, who for +ancestry may bid defiance to all their equals of every Court in +Christendom. This act of benevolence, as it was called in some German +papers, is also an indirect chastisement of the refractory French +nobility, who either demanded too high prices for their degradation, or +abruptly refused to disgrace the names of their forefathers. + + + + +LETTER XII. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Bonaparte has been as profuse in his disposal of the Imperial +diadem of Germany, as in his promises of the papal tiara of Rome. The +Houses of Austria and Brandenburgh, the Electors of Bavaria and Baden, +have by turns been cajoled into a belief of his exclusive support towards +obtaining it at the first vacancy. Those, however, who have paid +attention to his machinations, and studied his actions; who remember his +pedantic affectation of being considered a modern, or rather a second +Charlemagne; and who have traced his steps through the labyrinth of folly +and wickedness, of meanness and greatness, of art, corruption, and +policy, which have seated him on the present throne, can entertain little +doubt but that he is seriously bent on seizing and adding the sceptre of +Germany to the crowns of France and Italy. + +During his stay last autumn at Mentz, all those German Electors who had +spirit and dignity enough to refuse to attend on him there in person were +obliged to send Extraordinary Ambassadors to wait on him, and to +compliment him on their part. Though hardly one corner of the veil that +covered the intrigues going forward there is yet lifted up, enough is +already seen to warn Europe and alarm the world. The secret treaties he +concluded there with most of the petty Princes of Germany, against the +Chief of the German Empire which not only entirely detached them from +their country and its legitimate Sovereign, but made their individual +interests hostile and totally opposite to that of the German +Commonwealth, transforming them also from independent Princes into +vassals of France, both directly increased has already gigantic power, +and indirectly encouraged him to extend it beyond what his most sanguine +expectation had induced him to hope. I do not make this assertion from a +mere supposition in consequence of ulterior occurrences. At a supper +with Madame Talleyrand last March, I heard her husband, in a gay, +unguarded, or perhaps premeditated moment, say, when mentioning his +proposed journey to Italy: + +“I prepared myself to pass the Alps last October at Mentz. The first +ground-stone of the throne of Italy was, strange as it may seem, laid on +the banks of the Rhine: with such an extensive foundation, it must be +difficult to shake, and impossible to overturn it.” + +We were, in the whole, twenty-five persons at table when he spoke thus, +many of whom, he well knew, were intimately acquainted both with the +Austrian and Prussian Ambassadors, who by the bye, both on the next day +sent couriers to their respective Courts. + +The French Revolution is neither seen in Germany in that dangerous light +which might naturally be expected from the sufferings in which it has +involved both Princes and subjects, nor are its future effects dreaded +from its past enormities. The cause of this impolitic and anti-patriotic +apathy is to be looked for in the palaces of Sovereigns, and not in the +dwellings of their people. There exists hardly a single German Prince +whose Ministers, courtiers and counsellors are not numbered, and have +long been notorious among the anti-social conspirators, the Illuminati: +most of them are knaves of abilities, who have usurped the easy direction +of ignorance, or forced themselves as guides on weakness or folly, which +bow to their charlatanism as if it was sublimity, and hail their +sophistry and imposture as inspiration. + +Among Princes thus encompassed, the Elector of Bavaria must be allowed +the first place. A younger brother of a younger branch, and a colonel in +the service of Louis XVI., he neither acquired by education, nor +inherited from nature, any talent to reign, nor possessed any one quality +that fitted him for a higher situation than the head of a regiment or a +lady’s drawing-room. He made himself justly suspected of a moral +corruption, as well as of a natural incapacity, when he announced his +approbation of the Revolution against his benefactor, the late King of +France, who, besides a regiment, had also given him a yearly pension of +one hundred thousand livres. Immediately after his unexpected accession +to the Electorate of Bavaria, he concluded a subsidiary treaty with your +country, and his troops were ordered to combat rebellion, under the +standard of Austrian loyalty. For some months it was believed that the +Elector wished by his conduct to obliterate the memory of the errors, +vices, and principles of the Duc de Deux-Ponts (his former title). But +placing all his confidence in a political adventurer and revolutionary +fanatic, Montgelas, without either consistency or firmness, without being +either bent upon information or anxious about popularity, he threw the +whole burden of State on the shoulders of this dangerous man, who soon +showed the world that his master, by his first treaties, intended only to +pocket your money without serving your cause or interest. + +This Montgelas is, on account of his cunning and long standing among +them, worshipped by the gang of German Illuminati as an idol rather than +revered as an apostle. He is their Baal, before whom they hope to oblige +all nations upon earth to prostrate themselves as soon as infidelity has +entirely banished Christianity; for the Illuminati do not expect to reign +till the last Christian is buried under the rubbish of the last altar of +Christ. It is not the fault of Montgelas if such an event has not +already occurred in the Electorate of Bavaria. + +Within six months after the Treaty of Lundville, Montgelas began in that +country his political and religious innovations. The nobility and the +clergy were equally attacked; the privileges of the former were invaded, +and the property of the latter confiscated; and had not his zeal carried +him too far, so as to alarm our new nobles, our new men of property, and +new Christians, it is very probable that atheism would have already, +without opposition, reared its head in the midst of Germany, and +proclaimed there the rights of man, and the code of liberty and equality. + +The inhabitants of Bavaria are, as you know, all Roman Catholics, and the +most superstitious and ignorant Catholics of Germany. The step is but +short from superstition to infidelity; and ignorance has furnished in +France more sectaries of atheism than perversity. The Illuminati, +brothers and friends of Montgelas, have not been idle in that country. +Their writings have perverted those who had no opportunity to hear their +speeches, or to witness their example; and I am assured by Count von +Beust, who travelled in Bavaria last year, that their progress among the +lower classes is astonishing, considering the short period these +emissaries have laboured. To any one looking on the map of the +Continent, and acquainted with the spirit of our times, this impious +focus of illumination must be ominous. + +Among the members of the foreign diplomatic corps, there exists not the +least doubt but that this Montgelas, as well as Bonaparte’s Minister at +Munich, Otto, was acquainted with the treacherous part Mehde de la Touche +played against your Minister, Drake; and that it was planned between him +and Talleyrand as the surest means to break off all political connections +between your country and Bavaria. Mr. Drake was personally liked by the +Elector, and was not inattentive either to the plans and views of +Montgelas or to the intrigues of Otto. They were, therefore, both doubly +interested to remove such a troublesome witness. + +M. de Montgelas is now a grand officer of Bonaparte’s Legion of Honour, +and he is one of the few foreigners nominated the most worthy of such a +distinction. In France he would have been an acquisition either to the +factions of a Murat, of a Brissot, or of a Robespierre; and the Goddess +of Reason, as well as the God of the Theophilanthropists, might have been +sure of counting him among their adorers. At the clubs of the Jacobins +or Cordeliers, in the fraternal societies, or in a revolutionary +tribunal; in the Committee of Public Safety, or in the council chamber of +the Directory, he would equally have made himself notorious and been +equally in his place. A stoic sans-culotte under Du Clots, a stanch +republican under Robespierre, he would now have been the most pliant and +brilliant courtier of Bonaparte. + + + + +LETTER XIII. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--No Queen of France ever saw so many foreign Princes and +Princesses in her drawing-rooms as the first Empress of the French did +last year at Mentz; and no Sovereign was ever before so well paid, or +accepted with less difficulty donations and presents for her gracious +protection. Madame Napoleon herself, on her return to this capital last +October, boasted that she was ten millions of livres--richer in diamonds; +two millions of livres richer in pearls, and three million of livres +richer in plate and china, than in the June before, when she quitted it. +She acknowledged that she left behind her some creditors and some money +at Aix-la-Chapelle; but at Mentz she did not want to borrow, nor had she +time to gamble. The gallant ultra Romans provided everything, even to +the utmost extent of her wishes; and she, on her part, could not but +honour those with her company as much as possible, particularly as they +required nothing else for their civilities. Such was the Empress’s +expression to her lady in waiting, the handsome Madame Seran, with whom +no confidence, no tale, no story, and no scandal expires; and who was in +a great hurry to inform, the same evening, the tea-party at Madame de +Beauvais’s of this good news, complaining at the same time of not having +had the least share in this rich harvest. + +Nowhere, indeed, were bribery and corruption carried to a greater extent, +or practised with more effrontery, than at Mentz. Madame Napoleon had as +much her fixed price for every favourable word she spoke, as Talleyrand +had for every line he wrote. Even the attendants of the former, and the +clerks of the latter, demanded, or rather extorted, douceurs from the +exhausted and almost ruined German petitioners; who in the end were +rewarded for all their meanness and for all their expenses with promises +at best; as the new plan of supplementary indemnities was, on the very +day proposed for its final arrangement, postponed by the desire of the +Emperor of the French, until further orders. This provoking delay could +no more be foreseen by the Empress than by the Minister, who, in return +for their presents and money almost overpowered the German Princes with +his protestations of regret at their disappointments. Nor was Madame +Bonaparte less sorry or less civil. She sent her chamberlain, Daubusson +la Feuillad, with regular compliments of condolence to every Prince who +had enjoyed her protection. They returned to their homes, therefore, if +not wealthier, at least happier; flattered by assurances and +condescensions, confiding in hope as in certainties. Within three +months, however, it is supposed that they would willingly have disposed +both of promises and expectations at a loss of fifty per cent. + +By the cupidity and selfishness of these and other German Princes, and +their want of patriotism, Talleyrand was become perfectly acquainted with +the value and production of every principality, bishopric, county, abbey, +barony, convent, and even village in the German Empire; and though most +national property in France was disposed of at one or two years’ +purchase, he required five years’ purchase-money for all the estates and +lands on the other side of the Rhine, of which, under the name of +indemnities, he stripped the lawful owners to gratify the ambition or +avidity of intruders. This high price has cooled the claims of the +bidders, and the plan of the supplementary indemnities is still +suspended, and probably will continue so until our Minister lowers his +terms. A combination is supposed to have been entered into by the chief +demanders of indemnities, by which they have bound themselves to resist +all farther extortions. They do not, however, know the man they have to +deal with; he will, perhaps, find out some to lay claim to their own +private and hereditary property whom he will produce and support, and who +certainly will have the same right to pillage them as they had to the +spoils of others. + +It was reported in our fashionable circles last autumn, and smiled at by +Talleyrand, that he promised the Comtesse de L------ an abbey, and the +Baroness de S-----z a convent, for certain personal favours, and that he +offered a bishopric to the Princesse of Hon----- the same terms, but this +lady answered that “she would think of his offers after he had put her +husband in possession of the bishopric.” It is not necessary to observe +that both the Countess and the Baroness are yet waiting to enjoy his +liberal donations, and to be indemnified for their prostitution. + +Napoleon Bonaparte was attacked by a fit of jealousy at Mentz. The young +nephew of the Elector Arch-Chancellor, Comte de L----ge, was very +assiduous about the Empress, who, herself, at first mistook the motive. +Her confidential secretary, Deschamps, however, afterwards informed her +that this nobleman wanted to purchase the place of a coadjutor to his +uncle, so as to be certain of succeeding him. He obtained, therefore, +several private audiences, no doubt to regulate the price, when Napoleon +put a stop to this secret negotiation by having the Count carried by +gendarmes, with great politeness, to the other side of the Rhine. When +convinced of his error, Bonaparte asked his wife what sum had been +promised for her protection, and immediately gave her an order on his +Minister of the Treasury (Marbois) for the amount. This was an act of +justice, and a reparation worthy of a good and tender husband; but when, +the very next day, he recalled this order, threw it into the fire before +her eyes, and confined her for six hours in her bedroom; because she was +not dressed in time to take a walk with him on the ramparts, one is apt +to believe that military despotism has erased from his bosom all +connubial affection, and that a momentary effusion of kindness and +generosity can but little alleviate the frequent pangs caused by repeated +insults and oppression. Fortunately, Madame Napoleon’s disposition is +proof against rudeness as well as against brutality. If what her friend +and consoler, Madame Delucay, reports of her is not exaggerated, her +tranquillity is not much disturbed nor her happiness affected by these +explosions of passionate authority, and she prefers admiring, in +undisturbed solitude, her diamond box to the most beautiful prospects in +the most agreeable company; and she inspects with more pleasure in +confinement, her rich wardrobe, her beautiful china, and her heavy plate, +than she would find satisfaction, surrounded with crowds, in +comtemplating Nature, even in its utmost perfection. “The paradise of +Madame Napoleon,” says her friend, “must be of metal, and lighted by the +lustre of brilliants, else she would decline it for a hell and accept +Lucifer himself for a spouse, provided gold flowed in his infernal +domains, though she were even to be scorched by its heat.” + + + + +LETTER XIV. + +LETTER XIV. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--I believe that I have mentioned to you, when in England, that I +was an old acquaintance of Madame Napoleon, and a visitor at the house of +her first husband. When introduced to her after some years’ absence, +during which fortune had treated us very differently, she received me +with more civility than I was prepared to expect, and would, perhaps, +have spoken to me more than she did, had not a look of her husband +silenced her. Madame Louis Bonaparte was still more condescending, and +recalled to my memory what I had not forgotten how often she had been +seated, when a child, on my lap, and played on my knees with her doll. +Thus they behaved to me when I saw them for the first time in their +present elevation; I found them afterwards, in their drawing-rooms or at +their routs and parties, more shy and distant. This change did not much +surprise me, as I hardly knew any one that had the slightest pretension +to their acquaintance who had not troubled them for employment or +borrowed their money, at the same time that they complained of their +neglect and their breach of promises. I continued, however, as much as +etiquette and decency required, assiduous, but never familiar: if they +addressed me, I answered with respect, but not with servility; if not, I +bowed in silence when they passed. They might easily perceive that I did +not intend to become an intruder, nor to make the remembrance of what was +past an apology or a reason for applying for present favours. A lady, on +intimate terms with Madame Napoleon, and once our common friend, informed +me, shortly after the untimely end of the lamented Duc d’ Enghien, that +she had been asked whether she knew anything that could be done for me, +or whether I would not be flattered by obtaining a place in the +Legislative Body or in the Tribunate? I answered as I thought, that were +I fit for a public life nothing could be more agreeable or suit me +better; but, having hitherto declined all employments that might restrain +that independence to which I had accustomed myself from my youth, I was +now too old to enter upon a new career. I added that, though the +Revolution had reduced my circumstances, it had not entirely ruined me. I +was still independent, because my means were the boundaries of my wants. + +A week after this conversation General Murat, the governor of this +capital, and Bonaparte’s favourite-brother-in-law, invited me to a +conversation in a note delivered to me by an aide-de-camp, who told me +that he was ordered to wait for my company, or, which was the same, he +had orders not to lose sight of me, as I was his prisoner. Having +nothing with which to reproach myself, and all my written remarks being +deposited with a friend, whom none of the Imperial functionaries could +suspect, I entered a hackney coach without any fear or apprehension; and +we drove to the governor’s hotel. + +From the manner in which Murat addressed me, I was soon convinced that if +I had been accused of any error or indiscretion, the accusation could not +be very grave in his eyes. He entered with me into his closet and +inquired whether I had any enemies at the police office. I told him not +to my knowledge. + +“Is the Police Minister and Senator, Fouche, your friend?” continued he. + +“Fouche,” said I, “has bought an estate that formerly belonged to me; may +he enjoy it with the same peace of mind as I have lost it. I have never +spoken to him in my life.” + +“Have you not complained at Madame de la Force’s of the execution of the +ci-devant Duc d’Enghien, and agreed with the other members of her coterie +to put on mourning for him?” + +“I have never been at the house of that lady since the death of the +Prince, nor more than once in my life.” + +“Where did you pass the evening last Saturday?”--“At the hotel, and in +the assembly of Princesse Louis Bonaparte.” + +“Did she see you?” + +“I believe that she did, because she returned my salute.” + +“You have known Her Imperial Highness a long time?” + +“From her infancy.” + +“Well, I congratulate you. You have in her a generous protectress. But +for her you would now have been on the way to Cayenne. Here you see the +list of persons condemned yesterday, upon the report of Fouche, to +transportation. Your name is at the head of them. You were not only +accused of being an agent of the Bourbons, but of having intrigued to +become a member of the Legislature, or the Tribunate, that you might have +so much the better opportunity to serve them. Fortunately for you, the +Emperor remembered that the Princesse Louis had demanded such a favour +for you, and he informed her of the character of her protege. This +brought forward your innocence, because it was discovered that, instead +of asking for, you had declined the offer she had made you through the +Empress. Write the Princess a letter of thanks. You have, indeed, had a +narrow escape, but it has been so far useful to you, that Government is +now aware of your having some secret enemy in power, who is not delicate +about the means of injuring you.” + +In quitting General Murat, I could not help deploring the fate of a +despot, even while I abhorred his unnatural power. The curses, the +complaints, and reproaches for all the crimes, all the violence, all the +oppression perpetrated in his name, are entirely thrown upon him, while +his situation and occupation do not admit the seeing and hearing +everything and everybody himself. He is often forced, therefore, to +judge according to the report of an impostor; to sanction with his name +the hatred, malignity, or vengeance of culpable individuals; and to +sacrifice innocence to gratify the vile passions of his vilest slave. I +have not so bad an opinion of Bonaparte as to think him capable of +wilfully condemning any person to death or transportation, of whose +innocence he was convinced, provided that person stood not in the way of +his interest and ambition; but suspicion and tyranny are inseparable +companions, and injustice their common progeny. The unfortunate beings +on the long list General Murat showed me were, I dare say, most of them +as innocent as myself, and all certainly condemned unheard. But suppose, +even, that they had been indiscreet enough to put on mourning for a +Prince of the blood of their former Kings, did their imprudence deserve +the same punishment as the deed of the robber, the forger, or the +housebreaker? and, indeed, it was more severe than what our laws inflict +on such criminals, who are only condemned to transportation for some few +years, after a public trial and conviction; while the exile of these +unconvicted, untried, and most probably innocent persons is continued for +life, on charges as unknown to themselves as their destiny and residence +remain to their families and friends. Happy England! where no one is +condemned unheard, and no one dares attempt to make the laws subservient +to his passions or caprice. + +As to Fouche’s enmity, at which General Murat so plainly hinted, I had +long apprehended it from what others, in similar circumstances with +myself, had suffered. He has, since the Revolution, bought no less, than +sixteen national estates, seven of the former proprietors of which have +suddenly disappeared since his Ministry, probably in the manner he +intended to remove me. This man is one of the most immoral characters +the Revolution has dragged forward from obscurity. It is more difficult +to mention a crime that he has not perpetrated than to discover a good or +just action that he ever performed. He is so notorious a villain that +even the infamous National Convention expelled him from its bosom, and +since his Ministry no man has been found base enough, in my debased +country, to extenuate, much less to defend, his past enormities. In a +nation so greatly corrupted and immoral, this alone is more than negative +evidence. + +As a friar before the Revolution he has avowed, in his correspondence +with the National Convention, that he never believed in a God; and as one +of the first public functionaries of a Republic he has officially denied +the existence of virtue. He is, therefore, as unmoved by tears as by +reproaches, and as inaccessible to remorse as hardened against +repentance. With him interest and bribes are everything, and honour and +honesty nothing. The supplicant or the pleader who appears before him +with no other support than the justice of his cause is fortunate indeed +if, after being cast, he is not also confined or ruined, and perhaps +both; while a line from one of the Bonapartes, or a purse of gold, +changes black to white, guilt to innocence, removes the scaffold waiting +for the assassin, and extinguishes the faggots lighted for the parricide. +His authority is so extensive that on the least signal, with one blow, +from the extremities of France to her centre, it crushes the cot and the +palace; and his decisions, against which there is no appeal, are so +destructive that they never leave any traces behind them, and Bonaparte, +Bonaparte alone, can prevent or arrest their effect. + +Though a traitor to his former benefactor, the ex-Director Barras, he +possesses now the unlimited confidence of Napoleon Bonaparte, and, as far +as is known, has not yet done anything to forfeit it,--if private acts of +cruelty cannot, in the agent of a tyrant, be called breach of trust or +infidelity. He shares with Talleyrand the fraternity of the vigilant, +immoral, and tormenting secret police; and with Real, and Dubois, the +prefect of police, the reproduction, or rather the invention, of new +tortures and improved racks; the oubliettes, which are wells or pits dug +under the Temple and most other prisons, are the works of his own +infernal genius. They are covered with trap-doors, and any person whom +the rack has mutilated, or not obliged to speak out; whose return to +society is thought dangerous, or whose discretion is suspected; who has +been imprisoned by mistake, or discovered to be innocent; who is +disagreeable to the Bonapartes, their favourites, or the mistresses of +their favourites; who has displeased Fouche, or offended some other +placeman; any who have refused to part with their property for the +recovery of their liberty, are all precipitated into these artificial +abysses there to be forgotten; or worse, to be starved to death, if they +have not been fortunate enough to break their necks and be killed by the +fall. + +The property Fouche has acquired by his robberies within these last +twelve years is at the lowest rate valued at fifty million livres--which +must increase yearly; as a man who disposes of the liberty of fifty +millions of people is also, in a great part, master of their wealth. +Except the chiefs of the Governments and their officers of State, there +exists not an inhabitant of France, Italy, Holland, or Switzerland who +can consider himself secure for an instant of not being seized, +imprisoned, plundered, tortured, or exterminated by the orders of Fouche +and by the hands of his agents. + +You will no doubt exclaim, “How can Bonaparte employ, how dares he +confide, in such a man?” Fouche is as able as unprincipled, and, with +the most unfeeling and perverse heart, possesses great talents. There is +no infamy he will not stoop to, and no crime, however execrable, that he +will hesitate to commit, if his Sovereign orders it. He is, therefore, a +most useful instrument in the hand of a despot who, notwithstanding what +is said to the contrary in France, and believed abroad, would cease to +rule the day he became just, and the reign of laws and of humanity +banished terror and tyranny. + +It is reported that some person, pious or revengeful, presented some time +ago to the devout mother of Napoleon a long memorial containing some +particulars of the crimes and vices of Fouche and Talleyrand, and +required of her, if she wished to prevent the curses of Heaven from +falling on her son, to inform him of them, that he might cease to employ +men so unworthy of him, and so repugnant to a Divinity. Napoleon, after +reading through the memorial, is stated to have answered his mother, who +was always pressing him to dismiss these Ministers: The memorial, Madame, +contains nothing of what I was not previously informed. Louis XVI. did +not select any but those whom he thought the most virtuous and moral of +men for his Ministers and counsellors; and where did their virtues and +morality bring him? If the writer of the memorial will mention two +honest and irreproachable characters, with equal talents and zeal to +serve me, neither Fouche nor Talleyrand shall again be admitted into my +presence. + + + + +LETTER XV. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--You have with some reason in England complained of the conduct +of the members of the foreign diplomatic corps in France, when the +pretended correspondence between Mr. Drake and Mehee de la Touche was +published in our official gazette. Had you, however, like myself, been +in a situation to study the characters and appreciate the worth of most +of them, this conduct would have excited no surprise, and pity would have +taken the place both of accusation and reproach. Hardly one of them, +except Count Philipp von Cobenzl, the Austrian Ambassador (and even he is +considerably involved), possesses any property, or has anything else but +his salary to depend upon for subsistence. The least offence to +Bonaparte or Talleyrand would instantly deprive them of their places; +and, unless they were fortunate enough to obtain some other appointment, +reduce them to live in obscurity, and perhaps in want, upon a trifling +pension in their own country. + +The day before Mr. Drake’s correspondence appeared in the Moniteur, in +March, 1804, Talleyrand gave a grand diplomatic dinner; in the midst of +which, as was previously agreed with Bonaparte, Duroc called him out on +the part of the First Consul. After an absence of near an hour, which +excited great curiosity and some alarm among the diplomatists, he +returned, very thoughtful and seemingly very low-spirited. + +“Excuse me, gentlemen,” said he, “I have been impolite against my +inclination. The First Consul knew that you honoured me with your +company today, and would therefore not have interrupted me by his orders +had not a discovery of a most extraordinary nature against the law of +nations just been made; a discovery which calls for the immediate +indignation against the Cabinet of St. James, not only of France, but of +every nation that wishes for the preservation of civilized society. After +dinner I shall do myself the honour of communicating to you the +particulars, well convinced that you will all enter with warmth into the +just resentment of the First Consul.” + +During the repast the bottle went freely round, and as soon as they had +drunk their coffee and liqueurs, Talleyrand rang a bell, and Hauterive +presented himself with a large bundle of papers. The pretended original +letters of Mr. Drake were handed about with the commentaries of the +Minister and his secretary. Their heads heated with wine, it was not +difficult to influence their minds, or to mislead their judgment, and +they exclaimed, as in a chorus, “C’est abominable! Cela fait fremir!” + +Talleyrand took advantage of their situation, as well as of their +indiscretion. “I am glad, gentlemen,” said he, “and shall not fail to +inform the First Consul of your unanimous sentiments on this disagreeable +subject; but verbal expressions are not sufficient in an affair of such +great consequence. I have orders to demand your written declarations, +which, after what you have already expressed, you cannot hesitate about +sending to me to-night, that they may accompany the denunciation which +the First Consul despatches, within some few hours, to all the Courts on +the Continent. You would much please the First Consul were you to write +as near as possible according to the formula which my secretary has drawn +up. It states nothing either against convenance, or against the customs +of Sovereigns, or etiquettes of Courts, and I am certain is also +perfectly congenial with your individual feelings.” + +A silence of some moments now followed (as all the diplomatists were +rather taken by surprise with regard to a written declaration), which the +Swedish Ambassador, Baron Ehrensward, interrupted by saying that, “though +he personally might have no objection to sign such a declaration, he must +demand some time to consider whether he had a right to, write in the name +of his Sovereign, without his orders, on a subject still unknown to him.” + +This remark made the Austrian Ambassador, Count von Cobenzl, propose a +private consultation among the members of the foreign diplomatic corps at +one of their hotels, at which the Russian charge d’affaires, D’Oubril, +who was not at the dinner--party, was invited to assist. They met +accordingly, at the Hotel de Montmorency, Rue de Lille, occupied by Count +von Cobenzl; but they came to no other unanimous determination than that +of answering a written communication of Talleyrand by a written note, +according as every one judged most proper and prudent, and corresponding +with the supposed sentiments of his Sovereign. + +As all this official correspondence has been published in England, you +may, upon reading the notes presented by Baron de Dreyer, and Mr. +Livingstone, + +[In consequence of this conduct, Livingstone was recalled by his +Government, and lives now in obscurity and disgrace in America. To +console him, however, in his misfortune, Bonaparte, on his departure, +presented him with his portrait, enamelled on the lid of a snuff-box, set +round with diamonds, and valued at one thousand louis d’or.] + +the neutral Ambassadors of Denmark and America, form some tolerably just +idea of Talleyrand’s formula. Their impolitic servility was blamed even +by the other members of the diplomatic corps. + +Livingstone you know, and perhaps have not to learn that, though a stanch +republican in America, he was the most abject courtier in France; and +though a violent defender of liberty and equality on the other side of +the Atlantic, no man bowed lower to usurpation, or revered despotism +more, in Europe. Without talents, and almost without education, he +thinks intrigues negotiations, and conceives that policy and duplicity +are synonymous. He was called here “the courier of Talleyrand,” on +account of his voyages to England, and his journeys to Holland, where +this Minister sent him to intrigue, with less ceremony than one of his +secret agents. He acknowledged that no Government was more liberal, and +no nation more free, than the British; but he hated the one as much as he +abused the other; and he did not conceal sentiments that made him always +so welcome to Bonaparte and Talleyrand. Never over nice in the choice of +his companions, Arthur O’Connor, and other Irish traitors and vagabonds, +used his house as their own; so much so that, when he invited other +Ambassadors to dine with him, they, before they accepted the invitation, +made a condition that no outlaws or adventurers should be of the party. + +In your youth, Baron de Dreyer was an Ambassador from the Court of +Copenhagen to that of St. James. He has since been in the same capacity +to the Courts of St. Petersburg and Madrid. Born a Norwegian, of a poor +and obscure family, he owes his advancement to his own talents; but +these, though they have procured him rank, have left him without a +fortune. When he came here, in June, 1797, from Spain, he brought a +mistress with him, and several children he had had by her during his +residence in that country. He also kept an English mistress some thirty +years ago in London, by whom he had a son, M. Guillaumeau, who is now his +secretary. Thus encumbered, and thus situated at the age of seventy, it +is no surprise if he strives to die at his post, and that fear to offend +Bonaparte and Talleyrand sometimes gets the better of his prudence. + +In Denmark, as well as in all other Continental States, the pensions of +diplomatic invalids are more scanty than those of military ones, and +totally insufficient for a man who, during half a century nearly, has +accustomed himself to a certain style of life, and to expenses requisite +to represent his Prince with dignity. No wonder, therefore, that Baron +de Dreyer prefers Paris to Copenhagen, and that the cunning Talleyrand +takes advantage of this preference. + +It was reported here among our foreign diplomatists, that the English +Minister in Denmark complained of the contents of Baron de Dreyer’s note +concerning Mr. Drake’s correspondence; and that the Danish Prime +Minister, Count von Bernstorff, wrote to him in consequence, by the order +of the Prince Royal, a severe reprimand. This act of political justice +is, however, denied by him, under pretence that the Cabinet of Copenhagen +has laid it down as an invariable rule, never to reprimand, but always to +displace those of its agents with whom it has reason to be discontented. +Should this be the case, no Sovereign in Europe is better served by his +representatives than his Danish Majesty, because no one seldomer changes +or removes them. + +While I am speaking of diplomatists, I cannot forbear giving you a short +sketch of one whose weight in the scale of politics entitles him to +particular notice: I mean the Count von Haugwitz, insidiously +complimented by Talleyrand with the title of “The Prince of Neutrality, +the Sully of Prussia.” Christian Henry Curce, Count von Haugwitz, who, +until lately, has been the chief director of the political conscience of +His Prussian Majesty, as his Minister of the Foreign Department, was born +in Silesia, and is the son of a nobleman who was a General in the +Austrian service when Frederick the Great made the conquest of that +country. At the death of this King in 1786, Count von Haugwitz occupied +an inferior place in the foreign office, where Count von Herzburg +observed his zeal and assiduity, and recommended him to the notice of the +late King Frederick William II. By the interest of the celebrated +Bishopswerder, he procured, in 1792, the appointment of an Ambassador to +the Court of Vienna, where he succeeded Baron von Jacobi, the present +Prussian Minister in your country. In the autumn of the same year he +went to Ratisbon, to cooperate with the Austrian Ambassador, and to +persuade the Princes of the German Empire to join the coalition against +France. In the month of March, 1794, he was sent to the Hague, where he +negotiated with Lord Malmesbury concerning the affairs of France; shortly +afterwards his nomination as a Minister of State took place, and from +that time his political sentiments seem to have undergone a revolution, +for which it is not easy to account; but, whatever were the causes of his +change of opinions, the Treaty of Basle, concluded between France and +Prussia in 1795, was certainly negotiated under his auspices; and in +August, 1796, he signed, with the French Minister at Berlin, Citizen +Caillard, the first and famous Treaty of Neutrality; and a Prussian +cordon was accordingly drawn, to cause the neutrality of the North to be +observed and protected. Had the Count von Haugwitz of 1795 been the same +as the Count von Haugwitz of 1792, it is probable we should no longer +have heard of either a French Republic or a French Empire; but a +legitimate Monarch of the kingdom of France would have ensured that +security to all other legitimate Sovereigns, the want of which they +themselves, or their children, will feel and mourn in vain, as long as +unlimited usurpations tyrannize over my wretched country. It is to be +hoped, however, that the good sense of the Count will point out to him, +before it is too late, the impolicy of his present connections; and that +he will use his interest with his Prince to persuade him to adopt a line +of conduct suited to the grandeur and dignity of the Prussian Monarchy, +and favourable to the independence of insulted Europe. + +When his present Prussian Majesty succeeded to the throne, Count von +Haugwitz continued in office, with increased influence; but he some time +since resigned, in consequence, it is said, of a difference of opinion +with the other Prussian Ministers on the subject of a family alliance, +which Bonaparte had the modesty to propose, between the illustrious house +of Napoleon the First and the royal line of Brandenburgh. + +On this occasion his King, to evince his satisfaction with his past +conduct, bestowed on him not only a large pension, but an estate in +Silesia, where he before possessed some property. Bonaparte also, to +express his regret at his retreat, proclaimed His Excellency a grand +officer of the Legion of Honour. + +Talleyrand insolently calls the several cordons, or ribands, distributed +by Bonaparte among the Prussian Ministers and Generals, “his +leading-strings.” It is to be hoped that Frederick William III. is +sufficiently upon his guard to prevent these strings from strangling the +Prussian Monarchy and the Brandenburgh dynasty. + + + + +LETTER XVI. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Upwards of two months after my visit to General Murat, I was +surprised at the appearance of M. Darjuson, the chamberlain of Princesse +Louis Bonaparte. He told me that he came on the part of Prince Louis, +who honoured me with an invitation to dine with him the day after. Upon +my inquiry whether he knew if the party would be very numerous, he +answered, between forty and fifty; and that it was a kind of farewell +dinner, because the Prince intended shortly to set out for Compiegne to +assume the command of the camp, formed in its vicinity, of the dragoons +and other light troops of the army of England. + +The principal personages present at this dinner were Joseph Bonaparte and +his wife, General and Madame Murat, the Ministers Berthier, Talleyrand, +Fouche, Chaptal, and Portalis. The conversation was entirely military, +and chiefly related to the probable conquest or subjugation of Great +Britain, and the probable consequence to mankind in general of such a +great event. No difference of opinion was heard with regard to its +immediate benefit to France and gradual utility to all other nations; but +Berthier seemed to apprehend that, before France could have time to +organize this valuable conquest, she would be obliged to support another +war, with a formidable league, perhaps, of all other European nations. +The issue, however, he said, would be glorious to France, who, by her +achievements, would force all people to acknowledge her their mother +country; and then, first, Europe would constitute but one family. + +Chaptal was as certain as everybody else of the destruction of the +tyrants of the seas; but he thought France would never be secure against +the treachery of modern Carthage until she followed the example of Rome +towards ancient Carthage; and therefore, after reducing London to ashes, +it would be proper to disperse round the universe all the inhabitants of +the British Islands, and to re-people them with nations less +evil-disposed and less corrupted. Portalis observed that it was more +easy to conceive than to execute such a vast plan. It would not be an +undertaking of five, of ten, nor of twenty years, to transplant these +nations; that misfortunes and proscription would not only inspire courage +and obstinacy, but desperation. + +“No people,” continued he, “are more attached to their customs and +countries than islanders in general; and though British subjects are the +greatest travellers, and found everywhere, they all suppose their country +the best, and always wish to return to it and finish their days amidst +their native fogs and smoke. Neither the Saxons, nor the Danes, nor +Norman conquerors transplanted them, but, after reducing them, +incorporated themselves by marriages among the vanquished, and in some +few generations were but one people. It is asserted by all persons who +have lately visited Great Britain, that, though the civilization of the +lower classes is much behind that of the same description in France, the +higher orders, the rich and the fashionable, are, with regard to their, +manners, more French than English, and might easily be cajoled into +obedience and subjection to the sovereignty of a nation whose customs, by +free choice, they have adopted in preference to their own, and whose +language forms a necessary part of their education, and, indeed, of the +education of almost every class in the British Empire. The universality +of the French language is the best ally France has in assisting her to +conquer a universal dominion. He wished, therefore, that when we were in +a situation to dictate in England, instead of proscribing Englishmen we +should proscribe the English language, and advance and reward, in +preference, all those parents whose children were sent to be educated in +France, and all those families who voluntarily adopted in their houses +and societies exclusively the French language.” + +Murat was afraid that if France did not transplant the most stubborn +Britons, and settle among them French colonies, when once their military +and commercial navy was annihilated, they would turn pirates, and, +perhaps, within half a century, lay all other nations as much under +contribution by their piracies as they now do by their industry; and +that, like the pirates on the coast of Barbary, the instant they had no +connections with other civilized nations, cut the throats of each other, +and agree in nothing but in plundering, and considering all other people +in the, world their natural enemies and purveyors. + +To this opinion Talleyrand, by nodding assent, seemed to adhere; but he +added: “Earthquakes are generally dreaded as destructive; but such a +convulsion of nature as would swallow up the British Islands, with all +their inhabitants, would be the greatest blessing Providence ever +conferred on mankind.” + +Louis Bonaparte then addressed himself to me and to the Marquis de F----. +“Gentlemen,” said he, “you have been in England; what is your opinion of +the character of these islanders, and of the probability of their +subjugation?” + +I answered that, during the fifteen months I resided in London I was too +much occupied to prevent myself from starving, to meditate about anything +else; that my stomach was my sole meditation as well as anxiety. That, +however, I believed that in England, as everywhere else, a mixture of +good and bad qualities was to be found; but which prevailed, it would be +presumption in me, from my position, to decide. But I did not doubt that +if we cordially hated the English they returned us the compliment with +interest, and, therefore, the contest with them would be a severe one. +The Marquis de F---- imprudently attempted to convince the company that +it was difficult, if not impossible, for our army to land in England, +much more to conquer it, until we were masters of the seas by a superior +navy. He would, perhaps, have been still more indiscreet, had not Madame +Louis interrupted him, and given another turn to the conversation by +inquiring about the fair sex in England, and if it was true that handsome +women were more numerous there than in France? Here again the Marquis, +instead of paying her a compliment, as she perhaps expected, roundly +assured her that for one beauty in France, hundreds might be counted in +England, where gentlemen were, therefore, not so easily satisfied; and +that a woman regarded by them only as an ordinary person would pass for a +first-rate beauty among French beaux, on account of the great scarcity of +them here. + +“You must excuse the Marquis, ladies,” said I, in my turn; “he has not +been in love in England. There, perhaps, he found the belles less cruel +than in France, where, for the cruelty of one lady, or for her +insensibility of his merit, he revenges himself on the whole sex: + +“I apply to M. de Talleyrand,” answered the Marquis; “he has been longer +in England than myself.” + +“I am not a competent judge,” retorted the Minister; “Madame de +Talleyrand is here, and has not the honour of being a Frenchwoman; but I +dare say the Marquis will agree with me that in no society in the British +Islands, among a dozen of ladies, has he counted more beauties, or +admired greater accomplishments or more perfection.” + +To this the Marquis bowed assent, saying that in all his general remarks +the party present, of course, was not included. All the ladies, who were +well acquainted with his absent and blundering conversation, very +good-humouredly laughed, and Madame Murat assured him that if he would +give her the address of the belle in France who had transformed a gallant +Frenchman into a chevalier of British beauty, she would attempt to make +up their difference. “She is no more, Madame,” said the Marquis; “she +was, unfortunately, guillotined two days before----” the father of Madame +Louis, he was going to say, when Talleyrand interrupted him with a +significant look, and said, “Before the fall of Robespierre, you mean.” + +From these and other traits of the Marquis’s character, you may see that +he erred more from absence of mind than any premeditation to give +offence. He received, however, the next morning, a lettre de cachet from +Fouche, which exiled him to Blois, and forbade him to return to Paris +without further orders from the Minister of Police. I know, from high +authority, that to the interference of Princesse Louis alone is he +indebted for not being shut up in the Temple, and, perhaps, transported +to our colonies, for having depreciated the power and means of France to +invade England. I am perfectly convinced that none of those who spoke on +the subject of the invasion expressed anything but what they really +thought; and that, of the whole party, none, except Talleyrand, the +Marquis, and myself, entertained the least doubt of the success of the +expedition; so firmly did they rely on the former fortune of Bonaparte, +his boastings, and his assurance. + +After dinner I had an opportunity of conversing for ten minutes with +Madame Louis Bonaparte, whom I found extremely amiable, but I fear that +she is not happy. Her husband, though the most stupid, is, however, the +best tempered of the Bonapartes, and seemed very attentive and attached +to her. She was far advanced in her pregnancy, and looked, +notwithstanding, uncommonly well. I have heard that Louis is inclined to +inebriation, and when in that situation is very brutal to his wife, and +very indelicate with other women before her eyes. He intrigues with her +own servants and the number of his illegitimate children is said to be as +many as his years. She asked General Murat to present me and recommend +me to Fouche, which he did with great politeness; and the Minister +assured me that he should be glad to see me at his hotel, which I much +doubt. The last words Madame Louis said to me, in showing me a princely +crown, richly set with diamonds, and given her by her brother-in-law, +Napoleon, were, “Alas! grandeur is not always happiness, nor the most +elevated the most fortunate lot.” + + + + +LETTER XVII. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +My LORD:--The arrival of the Pope in this country was certainly a grand +epoch, not only in the history of the Revolution, but in the annals of +Europe. The debates in the Sacred College for and against this journey, +and for and against his coronation of Bonaparte, are said to have been +long as well as violent, and arranged according to the desires of +Cardinal Fesch only by the means of four millions of livres distributed +apropos among its pious members. Of this money the Cardinals Mattei, +Pamphili, Dugnani, Maury, Pignatelli, Roverella, Somaglia, Pacca, +Brancadoro, Litta, Gabrielli, Spina, Despuig, and Galefli, are said to +have shared the greatest part; and from the most violent +anti-Bonapartists, they instantly became the strenuous adherents of +Napoleon the First, who, of course, cannot be ignorant of their real +worth. + +The person entrusted by Bonaparte and Talleyrand to carry on at Rome the +intrigue which sent Pius VII. to cross the Alps was Cardinal Fesch, +brother of Madame Letitia Bonaparte by the side of her mother, who, in a +second marriage, chose a pedlar of the name of Nicolo Fesch, for her +husband. + +Joseph, Cardinal Fesch, was born at Ajaccio, in Corsica, on the 8th of +March, 1763, and was in his infancy received as a singing boy (enfant de +choeur) in a convent of his native place. In 1782, whilst he was on a +visit to some of his relations in the Island of Sardinia, being on a +fishing party some distance from shore, he was, with his companions, +captured by an Algerine felucca, and carried a captive to Algiers. Here +he turned Mussulman, and, until 1790, was a zealous believer in, and +professor of, the Alcoran. In that year he found an opportunity to +escape from Algiers, and to return to Ajaccio, when he abjured his +renegacy, exchanged the Alcoran for the Bible, and, in 1791, was made a +constitutional curate, that is to say, a revolutionary Christian priest. +In 1793, when even those were proscribed, he renounced the sacristy of +his Church for the bar of a tavern, where, during 1794 and 1795, he +gained a small capital by the number and liberality of his English +customers. After the victories of his nephew Napoleon in Italy during +the following year, he was advised to reassume the clerical habit, and +after Napoleon’s proclamation of a First Consul, he was made Archbishop +of Lyons. In 1802, Pius VII. decorated him with the Roman purple, and he +is now a pillar of the Roman faith, in a fair way of seizing the Roman +tiara. If letters from Rome can be depended upon, Cardinal Fesch, in the +name of the Emperor of the French, informed His Holiness the Pope that he +must either retire to a convent or travel to France, either abdicate his +own sovereignty, or inaugurate Napoleon the First a Sovereign of France. +Without the decision of the Sacred College, effected in the manner +already stated, the majority of the faithful believe that this pontiff +would have preferred obscurity to disgrace. + +While Joseph Fesch was a master of a tavern he married the daughter of a +tinker, by whom he had three children. This marriage, according to the +republican regulations, had only been celebrated by the municipality at +Ajaccio; Fesch, therefore, upon again entering the bosom of the Church, +left his municipal wife and children to shift for themselves, considering +himself still, according to the canonical laws, a bachelor. But Madame +Fesch, hearing, in 1801, of her ci-devant husband’s promotion to the +Archbishopric of Lyons, wrote to him for some succours, being with her +children reduced to great misery. Madame Letitia Bonaparte answered her +letter, enclosing a draft for six hundred livres--informing her that the +same sum would be paid her every six months, as long as she continued +with her children to reside at Corsica, but that it would cease the +instant she left that island. Either thinking herself not sufficiently +paid for her discretion, or enticed by some enemy of the Bonaparte +family, she arrived secretly at Lyons in October last year, where she +remained unknown until the arrival of the Pope. On the first day His +Holiness gave there his public benediction, she found means to pierce the +crowd, and to approach his person, when Cardinal Fesch was by his side. +Profiting by a moment’s silence, she called out loudly, throwing herself +at his feet: “Holy Father! I am the lawful wife of Cardinal Fesch, and +these are our children; he cannot, he dares not, deny this truth. Had he +behaved liberally to me, I should not have disturbed him in his present +grandeur; I supplicate you, Holy Father, not to restore me my husband, +but to force him to provide for his wife and children, according to his +present circumstances.”--“Matta--ella e matta, santissimo padre! She is +mad--she is mad, Holy Father,” said the Cardinal; and the good pontiff +ordered her to be taken care of, to prevent her from doing herself or the +children any mischief. She was, indeed, taken care of, because nobody +ever since heard what has become either of her or her children; and as +they have not returned to Corsica, probably some snug retreat has been +allotted them in France. + +The purple was never disgraced by a greater libertine than Cardinal +Fesch: his amours are numerous, and have often involved him in +disagreeable scrapes. He had, in 1803, an unpleasant adventure at Lyons, +which has since made his stay in that city but short. Having thrown his +handkerchief at the wife of a manufacturer of the name of Girot, she +accepted it, and gave him an appointment at her house, at a time in the +evening when her husband usually went to the play. His Eminence arrived +in disguise, and was received with open arms. But he was hardly seated +by her side before the door of a closet was burst open, and his shoulders +smarted from the lashes inflicted by an offended husband. In vain did he +mention his name and rank; they rather increased than decreased the fury +of Girot, who pretended it was utterly impossible for a Cardinal and +Archbishop to be thus overtaken with the wife of one of his flock; at +last Madame Girot proposed a pecuniary accommodation, which, after some +opposition, was acceded to; and His Eminence signed a bond for one +hundred thousand livres--upon condition that nothing should transpire of +this intrigue--a high price enough for a sound drubbing. On the day when +the bond was due, Girot and his wife were both arrested by the police +commissary, Dubois (a brother of the prefect of police at Paris), accused +of being connected with the coiners, a capital crime at present in this +country. In a search made in their house, bad money to the amount of +three thousand livres was discovered; which they had received the day +before from a man who called himself a merchant from Paris, but who was a +police spy sent to entrap them. After giving up the bond of the +Cardinal, the Emperor graciously remitted the capital punishment, upon +condition that they should be transported for life to Cayenne. + +This is the prelate on whom Bonaparte intends to confer the Roman tiara, +and to constitute a successor of St. Peter. It would not be the least +remarkable event in the beginning of the remarkable nineteenth century +were we to witness the papal throne occupied by a man who from a singing +boy became a renegade slave, from a Mussulman a constitutional curate, +from a tavern-keeper an archbishop, from the son of a pedlar the uncle of +an Emperor, and from the husband of the daughter of a tinker, a member of +the Sacred College. + +His sister, Madame Letitia Bonaparte, presented him, in 1802, with an +elegant library, for which she had paid six hundred thousand livres--and +his nephew, Napoleon, allows him a yearly pension double that amount. +Besides his dignity as a prelate, His Eminence is Ambassador from France +at Rome, a Knight of the Spanish Order of the Golden Fleece, a grand +officer of the Legion of Honour, and a grand almoner of the Emperor of +the French. + +The Archbishop of Paris is now in his ninety-sixth year, and at his death +Cardinal Fesch is to be transferred to the see of this capital, in +expectation of the triple crown and the keys of St. Peter. + + + + +LETTER XVIII. + +Paris, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--The amiable and accomplished Amelia Frederique, Princess +Dowager of the late Electoral Prince, Charles Louis of Baden, born a +Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, has procured the Electoral House of Baden +the singular honour of giving consorts to three reigning and Sovereign +Princes,--to an Emperor of Russia, to a King of Sweden, and to the +Elector of Bavaria. Such a distinction, and such alliances, called the +attention of those at the head of our Revolution; who, after attempting +in vain to blow up hereditary thrones by the aid of sans-culotte +incendiaries, seated sans-culottes upon thrones, that they might degrade +what was not yet ripe for destruction. + +Charles Frederick, the reigning Elector of Baden, is now near fourscore +years of age. At this period of life if any passions remain, avarice is +more common than ambition; because treasures may be hoarded without +bustle, while activity is absolutely necessary to push forward to the +goal of distinction. Having bestowed a new King on Tuscany, Bonaparte +and Talleyrand also resolved to confer new Electors on Germany. A more +advantageous fraternity could not be established between the innovators +here and their opposers in other countries, than by incorporating the +grandfather-in-law of so many Sovereigns with their own revolutionary +brotherhood; to humble him by a new rank, and to disgrace him by +indemnities obtained from their hands. An intrigue between our Minister, +Talleyrand, and the Baden Minister, Edelsheim, transformed the oldest +Margrave of Germany into its youngest Elector, and extended his dominions +by the spoils obtained at the expense of the rightful owners. The +invasion of the Baden territory in time of peace, and the seizure of the +Duc d’Enghien, though under the protection of the laws of nations and +hospitality, must have soon convinced Baron Edelsheim what return his +friend Talleyrand expected, and that Bonaparte thought he had a natural +right to insult by his attacks those he had dishonoured by his +connections. + +The Minister, Baron Edelsheim, is half an illuminato, half a philosopher, +half a politician, and half a revolutionist. He was, long before he was +admitted into the council chamber of his Prince, half an atheist, half an +intriguer, and half a spy, in the pay of Frederick the Great of Prussia. +His entry upon the stage at Berlin, and particularly the first parts he +was destined to act, was curious and extraordinary; whether he acquitted +himself better in this capacity than he has since in his political one is +not known. He was afterwards sent to this capital to execute a +commission, of which he acquitted himself very ill; exposing himself +rashly, without profit or service to his employer. Frederick II., +dreading the tediousness of a proposed congress at Augsburg, wished to +send a private emissary to sound the King of France. For this purpose he +chose Edelsheim as a person least liable to suspicion. The project of +Frederick was to idemnify the King of Poland for his first losses by +robbing the ecclesiastical Princes of Germany. This, Louis XV. totally +rejected; and Edelsheim returned with his answer to the Prussian Monarch, +then at Freyburg. From thence he afterwards departed for London, made +his communications, and was once again sent back to Paris, on pretence +that he had left some of his travelling trunks there; and the Bailli de +Foulay, the Ambassador of the Knights of Malta, being persuaded that the +Cabinet of Versailles was effectually desirous of peace, was, as he had +been before, the mediator. The Bailli was deceived. The Duc de +Choiseul, the then Prime Minister, indecently enough threw Edelsheim into +the Bastille, in order to search or seize his papers, which, however, +were secured elsewhere. Edelsheim was released on the morrow, but +obliged to depart the kingdom by the way of Turin, as related by +Frederick II. in his “History of the Seven Years’ War.” On his return he +was disgraced, and continued so until 1778; when he again was used as +emissary to various Courts of Germany. In 1786 the Elector of Baden sent +him to Berlin, on the ascension of Frederick William II., as a +complimentary envoy. This Monarch, when he saw him, could not forbear +laughing at the high wisdom of the Court that selected such a personage +for such an embassy, and of his own sagacity in accepting it. He quitted +the capital of Prussia as he came there, with an opinion of himself that +the royal smiles of contempt had neither altered nor diminished. + +You see, by this account, that Edelsheim has long been a partisan of the +pillage of Germany called indemnities; and long habituated to affronts, +as well as to plots. To all his other half qualities, half modesty can +hardly be added, when he calls himself, or suffers himself to be called, +“the Talleyrand of Carlsrhue.” He accompanied his Prince last year to +Mentz; where this old Sovereign was not treated by Bonaparte in the most +decorous or decent manner, being obliged to wait for hours in his +antechamber, and afterwards stand during the levees, or in the +drawing-rooms of Napoleon or of his wife, without the offer of a chair, +or an invitation to sit down. It was here where, by a secret treaty, +Bonaparte became the Sovereign of Baden, if sovereignty consists in the +disposal of the financial and military resources of a State; and they +were agreed to be assigned over to him whenever he should deem it proper +or necessary to invade the German Empire, in return for his protection +against the Emperor of Germany, who can have no more interest than intent +to attack a country so distant from his hereditary dominions, and whose +Sovereign is, besides, the grandfather of the consort of his nearest and +best ally. + +Talleyrand often amused himself at Mentz with playing on the vanity and +affected consequence of Edelsheim, who was delighted if at any time our +Minister took him aside, or whispered to him as in confidence. One +morning, at the assembly of the Elector Arch-Chancellor, where Edelsheim +was creeping and cringing about him as usual, he laid hold of his arm and +walked with him to the upper part of the room. In a quarter of an hour +they both joined the company, Edelsheim unusually puffed up with vanity. + +“I will lay and bet, gentlemen,” said Talleyrand, “that you cannot, with +all your united wits, guess the grand subject of my conversation with the +good Baron Edelsheim.” Without waiting for an answer, he continued: “As +the Baron is a much older and more experienced traveller than myself, I +asked him which, of all the countries he had visited, could boast the +prettiest and kindest women. His reply was really very instructive, and +it would be a great pity if justice were not done to his merit by its +publicity.” + +Here the Baron, red as a turkey-cock and trembling with anger, +interrupted. “His Excellency,” said he, “is to-night in a humour to +joke; what we spoke of had nothing to do with women.” + +“Nor with men, either,” retorted Talleyrand, going away. + +This anecdote, Baron Dahlberg, the Minister of the Elector of Baden to +our Court, had the ingenuity to relate at Madame Chapui’s as an evidence +of Edelsheim’s intimacy with Talleyrand; only he left out the latter +part, and forgot to mention the bad grace with which this impertinence of +Talleyrand was received; but this defect of memory Count von Beust, the +envoy of the Elector Arch-Chancellor, kindly supplied. + +Baron Edelsheim is a great amateur of knighthoods. On days of great +festivities his face is, as it were, illuminated with the lustre of his +stars; and the crosses on his coat conceal almost its original colour. +Every petty Prince of Germany has dubbed him a chevalier; but Emperors +and Kings have not been so unanimous in distinguishing his desert, or in +satisfying his desires. + +At Mentz no Prince or Minister fawned more assiduously upon Bonaparte +than this hero of chivalry. It could not escape notice, but need not +have alarmed our great man, as was the case. The prefect of the palace +was ordered to give authentic information concerning Edelsheim’s moral +and political character. He applied to the police commissary, who, +within twenty hours, signed a declaration affirming that Edelsheim was +the most inoffensive and least dangerous of all imbecile creatures that +ever entered the Cabinet of a Prince; that he had never drawn a sword, +worn a dagger, or fired a pistol in his life; that the inquiries about +his real character were sneered at in every part of the Electorate, as +nowhere they allowed him common sense, much less a character; all blamed +his presumption, but none defended his capacity. + +After the perusal of this report, Bonaparte asked Talleyrand: “What can +Edelsheim mean by his troublesome assiduities? Does he want any +indemnities, or does he wish me to make him a German Prince? Can he have +the impudence to hope that I shall appoint him a tribune, a legislator, +or a Senator in France, or that I shall give him a place in my Council of +State?” + +“No such thing,” answered the Minister; “did not Your Majesty condescend +to notice at the last fete that this eclipsed moon was encompassed in a +firmanent of stars. You would, Sire, make him the happiest of mortals +were you to nominate him a member of your Legion of Honour.” + +“Does he want nothing else?” said Napoleon, as if relieved at once of an +oppressive burden. “Write to my chancellor of the Legion of Honour, +Lacepede, to send him a patent, and do you inform him of this favour.” + +It is reported at Carlsruhe, the capital of Baden, that Baron Edelsheim +has composed his own epitaph, in which he claims immortality, because +under his Ministry the Margravate of Baden was elevated into an +Electorate!!! + + + + +LETTER XIX. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--The sensation that the arrival of the Pope in this country +caused among the lower classes of people cannot be expressed, and if +expressed, would not be believed. I am sorry, however, to say that, +instead of improving their morals or increasing their faith, this journey +has shaken both morality and religion to their foundation. + +According to our religious notions, as you must know, the Roman pontiff +is the vicar of Christ, and infallible; he can never err. The atheists +of the National Convention and the Theophilanthropists of the Directory +not only denied his demi-divinity, but transformed him into a satyr; and +in pretending to tear the veil of superstition, annihilated all belief in +a God. The ignorant part of our nation, which, as everywhere else, +constitutes the majority, witnessing the impunity and prosperity of +crime, and bestowing on the Almighty the passions of mortals, first +doubted of His omnipotence in not crushing guilt, and afterwards of His +existence in not exterminating the blasphemous from among the living. +Feeling, however, the want of consolation in their misfortunes here, and +hope of a reward hereafter for unmerited sufferings upon earth, they all +hailed as a blessing the restoration of Christianity; and by this +political act Bonaparte gained more adherents than by all his victories +he had procured admirers. + +Bonaparte’s character, his good and his bad qualities, his talents and +his crimes, are too recent and too notorious to require description. +Should he continue successful, and be attended by fortune to his grave, +future ages may perhaps hail him a hero and a great man; but by his +contemporaries it will always be doubtful whether mankind has not +suffered more from his ambition and cruelties than benefited by his +services. Had he satisfied himself by continuing the Chief Magistrate of +a Commonwealth; or, if he judged that a monarchical Government alone was +suitable to the spirit of this country, had he recalled our legitimate +King, he would have occupied a principal, if not the first, place in the +history of France,--a place much more exalted than he can ever expect to +fill as an Emperor of the French. Let his prosperity be ever so +uninterrupted, he cannot be mentioned but as an usurper, an appellation +never exciting esteem, frequently inspiring contempt, and always odious. + +The crime of usurpation is the greatest and most enormous a subject can +perpetrate; but what epithet can there be given to him who, to preserve +an authority unlawfully acquired, asssociates in his guilt a Supreme +Pontiff, whom the multitude is accustomed to reverence as the +representative of their God, but who, by this act of scandal and +sacrilege, descends to a level with the most culpable of men? I have +heard, not only in this city but in villages, where sincerity is more +frequent than corruption, and where hypocrites are as little known as +infidels, these remarks made by the people: + +“Can the real vicar of Christ, by his inauguration, commit the double +injustice of depriving the legitimate owner of his rights, and of +bestowing as a sacred donation what belongs to another; and what he has +no power, no authority, to dispose of? Can Pius VII. confer on Napoleon +the First what belongs to Louis XVIII.? Would Jesus Christ, if upon +earth, have acted thus? Would his immediate successors, the Apostles, +not have preferred the suffering of martyrdom to the commission of any +injury? If the present Roman pontiff acts differently from what his +Master and predecessors would have done, can he be the vicar of our +Saviour?” + +These and many similar reflections the common people have made, and make +yet. The step from doubt to disbelief is but short, and those brought up +in the Roman Catholic religion, who hesitate about believing Pius VII. to +be the vicar of Christ, will soon remember the precepts of atheists and +freethinkers, and believe that Christ is not the Son of God, and that God +is only the invention of fear. + +The fact is, that by the Pope’s performance of the coronation of an +Emperor of the French, a religious as well as a political revolution was +effected; and the usurper in power, whatever his creed may be, will +hereafter, without much difficulty, force it on his slaves. You may, +perhaps, object that Pius VII., in his official account to the Sacred +College of his journey to France, speaks with enthusiasm of the +Catholicism of the French people. But did not the Goddess of Reason, did +not Robespierre as a high priest of a Supreme Being, speak as highly of +their sectaries? Read the Moniteur of 1793 and 1794, and you will be +convinced of the truth of this assertion. They, like the Pope, spoke of +what they saw, and they, like him, did not see an individual who was not +instructed how to perform his part, so as to give satisfaction to him +whom he was to please, and to those who employed him. As you have +attended to the history of our Revolution, you have found it in great +part a cruel masquerade, where none but the unfortunate Louis XVI. +appeared in his native and natural character and without a mask. + +The countenance of Pius VII. is placid and benign, and a kind of calmness +and tranquillity pervades his address and manners, which are, however, +far from being easy or elegant. The crowds that he must have been +accustomed to see since his present elevation have not lessened a +timidity the consequence of early seclusion. Nothing troubled him more +than the numerous deputations of our Senate, Legislative Body, Tribunate, +National Institute, Tribunals, etc., that teased him on every occasion. +He never was suspected of any vices, but all his virtues are negative; +and his best quality is, not to do good, but to prevent evil. His piety +is sincere and unaffected, and it is not difficult to perceive that he +has been more accustomed to address his God than to converse with men. He +is nowhere so well in his place as before the altar; when imploring the +blessings of Providence on his audience he speaks with confidence, as to +a friend to whom his purity is known, and who is accustomed to listen +favourably to his prayers. He is zealous but not fanatical, but equally +superstitious as devout. His closet was crowded with relics, rosaries, +etc., but there he passed generally eight hours of the twenty-four upon +his knees in prayer and meditation. He often inflicted on himself +mortifications, observed fast-days, and kept his vows with religious +strictness. + +None of the promises made him by Cardinal Fesch, in the name of Napoleon +the First, were performed, but all were put off until a general +pacification. He was promised indemnity for Avignon, Bologna, Ferrara, +and Ravenna; the ancient supremacy and pecuniary contributions of the +Gallican Church, and the restoration of certain religious orders, both in +France and Italy; but notwithstanding his own representations, and the +activity of his Cardinal, Caprara, nothing was decided, though nothing +was refused. + +By some means or other he was made perfectly acquainted with the crimes +and vices of most of our public functionaries. Talleyrand was surprised +when Cardinal Caprara explained to him the reason why the Pope refused to +admit some persons to his presence, and why he wished others even not to +be of the party when he accepted the invitations of Bonaparte and his +wife to their private societies. Many are, however, of opinion that +Talleyrand, from malignity or revenge, often heightened and confirmed His +Holiness’s aversion. This was at least once the case with regard to De +Lalande. When Duroc inquired the cause of the Pope’s displeasure against +this astronomer, and hinted that it would be very agreeable to the +Emperor were His Holiness to permit him the honour of prostrating +himself, he was answered that men of talents and learning would always be +welcome to approach his person; that he pitied the errors and prayed for +the conversion of this savant, but was neither displeased nor offended +with him. Talleyrand, when informed of the Pope’s answer, accused +Cardinal Caprara of having misinterpreted his master’s communications; +and this prelate, in his turn, censured our Minister’s bad memory. + +You must have read that this De Lalande is regarded in France as the +first astronomer of Europe, and hailed as the high priest of atheists; he +is said to be the author of a shockingly blasphemous work called “The +Bible of a People who acknowledge no God.” He implored the ferocious +Robespierre to honour the heavens by bestowing, on a new planet pretended +to be discovered, his ci-devant Christian-name, Maximilian. In a letter +of congratulation to Bonaparte, on the occasion of his present elevation, +he also implored him to honour the God of the Christians by styling +himself Jesus Christ the First, Emperor of the French, instead of +Napoleon the First. But it was not his known impiety that made +Talleyrand wish to exclude him from insulting with his presence a +Christian pontiff. In the summer of 1799, when the Minister was in a +momentary disgrace, De Lalande was at the head of those who imputed to +his treachery, corruptions, and machinations all the evils France then +suffered, both from external enemies and internal factions. If +Talleyrand has justly been reproached for soon forgetting good offices +and services done him, nobody ever denied that he has the best +recollection in the world of offences or attacks, and that he is as +revengeful as unforgiving. + +The only one of our great men whom Pius VII. remained obstinate and +inflexible in not receiving, was the Senator and Minister of Police, +Fouche. As His Holiness was not so particular with regard to other +persons who, like Fouche, were both apostate priests and regicide +subjects, the following is reported to be the cause of his aversion and +obduracy: + +In November, 1793, the remains of a wretch of the name of +Challiers--justly called, for his atrocities, the Murat of Lyons--were +ordered by Fouche, then a representative of the people in that city, to +be produced and publicly worshipped; and, under his particular auspices, +a grand fete was performed to the memory of this republican martyr, who +had been executed as an assassin. As part of this impious ceremony, an +ass, covered with a Bishop’s vestments, having on his head a mitre, and +the volumes of Holy Writ tied to his tail, paraded the streets. The +remains of Challiers were then burnt, and the ashes distributed among his +adorers; while the books were also consumed, and the ashes scattered in +the wind. Fouche proposed, after giving the ass some water to drink in a +sacred chalice, to terminate the festivity of the day by murdering all +the prisoners, amounting to seven thousand five hundred; but a sudden +storm prevented the execution of this diabolical proposition, and +dispersed the sacrilegious congregation. + + + + +LETTER XX. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Though all the Bonapartes were great favourites with Pius VII., +Madame Letitia, their mother, had a visible preference. In her +apartments he seemed most pleased to meet the family parties, as they +were called, because to them, except the Bonapartes, none but a few +select favourites were invited,--a distinction as much wished for and +envied as any other Court honour. After the Pope had fixed the evening +he would appear among them, Duroc made out a list, under the dictates of +Napoleon, of the chosen few destined to partake of the blessing of His +Holiness’s presence; this list was merely pro form, or as a compliment, +laid before him; and after his tacit approbation, the individuals were +informed, from the first chamberlain’s office, that they would be +honoured with admittance at such an hour, to such a company, and in such +an apartment. The dress in which they were to appear was also +prescribed. The parties usually met at six o’clock in the evening. On +the Pope’s entrance all persons, of both sexes, kneeled to receive his +blessing. Tea, ice, liqueurs, and confectionery were then served. In +the place of honour were three elevated elbow-chairs, and His Holiness +was seated between the Emperor and Empress, and seldom spoke to any one +to whom Napoleon did not previously address the word. The exploits of +Bonaparte, particularly his campaigns in Egypt, were the chief subjects +of conversation. Before eight o’clock the Pope always retired, +distributing his blessing to the kneeling audience, as on his entry. When +he was gone, card-tables were brought in, and play was permitted. Duroc +received his master’s orders how to distribute the places at the +different tables, what games were to be played, and the amount of the +sums to be staked. These were usually trifling and small compared to +what is daily risked in our fashionable circles. + +Often, after the Pope had returned to his own rooms, Madame Letitia +Bonaparte was admitted to assist at his private prayers. This lady, +whose intrigues and gallantry are proverbial in Corsica, has, now that +she is old (as is generally the case), turned devotee, and is surrounded +by hypocrites and impostors, who, under the mask of sanctity, deceive and +plunder her. Her antechambers are always full of priests; and her closet +and bedroom are crowded with relics, which she collected during her +journey to Italy last year. She might, if she chose, establish a +Catholic museum, and furnish it with a more curious collection, in its +sort, than any of our other museums contain. Of all the saints in our +calendar, there is not one of any notoriety who has not supplied her with +a finger, a toe, or some other part; or with a piece of a shirt, a +handkerchief, a sandal, or a winding-sheet. Even a bit of a pair of +breeches, said to have belonged to Saint Mathurin, whom many think was a +sans-cullotte, obtains her adoration on certain occasions. As none of +her children have yet arrived at the same height of faith as herself, she +has, in her will, bequeathed to the Pope all her relics, together with +eight hundred and seventy-nine Prayer-books, and four hundred and +forty-six Bibles, either in manuscript or of different editions. Her +favourite breviary, used only on great solemnities, was presented to her +by Cardinal Maury at Rome, and belonged, as it is said, formerly to Saint +Francois, whose commentary, written with his own hand, fills the margins; +though many, who with me adore him as a saint, doubt whether he could +either read or write. + +Not long ago she made, as she thought, an exceedingly valuable +acquisition. A priest arrived direct from the Holy City of Jerusalem, +well recommended by the inhabitants of the convents there, with whom he +pretended to have passed his youth. After prostrating himself before the +Pope, he waited on Madame Letitia Bonaparte. He told her that he had +brought with him from Syria the famous relic, the shoulder-bone of Saint +John the Baptist; but that, being in want of money for his voyage, he +borrowed upon it from a Grecian Bishop in Montenegro two hundred louis +d’or. This sum, and one hundred louis d’or besides, was immediately +given him; and within three months, for a large sum in addition to those +advanced, this precious relic was in Madame Letitia’s possession. + +Notwithstanding this lady’s care not to engage in her service any person +of either sex who cannot produce, not a certificate of civism from the +municipality as was formerly the case, but a certificate of Christianity, +and a billet of confession signed by the curate of the parish, she had +often been robbed, and the robbers had made particularly free with those +relics which were set in gold or in diamonds. She accused her daughter, +the Princesse Borghese, who often rallies the devotion of her mamma, and +who is more an amateur of the living than of the dead, of having played +her these tricks. The Princess informed Napoleon of her mother’s losses, +as well as of her own innocence, and asked him to apply to the police to +find out the thief, who no doubt was one of the pious rogues who almost +devoured their mother. + +On the next day Napoleon invited Madame Letitia to dinner, and Fouche had +orders to make a strict search, during her absence, among the persons +composing her household. Though he, on this occasion, did not find what +he was looking for, he made a discovery which very much mortified Madame +Letitia. + +Her first chambermaid, Rosina Gaglini, possessed both her esteem and +confidence, and had been sent for purposely from Ajaccio, in Corsica, on +account of her general renown for great piety, and a report that she was +an exclusive favourite with the Virgin Mary, by whose interference she +had even performed, it was said, some miracles; such as restoring stolen +goods, runaway cattle, lost children, and procuring prizes in the +lottery. Rosina was as relic-mad as her mistress; and as she had no +means to procure them otherwise, she determined to partake of her lady’s +by cutting off a small part of each relic of Madame Letitia’s principal +saints. These precious ‘morceaux’ she placed in a box upon which she +kneeled to say her prayers during the day; and which, for a +mortification, served her as a pillow during the night. Upon each of the +sacred bits she had affixed a label with the name of the saint it +belonged to, which occasioned the disclosure. When Madame Letitia heard +of this pious theft, she insisted on having the culprit immediately and +severely punished; and though the Princesse Borghese, as the innocent +cause of poor Rosina’s misfortune, interfered, and Rosina herself +promised never more to plunder saints, she was without mercy turned away, +and even denied money sufficient to carry her back to Corsica. Had she +made free with Madame Letitia’s plate or wardrobe, there is no doubt but +that she had been forgiven; but to presume to share with her those sacred +supports on her way to Paradise was a more unpardonable act with a +devotee than to steal from a lover the portrait of an adored mistress. + +In the meantime the police were upon the alert to discover the person +whom they suspected of having stolen the relics for the diamonds, and not +the diamonds for the relics. Among our fashionable and new saints, +surprising as you may think it, Madame de Genlis holds a distinguished +place; and she, too, is an amateur and collector of relics in proportion +to her means; and with her were found those missed by Madame Letitia. +Being asked to give up the name of him from whom she had purchased them, +she mentioned Abbe Saladin, the pretended priest from Jerusalem. He, in +his turn, was questioned, and by his answers gave rise to suspicion that +he himself was the thief. The person of whom he pretended to have bought +them was not to be found, nor was any one of such a description +remembered to have been seen anywhere. On being carried to prison, he +claimed the protection of Madame Letitia, and produced a letter in which +this lady had promised him a bishopric either in France or in Italy. When +she was informed of his situation, she applied to her son Napoleon for +his liberty, urging that a priest who from Jerusalem had brought with him +to Europe such an extraordinary relic as the shoulder of Saint John, +could not be culpable. + +Abbe Saladin had been examined by Real, who concluded, from the accent +and perfection with which he spoke the French language, that he was some +French adventurer who had imposed on the credulity and superstition of +Madame Letitia; and, therefore, threatened him with the rack if he did +not confess the truth. He continued, however, in his story, and was +going to be released upon an order from the Emperor, when a gendarme +recognized him as a person who, eight years before, had, under the name +of Lanoue, been condemned for theft and forgery to the galleys, whence he +had made his escape. Finding himself discovered, he avowed everything. +He said he had served in Egypt, in the guides of Bonaparte, but deserted +to the Turks and turned Mussulman, but afterwards returned to the bosom +of the Church at Jerusalem. There he persuaded the friars that he had +been a priest, and obtained the certificates which introduced him to the +Pope and to the Emperor’s mother; from whom he had received twelve +thousand livres for part of the jaw bone of a whale, which he had sold +her for the shoulder-bone of a saint. As the police believe the +certificates he has produced to be also forged, he is detained in prison +until an answer arrives from our Consul in Syria. + +Madame Letitia did not resign without tears the relic he had sold her; +and there is reason to believe that many other pieces of her collections, +worshipped by her as remains of saints, are equally genuine as this +shoulder-bone of Saint John. + + + + +LETTER XXI. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--That the population of this capital has, since the Revolution, +decreased near two hundred thousand souls, is not to be lamented. This +focus of corruption and profligacy is still too populous, though the +inhabitants do not amount to six hundred thousand; for I am well +persuaded that more crimes and excesses of every description are +committed here in one year than are perpetrated in the same period of +time in all other European capitals put together. From not reading in +our newspapers, as we do in yours, of the robberies, murders, and frauds +discovered and punished, you may, perhaps, be inclined to suppose my +assertion erroneous or exaggerated; but it is the policy of our present +Government to labour as much as possible in the dark; that is to say, to +prevent, where it can be done, all publicity of anything directly or +indirectly tending to inculpate it of oppression, tyranny, or even +negligence; and to conceal the immorality of the people so nearly +connected with its own immoral power. It is true that many vices and +crimes here, as well as everywhere else, are unavoidable, and the natural +consequences of corruption, and might be promulgated, therefore, without +attaching any reproach to our rulers; but they are so accustomed to the +mystery adherent to tyranny, that even the most unimportant lawsuit, +uninteresting intrigue, elopement, or divorce, are never allowed to be +mentioned in our journals, without a previous permission from the prefect +of police, who very seldom grants it. + +Most of the enormities now deplored in this country are the consequence +of moral and religious licentiousness, that have succeeded to political +anarchy, or rather were produced by it, and survive it. Add to this the +numerous examples of the impunity of guilt, prosperity of infamy, misery +of honesty, and sufferings of virtue, and you will not think it +surprising that, notwithstanding half a million of spies, our roads and +streets are covered with robbers and assassins, and our scaffolds with +victims. + +The undeniable TRUTH that this city alone is watched by one hundred +thousand spies (so that, when in company with six persons, one has reason +to dread the presence of one spy), proclaims at once the morality of the +governors and that of the governed: were the former just, and the latter +good, this mass of vileness would never be employed; or, if employed, +wickedness would expire for want of fuel, and the hydra of tyranny perish +by its own pestilential breath. + +According to the official registers published by Manuel in 1792, the +number of spies all over France during the reign of Louis XVI. was +nineteen thousand three hundred (five thousand less than under Louis +XV.); and of this number six thousand were distributed in Paris, and in a +circle of four leagues around it, including Versailles. You will +undoubtedly ask me, even allowing for our extension of territory, what +can be the cause of this disproportionate increase of distrust and +depravity? I will explain it as far as my abilities admit, according to +the opinions of others compared with my own remarks. + +When factions usurped the supremacy of the Kings, vigilance augmented +with insecurity; and almost everybody who was not an opposer, who refused +being an accomplice, or feared to be a victim, was obliged to serve as an +informer and vilify himself by becoming a spy. The rapidity with which +parties followed and destroyed each other made the criminals as numerous +as the sufferings of honour and loyalty innumerable; and I am sorry to +say few persons exist in my degraded country, whose firmness and +constancy were proof against repeated torments and trials, and who, to +preserve their lives, did not renounce their principles and probity. + +Under the reign of Robespierre and of the Committee of Public Safety, +every member of Government, of the clubs, of the tribunals, and of the +communes, had his private spies; but no regular register was kept of +their exact number. Under the Directory a Police Minister was nominated, +and a police office established. According to the declaration of the +Police Minister, Cochon, in 1797, the spies, who were then regularly +paid, amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand; and of these, thirty +thousand did duty in this capital. How many there were in 1799, when +Fouche, for the first time, was appointed a chief of the department of +police, is not known, but suppose them doubled within two years; their +increase since is nevertheless immense, considering that France has +enjoyed upwards of four years’ uninterrupted Continental peace, and has +not been exposed to any internal convulsions during the same period. + +You may, perhaps, object that France is not rich enough to keep up as +numerous an army of spies as of soldiers; because the expense of the +former must be triple the amount of the latter. Were all these spies, +now called police agents, or agents of the secret police, paid regular +salaries, your objection would stand, but most of them have no other +reward than the protection of the police; being employed in +gambling--houses, in coffee--houses, in taverns, at the theatres, in the +public gardens, in the hotels, in lottery offices, at pawnbrokers’, in +brothels, and in bathing-houses, where the proprietors or masters of +these establishments pay them. They receive nothing from the police, but +when they are enabled to make any great discoveries, those who have been +robbed or defrauded, and to whom they have been serviceable, are, indeed, +obliged to present them with some douceur, fixed by the police at the +rate of the value recovered; but such occurrences are merely accidental. +To these are to be added all individuals of either sex who by the law are +obliged to obtain from the police licenses to exercise their trade, as +pedlars, tinkers, masters of puppet-shows, wild beasts, etc. These, on +receiving their passes, inscribe themselves, and take the oaths as spies; +and are forced to send in their regular reports of what they hear or see. +Prostitutes, who, all over this country, are under the necessity of +paying for regular licenses, are obliged also to give information, from +time to time, to the nearest police commissary of what they observe or +what they know respecting their visitors, neighbours, etc. The number of +unfortunate women of this description who had taken out licenses during +the year 12, or from September, 1803, to September, 1804, is officially +known to have amounted to two hundred and twenty thousand, of whom forty +thousand were employed by the armies. + +It is no secret that Napoleon Bonaparte has his secret spies upon his +wife, his brothers, his sisters, his Ministers, Senators, and other +public functionaries, and also upon his public spies. These are all +under his own immediate control and that of Duroc, who does the duty of +his private Police Minister, and in whom he confides more than even in +the members of his own family. In imitation of their master, each of the +other Bonapartes, and each of the Ministers, have their individual spies, +and are watched in their turn by the spies of their secretaries, clerks, +etc. This infamous custom of espionage goes ad infinitum, and appertains +almost to the establishment and to the suite of each man in place, who +does not think himself secure a moment if he remains in ignorance of the +transactions of his rivals, as well as of those of his equals and +superiors. + +Fouche and Talleyrand are reported to have disagreed before Bonaparte on +some subject or other, which is frequently the case. The former, +offended at some doubts thrown out about his intelligence, said to the +latter: + +“I am so well served that I can tell you the name of every man or woman +you have conversed with, both yesterday and today; where you saw them, +and how long you remained with them or they with you.” + +“If such commonplace espionage evinces any merit,” retorted Talleyrand, +“I am even here your superior; because I know not only what has already +passed with you and in your house, but what is to pass hereafter. I can +inform you of every dish you had for your dinners this week, who provided +these dinners, and who is expected to provide your meats to-morrow and +the day after. I can whisper you, in confidence, who slept with Madame +Fouche last night, and who has an appointment with her to-night.” + +Here Bonaparte interrupted them, in his usual dignified language: “Hold +both your tongues; you are both great rogues, but I am at a loss to +decide which is the greatest.” + +Without uttering a single syllable, Talleyrand made a profound reverence +to Fouche. Bonaparte smiled, and advised them to live upon good terms if +they were desirous of keeping their places. + +A man of the name of Ducroux, who, under Robespierre, had from a barber +been made a general, and afterwards broken for his ignorance, was engaged +by Bonaparte as a private spy upon Fouche, who employed him in the same +capacity upon Bonaparte. His reports were always written, and delivered +in person into the hands both of the Emperor and of his Minister. One +morning he, by mistake, gave to Bonaparte the report of him instead of +that intended for him. Bonaparte began to read: “Yesterday, at nine +o’clock, the Emperor acted the complete part of a madman; he swore, +stamped, kicked, foamed, roared--“, here poor Ducroux threw himself at +Bonaparte’s feet, and called for mercy for the terrible blunder he had +committed. + +“For whom,” asked Bonaparte, “did you intend this treasonable +correspondence? I suppose it is composed for some English or Russian +agent, for Pitt or for Marcoff. How long have you conspired with my +enemies, and where are your accomplices?” + +“For God’s sake, hear me, Sire,” prayed Ducroux. “Your Majesty’s enemies +have always been mine. The report is for one of your best friends; but +were I to mention his name, he will ruin me.” + +“Speak out, or you die!” vociferated Bonaparte. + +“Well, Sire, it is for Fouche--for nobody else but Fouche.” + +Bonaparte then rang the bell for Duroc, whom he ordered to see Ducroux +shut up in a dungeon, and afterwards to send for Fouche. The Minister +denied all knowledge of Ducroux, who, after undergoing several tortures, +expiated his blunder upon the rack. + + + + +LETTER XXII. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--The Pope, during his stay here, rose regularly every morning at +five o’clock, and went to bed every night before ten. The first hours of +the day he passed in prayers, breakfasted after the Mass was over, +transacted business till one, and dined at two. Between three and four +he took--his siesta, or nap; afterwards he attended the vespers, and when +they were over he passed an hour with the Bonapartes, or admitted to his +presence some members of the clergy. The day was concluded, as it was +begun, with some hours of devotion. + +Had Pius VII. possessed the character of a Pius VI., he would never have +crossed the Alps; or had he been gifted with the spirit and talents of +Sextus V. or Leo X., he would never have entered France to crown +Bonaparte, without previously stipulating for himself that he should be +put in possession of the sovereignty of Italy. You can form no idea what +great stress was laid on this act of His Holiness by the Bonaparte +family, and what sacrifices were destined to be made had any serious and +obstinate resistance been apprehended. Threats were, indeed, employed +personally against the Pope, and bribes distributed to the refractory +members of the Sacred College; but it was no secret, either here or at +Milan, that Cardinal Fesch had carte blanche with regard to the +restoration of all provinces seized, since the war, from the Holy See, or +full territorial indemnities in their place, at the expense of Naples and +Tuscany; and, indeed, whatever the Roman pontiff has lost in Italy has +been taken from him by Bonaparte alone, and the apparent generosity which +policy and ambition required would, therefore, have merely been an act of +justice. Confiding foolishly in the honour and rectitude of Napoleon, +without any other security than the assertion of Fesch, Pius VII., within +a fortnight’s stay in France, found the great difference between the +promises held out to him when residing as a Sovereign at Rome, and their +accomplishment when he had so far forgotten himself and his sacred +dignity as to inhabit as a guest the castle of the Tuileries. + +Pius VII. mentioned, the day after his arrival at Fontainebleau, that it +would be a gratification to his own subjects were he enabled to +communicate to them the restoration of the former ecclesiastical domains, +as a free gift of the Emperor of the French, at their first conference, +as they would then be as well convinced of Napoleon’s good faith as he +was himself. In answer, His Holiness was informed that the Emperor was +unprepared to discuss political subjects, being totally occupied with the +thoughts how to entertain worthily his high visitor, and to acknowledge +becomingly the great honour done and the great happiness conferred on him +by such a visit. As soon as the ceremony of the coronation was over, +everything, he hoped, would be arranged to the reciprocal satisfaction of +both parties. + +About the middle of last December, Bonaparte was again asked to fix a day +when the points of negotiation between him and the Pope could be +discussed and settled. Cardinal Caprara, who made this demand, was +referred to Talleyrand, who denied having yet any instructions, though in +daily expectation of them. Thus the time went on until February, when +Bonaparte informed the Pope of his determination to assume the crown of +Italy, and of some new changes necessary, in consequence on the other +side of the Alps. + +Either seduced by caresses, or blinded by his unaccountable partiality +for Bonaparte, Pius VII., if left to himself, would not only have +renounced all his former claims, but probably have made new sacrifices to +this idol of his infatuation. Fortunately, his counsellors were wiser +and less deluded, otherwise the remaining patrimony of Saint Peter might +now have constituted a part of Napoleon’s inheritance, in Italy. “Am I +not, Holy Father!” exclaimed the Emperor frequently, “your son, the work +of your hand? And if the pages of history assign me any glory, must it +not be shared with you--or rather, do you not share it with me? Anything +that impedes my successes, or makes the continuance of my power uncertain +or hazardous, reflects on you and is dangerous to you. With me you will +shine or be obscured, rise or fall. Could you, therefore, hesitate (were +I to demonstrate to you the necessity of such a measure) to remove the +Papal See to Avignon, where it formerly was and continued for centuries, +and to enlarge the limits of my kingdom of Italy with the Ecclesiastical +States? Can you believe my throne at Milan safe as long as it is not the +sole throne of Italy? Do you expect to govern at Rome when I cease to +reign at Milan? No, Holy Father! the pontiff who placed the crown on my +head, should it be shaken, will fall to rise no more.” If what Cardinal +Caprara said can be depended upon, Bonaparte frequently used to +intimidate or flatter the Pope in this manner. + +The representations of Cardinal Caprara changed Napoleon’s first +intention of being again crowned by the Pope as a King of Italy. His +crafty Eminence observed that, according to the Emperor’s own +declaration, it was not intended that the crowns of France and Italy +should continue united. But were he to cede one supremacy confirmed by +the sacred hands of a pontiff, the partisans of the Bourbons, or the +factions in France, would then take advantage to diminish in the opinion +of the people his right and the sacredness of His Holiness, and perhaps +make even the crown of the French Empire unstable. He did not deny that +Charlemagne was crowned by a pontiff in Italy, but this ceremony was +performed at Rome, where that Prince was proclaimed an Emperor of the +Holy Roman and German Empires, as well as a King of Lombardy and Italy. +Might not circumstances turn out so favourably for Napoleon the First +that he also might be inaugurated an Emperor of the Germans as well as of +the French? This last compliment, or prophecy, as Bonaparte’s courtiers +call it (what a prophet a Caprara!), had the desired effect, as it +flattered equally Napoleon’s ambition and vanity. For fear, however, of +Talleyrand and other anti-Catholic counsellors, who wanted him to +consider the Pope merely as his first almoner, and to treat him as all +other persons of his household, His Eminence sent His Holiness as soon as +possible packing for Rome. Though I am neither a cardinal nor a prophet, +should you and I live twenty years longer, and the other Continental +Sovereigns not alter their present incomprehensible conduct, I can, +without any risk, predict that we shall see Rome salute the second +Charlemagne an Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, if before that time +death does not put a period to his encroachments and gigantic plans. + + + + +LETTER XXIII. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--No Sovereigns have, since the Revolution, displayed more +grandeur of soul, and evinced more firmness of character, than the +present King and Queen of Naples. Encompassed by a revolutionary volcano +more dangerous than the physical one, though disturbed at home and +defeated abroad, they have neither been disgraced nor dishonoured. They +have, indeed, with all other Italian Princes, suffered territorial and +pecuniary losses; but these were not yielded through cowardice or +treachery, but enforced by an absolute necessity, the consequence of the +desertion or inefficacy of allies. + +But Their Sicilian Majesties have been careful, as much as they were +able, to exclude from their councils both German Illuminati and Italian +philosophers. Their principal Minister, Chevalier Acton, has proved +himself worthy of the confidence with which his Sovereigns have honoured +him, and of the hatred with which he has been honoured by all +revolutionists--the natural and irreconcilable enemies of all legitimate +sovereignty. + +Chevalier Acton is the son of an Irish physician, who first was +established at Besancon in France, and afterwards at Leghorn in Italy. He +is indebted for his present elevation to his own merit and to the +penetration of the Queen of Sardinia, who discovered in him, when young, +those qualities which have since distinguished him as a faithful +counsellor and an able Minister. As loyal as wise, he was, from 1789, an +enemy to the French Revolution. He easily foresaw that the specious +promise of regeneration held out by impostors or fools to delude the +ignorant, the credulous and the weak, would end in that universal +corruption and general overthrow which we since have witnessed, and the +effects of which our grandchildren will mourn. + +When our Republic, in April, 1792, declared war against Austria, and +when, in the September following, the dominions of His Sardinian Majesty +were invaded by our troops, the neutrality of Naples continued, and was +acknowledged by our Government. On the 16th of December following, our +fleet from Toulon, however, cast anchor in the Bay of Naples, and a +grenadier of the name of Belleville was landed as an Ambassador of the +French Republic, and threatened a bombardment in case the demands he +presented in a note were not acceded to within twenty-four hours. Being +attacked in time of peace, and taken by surprise, the Court of Naples was +unable to make any resistance, and Chevalier Acton informed our grenadier +Ambassador that this note had been laid before his Sovereign, who had +ordered him to sign an agreement in consequence. + +When in February, 1793, the King of Naples was obliged, for his own +safety, to join the league against France, Acton concluded a treaty with +your country, and informed the Sublime Porte of the machinations of our +Committee of Public Safety in sending De Semonville as an Ambassador to +Constantinople, which, perhaps, prevented the Divan from attacking +Austria, and occasioned the capture and imprisonment of our emissary. + +Whenever our Government has, by the success of our arms, been enabled to +dictate to Naples, the removal of Acton has been insisted upon; but +though he has ceased to transact business ostensibly as a Minister, his +influence has always, and deservedly, continued unimpaired, and he still +enjoys the just confidence and esteem of his Prince. + +But is His Sicilian Majesty equally well represented at the Cabinet of +St. Cloud as served in his own capital? I have told you before that +Bonaparte is extremely particular in his acceptance of foreign diplomatic +agents, and admits none near his person whom he does not believe to be +well inclined to him. + +Marquis de Gallo, the Ambassador of the King of the Two Sicilies to the +Emperor of the French, is no novice in the diplomatic career. His +Sovereign has employed him for these fifteen years in the most delicate +negotiations, and nominated him in May, 1795, a Minister of the Foreign +Department, and a successor of Chevalier Acton, an honour which he +declined. In the summer and autumn, 1797, Marquis de Gallo assisted at +the conferences at Udine, and signed, with the Austrian +plenipotentiaries, the Peace of Campo Formio, on the 17th of October, +1797. + +During 1798, 1799, and 1800 he resided as Neapolitan Ambassador at +Vienna, and was again entrusted by his Sovereign with several important +transactions with Austria and Russia. After a peace had been agreed to +between France and the Two Sicilies, in March, 1801, and the Court of +Naples had every reason to fear, and of course to please, the Court of +St. Cloud, he obtained his present appointment, and is one of the few +foreign Ambassadors here who has escaped both Bonaparte’s private +admonitions in the diplomatic circle and public lectures in Madame +Bonaparte’s drawing-room. + +This escape is so much the more fortunate and singular as our Government +is far from being content with the mutinous spirit (as Bonaparte calls +it) of the Government of Naples, which, considering its precarious and +enfeebled state, with a French army in the heart of the kingdom, has +resisted our attempts and insults with a courage and dignity that demand +our admiration. + +It is said that the Marquis de Gallo is not entirely free from some +taints of modern philosophy, and that he, therefore, does not consider +the consequences of our innovations so fatal as most loyal men judge +them; nor thinks a sans-culotte Emperor more dangerous to civilized +society than a sans-culotte sovereign people. + +It is evident from the names and rank of its partisans that the +Revolution of Naples in 1799 was different in many respects from that of +every other country in Europe; for, although the political convulsions +seem to have originated among the middle classes of the community, the +extremes of society were everywhere else made to act against each other; +the rabble being the first to triumph, and the nobles to succumb. But +here, on the contrary, the lazzaroni, composed of the lowest portion of +the population of a luxurious capital, appear to have been the most +strenuous, and, indeed, almost the only supporters of royalty; while the +great families, instead of being indignant at novelties which levelled +them, in point of political rights, with the meanest subject, eagerly +embraced the opportunity of altering that form of Government which alone +made them great. It is, however, but justice to say that, though Marquis +de Gallo gained the good graces of Bonaparte and of France in 1797, he +was never, directly or indirectly, inculpated in the revolutionary +transactions of his countrymen in 1799, when he resided at Vienna; and +indeed, after all, it is not improbable that he disguises his real +sentiments the better to, serve his country, and by that means has +imposed on Bonaparte and acquired his favour. + +The address and manners of a courtier are allowed Marquis de Gallo by all +who know him, though few admit that he possesses any talents as a +statesman. He is said to have read a great deal, to possess a good +memory and no bad judgment; but that, notwithstanding this, all his +knowledge is superficial. + + + + +LETTER XXIV. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--You have perhaps heard that Napoleon Bonaparte, with all his +brothers and sisters, was last Christmas married by the Pope according to +the Roman Catholic rite, being previously only united according to the +municipal laws of the French Republic, which consider marriage only as a +civil contract. During the last two months of His Holiness’s residence +here, hardly a day passed that he was not petitioned to perform the same +ceremony for our conscientious grand functionaries and courtiers, which +he, however, according to the Emperor’s desire, declined. But his +Cardinals were not under the same restrictions, and to an attentive +observer who has watched the progress of the Revolution and not lost +sight of its actors, nothing could appear more ridiculous, nothing could +inspire more contempt of our versatility and inconsistency, than to +remark among the foremost to demand the nuptial benediction, a +Talleyrand, a Fouche, a Real, an Augereau, a Chaptal, a Reubel, a Lasnes, +a Bessieres, a Thuriot, a Treilhard, a Merlin, with a hundred other +equally notorious revolutionists, who were, twelve or fifteen years ago, +not only the first to declaim against religious ceremonies as ridiculous, +but against religion itself as useless, whose motives produced, and whose +votes sanctioned, those decrees of the legislature which proscribed the +worship, together with its priests and sectaries. But then the fashion of +barefaced infidelity was as much the order of the day as that of external +sanctity is at present. I leave to casuists the decision whether to the +morals of the people, naked atheism, exposed with all its deformities, is +more or less hurtful than concealed atheism, covered with the garb of +piety; but for my part I think the noonday murderer less guilty and much +less detestable than the midnight assassin who stabs in the dark. + +A hundred anecdotes are daily related of our new saints and fashionable +devotees. They would be laughable were they not scandalous, and +contemptible did they not add duplicity to our other vices. + +Bonaparte and his wife go now every morning to hear Mass, and on every +Sunday or holiday they regularly attend at vespers, when, of course, all +those who wish to be distinguished for their piety or rewarded for their +flattery never neglect to be present. In the evening of last Christmas +Day, the Imperial chapel was, as usual, early crowded in expectation of +Their Majesties, when the chamberlain, Salmatoris, entered, and said to +the captain of the guard, loud enough to be heard by the audience, “The +Emperor and the Empress have just resolved not to come here to-night, His +Majesty being engaged by some unexpected business, and the Empress not +wishing to come without her consort.” In ten minutes the chapel was +emptied of every person but the guards, the priests, and three old women +who had nowhere else to pass an hour. At the arrival of our Sovereigns, +they were astonished at the unusual vacancy, and indignantly regarded +each other. After vespers were over, one of Bonaparte’s spies informed +him of the cause, when, instead of punishing the despicable and +hypocritical courtiers, or showing them any signs of his displeasure, he +ordered Salmatoris under arrest, who would have experienced a complete +disgrace had not his friend Duroc interfered and made his peace. + +At another time, on a Sunday, Fouche entered the chapel in the midst of +the service, and whispered to Bonaparte, who immediately beckoned to his +lord-in-waiting and to Duroc. These both left the Imperial chapel, and +returning in a few minutes at the head of five grenadiers, entered the +grand gallery, generally frequented by the most scrupulous devotees, and +seized every book. The cause of this domiciliary visit was an anonymous +communication received by the Minister of Police, stating that libels +against the Imperial family, bound in the form of Prayer-books, had been +placed there. No such libels were, however, found; but of one hundred +and sixty pretended breviaries, twenty-eight were volumes of novels, +sixteen were poems, and eleven were indecent books. It is not necessary +to add that the proprietors of these edifying works never reclaimed them. +The opinions are divided here, whether this curious discovery originated +in the malice of Fouche, or whether Talleyrand took this method of duping +his rival, and at the same time of gratifying his own malignity. Certain +it is that Fouche was severely reprimanded for the transaction, and that +Bonaparte was highly offended at the disclosure. + +The common people, and the middle classes, are neither so ostentatiously +devout, nor so basely perverse. They go to church as to the play, to +gape at others, or to be stared at themselves; to pass the time, and to +admire the show; and they do not conceal that such is the object of their +attendance. Their indifference about futurity equals their ignorance of +religious duties. Our revolutionary charlatans have as much brutalized +their understanding as corrupted their hearts. They heard the Grand Mass +said by the Pope with the same feelings as they formerly heard +Robespierre proclaim himself a high priest of a Supreme Being; and they +looked at the Imperial processions with the same insensibility as they +once saw the daily caravans of victims passing for execution. + +Even in Bonaparte’s own guard, and among the officers of his household +troops, several examples of rigour were necessary before they would go to +any place of worship, or suffer in their corps any almoners; but now, +after being drilled into a belief of Christianity, they march to the Mass +as to a parade or to a review. With any other people, Bonaparte would +not so easily have changed in two years the customs of twelve, and forced +military men to kneel before priests, whom they but the other day were +encouraged to hunt and massacre like wild beasts. + +On the day of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin, a company of gendarmes +d’Elite, headed by their officers, received publicly, and by orders, the +sacrament; when the Abbe Frelaud approached Lieutenant Ledoux, he fell +into convulsions, and was carried into the sacristy. After being a +little recovered, he looked round him, as if afraid that some one would +injure him, and said to the Grand Vicar Clauset, who inquired the cause +of his accident and terror: “Good God! that man who gave me, on the 2d of +September, 1792, in the convent of the Carenes, the five wounds from +which I still suffer, is now an officer, and was about to receive the +sacrament from my hands.” When this occurrence was reported to +Bonaparte, Ledoux was dismissed; but Abbe Frelaud was transported, and +the Grand Vicar Clauset sent to the Temple, for the scandal their +indiscretion had caused. This act was certainly as unjust towards him +who was bayoneted at the altar, as towards those who served the altar +under the protection of the bayonets. + + + + +LETTER XXV. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Although the seizure of Sir George Rumbold might in your +country, as well as everywhere else, inspire indignation, it could +nowhere justly excite surprise. We had crossed the Rhine seven months +before to seize the Duc d’Enghien; and when any prey invited, the passing +of the Elbe was only a natural consequence of the former outrage, of +audacity on our part, and of endurance or indifference on the part of +other Continental States. Talleyrand’s note at Aix-la-Chapelle had also +informed Europe that we had adopted a new and military diplomacy, and, in +confounding power with right, would respect no privileges at variance +with our ambition, interest or, suspicions, nor any independence it was +thought useful or convenient for us to invade. + +It was reported here, at the time, that Bonaparte was much offended with +General Frere, who commanded this political expedition, for permitting +Sir George’s servant to accompany his master, as Fouche and Real had +already tortures prepared and racks waiting, and after forcing your agent +to speak out, would have announced his sudden death, either by his own +hands or by a coup-de-sang, before any Prussian note could require his +release. The known morality of our Government must have removed all +doubts of the veracity of this assertion; a man might, besides, from the +fatigues of a long journey, or from other causes, expire suddenly; but +the exit of two, in the same circumstances, would have been thought at +least extraordinary, even by our friends, and suspicious by our enemies. + +The official declaration of Rheinhard (our Minister to the Circle of +Lower Saxony) to the Senate at Hamburg, in which he disavowed all +knowledge on the subject of the capture of Sir George Rumbold, occasioned +his disgrace. This man, a subject of the Elector of Wurtemberg by birth, +is one of the negative accomplices of the criminals of France who, since +the Revolution, have desolated Europe. He began in 1792 his diplomatic +career, under Chauvelin and Talleyrand, in London, and has since been the +tool of every faction in power. In 1796 he was appointed a Minister to +the Hanse Towns, and, without knowing why, he was hailed as the point of +rally to all the philosophers, philanthropists, Illuminati and other +revolutionary amateurs, with which the North of Germany, Poland, Denmark, +and Sweden then abounded. + +A citizen of Hamburg--or rather, of the world--of the name of Seveking, +bestowed on him the hand of a sister; and though he is not accused of +avarice, some of the contributions extorted by our Government from the +neutral Hanse Towns are said to have been left behind in his coffers +instead of being forwarded to this capital. Either on this account, or +for some other reason, he was recalled from Hamburg in January, 1797, and +remained unemployed until the latter part of 1798, when he was sent as +Minister to Tuscany. + +When, in the summer of 1799, Talleyrand was forced by the Jacobins to +resign his place as a Minister of the Foreign Department, he had the +adroitness to procure Rheinhard to be nominated his successor, so that, +though no longer nominally the Minister, he still continued to influence +the decisions of our Government as much as if still in office, because, +though not without parts, Rheinhard has neither energy of character nor +consistency of conduct. He is so much accustomed, and wants so much to +be governed, that in 1796, at Hamburg, even the then emigrants, Madame de +Genlis and General Valence, directed him, when he was not ruled or +dictated to by his wife or brother-in-law. + +In 1800 Bonaparte sent him as a representative to the Helvetian Republic, +and in 1802, again to Hamburg, where he was last winter superseded by +Bourrienne, and ordered to an inferior station at the: Electoral Court at +Dresden. Rheinhard will never become one of those daring diplomatic +banditti whom revolutionary Governments always employ in preference. He +has some moral principles, and, though not religious, is rather +scrupulous. He would certainly sooner resign than undertake to remove by +poison, or by the steel of a bravo, a rival of his own or a person +obnoxious to his employers. He would never, indeed, betray the secrets +of his Government if he understood they intended to rob a despatch or to +atop a messenger; but no allurements whatever would induce him to head +the parties perpetrating these acts of our modern diplomacy. + +Our present Minister at Hamburg (Bourrienne) is far from being so nice. A +revolutionist from the beginning of the Revolution, he shared, with the +partisans of La Fayette, imprisonment under Robespierre, and escaped +death only by emigration. Recalled afterwards by his friend, the late +Director (Barras), he acted as a kind of secretary to him until 1796, +when Bonaparte demanded him, having known him at the military college. +During all Bonaparte’s campaigns in Italy, Egypt, and Syria, he was his +sole and confidential secretary--a situation which he lost in 1802, when +Talleyrand denounced his corruption and cupidity because he had rivalled +him in speculating in the funds and profiting by the information which +his place afforded him. He was then made a Counsellor of State, but in +1803 he was involved in the fraudulent bankruptcy of one of our principal +houses to the amount of a million of livres--and, from his correspondence +with it, some reasons appeared for the suspicion that he frequently had +committed a breach of confidence against his master, who, after erasing +his name from among the Counsellors of State, had him conveyed a prisoner +to the Temple, where he remained six months. A small volume, called Le +Livre Rouge of the Consular Court, made its appearance about that time, +and contained some articles which gave Bonaparte reason to suppose that +Bourrienne was its author. On being questioned by the Grand Judge +Regnier and the Minister Fouce, before whom he was carried, he avowed +that he had written it, but denied that he had any intention of making it +public. As to its having found its way to the press during his +confinement, that could only be ascribed to the ill-will or treachery of +those police agents who inspected his papers and put their seals upon +them. “Tell Bonaparte,” said he, “that, had I been inclined to injure +him in the public opinion, I should not have stooped to such trifles as +Le Livre Rouge, while I have deposited with a friend his original orders, +letters, and other curious documents as materials for an edifying history +of our military hospitals during the campaigns of Italy and Syria all +authentic testimonies of his humanity for the wounded and dying French +soldiers.” + +After the answers of this interrogatory had been laid before Bonaparte, +his brother Joseph was sent to the Temple to negotiate with Bourrienne, +who was offered his liberty and a prefecture if he would give up all the +original papers that, as a private secretary, he had had opportunity to +collect. + +“These papers,” answered Bourrienne, “are my only security against your +brother’s wrath and his assassins. Were I weak enough to deliver them up +to-day, to-morrow, probably, I should no longer be counted among the +living; but I have now taken my measures so effectually that, were I +murdered to-day, these originals would be printed to-morrow. If Napoleon +does not confide in my word of honour, he may trust to an assurance of +discretion, with which my own interest is nearly connected. If he +suspects me of having wronged him, he is convinced also of the eminent +services I have rendered him, sufficient surely to outweigh his present +suspicion. Let him again employ me in any post worthy of him and of me, +and he shall soon see how much I will endeavour to regain his +confidence.” + +Shortly afterwards Bourrienne was released, and a pension, equal to the +salary of a Counsellor of State; was granted him until some suitable +place became vacant. On Champagny’s being appointed a Minister of the +Home Department, the embassy at Vienna was demanded by Bourrienne, but +refused, as previously promised to La Rochefoucauld, our late Minister at +Dresden. When Rheinhard, in a kind of disgrace, was transferred to that +relatively insignificant post, Bourrienne was ordered, with extensive +instructions, to Hamburg. The Senate soon found the difference between a +timid and honest Minister, and an unprincipled and crafty intriguer. New +loans were immediately required from Hanover; but hardly were these +acquitted, than fresh extortions were insisted on. In some secret +conferences Bourrienne is, however, said to have hinted that some +douceurs were expected for alleviating the rigour of his instructions. +This hint has, no doubt, been taken, because he suddenly altered his +conduct, and instead of hunting the purses of the Germans, pursued the +persons of his emigrated countrymen; and, in a memorial, demanded the +expulsion of all Frenchmen who were not registered and protected by him, +under pretence that every one of them who declined the honour of being a +subject of Bonaparte, must be a traitor against the French Government and +his country. + +Bourrienne is now stated to have connected himself with several +stock-jobbers, both in Germany, Holland, and England; and already to have +pocketed considerable sums by such connections. It is, however, not to +be forgotten that several houses have been ruined in this capital by the +profits allowed him, who always refused to share their losses, but, +whatever were the consequences, enforced to its full amount the payment +of that value which he chose to set on his communications. + +A place in France would, no doubt, have been preferable to Bourrienne, +particularly one near the person of Bonaparte. But if nothing else +prevented the accomplishment of his wishes, his long familiarity with all +the Bonapartes, whom he always treated as equals, and even now (with the +exception of Napoleon) does not think his superiors, will long remain an +insurmountable barrier. + +I cannot comprehend how Bonaparte (who is certainly no bad judge of men) +could so long confide in Bourrienne, who, with the usual presumption of +my countrymen, is continually boasting, to a degree that borders on +indiscretion, and, by an artful questioner, may easily be lead to +overstep those bounds. Most of the particulars of his quarrel with +Napoleon I heard him relate himself, as a proof of his great consequence, +in a company of forty individuals, many of whom were unknown to him. On +the first discovery which Bonaparte made of Bourrienne’s infidelity, +Talleyrand complimented him upon not having suffered from it. “Do you +not see,” answered Bonaparte, “that it is also one of the extraordinary +gifts of my extraordinary good fortune? + +“Even traitors are unable to betray me. Plots respect me as much as +bullets.” I need not tell you that Fortune is the sole divinity +sincerely worshipped by Napoleon. + + + + +LETTER XXVI. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Joseph Bonaparte leads a much more retired life, and sees less +company, than any of his brothers or sisters. Except the members of his +own family, he but seldom invites any guests, nor has Madame Joseph those +regular assemblies and circles which Madame Napoleon and Madame Louis +Bonaparte have. His hospitality is, however, greater at his countryseat +Morfontaine than at his hotel here. Those whom he likes, or does not +mistrust (who, by the bye, are very few), may visit him without much +formality in the country, and prolong their stay, according to their own +inclination or discretion; but they must come without their servants, or +send them away on their arrival. + +As soon as an agreeable visitor presents himself, it is the etiquette of +the house to consider him as an inmate; but to allow him at the same time +a perfect liberty to dispose of his hours and his person as suits his +convenience or caprice. In this extensive and superb mansion a suite of +apartments is assigned him, with a valet-de--chambre, a lackey, a +coachman, a groom, and a jockey, all under his own exclusive command. He +has allotted him a chariot, a gig, and riding horses, if he prefers such +an exercise. A catalogue is given him of the library of the chateau; and +every morning he is informed what persons compose the company at +breakfast, dinner, and supper, and of the hours of these different +repasts. A bill of fare is at the same time presented to him, and he is +asked to point out those dishes to which he gives the preference, and to +declare whether he chooses to join the company or to be served in his own +rooms. + +During the summer season, players from the different theatres of Paris +are paid to perform three times in the week; and each guest, according to +the period of his arrival, is asked, in his turn, to command either a +comedy or a tragedy, a farce or a ballet. Twice in the week concerts are +executed by the first performers of the opera-bouffe; and twice in the +week invitations to tea-parties are sent to some of the neighbours, or +accepted from them. + +Besides four billiard-tables, there are other gambling-tables for Rouge +et Noir, Trente et Quarante, Faro, La Roulette, Birribi, and other games +of hazard. The bankers are young men from Corsica, to whom Joseph, who +advances the money, allows all the gain, while he alone suffers the loss. +Those who are inclined may play from morning till night, and from night +till morning, without interruption, as no one interferes. Should Joseph +hear that any person has been too severely treated by Fortune, or +suspects that he has not much cash remaining, some rouleaux of napoleons +d’or are placed on the table of his dressing-room, which he may use or +leave untouched, as he judges proper. + +The hours of Joseph Bonaparte are neither so late as yours in England, +nor so early as they were formerly in France. Breakfast is ready served +at ten o’clock, dinner at four, and supper at nine. Before midnight he +retires to bed with his family, but visitors do as they like and follow +their own usual hours, and their servants are obliged to wait for them. + +When any business calls Joseph away, either to preside in the Senate +here, or to travel in the provinces, he notifies the visitors, telling +them at the same time not to displace themselves on account of his +absence, but wait till his return, as they would not observe any +difference in the economy of his house, of which Madame Joseph always +does the honours, or, in her absence, some lady appointed by her. + +Last year, when Joseph first assumed a military rank, he passed nearly +four months with the army of England on the coast or in Brabant. On his +return, all his visitors were gone, except a young poet of the name of +Montaigne, who does not want genius, but who is rather too fond of the +bottle. Joseph is considered the best gourmet or connoisseur in liquors +and wines of this capital, and Montaigne found his Champagne and burgundy +so excellent that he never once went to bed that he was not heartily +intoxicated. But the best of the story is that he employed his mornings +in composing a poem holding out to abhorrence the disgusting vice of +drunkenness, and presented it to Joseph, requesting permission to +dedicate it to him when published. To those who have read it, or only +seen extracts from it, the compilation appears far from being +contemptible, but Joseph still keeps the copy, though he has made the +author a present of one hundred napoleons d’or, and procured him a place +of an amanuensis in the chancellory of the Senate, having resolved never +to accept any dedication, but wishing also not to hurt the feelings of +the author by a refusal. + +In a chateau where so many visitors of licentious and depraved morals +meet, of both sexes, and where such an unlimited liberty reigns, +intrigues must occur, and have of course not seldom furnished materials +for the scandalous chronicle. Even Madame Joseph herself has either been +gallant or calumniated. Report says that to the nocturnal assiduities of +Eugene de Beauharnais and of Colonel la Fond-Blaniac she is exclusively +indebted to the honour of maternity, and that these two rivals even +fought a duel concerning the right of paternity. Eugene de Beauharnais +never was a great favourite with Joseph Bonaparte, whose reserved manners +and prudence form too great a contrast to his noisy and blundering way to +accord with each other. Before he set out for Italy, it was well known +in our fashionable circles that he had been interdicted the house of his +uncle, and that no reconciliation took place, notwithstanding the +endeavours of Madame Napoleon. To humble him still more, Joseph even +nominated la Fond-Blaniac an equerry to his wife, who, therefore, easily +consoled herself for the departure of her dear nephew. + +The husband of Madame Miot (one of Madame Joseph’s ladies-in-waiting) was +not so patient, nor such a philosopher as Joseph Bonaparte. Some +charitable person having reported in the company of a ‘bonne amie’ of +Miot, that his wife did not pass her nights in solitude, but that she +sought consolation among the many gallants and disengaged visitors at +Morfontaine, he determined to surprise her. It was past eleven o’clock +at night when his arrival was announced to Joseph, who had just retired +to his closet. Madame Miot had been in bed ever since nine, ill of a +migraine, and her husband was too affectionate not to be the first to +inform her of his presence, without permitting anybody previously to +disturb her. With great reluctance, Madame Miot’s maid delivered the key +of her rooms, while she accompanied him with a light. In the antechamber +he found a hat and a greatcoat, and in the closet adjoining the bedroom, +a coat, a waistcoat, and a pair of breeches, with drawers, stockings, and +slippers. Though the maid kept coughing all the time, Madame Miot and +her gallant did not awake from their slumber, till the enraged husband +began to use the bludgeon of the lover, which had also been left in the +closet. A battle then ensued, in which the lover retaliated so +vigorously, that the husband called out “Murder! murder!” with all his +might. The chateau was instantly in an uproar, and the apartments +crowded with half-dressed and half-naked lovers. Joseph Bonaparte alone +was able to separate the combatants; and inquiring the cause of the riot, +assured them that he would suffer no scandal and no intrigues in his +house, without seriously resenting it. An explanation being made, Madame +Miot was looked for but in vain; and the maid declared that, being warned +by a letter from Paris of her husband’s jealousy and determination to +surprise her, her mistress had reposed herself in her room; while, to +punish the ungenerous suspicions of her husband, she had persuaded +Captain d’ Horteuil to occupy her place in her own bed. The maid had no +sooner finished her deposition, than her mistress made her appearance and +upbraided her husband severely, in which she was cordially joined by the +spectators. She inquired if, on seeing the dress of a gentleman, he had +also discovered the attire of a female; and she appealed to Captain d’ +Horteuil whether he had not the two preceding nights also slept in her +bed. To this he, of course, assented; adding that, had M. Miot attacked +him the first night, he would not then perhaps have been so roughly +handled as now; for then he was prepared for a visit, which this night +was rather unexpected. This connubial farce ended by Miot begging pardon +of his wife and her gallant; the former of whom, after much entreaty by +Joseph, at last consented to share with him her bed. But being +disfigured with two black eyes and suffering from several bruises, and +also ashamed of his unfashionable behaviour, he continued invisible for +ten days afterwards, and returned to this city as he had left it, by +stealth. + +This Niot was a spy under Robespierre, and is a Counsellor of State under +Bonaparte. Without bread, as well as without a home, he was, from the +beginning of the Revolution, one of the most ardent patriots, and the +first republican Minister in Tuscany. After the Sovereign of that +country had, in 1793, joined the League, Miot returned to France, and +was, for his want of address to negotiate as a Minister, shut up to +perform the part of a spy in the Luxembourg, then transformed into a +prison for suspected persons. Thanks to his patriotism, upwards of two +hundred individuals of both sexes were denounced, transferred to the +Conciergerie prison, and afterwards guillotined. After that, until 1799, +he continued so despised that no faction would accept him for an +accomplice; but in the November of that year, after Bonaparte had +declared himself a First Consul, Miot was appointed a tribune, an office +from which he was advanced, in 1802, to be a Counsellor of State. As Miot +squanders away his salary with harlots and in gambling-houses, and is +pursued by creditors he neither will nor can pay, it was merely from +charity that his wife was received among the other ladies of Madame +Joseph Bonaparte’s household. + + + + +LETTER XXVII. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Notwithstanding the ties of consanguinity, honour, duty, +interest, and gratitude, which bound the Spanish Bourbons to the cause of +the Bourbons of France, no monarch has rendered more service to the cause +of rebellion, and done more harm to the cause of royalty, than the King +of Spain. + +But here, again, you must understand me. When I speak of Princes whose +talents are known not to be brilliant, whose intellects are known to be +feeble, and whose good intentions are rendered null by a want of firmness +of character or consistency of conduct; while I deplore their weakness +and the consequent misfortunes of their contemporaries, I lay all the +blame on their wicked or ignorant counsellors; because, if no Ministers +were fools or traitors, no Sovereigns would tremble on their thrones, and +no subjects dare to shake their foundation. Had Providence blessed +Charles IV. of Spain with the judgment in selecting his Ministers, and +the constancy of persevering in his choice, possessed by your George +III.; had the helm of Spain been in the firm and able hands of a +Grenville, a Windham, and a Pitt, the Cabinet of Madrid would never have +been oppressed by the yoke of the Cabinet of St. Cloud, nor paid a heavy +tribute for its bondage, degrading as well as ruinous. + +“This is the age of upstarts,” said Talleyrand to his cousin, Prince de +Chalais, who reproached him for an unbecoming servility to low and vile +personages; “and I prefer bowing to them to being trampled upon and +crushed by them.” Indeed, as far as I remember, nowhere in history are +hitherto recorded so many low persons who, from obscurity and meanness, +have suddenly and at once attained rank and notoriety. Where do we read +of such a numerous crew of upstart Emperors, Kings, grand pensionaries, +directors, Imperial Highnesses, Princes, Field-marshals, generals, +Senators, Ministers, governors, Cardinals, etc., as we now witness +figuring upon the theatre of Europe, and who chiefly decide on the +destiny of nations? Among these, several are certainly to be found whose +superior parts have made them worthy to pierce the crowd and to shake off +their native mud; but others again, and by far the greatest number of +these ‘novi homines’, owe their present elevation to shameless intrigues +or atrocious crimes. + +The Prime Minister--or rather, the viceroy of Spain, the Prince of +Peace--belongs to the latter class. From a man in the ranks of the +guards he was promoted to a general-in-chief, and from a harp player in +antechambers to a president of the councils of a Prince; and that within +the short period of six years. Such a fortune is not common; but to be +absolutely without capacity as well as virtue, genius as well as good +breeding, and, nevertheless, to continue in an elevation so little +merited, and in a place formerly so subject to changes and so unstable, +is a fortune that no upstart ever before experienced in Spain. + +An intrigue of his elder brother with the present Queen, then Princess of +Asturia, which was discovered by the King, introduced him first at Court +as a harp player, and, when his brother was exiled, he was entrusted with +the correspondence of the Princess with her gallant. After she had +ascended the throne, he thought it more profitable to be the lover than +the messenger, and contrived, therefore, to supplant his brother in the +royal favour. Promotions and riches were consequently heaped upon him, +and, what is surprising, the more undisguised the partiality of the Queen +was, the greater the attachment of the King displayed itself; and it has +ever since been an emulation between the royal couple who should the most +forget and vilify birth and supremacy by associating this man not only in +the courtly pleasures, but in the functions of Sovereignty. Had he been +gifted with sound understanding, or possessed any share of delicacy, +generosity, or discretion, he would, while he profited by their imprudent +condescension, have prevented them from exposing their weaknesses and +frailties to a discussion and ridicule among courtiers, and from becoming +objects of humiliation and scandal among the people. He would have +warned them of the danger which at all times attends the publicity of +foibles and vices of Princes, but particularly in the present times of +trouble and innovations. He would have told them: “Make me great and +wealthy, but not at the expense of your own grandeur or of the loyalty of +your people. Do not treat an humble subject as an equal, nor suffer Your +Majesties, whom Providence destined to govern a high-spirited nation, to +be openly ruled by one born to obey. I am too dutiful not to lay aside +my private vanity when the happiness of my King and the tranquillity of +my fellow subjects are at stake. I am already too high. In descending a +little, I shall not only rise in the eyes of my contemporaries, but in +the opinion of posterity. Every step I am advancing undermines your +throne. In retreating a little, if I do not strengthen, I can never +injure it.” But I beg your pardon for this digression, and for putting +the language of dignified reason into the mouth of a man as corrupt as he +is imbecile. + +Do not suppose, because the Prince of Peace is no friend of my nation, +that I am his enemy. No! Had he shown himself a true patriot, a friend +of his own country, and of his too liberal Prince, or even of monarchy in +general, or of anybody else but himself--although I might have +disapproved of his policy, if he has any--I would never have lashed the +individual for the acts of the Minister. But you must have observed, +with me, that never before his administration was the Cabinet of Madrid +worse conducted at home or more despised abroad; the Spanish Monarch more +humbled or Spanish subjects more wretched; the Spanish power more +dishonoured or the Spanish resources worse employed. Never, before the +treaty with France of 1796, concluded by this wiseacre (which made him a +Prince of Peace, and our Government the Sovereign of Spain), was the +Spanish monarchy reduced to such a lamentable dilemma as to be forced +into an expensive war without a cause, and into a disgraceful peace, not +only unprofitable, but absolutely disadvantageous. Never before were its +treasures distributed among its oppressors to support their tyranny, nor +its military and naval forces employed to fight the battles of rebellion. +The loyal subjects of Spain have only one hope left. The delicate state +of his present Majesty’s health does not promise a much longer +continuance of his reign, and the Prince of Asturia is too well informed +to endure the guidance of the most ignorant Minister that ever was +admitted into the Cabinet and confidence of a Sovereign. It is more than +probable that under a new reign the misfortunes of the Prince of Peace +will inspire as much compassion as his rapid advancement has excited +astonishment and indignation. + +A Cabinet thus badly directed cannot be expected to have representatives +abroad either of abilities or patriotism. The Admiral and General +Gravina, who but lately left this capital as an Ambassador from the Court +of Spain to assume the command of a Spanish fleet, is more valiant than +wise, and more an enemy of your country than a friend of his own. He is +a profound admirer of Bonaparte’s virtues and successes, and was, during +his residence, one of the most ostentatiously awkward courtiers of +Napoleon the First. It is said that he has the modesty and loyalty to +wish to become a Spanish Bonaparte, and that he promises to restore by +his genius and exploits the lost lustre of the Spanish monarchy. When +this was reported to Talleyrand, he smiled with contempt; but when it was +told to Bonaparte, he stamped with rage at the impudence of the Spaniard +in daring to associate his name of acquired and established greatness +with his own impertinent schemes of absurdities and impossibilities. + +In the summer of 1793, Gravina commanded a division of the Spanish +fleet in the Mediterranean, of which Admiral Langara was the +commander-in-chief. At the capitulation of Toulon, after the combined +English and Spanish forces had taken possession of it, when Rear-Admiral +Goodall was declared governor, Gravina was made the commandant of the +troops. At the head of these he often fought bravely in different +sorties, and on the 1st of October was wounded at the re-capture of Fort +Pharon. He complains still of having suffered insults or neglect from +the English, and even of having been exposed unnecessarily to the fire +and sword of the enemy merely because he was a patriot as well as an +envied or suspected ally. His inveteracy against your country takes its +date, no doubt, from the siege of Toulon, or perhaps, from its +evacuation. + +When, in May, 1794, our troops were advancing towards Collioure, he was +sent with a squadron to bring it succours, but he arrived too late, and +could not save that important place. He was not more successful at the +beginning of the campaign of 1795 at Rosa, where he had only time to +carry away the artillery before the enemy entered. In August, that year, +during the absence of Admiral Massaredo, he assumed ad interim the +command of the Spanish fleet in the Mediterranean; but in the December +following he was disgraced, arrested, and shut up as a State prisoner. + +During the embassy of Lucien Bonaparte to the Court of Madrid, in the +autumn of 1800, Gravina was by his influence restored to favour; and +after the death of the late Spanish Ambassador to the Cabinet of St. +Cloud, Chevalier d’ Azara, by the special desire of Napoleon, was +nominated both his successor and a representative of the King of Etruria. +Among the members of our diplomatic corps, he was considered somewhat of +a Spanish gasconader and a bully. He more frequently boasted of his +wounds and battles than of his negotiations or conferences, though he +pretended, indeed, to shine as much in the Cabinet as in the field. + +In his suite were two Spanish women, one about forty, and the other about +twenty years of age. Nobody knew what to make of them, as they were +treated neither as wives, mistresses, nor servants; and they avowed +themselves to be no relations. After a residence here of some weeks, he +was, by superior orders, waylaid one night at the opera, by a young and +beautiful dancing girl of the name of Barrois, who engaged him to take +her into keeping. He hesitated, indeed, for some time; at last, however, +love got the better of his scruples, and he furnished for her an elegant +apartment on the new Boulevard. On the day he carried her there, he was +accompanied by the chaplain of the Spanish Legation; and told her that, +previous to any further intimacy, she must be married to him, as his +religious principles did not permit him to cohabit with a woman who was +not his wife. At the same time he laid before her an agreement to sign, +by which she bound herself never to claim him as a husband before her +turn--that is to say, until sixteen other women, to whom he had been +previously married, were dead. She made no opposition, either to the +marriage or to the conditions annexed to it. This girl had a sweetheart +of the name of Valere, an actor at one of the little theatres on the +Boulevards, to whom she communicated her adventure. He advised her to be +scrupulous in her turn, and to ask a copy of the agreement. After some +difficulty this was obtained. In it no mention was made of her +maintenance, nor in what manner her children were to be regarded, should +she have any. Valere had, therefore, another agreement drawn up, in +which all these points were arranged, according to his own interested +views. Gravina refused to subscribe to what he plainly perceived were +only extortions; and the girl, in her turn, not only declined any further +connection with him, but threatened to publish the act of polygamy. +Before they had done discussing this subject, the door was suddenly +opened and the two Spanish ladies presented themselves. After severely +upbraiding Gravina, who was struck mute by surprise, they announced to +the girl that whatever promise or contract of marriage she had obtained +from him was of no value, as, before they came with him to France, he had +bound himself, before a public notary at Madrid, not to form any more +connections, nor to marry any other woman, without their written consent. +One of these ladies declared that she had been married to Gravina +twenty-two years, and was his oldest wife but one; the other said that +she had been married to him six years. They insisted upon his following +them, which he did, after putting a purse of gold into Barrois’s hand. + +When Valere heard from his mistress this occurrence, he advised her to +make the most money she could of the Spaniard’s curious scruples. A +letter was, therefore, written to him, demanding one hundred thousand +livres--as the price of secrecy and withholding the particulars of this +business from the knowledge of the tribunals and the police; and an +answer was required within twenty-four hours. The same night Gravina +offered one thousand Louis, which were accepted, and the papers returned; +but the next day Valere went to his hotel, Rue de Provence, where he +presented himself as a brother of Barrois. He stated that he still +possessed authenticated copies of the papers returned, and that he must +have either the full sum first asked by his sister, or an annuity of +twelve thousand livres settled upon her. Instead of an answer, Gravina +ordered him to be turned out of the house. An attorney then waited on +His Excellency, on the part of the brother and the sister, and repeated +their threats and their demands, adding that he would write a memorial +both to the Emperor of the French and to the King of Spain, were justice +refused to his principals any longer. + +Gravina was well aware that this affair, though more laughable than +criminal, would hurt both his character and credit if it were known in +France; he therefore consented to pay seventy-six thousand livres more, +upon a formal renunciation by the party of all future claims. Not having +money sufficient by him, he went to borrow it from a banker, whose clerk +was one of Talleyrand’s secret agents. Our Minister, therefore, ordered +every step of Gravina to be watched; but he soon discovered that, instead +of wanting this money for a political intrigue, it was necessary to +extricate him out of an amorous scrape. Hearing, however, in what a +scandalous manner the Ambassador had been duped and imposed upon, he +reported it to Bonaparte, who gave Fouche orders to have Valere, Barrois, +and the attorney immediately transported to Cayenne, and to restore +Gravina his money. The former part of this order the Minister of Police +executed the more willingly, as it was according to his plan that Barrois +had pitched upon Gravina for a lover. She had been intended by him as a +spy on His Excellency, but had deceived him by her reports--a crime for +which transportation was a usual punishment. + +Notwithstanding the care of our Government to conceal and bury this +affair in oblivion, it furnished matter both for conversation in our +fashionable circles, and subjects for our caricaturists. But these +artists were soon seized by the police, who found it more easy to +chastise genius than to silence tongues. The declaration of war by Spain +against your country was a lucky opportunity for Gravina to quit with +honour a Court where he was an object of ridicule, to assume the command +of a fleet which might one day make him an object of terror. When he +took leave of Bonaparte, he was told to return to France victorious, or +never to return any more; and Talleyrand warned him as a friend, +“whenever he returned to his post in France to leave his marriage mania +behind him in Spain. Here,” said he, “you may, without ridicule, +intrigue with a hundred women, but you run a great risk by marrying even +one.” + +I have been in company with Gravina, and after what I heard him say, so +far from judging him superstitious, I thought him really impious. But +infidelity and bigotry are frequently next-door neighbours. + + + + +LETTER XXVIII. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--It cannot have escaped the observation of the most superficial +traveller of rank, that, at the Court of St. Cloud, want of morals is not +atoned for by good breeding or good manners. The hideousness of vice, +the pretensions of ambition, the vanity of rank, the pride of favour, and +the shame of venality do not wear here that delicate veil, that gloss of +virtue, which, in other Courts, lessens the deformity of corruption and +the scandal of depravity. Duplicity and hypocrisy are here very common +indeed, more so than dissimulation anywhere else; but barefaced knaves +and impostors must always make indifferent courtiers. Here the Minister +tells you, I must have such a sum for a place; and the chamberlain tells +you, Count down so much for my protection. The Princess requires a +necklace of such a value for interesting herself for your advancement; +and the lady-in-waiting demands a diamond of such worth on the day of +your promotion. This tariff of favours and of infamy descends ‘ad +infinitum’. The secretary for signing, and the clerk for writing your +commission; the cashier for delivering it, and the messenger for +informing you of it, have all their fixed prices. Have you a lawsuit, +the judge announces to you that so much has been offered by your +opponent, and so much is expected from you, if you desire to win your +cause. When you are the defendant against the Crown, the attorney or +solicitor-general lets you know that such a douceur is requisite to +procure such an issue. Even in criminal proceedings, not only honour, +but life, may be saved by pecuniary sacrifices. + +A man of the name of Martin, by profession a stock-jobber, killed, in +1803, his own wife; and for twelve thousand livres--he was acquitted, and +recovered his liberty. In November last year, in a quarrel with his own +brother, he stabbed him through the heart, and for another sum of twelve +thousand livres he was acquitted, and released before last Christmas. +This wretch is now in prison again, on suspicion of having poisoned his +own daughter, with whom he had an incestuous intercourse, and he boasts +publicly of soon being liberated. Another person, Louis de Saurac, the +younger son of Baron de Saurac, who together with his eldest son had +emigrated, forged a will in the name of his parent, whom he pretended to +be dead, which left him the sole heir of all the disposable property, to +the exclusion of two sisters. After the nation had shared its part as +heir of all emigrants, Louis took possession of the remainder. In 1802, +both his father and brother accepted the general amnesty, and returned to +France. To their great surprise, they heard that this Louis had, by his +ill-treatment, forced his sisters into servitude, refusing them even the +common necessaries of life. After upbraiding him for his want of duty, +the father desired, according to the law, the restitution of the unsold +part of his estates. On the day fixed for settling the accounts and +entering into his rights, Baron de Saurac was arrested as a conspirator +and imprisoned in the Temple. He had been denounced as having served in +the army of Conde, and as being a secret agent of Louis XVIII. To +disprove the first part of the charge, he produced certificates from +America, where he had passed the time of his emigration, and even upon +the rack he denied the latter. During his arrest, the eldest son +discovered that Louis had become the owner of their possessions, by means +of the will he had forged in the name of his father; and that it was he +who had been unnatural enough to denounce the author of his days. With +the wreck of their fortune in St. Domingo, he procured his father’s +release; who, being acquainted with the perversity of his younger son, +addressed himself to the department to be reinstated in his property. +This was opposed by Louis, who defended his title to the estate by the +revolutionary maxim which had passed into a law, enacting that all +emigrants should be considered as politically dead. Hitherto Baron de +Saurac had, from affection, declined to mention the forged will; but +shocked by his son’s obduracy, and being reduced to distress, his +counsellor produced this document, which not only went to deprive Louis +of his property, but exposed him to a criminal prosecution. + +This unnatural son, who was not yet twenty-five, had imbibed all the +revolutionary morals of his contemporaries, and was well acquainted with +the moral characters of his revolutionary countrymen. He addressed +himself, therefore, to Merlin of Douai, Bonaparte’s Imperial +attorney-general and commander of his Legion of Honour; who, for a bribe +of fifty thousand livres--obtained for him, after he had been defeated in +every other court, a judgment in his favour, in the tribunal of +cassation, under the sophistical conclusion that all emigrants, being, +according to law, considered as politically dead, a will in the name of +any one of them was merely a pious fraud to preserve the property in the +family. + +This Merlin is the son of a labourer of Anchin, and was a servant of the +Abbey of the same name. One of the monks, observing in him some +application, charitably sent him to be educated at Douai, after having +bestowed on him some previous education. Not satisfied with this +generous act, he engaged the other monks, as well as the chapter of +Cambray, to subscribe for his expenses of admission as an attorney by the +Parliament of Douai, in which situation the Revolution found him. By his +dissimulation and assumed modesty, he continued to dupe his benefactors; +who, by their influence, obtained for him the nomination as +representative of the people to our First National Assembly. They soon, +however, had reason to repent of their generosity. He joined the Orleans +faction and became one of the most persevering, violent, and cruel +persecutors of the privileged classes, particularly of the clergy, to +whom he was indebted for everything. In 1792 he was elected a member of +the National Convention, where he voted for the death of his King. It was +he who proposed a law (justly called, by Prudhomme, the production of the +deliberate homicide Merlin) against suspected persons; which was decreed +on the 17th of September, 1793, and caused the imprisonment or +proscription of two hundred thousand families. This decree procured him +the appellation of Merlin Suspects and of Merlin Potence. In 1795 he was +appointed a Minister of Police, and soon afterwards a Minister of +Justice. After the revolution in favour of the Jacobins of the 4th of +September, 1797, he was made a director, a place which he was obliged by +the same Jacobins to resign, in June, 1799. Bonaparte expressed, at +first, the most sovereign contempt for this Merlin, but on account of one +of his sons, who was his aide-de-camp, he was appointed by him, when +First Consul, his attorney-general. + +As nothing paints better the true features of a Government than the +morality or vices of its functionaries, I will finish this man’s portrait +with the following characteristic touches. + +Merlin de Douai has been successively the counsel of the late Duc d’ +Orleans, the friend of Danton, of Chabot, and of Hebert, the admirer of +Murat, and the servant of Robespierre. An accomplice of Rewbell, Barras, +and la Reveilliere, an author of the law of suspected persons, an +advocate of the Septembrizers, and an ardent apostle of the St. +Guillotine. Cunning as a fog and ferocious as a tiger, he has outlived +all the factions with which he has been connected. It has been his +policy to keep in continual fermentation rivalships, jealousies, +inquietudes, revenge and all other odious passions; establishing, by such +means, his influence on the terror of some, the ambition of others, and +the credulity of them all. Had I, when Merlin proposed his law +concerning suspected persons, in the name of liberty and equality, been +free and his equal, I should have said to him, “Monster, this, your +atrocious law, is your sentence of death; it has brought thousands of +innocent persons to an untimely end; you shall die by my hands as a +victim, if the tribunals do not condemn you to the scaffold as an +executioner or as a criminal.” + +Merlin has bought national property to the amount of fifteen million of +livress--and he is supposed to possess money nearly to the same amount, +in your or our funds. For a man born a beggar, and educated by charity, +this fortune, together with the liberal salaries he enjoys, might seem +sufficient without selling justice, protecting guilt, and oppressing or +persecuting innocence. + + + + +LETTER XXIX. + +Paris, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--The household troops of Napoleon the First are by thousands +more numerous than those even of Louis XIV. were. Grenadiers on foot and +on horseback, riflemen on foot and on horseback, heavy and light +artillery, dragoons and hussars, mamelukes and sailors, artificers and +pontoneers, gendarmes, gendarmes d’Alite, Velites and veterans, with +Italian grenadiers, riflemen, dragoons, etc., etc., compose all together +a not inconsiderable army. + +Though it frequently happens that the pay of the other troops is in +arrears, those appertaining to Bonaparte’s household are as regularly +paid as his Senators, Counsellors of State, and other public +functionaries. All the men are picked, and all the officers as much as +possible of birth, or at least of education. In the midst of this +voluptuous and seductive capital, they are kept very strict, and the +least negligence or infraction of military discipline is more severely +punished than if committed in garrison or in an encampment. They are +both better clothed, accoutred, and paid, than the troops of the line, +and have everywhere the precedency of them. All the officers, and many +of the soldiers, are members of Bonaparte’s Legion of Honour, and carry +arms of honour distributed to them by Imperial favour, or for military +exploits. None of them are quartered upon the citizens; each corps has +its own spacious barracks, hospitals, drilling-ground, riding or +fencing-houses, gardens, bathing-houses, billiard-table, and even +libraries. A chapel has lately been constructed near each barrack, and +almoners are already appointed. In the meantime, they attend regularly +at Mass, either in the Imperial Chapel or in the parish churches. +Bonaparte discourages much all marriages among the military in general, +but particularly among those of his household troops. That they may not, +however, be entirely deprived of the society of women, he allows five to +each company, with the same salaries as the men, under the name of +washerwomen. + +With a vain and fickle people, fond of shows and innovations, nothing in +a military despotism has a greater political utility, gives greater +satisfaction, and leaves behind a more useful terror and awe, than +Bonaparte’s grand military reviews. In the beginning of his consulate, +they regularly occurred three times in the month; after his victory of +Marengo, they were reduced to once in a fortnight, and since he has been +proclaimed Emperor, to once only in the month. This ostentatious +exhibition of usurped power is always closed with a diplomatic review of +the representatives of lawful Princes, who introduce on those occasions +their fellow-subjects to another subject, who successfully has seized, +and continues to usurp, the authority of his own Sovereign. What an +example for ambition! what a lesson to treachery! + +Besides the household troops, this capital and its vicinity have, for +these three years past, never contained less than from fifteen to twenty +thousand men of the regiments of the line, belonging to what is called +the first military division of the Army of the Interior. These troops +are selected from among the brigades that served under Bonaparte in Italy +and Egypt with the greatest eclat, and constitute a kind of depot for +recruiting his household troops with tried and trusty men. They are also +regularly paid, and generally better accoutred than their comrades +encamped on the coast, or quartered in Italy or Holland. + +But a standing army, upon which all revolutionary rulers can depend, and +that always will continue their faithful support, unique in its sort and +composition, exists in the bosom as well as in the extremities of this +country. I mean, one hundred and twenty thousand invalids, mostly young +men under thirty, forced by conscription against their will into the +field, quartered and taken care of by our Government, and all possessed +with the absurd prejudice that, as they have been maimed in fighting the +battles of rebellion, the restoration of legitimate sovereignty would to +them be an epoch of destruction, or at least of misery and want; and this +prejudice is kept alive by emissaries employed on purpose to mislead +them. Of these, eight thousand are lodged and provided for in this city; +ten thousand at Versailles, and the remainder in Piedmont, Brabant, and +in the conquered departments on the left bank of the Abine; countries +where the inhabitants are discontented and disaffected, and require, +therefore, to be watched, and to have a better spirit infused. + +Those whose wounds permit it are also employed to do garrison duty in +fortified places not exposed to an attack by enemies, and to assist in +the different arsenals and laboratories, foundries, and depots of +military or naval stores. Others are attached to the police offices, and +some as gendarmes, to arrest suspected or guilty individuals; or as +garnissaires, to enforce the payment of contributions from the unwilling +or distressed. When the period for the payment of taxes is expired, two +of these janissaires present themselves at the house of the persons in +arrears, with a billet signed by the director of the contributions and +countersigned by the police commissary. If the money is not immediately +paid, with half a crown to each of them besides, they remain quartered in +the house, where they are to be boarded and to receive half a crown a day +each until an order from those who sent them informs them that what was +due to the state has been acquitted. After their entrance into a house, +and during their stay, no furniture or effects whatever can be removed or +disposed of, nor can the master or mistress go out-of-doors without being +accompanied by one of them. + +In the houses appropriated to our invalids, the inmates are very well +treated, and Government takes great care to make them satisfied with +their lot. The officers have large halls, billiards, and reading-room to +meet in; and the common men are admitted into apartments adjoining +libraries, from-which they can borrow what books they contain, and read +them at leisure. This is certainly a very good and even a humane +institution, though these libraries chiefly contain military histories or +novels. + +As to the morals of these young invalids, they may be well conceived when +you remember the morality of our Revolution; and that they, without any +religious notions or restraints, were not only permitted, but encouraged +to partake of the debauchery and licentiousness which were carried to +such an extreme in our armies and encampments. In an age when the +passions are strongest, and often blind reason and silence conscience, +they have not the means nor the permission to marry; in their vicinity it +is, therefore, more difficult to discover one honest woman or a dutiful +wife, than hundreds of harlots and of adulteresses. Notwithstanding that +many of them have been accused before the tribunals of seductions, rape, +and violence against the sex, not one has been punished for what the +morality of our Government consider merely as bagatelles. Even in cases +where husbands, brothers, and lovers have been killed by them while +defending or avenging the honour of their wives, sisters, and mistresses, +our tribunals have been ordered by our grand judge, according to the +commands of the Emperor, not to proceed. As most of them have no +occupation, the vice of idleness augments the mass of their corruption; +for men of their principles, when they have nothing to do, never do +anything good. + +I do not know if my countrywomen feel themselves honoured by or obliged +to Bonaparte, for leaving their virtue and honour unprotected, except by +their own prudence and strength; but of this I am certain, that all our +other troops, as well as the invalids, may live on free quarters with the +sex without fearing the consequences; provided they keep at a distance +from the females of our Imperial Family, and of those of our grand +officers of State and principal functionaries. The wives and the +daughters of the latter have, however, sometimes declined the advantage +of these exclusive privileges. + +A horse grenadier of Bonaparte’s Imperial Guard, of the name of Rabais, +notorious for his amours and debauchery, was accused before the Imperial +Judge Thuriot, at one and the same time by several husbands and fathers, +of having seduced the affections of their wives and of their daughters. +As usual, Thuriot refused to listen to their complaints; at the same time +insultingly advising them to retake their wives and children, and for the +future to be more careful of them. Triumphing, as it were, in his +injustice, he inconsiderately mentioned the circumstance to his own wife, +observing that he never knew so many charges of the same sort exhibited +against one man. + +Madame Thuriot, who had been a servant-maid to her husband before he made +her his wife, instead of being disgusted at the recital, secretly +determined to see this Rabais. An intrigue was then begun, and carried +on for four months, if not with discretion, at least without discovery; +but the lady’s own imprudence at last betrayed her, or I should say, +rather, her jealousy. But for this she might still have been admired +among our modest women, and Thuriot among fortunate husbands and happy +fathers; for the lady, for the first time since her marriage, proved, to +the great joy and pride of her husband, in the family way. Suspecting, +however, the fidelity of her paramour, she watched his motions so closely +that she discovered an intrigue between him and the chaste spouse of a +rich banker; but the consequence of this discovery was the detection of +her own crime. + +On the discovery of this disgrace, Thuriot obtained an audience of +Bonaparte, in which he exposed his misfortune, and demanded punishment on +his wife’s gallant. As, however, he also acknowledged that his own +indiscretion was an indirect cause of their connection, he received the +same advice which he had given to other unfortunate husbands: to retake, +and for the future guard better, his dear moiety. + +Thuriot had, however, an early opportunity of wreaking his vengeance on +this gallant Rabais. It seems his prowess had reached the ears of Madame +Baciocchi, the eldest sister of Bonaparte. This lady has a children +mania, which is very troublesome to her husband, disagreeable to her +relations, and injurious to herself. She never beholds any lady, +particularly any of her family, in the way which women wish to be who +love their lords, but she is absolutely frantic. Now, Thuriot’s worthy +friend Fouche had discovered, by his spies, that Rabais paid frequent and +secret visits to the hotel Baciocchi, and that Madame Baciocchi was the +object of these visits. Thuriot, on this discovery, instantly denounced +him to Bonaparte. + +Had Rabais ruined all the women of this capital, he would not only have +been forgiven, but applauded by Napoleon, and his counsellors and +courtiers; but to dare to approach, or only to cast his eyes on one of +our Imperial Highnesses, was a crime nothing could extenuate or avenge, +but the most exemplary punishment. He was therefore arrested, sent to +the Temple, and has never since been heard of; so that his female friends +are still in the cruel uncertainty whether he has died on the rack, been +buried alive in the oubliettes, or is wandering an exile in the wilds of +Cayenne. + +In examining his trunk, among the curious effects discovered by the +police were eighteen portraits and one hundred billets-doux, with +medallions, rings, bracelets, tresses of hair, etc., as numerous. Two of +the portraits occasioned much scandal, and more gossiping. They were +those of two of our most devout and most respectable Court ladies, Maids +of Honour to our Empress, Madame Ney and Madame Lasnes; who never miss an +opportunity of going to church, who have received the private blessing of +the Pope, and who regularly confess to some Bishop or other once in a +fortnight. Madame Napoleon cleared them, however, of all suspicion, by +declaring publicly in her drawing-room that these portraits had come into +the possession of Rabais by the infidelity of their maids; who had +confessed their faults, and, therefore, had been charitably pardoned. +Whether the opinions of Generals Ney and Lasnes coincide with Madame +Napoleon’s assertion is uncertain; but Lasnes has been often heard to say +that, from the instant his wife began to confess, he was convinced she +was inclined to dishonour him; so that nothing surprised him. + +One of the medallions in Rabais’s collection contained on one side the +portrait of Thuriot, and on the other that of his wife; both set with +diamonds, and presented to her by him on their last wedding day. For the +supposed theft of this medallion, two of Thuriot’s servants were in +prison, when the arrest of Rabais explained the manner in which it had +been lost. This so enraged him that he beat and kicked his wife so +heartily that for some time even her life was in danger, and Thuriot lost +all hopes of being a father. + +Before the Revolution, Thuriot had been, for fraud and forgery, struck +off the roll as an advocate, and therefore joined it as a patriot. In +1791, he was chosen a deputy to the National Assembly, and in 1792 to the +National Convention. He always showed himself one of the most ungenerous +enemies of the clergy, of monarchy, and of his King, for whose death he +voted. On the 25th of May, 1792, in declaiming against Christianity and +priesthood, he wished them both, for the welfare of mankind, at the +bottom of the sea; and on the 18th of December the same year, he declared +in the Jacobin Club that, if the National Convention evinced any signs of +clemency towards Louis XVI., he would go himself to the Temple and blow +out the brains of this unfortunate King. He defended in the tribune the +massacres of the prisoners, affirming that the tree of liberty could +never flourish without being inundated with the blood of aristocrats and +other enemies of the Revolution. He has been convicted by rival factions +of the most shameful robberies, and his infamy and depravity were so +notorious that neither Murat, Brissot, Robespierre, nor the Directory +would or could employ him. After the Revolution of the 9th of November, +1799, Bonaparte gave him the office of judge of the criminal tribunal, +and in 1804 made him a Commander of his Legion of Honour. He is now one +of our Emperor’s most faithful subjects and most sincere Christians. Such +is now his tender conscientiousness, that he was among those who were the +first to be married again by some Cardinal to their present wives, to +whom they had formerly been united only by the municipality. This new +marriage, however, took place before Madame Thuriot had introduced +herself to the acquaintance of the Imperial Grenadier Rabais. + + + + +LETTER XXX. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Regarding me as a connoisseur, though I have no pretensions but +that of being an amateur, Lucien Bonaparte, shortly before his disgrace, +invited me to pass some days with him in the country, and to assist him +in arranging his very valuable collection of pictures--next our public +ones, the most curious and most valuable in Europe, and, of course, in +the world. I found here, as at Joseph Bonaparte’s, the same splendour, +the same etiquette, and the same liberty, which latter was much enhanced +by the really engaging and unassuming manners and conversation of the +host. At Joseph’s, even in the midst of abundance and of liberty, in +seeing the person or meditating on the character of the host, you feel +both your inferiority of fortune and the humiliation of dependence, and +that you visit a master instead of a friend, who indirectly tells you, +“Eat, drink, and rejoice as long and as much as you like; but remember +that if you are happy, it is to my generosity you are indebted, and if +unhappy, that I do not care a pin about you.” With Lucien it is the very +reverse. His conduct seems to indicate that by your company you confer +an obligation on him, and he is studious to remove, on all occasions, +that distance which fortune has placed between him and his guests; and as +he cannot compliment them upon being wealthier than himself, he seizes +with delicacy every opportunity to chew that he acknowledges their +superiority in talents and in genius as more than an equivalent for the +absence of riches. + +He is, nevertheless, himself a young man of uncommon parts, and, as far +as I could judge from my short intercourse with the reserved Joseph and +with the haughty Napoleon, he is abler and better informed than either, +and much more open and sincere. His manners are also more elegant, and +his language more polished, which is the more creditable to him when it +is remembered how much his education has been neglected, how vitiated the +Revolution made him, and that but lately his principal associates were, +like himself, from among the vilest and most vulgar of the rabble. It is +not necessary to be a keen observer to remark in Napoleon the upstart +soldier, and in Joseph the former low member of the law; but I defy the +most refined courtier to see in Lucien anything indicating a ci-devant +sans-culotte. He has, besides, other qualities (and those more +estimable) which will place him much above his elder brothers in the +opinion of posterity. He is extremely compassionate and liberal to the +truly distressed, serviceable to those whom he knows are not his friends, +and forgiving and obliging even to those who have proved and avowed +themselves his enemies. These are virtues commonly very scarce, and +hitherto never displayed by any other member of the Bonaparte family. + +An acquaintance of yours, and--a friend of mine, Count de T-----, at his +return here from emigration, found, of his whole former fortune, +producing once eighty thousand livres--in the year, only four farms +unsold, and these were advertised for sale. A man who had once been his +servant, but was then a groom to Lucien, offered to present a memorial +for him to his master, to prevent the disposal of the only support which +remained to subsist himself, with a wife and four children. Lucien asked +Napoleon to prohibit the sale, and to restore the Count the farms, and +obtained his consent; but Fouche, whose cousin wanted them, having +purchased other national property in the neighbourhood, prevailed upon +Napoleon to forget his promise, and the farms were sold. As soon as +Lucien heard of it he sent for the Count, delivered into his hands an +annuity of six thousand livres--for the life of himself, his wife, and +his children, as an indemnity for the inefficacy of his endeavours to +serve him, as he expressed himself. Had the Count recovered the farms, +they would not have given him a clear profit of half the amount, all +taxes paid. + +A young author of the name of Gauvan, irritated by the loss of parents +and fortune by the Revolution, attacked, during 1799, in the public +prints, as well as in pamphlets, every Revolutionist who had obtained +notoriety or popularity. He was particularly vehement against Lucien, +and laid before the public all his crimes and all his errors, and +asserted, as facts, atrocities which were either calumnies or merely +rumours. When, after Napoleon’s assumption of the Consulate, Lucien was +appointed a Minister of the Interior, he sent for Gauvan, and said to +him, “Great misfortunes have early made you wretched and unjust, and you +have frequently revenged yourself on those who could not prevent them, +among whom I am one. You do not want capacity, nor, I believe, probity. +Here is a commission which makes you a Director of Contributions in the +Departments of the Rhine and Moselle, an office with a salary of twelve +thousand livres but producing double that sum. If you meet with any +difficulties, write to me; I am your friend. Take those one hundred +louis d’or for the expenses of your journey. Adieu!” This anecdote I +have read in Gauvan’s own handwriting, in a letter to his sister. He +died in 1802; but Mademoiselle Gauvan, who is not yet fifteen, has a +pension of three thousand livres a year--from Lucien, who, has never seen +her. + +Lucien Bonaparte has another good quality: he is consistent in his +political principles. Either from conviction or delusion he is still a +Republican, and does not conceal that, had he suspected Napoleon of any +intent to reestablish monarchy, much less tyranny, he would have joined +those deputies who, on the 9th of November, 1799, in the sitting at St. +Cloud, demanded a decree of outlawry against him. If the present quarrel +between these two brothers were sifted to the bottom, perhaps it would be +found to originate more from Lucien’s Republicanism than from his +marriage. + +I know, with all France and Europe, that Lucien’s youth has been very +culpable; that he has committed many indiscretions, much injustice, many +imprudences, many errors, and, I fear, even some crimes. I know that he +has been the most profligate among the profligate, the most debauched +among libertines, the most merciless among the plunderers, and the most +perverse among rebels. I know that he is accused of being a +Septembrizer; of having murdered one wife and poisoned another; of having +been a spy, a denouncer, a persecutor of innocent persons in the Reign of +Terror. I know that he is accused of having fought his brothers-in-law; +of having ill-used his mother, and of an incestuous commerce with his own +sisters. + +I have read and heard of these and other enormous accusations, and far be +it from me to defend, extenuate, or even deny them. But suppose all this +infamy to be real, to be proved, to be authenticated, which it never has +been, and, to its whole extent, I am persuaded, never can be--what are +the cruel and depraved acts of which Lucien has been accused to the +enormities and barbarities of which Napoleon is convicted? Is the +poisoning a wife more criminal than the poisoning a whole hospital of +wounded soldiers; or the assisting to kill some confined persons, +suspected of being enemies, more atrocious than the massacre in cold +blood of thousands of disarmed prisoners? Is incest with a sister more +shocking to humanity than the well-known unnatural pathic but I will not +continue the disgusting comparison. As long as Napoleon is unable to +acquit himself of such barbarities and monstrous crimes, he has no right +to pronounce Lucien unworthy to be called his brother; nor have +Frenchmen, as long as they obey the former as a Sovereign, or the +Continent, as long as it salutes him as such, any reason to despise the +latter for crimes which lose their enormity when compared to the horrid +perpetrations of his Imperial brother. + +An elderly lady, a relation of Lucien’s wife, and a person in whose +veracity and morality I have the greatest confidence, and for whom he +always had evinced more regard than even for his own mother, has repeated +to me many of their conversations. She assures me that Lucien deplores +frequently the want of a good and religious education, and the tempting +examples of perversity he met with almost at his entrance upon the +revolutionary scene. He says that he determined to get rich ‘per fas aut +nefas’, because he observed that money was everything, and that most +persons plotted and laboured for power merely to be enabled to gather +treasure, though, after they had obtained both, much above their desert +and expectation, instead of being satiated or even satisfied, they +bustled and intrigued for more, until success made them unguarded and +prosperity indiscreet, and they became with their wealth the easy prey of +rival factions. Such was the case of Danton, of Fabre d’Eglantine, of +Chabot, of Chaumette, of Stebert, and other contemptible wretches, +butchered by Robespierre and his partisans--victims in their turn to men +as unjust and sanguinary as themselves. He had, therefore, laid out a +different plan of conduct for himself. He had fixed upon fifty millions +of livres--as the maximum he should wish for, and when that sum was in +his possession, he resolved to resign all pretensions to rank and +employment, and to enjoy ‘otium cum dignitate’. He had kept to his +determination, and so regulated his income that; with the expenses, pomp, +and retinue of a Prince, he is enabled to make more persons happy and +comfortable than his extortions have ruined or even embarrassed. He now +lives like a philosopher, and endeavours to forget the past, to delight +in the present, and to be indifferent about futurity. He chose, +therefore, for a wife, a lady whom he loved and esteemed, in preference +to one whose birth would have been a continual reproach to the meanness +of his own origin. + +You must, with me, admire the modesty of a citizen sans-culotte, who, +without a shilling in the world, fixes upon fifty millions as a reward +for his revolutionary achievements, and with which he would be satisfied +to sit down and begin his singular course of singular philosophy. But +his success is more extraordinary that his pretensions were extravagant. +This immense sum was amassed by him in the short period of four years, +chiefly by bribes from foreign Courts, and by selling his protections in +France. + +But most of the other Bonapartes have made as great and as rapid fortunes +as Lucien, and yet, instead of being generous, contented, or even +philosophers, they are still profiting by every occasion to increase +their ill-gotten treasures, and no distress was ever relieved, no talents +encouraged, or virtues recompensed by them. The mind of their garrets +lodges with them in their palaces, while Lucien seems to ascend as near +as possible to a level with his circumstances. I have myself found him +beneficent without ostentation. + +Among his numerous pictures, I observed four that had formerly belonged +to my father’s, and afterwards to my own cabinet. I inquired how much he +had paid for them, without giving the least hint that they had been my +property, and were plundered from me by the nation. He had, indeed, paid +their full value. In a fortnight after I had quitted him, these, with +six other pictures, were deposited in my room, with a very polite note, +begging my acceptance of them, and assuring me that he had but the day +before heard from his picture dealer that they had belonged to me. He +added that he would never retake them, unless he received an assurance +from me that I parted with them without reluctance, and at the same time +affixed their price. I returned them, as I knew they were desired by him +for his collection, but he continued obstinate. I told him, therefore, +that, as I was acquainted with his inclination to perform a generous +action, I would, instead of payment for the pictures, indicate a person +deserving his assistance. I mentioned the old Duchesse de ------, who is +seventy-four years of age and blind; and, after possessing in her youth +an income of eight hundred thousand livres--is now, in her old age, +almost destitute. He did for this worthy lady more than I expected; but +happening, in his visits to relieve my friend, to cast his eye on the +daughter of the landlady where she lodged, he found means to prevail on +the simplicity of the poor girl, and seduced her. So much do I know +personally of Lucien Bonaparte, who certainly is a composition of good +and bad qualities, but which of them predominate I will not take upon me +to decide. This I can affirm--Lucien is not the worst member of the +Bonaparte family. + + + + +LETTER XXXI. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--As long as Austria ranks among independent nations, Bonaparte +will take care not to offend or alarm the ambition and interest of +Prussia by incorporating the Batavian Republic with the other provinces +of his Empire. Until that period, the Dutch must continue (as they have +been these last ten years) under the appellation of allies, oppressed +like subjects and plundered like foes. Their mock sovereignty will +continue to weigh heavier on them than real servitude does on their +Belgic and Flemish neighbours, because Frederick the Great pointed out to +his successors the Elbe and the Tegel as the natural borders of the +Prussian monarchy, whenever the right bank of the Rhine should form the +natural frontiers of the kingdom of France. + +That during the present summer a project for a partition treaty of +Holland has by the Cabinet of St. Cloud been laid before the Cabinet of +Berlin is a fact, though disseminated only as a rumour by the secret +agents of Talleyrand. Their object was on this, as on all previous +occasions when any names, rights, or liberties of people were intended to +be erased from among the annals of independence, to sound the ground, and +to prepare by such rumours the mind of the public for another outrage and +another overthrow. But Prussia, as well as France, knows the value of a +military and commercial navy, and that to obtain it good harbours and +navigable rivers are necessary, and therefore, as well as from principles +of justice, perhaps, declined the acceptance of a plunder, which, though +tempting, was contrary to the policy of the House of Brandenburgh. + +According to a copy circulated among the members of our diplomatic corps, +this partition treaty excluded Prussia from all the Batavian seaports +except Delfzig, and those of the river Ems, but gave her extensive +territories on the side of Guelderland, and a rich country in Friesland. +Had it been acceded to by the Court of Berlin, with the annexed condition +of a defensive and offensive alliance with the Court of St. Cloud, the +Prussian monarchy would, within half a century, have been swallowed up in +the same gulf with the Batavian Commonwealth and the Republic of Poland; +and by some future scheme of some future Bonaparte or Talleyrand, be +divided in its turn, and serve as a pledge of reconciliation or +inducement of connection between some future rulers of the French and +Russian Empires. + +Talleyrand must, indeed, have a very mean opinion of the capacity of the +Prussian Ministers, or a high notion of his own influence over them, if +he was serious in this overture. For my part, I am rather inclined to +think that it was merely thrown out to discover whether Frederick William +III. had entered into any engagement contrary to the interest of +Napoleon the First; or to allure His Prussian Majesty into a negotiation +which would suspend, or at least interfere with, those supposed to be +then on the carpet with Austria, Russia, or perhaps even with England. + +The late Batavian Government had, ever since the beginning of the present +war with England, incurred the displeasure of Bonaparte. When it +apprehended a rupture from the turn which the discussion respecting the +occupation of Malta assumed, the Dutch Ambassadors at St. Petersburg and +Berlin were ordered to demand the interference of these two Cabinets for +the preservation of the neutrality of Holland, which your country had +promised to acknowledge, if respected by France. No sooner was Bonaparte +informed of this step, than he marched troops into the heart of the +Batavian Republic, and occupied its principal forts, ports, and arsenals. +When, some time afterwards, Count Markof received instructions from his +Court, according to the desire of the Batavian Directory, and demanded, +in consequence, an audience from Bonaparte, a map was laid before him, +indicating the position of the French troops in Holland, and plans of the +intended encampment of our army of England on the coast of Flanders and +France; and he was asked whether he thought it probable that our +Government would assent to a neutrality so injurious to its offensive +operations against Great Britain. + +“But,” said the Russian Ambassador, “the independence of Holland has been +admitted by you in formal treaties.” + +“So has the cession of Malta by England,” interrupted Bonaparte, with +impatience. + +“True,” replied Markof, “but you are now at war with England for this +point; while Holland, against which you have no complaint, has not only +been invaded by your troops, but, contrary both to its inclination and +interest, involved in a war with you, by which it has much to lose and +nothing to gain.” + +“I have no account to render to anybody for my transactions, and I desire +to hear nothing more on this subject,” said Bonaparte, retiring furious, +and leaving Markof to meditate on our Sovereign’s singular principles of +political justice and of ‘jus pentium’. + +From that period Bonaparte resolved on another change of the executive +power of the Batavian Republic. But it was more easy to displace one set +of men for another than to find proper ones to occupy a situation in +which, if they do their duty as patriots, they must offend France; and if +they are our tools, instead of the independent governors of their +country, they must excite a discontent among their fellow citizens, +disgracing themselves as individuals, and exposing themselves as chief +magistrates to the fate of the De Witts, should ever fortune forsake our +arms or desert Bonaparte. + +No country has of late been less productive of great men than Holland. +The Van Tromps, the Russel, and the William III. all died without +leaving any posterity behind them; and the race of Batavian heroes seems +to have expired with them, as that of patriots with the De, Witts and +Barneveldt. Since the beginning of the last century we read, indeed, of +some able statesmen, as most, if not all, the former grand pensionaries +have been; but the name of no warrior of any great eminence is recorded. +This scarcity, of native genius and valour has not a little contributed +to the present humbled, disgraced, and oppressed state of wretched +Batavia. + +Admiral de Winter certainly neither wants courage nor genius, but his +private character has a great resemblance to that of General Moreau. +Nature has destined him to obey, and not to govern. He may direct as +ably and as valiantly the manoeuvres of a fleet as Moreau does those of +an army, but neither the one nor the other at the head of his nation +would render himself respected, his country flourishing, or his +countrymen happy and tranquil. + +Destined from his youth for the navy, Admiral de Winter entered into the +naval service of his country before he was fourteen, and was a second +lieutenant when the Batavian patriots, in rebellion against the +Stadtholder, were, in 1787, reduced to submission by the Duke of +Brunswick, the commander of the Prussian army that invaded Holland. His +parents and family being of the anti-Orange party, he emigrated to +France, where he was made an officer in the legion of Batavian refugees. +During the campaign of 1793 and 1794, he so much distinguished himself +under that competent judge of merit, Pichegru, that this commander +obtained for him the commission of a general of brigade in the service of +the French; which, after the conquest of Holland in January, 1795, was +exchanged for the rank of a vice-admiral of the Batavian Republic. His +exploits as commander of the Dutch fleet, during the battle of the 11th +of October, 1797, with your fleet, under Lord Duncan, I have heard +applauded even in your presence, when in your country. Too honest to be +seduced, and too brave to be intimidated, he is said to have incurred +Bonaparte’s hatred by resisting both his offers and his threats, and +declining to sell his own liberty as well as to betray the liberty of his +fellow subjects. When, in 1800, Bonaparte proposed to him the presidency +and consulate of the United States, for life, on condition that he should +sign a treaty, which made him a vassal of France, he refused, with +dignity and with firmness, and preferred retirement to a supremacy so +dishonestly acquired, and so dishonourably occupied. + +General Daendels, another Batavian revolutionist of some notoriety, from +an attorney became a lieutenant-colonel, and served as a spy under +Dumouriez in the winter of 1792 and in the spring of 1793. Under +Pichegru he was made a general, and exhibited those talents in the field +which are said to have before been displayed in the forum. In June, +1795, he was made a lieutenant-general of the Batavian Republic, and he +was the commander-in-chief of the Dutch troops combating in 1799 your +army under the Duke of York. In this place he did not much distinguish +himself, and the issue of the contest was entirely owing to our troops +and to our generals. + +After the Peace of Amiens, observing that Bonaparte intended to +annihilate instead of establishing universal liberty, Daendels gave in +his resignation and retired to obscurity, not wishing to be an instrument +of tyranny, after having so long fought for freedom. Had he possessed +the patriotism of a Brutus or a Cato, he would have bled or died for his +cause and country sooner than have deserted them both; or had the +ambition and love of glory of a Caesar held a place in his bosom, he +would have attempted to be the chief of his country, and by generosity +and clemency atone, if possible, for the loss of liberty. Upon the line +of baseness,--the deserter is placed next to the traitor. + +Dumonceau, another Batavian general of some publicity, is not by birth a +citizen of the United States, but was born at Brussels in 1758, and was +by profession a stonemason when, in 1789, he joined, as a volunteer, the +Belgian insurgents. After their dispersion in 1790 he took refuge and +served in France, and was made an officer in the corps of Belgians, +formed after the declaration of war against Austria in 1792. Here he +frequently distinguished himself, and was, therefore, advanced to the +rank of a general; but the Dutch general officers being better paid than +those of the French Republic, he was, with the permission of our +Directory, received, in 1795, as a lieutenant-general of the Batavian +Republic. He has often evinced bravery, but seldom great capacity. His +natural talents are considered as but indifferent, and his education is +worse. + +These are the only three military characters who might, with any prospect +of success, have tried to play the part of a Napoleon Bonaparte in +Holland. + + + + +LETTER XXXII. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Not to give umbrage to the Cabinet of Berlin, Bonaparte +communicated to it the necessity he was under of altering the form of +Government in Holland, and, if report be true, even condescended to ask +advice concerning a chief magistrate for that country. The young Prince +of Orange, brother-in-law of His Prussian Majesty, naturally presented +himself; but, after some time, Talleyrand’s agents discovered that great +pecuniary sacrifices could not be expected from that quarter, and perhaps +less submission to France experienced than from the former governors. An +eye was then cast on the Elector of Bavaria, whose past patriotism, as +well as that of his Ministers, was a full guarantee for future obedience. +Had he consented to such an arrangement, Austria might have aggrandized +herself on the Inn, Prussia in Franconia, and France in Italy; and the +present bone of contest would have been chiefly removed. + +This intrigue, for it was nothing else, was carried on by the Cabinet of +St. Cloud in March, 1804, about the time that Germany was invaded and the +Duc d’Enghien seized. This explains to you the reason why the Russian +note, delivered to the Diet of Ratisbon on the 8th of the following May, +was left without any support, except the ineffectual one from the King of +Sweden. How any Cabinet could be dupe enough to think Bonaparte serious, +or the Elector of Bavaria so weak as to enter into his schemes, is +difficult to be conceived, had not Europe witnessed still greater +credulity on one side, and still greater effrontery on the other. + +In the meantime Bonaparte grew every day more discontented with the +Batavian Directory, and more irritated against the members who composed +it. Against his regulations for excluding the commerce and productions +of your country, they resented with spirit instead of obeying them +without murmur as was required. He is said to have discovered, after his +own soldiers had forced the custom-house officers to obey his orders, +that, while in their proclamations the directors publicly prohibited the +introduction of British goods, some of them were secret insurers of this +forbidden merchandise, introduced by fraud and by smuggling; and that +while they officially wished for the success of the French arms and +destruction of England, they withdrew by stealth what property they had +in the French funds, to place it in the English. This refractory and, as +Bonaparte called it, mercantile spirit, so enraged him, that he had +already signed an order for arresting and transferring en masse his high +allies, the Batavian directors, to his Temple, when the representations +of Talleyrand moderated his fury, and caused the order to be recalled, +which Fouche was ready to execute. + +Had Jerome Bonaparte not offended his brother by his transatlantic +marriage, he would long ago have been the Prince Stadtholder of Holland; +but his disobedience was so far useful to the Cabinet of St. Cloud as it +gave it an opportunity of intriguing with, or deluding, other Cabinets +that might have any pretensions to interfere in the regulation of the +Batavian Government. By the choice finally made, you may judge how +difficult it was to find a suitable subject to represent it, and that +this representation is intended only to be temporary. + +Schimmelpenninck, the present grand pensionary of the Batavian Republic, +was destined by his education for the bar, but by his natural parts to +await in quiet obscurity the end of a dull existence. With some +property, little information, and a tolerably good share of common sense, +he might have lived and died respected, and even regretted, without any +pretension, or perhaps even ambition, to shine. The anti-Orange faction, +to which his parents and family appertained, pushed him forward, and +elected him, in 1795, a member of the First Batavian National Convention, +where, according to the spirit of the times, his speeches were rather +those of a demagogue than those of a Republican. Liberty, Equality, and +Fraternity were the constant themes of his political declamations, +infidelity his religious profession, and the examples of immorality, his +social lessons; so rapid and dangerous are the strides with which +seduction frequently advances on weak minds. + +In 1800 he was appointed an Ambassador to Napoleon Bonaparte and Charles +Maurice Talleyrand. The latter used him as a stockbroker, and the former +for anything he thought proper; and he was the humble and submissive +valet of both. More ignorant than malicious, and a greater fool than a +rogue, he was more laughed at and despised than trusted or abused. + +His patience being equal to his phlegm, nothing either moved or +confounded him; and he was, as Talleyrand remarked, “a model of an +Ambassador, according to which he and Bonaparte wished that all other +independent Princes and States would choose their representatives to the +French Government.” + +When our Minister and his Sovereign were discussing the difficulty of +properly filling up the vacancy, of the Dutch Government, judged +necessary by both, the former mentioned Schimmelpenninck with a smile; +and serious as Bonaparte commonly is, he could not help laughing. “I +should have been less astonished,” said he, “had you proposed my +Mameluke, Rostan.” + +This rebuke did not deter Talleyrand (who had settled his terms with +Schimmelpenninck) from continuing to point out the advantage which France +would derive from this nomination. “Because no man could easier be +directed when in office, and no man easier turned out of office when +disagreeable or unnecessary. Both as a Batavian plenipotentiary at +Amiens, and as Batavian Ambassador in England, he had proved himself as +obedient and submissive to France as when in the same capacity at Paris.” + +By returning often to the charge, with these and other remarks, +Talleyrand at last accustomed Bonaparte to the idea, which had once +appeared so humiliating, of writing to a man so much inferior in +everything, “Great and dear Friend!” and therefore said to the Minister: + +“Well! let us then make him a grand pensionary and a locum tenens for +five years; or until Jerome, when he repents, returns to his duty, and is +pardoned.” + +“Is he, then, not to be a grand pensionary for life?” asked Talleyrand; +“whether for one month or for life, he would be equally obedient to +resign when, commanded; but the latter would be more popular in Holland, +where they were tired of so many changes.” + +“Let them complain, if they dare,” replied Bonaparte. “Schimmelpenninck +is their chief magistrate only for five years, if so long; but you may +add that they may reelect him.” + +It was not before Talleyrand had compared the pecuniary proposal made to +his agents by foreign Princes with those of Schimmelpenninck to himself, +that the latter obtained the preference. The exact amount of the +purchase-money for the supreme magistracy in Holland is not well known to +any but the contracting parties. Some pretended that the whole was paid +down beforehand, being advanced by a society of merchants at Amsterdam, +the friends or relatives of the grand pensionary; others, that it is to +be paid by annual instalments of two millions of livres--for a certain +number of years. Certain it is, that this high office was sold and +bought; and that, had it been given for life, its value would have been +proportionately enhanced; which was the reason that Talleyrand +endeavoured to have it thus established. + +Talleyrand well knew the precarious state of Schimmelpenninck’s grandeur; +that it not only depended upon the whim of Napoleon, but had long been +intended as an hereditary sovereignty for Jerome. Another Dutchman asked +him not to ruin his friend and his family for what he was well aware +could never be called a sinecure place, and was so precarious in its +tenure. “Foolish vanity,” answered the Minister, “can never pay enough +for the gratification of its desires. All the Schimmelpennincks in the +world do not possess property enough to recompense me for the sovereign +honours which I have procured for one of their name and family, were he +deposed within twenty-four hours. What treasures can indemnify me for +connecting such a name and such a personage with the great name of the +First Emperor of the French?” + +I have only twice in my life been in Schimmelpenninck’s company, and I +thought him both timid and reserved; but from what little he said, I +could not possibly judge of his character and capacity. His portrait and +its accompaniments have been presented to me; such as delivered to you by +one of his countrymen, a Mr. M---- (formerly an Ambassador also), who was +both his schoolfellow and his comrade at the university. I shall add the +following traits, in his own words as near as possible: + +“More vain than ambitious, Schimmelpenninck from his youth, and, +particularly, from his entrance into public life, tried every means to +make a noise, but found none to make a reputation. He caressed in +succession all the systems of the French Revolution, without adopting one +for himself. All the Kings of faction received in their turns his homage +and felicitations. It was impossible to mention to him a man of any +notoriety, of whom he did not become immediately a partisan. The virtues +or the vices, the merit or defects, of the individual were of no +consideration; according to his judgment it was sufficient to be famous. +Yet with all the extravagances of a head filled with paradoxes, and of a +heart spoiled by modern philosophy, added to a habit of licentiousness, +he had no idea of becoming an instrument for the destruction of liberty +in his own country, much less of becoming its tyrant, in submitting to be +the slave of France. It was but lately that he took the fancy, after so +long admiring all other great men of our age, to be at any rate one of +their number, and of being admired as a great man in his turn. On this +account many accuse him of hypocrisy, but no one deserves that +appellation less, his vanity and exaltation never permitting him to +dissimulate; and no presumption, therefore, was less disguised than his, +to those who studied the man. Without acquired ability, without natural +genius, or political capacity, destitute of discretion and address, as +confident and obstinate as ignorant, he is only elevated to fall and to +rise no more.” + +Madame Schimmelpenninck, I was informed, is as amiable and accomplished +as her husband is awkward and deficient; though well acquainted with his +infidelities and profligacy, she is too virtuous to listen to revenge, +and too generous not to forgive. She is, besides, said to be a lady of +uncommon abilities, and of greater information than she chooses to +display. She has never been the worshipper of Bonaparte, or the friend +of Talleyrand; she loved her country, and detested its tyrants. Had she +been created a grand pensionary, she would certainly have swayed with +more glory than her husband; and been hailed by contemporaries, as well +as posterity, if not a heroine, at least a patriot,--a title which in our +times, though often prostituted, so few have any claim to, and which, +therefore, is so much the more valuable. + +When it was known at Paris that Schimmelpenninck had set out for his new +sovereignty, no less than sixteen girls of the Palais Royal demanded +passes for Holland. Being questioned by Fouche as to their business in +that country, they answered that they intended to visit their friend, the +grand pensionary, in his new dominions. Fouche communicated to +Talleyrand both their demands and their business, and asked his advice. +He replied: + +“Send two, and those of whose vigilance and intelligence you are sure. +Refuse, by all means, the other fourteen. Schimmelpenninck’s time is +precious, and were they at the Hague, he would neglect everything for +them. If they are fond of travelling, and are handsome and adroit, +advise them to set out for London or for St. Petersburg; and if they +consent, order them to my office, and they shall be supplied, if approved +of, both with instructions, and with their travelling expenses.” + +Fouche answered his colleague that “they were in every respect the very +reverse of his description; they seemed to have passed their lives in the +lowest stage of infamy, and they could neither read nor write.” You have +therefore, no reason to fear that these belles will be sent to +disseminate corruption in your happy island. + + + + +LETTER XXXIII. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--The Italian subjects of Napoleon the First were far from +displaying the same zeal and the same gratitude for his paternal care and +kindness in taking upon himself the trouble of governing them, as we good +Parisians have done. Notwithstanding that a brigade of our police agents +and spies, drilled for years to applaud and to excite enthusiasm, +proceeded as his advanced guard to raise the public spirit, the reception +at Milan was cold and everything else but cordial and pleasing. The +absence of duty did not escape his observation and resentment. Convinced, +in his own mind, of the great blessing, prosperity, and liberty his +victories and sovereignty have conferred on the inhabitants of the other +side of the Alps, he ascribed their present passive or mutinous behaviour +to the effect of foreign emissaries from Courts envious of his glory and +jealous of his authority. + +He suspected particularly England and Russia of having selected this +occasion of a solemnity that would complete his grandeur to humble his +just pride. He also had some idea within himself that even Austria might +indirectly have dared to influence the sentiments and conduct of her +ci-devant subjects of Lombardy; but his own high opinion of the awe which +his very name inspired at Vienna dispersed these thoughts, and his wrath +fell entirely on the audacity of Pitt and Markof. Strict orders were +therefore issued to the prefects and commissaries of police to watch +vigilantly all foreigners and strangers, who might have arrived, or who +should arrive, to witness the ceremony of the coronation, and to arrest +instantly any one who should give the least reason to suppose that he was +an enemy instead of an admirer of His Imperial and Royal Majesty. He +also commanded the prefects of his palace not to permit any persons to +approach his sacred person, of whose morality and politics they had not +previously obtained a good account. + +These great measures of security were not entirely unnecessary. +Individual vengeance and individual patriotism sharpened their daggers, +and, to use Senator Roederer’s language, “were near transforming the most +glorious day of rejoicing into a day of universal mourning.” + +All our writers on the Revolution agree that in France, within the first +twelve years after we had reconquered our lost liberty, more conspiracies +have been denounced than during the six centuries of the most brilliant +epoch of ancient and free Rome. These facts and avowals are speaking +evidences of the eternal tranquillity of our unfortunate country, of our +affection to our rulers, and of the unanimity with which all the changes +of Government have been, notwithstanding our printed votes, received and +approved. + +The frequency of conspiracies not only shows the discontent of the +governed, but the insecurity and instability of the governors. This +truth has not escaped Napoleon, who has, therefore, ordered an +expeditious and secret justice to despatch instantly the conspirators, +and to bury the conspiracy in oblivion, except when any grand coup d’etat +is to be struck; or, to excite the passions of hatred, any proofs can be +found, or must be fabricated, involving an inimical or rival foreign +Government in an odious plot. Since the farce which Mehee de la Touche +exhibited, you have, therefore, not read in the Moniteur either of the +danger our Emperor has incurred several times since from the machinations +of implacable or fanatical foes, or of the alarm these have caused his +partisans. They have, indeed, been hinted at in some speeches of our +public functionaries, and in some paragraphs of our public prints, but +their particulars will remain concealed from historians, unless some one +of those composing our Court, our fashionable, or our political circles, +has taken the trouble of noting them down; but even to these they are but +imperfectly or incorrectly known. + +Could the veracity of a Fouche, a Real, a Talleyrand, or a Duroc (the +only members of this new secret and invisible tribunal for expediting +conspirators) be depended upon, they would be the most authentic +annalists of these and other interesting secret occurrences. + +What I intend relating to you on this subject are circumstances such as +they have been reported in our best informed societies by our most +inquisitive companions. Truth is certainly the foundation of these +anecdotes; but their parts may be extenuated, diminished, altered, or +exaggerated. Defective or incomplete as they are, I hope you will not +judge them unworthy of a page in a letter, considering the grand +personage they concern, and the mystery with which he and his Government +encompass themselves, or in which they wrap up everything not agreeable +concerning them. + +A woman is said to have been at the head of the first plot against +Napoleon since his proclamation as an Emperor of the French. She called +herself Charlotte Encore; but her real name is not known. In 1803 she +lived and had furnished a house at Abbeville, where she passed for a +young widow of property, subsisting on her rents. About the same time +several other strangers settled there; but though she visited the +principal inhabitants, she never publicly had any connection with the +newcomers. + +In the summer of 1803, a girl at Amiens--some say a real enthusiast of +Bonaparte’s, but, according to others, engaged by Madame Bonaparte to +perform the part she did demanded, upon her knees, in a kind of paroxysm +of joy, the happiness of embracing him, in doing which she fainted, or +pretended to faint away, and a pension of three thousand livres--was +settled on her for her affection. + +Madame Encore, at Abbeville, to judge of her discourse and conversation, +was also an ardent friend and well-wisher of the Emperor; and when, in +July, 1804, he passed through Abbeville, on his journey to the coast, +she, also, threw herself at his feet, and declared that she would die +content if allowed the honour of embracing him. To this he was going to +assent, when Duroc stepped between them, seized her by the arm, and +dragged her to an adjoining room, whither Bonaparte, near fainting from +the sudden alarm his friend’s interference had occasioned, followed him, +trembling. In the right sleeve of Madame Encore’s gown was found a +stiletto, the point of which was poisoned. She was the same day +transported to this capital, under the inspection of Duroc, and +imprisoned in the Temple. In her examination she denied having +accomplices, and she expired on the rack without telling even her name. +The sub-prefect at Abbeville, the once famous Andre Dumont, was ordered +to disseminate a report that she was shut up as insane in a madhouse. + +In the strict search made by the police in the house occupied by her, no +papers or any, other indications were discovered that involved other +persons, or disclosed who she was, or what induced her to attempt such a +rash action. Before the secret tribunal she is reported to have said, +“that being convinced of Bonaparte’s being one of the greatest criminals +that ever breathed upon the earth, she took upon herself the office of a +volunteer executioner; having, with every other good or loyal person, a +right to punish him whom the law could not, or dared not, reach.” When, +however, some repairs were made in the house at Abbeville by a new +tenant, a bundle of papers was found, which proved that a M. +Franquonville, and about thirty, other individuals (many, of whom were +the late newcomers there), had for six months been watching an +opportunity to seize Bonaparte in his journeys between Abbeville and +Montreuil, and to carry him to some part of the coast, where a vessel was +ready to sail for England with him. Had he, however, made resistance, he +would have been shot in France, and his assassins have saved themselves +in the vessel. + +The numerous escort that always, since he was an Emperor, accompanied +him, and particularly his concealment of the days of his journeys, +prevented the execution of this plot; and Madame Encore, therefore, took +upon her to sacrifice herself for what she thought the welfare of her +country. How Duroc suspected or discovered her intent is not known; some +say that an anonymous letter informed him of it, while others assert +that, in throwing herself at Bonaparte’s feet, this prefect observed the +steel through the sleeve of her muslin gown. Most of her associates were +secretly executed; some, however, were carried to Boulogne and shot at +the head of the army of England as English spies. + + + + +LETTER XXXIV. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--After the discovery of Charlotte Encore’s attempt, Bonaparte, +who hitherto had flattered himself that he possessed the good wishes, if +not the affection, of his female subjects, made a regulation according to +which no women who had not previously given in their names to the +prefects of his palaces, and obtained previous permission, can approach +his person or throw themselves at his feet, without incurring his +displeasure, and even arrest. Of this Imperial decree, ladies, both of +the capital and of the provinces, when he travels, are officially +informed. Notwithstanding this precaution, he was a second time last +spring, at Lyons, near falling the victim of the vengeance or malice of a +woman. + +In his journey to be crowned King of Italy, he occupied his uncle’s +episcopal palace at Lyons during the forty-eight hours he remained there. +Most of the persons of both sexes composing the household of Cardinal +Fesch were from his own country, Corsica; among these was one of the name +of Pauline Riotti, who inspected the economy of the kitchens. It is +Bonaparte’s custom to take a dish of chocolate in the forenoon, which +she, on the morning of his departure, against her custom, but under +pretence of knowing the taste of the family, desired to prepare. One of +the cooks observed that she mixed it with something from her pocket, but, +without saying a word to her that indicated suspicion, he warned +Bonaparte, in a note, delivered to a page, to be upon his guard. When +the chamberlain carried in the chocolate, Napoleon ordered the person who +had prepared it to be brought before him. This being told Pauline, she +fainted away, after having first drunk the remaining contents of the +chocolate pot. Her convulsions soon indicated that she was poisoned, +and, notwithstanding the endeavours of Bonaparte’s physician, Corvisart, +she expired within an hour; protesting that her crime was an act of +revenge against Napoleon, who had seduced her, when young, under a +promise of marriage; but who, since his elevation, had not only neglected +her, but reduced her to despair by refusing an honest support for herself +and her child, sufficient to preserve her from the degradation of +servitude. Cardinal Fesch received a severe reprimand for admitting +among his domestics individuals with whose former lives he was not better +acquainted, and the same day he dismissed every Corsican in his service. +The cook was, with the reward of a pension, made a member of the Legion +of Honour, and it was given out by Corvisart that Pauline died insane. + +Within three weeks after this occurrence, Bonaparte was, at Milan, again +exposed to an imminent danger. According to his commands, the vigilance +of the police had been very strict, and even severe. All strangers who +could not give the most satisfactory account of themselves, had either +been sent out of the country, or were imprisoned. He never went out +unless strongly attended, and during his audiences the most trusty +officers always surrounded him; these precautions increased in proportion +as the day of his coronation approached. On the morning of that day, +about nine o’clock, when full dressed in his Imperial and royal robes, +and all the grand officers of State by his side, a paper was delivered to +him by his chamberlain, Talleyrand, a nephew of the Minister. The +instant he had read it, he flew into the arms of Berthier, exclaiming: +“My friend, I am betrayed; are you among the number of conspirators? +Jourdan, Lasnes, Mortier, Bessieres, St. Cyr, are you also forsaking your +friend and benefactor?” They all instantly encompassed him, begging that +he would calm himself; that they all were what they always had been, +dutiful and faithful subjects. “But read this paper from my prefect, +Salmatoris; he says that if I move a step I may cease to live, as the +assassins are near me, as well as before me.” + +The commander of his guard then entered with fifty grenadiers, their +bayonets fixed, carrying with them a prisoner, who pointed out four +individuals not far from Bonaparte’s person, two of whom were Italian +officers of the Royal Italian Guard, and two were dressed in Swiss +uniforms. They were all immediately seized, and at their feet were found +three daggers. One of those in Swiss regimentals exclaimed, before he +was taken: “Tremble, tyrant of my country! Thousands of the descendants +of William Tell have, with me, sworn your destruction. You, escape this +day, but the just vengeance of outraged humanity follows you like your +shade. Depend upon it an untimely end is irremediably reserved you.” So +saying, he pierced his heart and fell a corpse into the arms of the +grenadiers who came to arrest him. + +This incident suspended the procession to the cathedral for an hour, when +Berthier announced that the conspirators were punished. Bonaparte +evinced on this occasion the same absence of mind and of courage as on +the 9th of November, 1799, when Arena and other deputies drew their +daggers against him at St. Cloud. As this scene did not redound much to +the honour of the Emperor and King, all mention of the conspiracy was +severely prohibited, and the deputations ready to congratulate him on his +escape were dispersed to attend their other duties. + +The conspirators are stated to have been four young men, who had lost +their parents and fortunes by the Revolutions effected by Bonaparte in +Italy and Switzerland, and who had sworn fidelity to each other, and to +avenge their individual wrongs with the injuries of their countries at +the same time. They were all prepared and resigned to die, expecting to +be cut to pieces the moment Bonaparte fell by their hands; but one of the +Italians, rather superstitious, had, before he went to the drawing-room, +confessed and received absolution from a priest, whom he knew to be an +enemy of Bonaparte; but the priest, in hope of reward, disclosed the +conspiracy to the master of ceremonies, Salmatoris. The three surviving +conspirators are said to have been literally torn to pieces by the +engines of torture, and the priest was shot for having given absolution +to an assassin, and for having concealed his knowledge of the plot an +hour after he was acquainted with it. Even Salmatoris had some +difficulty to avoid being disgraced for having written a terrifying note, +which had exposed the Emperor’s weakness, and shown that his life was +dearer to him at the head of Empires than when only at the head of +armies. + +My narrative of this event I have from an officer present, whose veracity +I can guarantee. He also informed me that, in consequence of it, all the +officers of the Swiss brigades in the French service that were quartered +or encamped in Italy were, to the number of near fifty, dismissed at +once. Of the Italian guards, every officer who was known to have +suffered any losses by the new order of things in his country, was +ordered to resign, if he would not enter into the regiments of the line. + +Whatever the police agents did to prevent it, and in spite of some unjust +and cruel chastisement, Bonaparte continued, during his stay in Italy, an +object of ridicule in conversation, as well as in pamphlets and +caricatures. One of these represented him in the ragged garb of a +sans-culotte, pale and trembling on his knees, with bewildered looks and +his hair standing upright on his head like pointed horns, tearing the map +of the world to pieces, and, to save his life, offering each of his +generals a slice, who in return regarded him with looks of contempt mixed +with pity. + +I have just heard of a new plot, or rather a league against Bonaparte’s +ambition. At its head the Generals Jourdan, Macdonald, Le Courbe, and +Dessolles are placed, though many less victorious generals and officers, +civil as well as military, are reported to be its members. Their object +is not to remove or displace Bonaparte as an Emperor of the French; on +the contrary, they offer their lives to strengthen his authority and to +resist his enemies; but they ask and advise him to renounce, for himself, +for his relations, and for France, all possessions on the Italian side of +the Alps, as the only means to establish a permanent peace, and to avoid +a war with other States, whose safety is endangered by our great +encroachments. A mutinous kind of address to this effect has been sent +to the camp of Boulogne and to all other encampments of our troops, that +those generals and other military persons there, who chose, might both +see the object and the intent of the associates. It is reported that +Bonaparte ordered it to be burnt by the hands of the common executioner +at Boulogne; that sixteen officers there who had subscribed their names +in appropriation of the address were broken, and dismissed with disgrace; +that Jourdan is deprived of his command in Italy, and ordered to render +an account of his conduct to the Emperor. Dessolles is also said to be +dismissed, and with Macdonald, Le Courbe, and eighty-four others of His +Majesty’s subjects, whose names appeared under the remonstrance (or +petition, as some call it), exiled to different departments of this +country, where they are to expect their Sovereign’s further +determination, and, in the meantime, remain under the inspection and +responsibility of his constituted authorities and commissaries of police. +As it is as dangerous to inquire as to converse on this and other +subjects, which the mysterious policy of our Government condemns to +silence or oblivion, I have not yet been able to gather any more or +better information concerning this league, or unconstitutional opposition +to the executive power; but as I am intimate with one of the actors, +should he have an opportunity, he will certainly write to me at full +length, and be very explicit. + + + + +LETTER XXXV. + +PARIS, August, 1805. + +MY LORD:--I believe I have before remarked that, under the Government of +Bonaparte, causes relatively the most insignificant have frequently +produced effects of the greatest consequence. A capricious or whimsical +character, swaying with unlimited power, is certainly the most dangerous +guardian of the prerogatives of sovereignty, as well as of the rights and +liberties of the people. That Bonaparte is as vain and fickle as a +coquette, as obstinate as a mule, and equally audacious and unrelenting, +every one who has witnessed his actions or meditated on his transactions +must be convinced. The least opposition irritates his pride, and he +determines and commands, in a moment of impatience or vivacity, what may +cause the misery of millions for ages, and, perhaps, his own repentance +for years. + +When Bonaparte was officially informed by his Ambassador at Vienna, the +young La Rochefoucauld, that the Emperor of Germany had declined being +one of his grand officers of the Legion of Honour, he flew into a rage, +and used against this Prince the most gross, vulgar, and unbecoming +language. I have heard it said that he went so far as to say, “Well, +Francis II. is tired of reigning. I hope to have strength enough to +carry a third crown. He who dares refuse to be and continue my equal, +shall soon, as a vassal, think himself honoured with the regard which, as +a master, I may condescend, from compassion, to bestow on him.” Though +forty-eight hours had elapsed after this furious sally before he met with +the Austrian Ambassador, Count Von Cobenzl, his passion was still so +furious, that, observing his grossness and violence, all the members of +the diplomatic corps trembled, both for this their respected member, and +for the honour of our nation thus represented. + +When the diplomatic audience was over, he said to Talleyrand, in a +commanding and harsh tone of voice, in the presence of all his +aides-de-camp and generals: + +“Write this afternoon, by an extraordinary courier, to my Minister at +Genoa, Salicetti, to prepare the Doge and the people for the immediate +incorporation of the Ligurian Republic with my Empire. Should Austria +dare to murmur, I shall, within three months, also incorporate the +ci-devant Republic of Venice with my Kingdom of Italy!” + +“But--but--Sire!” uttered the Minister, trembling. + +“There exists no ‘but,’ and I will listen to no ‘but,’” interrupted His +Majesty. “Obey my orders without further discussions. Should Austria +dare to arm, I shall, before next Christmas, make Vienna the headquarters +of a fiftieth military division. In an hour I expect you with the +despatches ready for Salicetti.” + +This Salicetti is a Corsican of a respectable family, born at Bastia, in +1758, and it was he who, during the siege of Toulon in 1793, introduced +his countryman, Napoleon Bonaparte, his present Sovereign, to the +acquaintance of Barras, an occurrence which has since produced +consequences so terribly notorious. + +Before the Revolution an advocate of the superior council of Corsica, he +was elected a member to the First National Assembly, where, on the 30th +of November, 1789, he pressed the decree which declared the Island of +Corsica an integral part of the French monarchy. In 1792, he was sent by +his fellow citizens as a deputy to the National Convention, where he +joined the terrorist faction, and voted for the death of his King. In +May, 1793, he was in Corsica, and violently opposed the partisans of +General Paoli. Obliged to make his escape in August from that island, to +save himself, he joined the army of General Carteaux, then marching +against the Marseilles insurgents, whence he was sent by the National +Convention with Barras, Gasparin, Robespierre the younger, and Ricrod, as +a representative of the people, to the army before Toulon, where, as well +as at Marseilles, he shared in all the atrocities committed by his +colleagues and by Bonaparte; for which, after the death of the +Robespierres, he was arrested with him as a terrorist. + +He had not known Bonaparte much in Corsica, but, finding him and his +family in great distress, with all other Corsican refugees, and observing +his adroitness as a captain of artillery, he recommended him to Barras, +and upon their representation to the Committee of Public Safety, he was +promoted to a chef de brigade, or colonel. In 1796, when Barras gave +Bonaparte the command of the army of Italy, Salicetti was appointed a +Commissary of Government to the same army, and in that capacity behaved +with the greatest insolence towards all the Princes of Italy, and most so +towards the Duke of Modena, with whom he and Bonaparte signed a treaty of +neutrality, for which they received a large sum in ready money; but +shortly afterwards the duchy was again invaded, and an attempt made to +surprise and seize the Duke. In 1797 he was chosen a member of the +Council of Five Hundred, where he always continued a supporter of violent +measures. + +When, in 1799, his former protege, Bonaparte, was proclaimed a First +Consul, Salicetti desired to be placed in the Conservative Senate; but +his familiarity displeased Napoleon, who made him first a commercial +agent, and afterwards a Minister to the Ligurian Republic, so as to keep +him at a distance. During his several missions, he has amassed a +fortune, calculated, at the lowest, of six millions of livres. + +The order Salicetti received to prepare the incorporation of Genoa with +France, would not, without the presence of our troops, have been very +easy to execute, particularly as he, six months before, had prevailed on +the Doge and the Senate to resign all sovereignty to Lucien Bonaparte, +under the title of a Grand Duke of Genoa. + +The cause of Napoleon’s change of opinion with regard to his brother +Lucien, was that the latter would not separate from a wife he loved, but +preferred domestic happiness to external splendour frequently accompanied +with internal misery. So that this act of incorporation of the Ligurian +Republic, in fact, originated, notwithstanding the great and deep +calculations of our profound politicians and political schemers, in +nothing else but in the keeping of a wife, and in the refusal of a +riband. + +That corruption, seduction, and menaces seconded the intrigues and +bayonets which convinced the Ligurian Government of the honour and +advantage of becoming subjects of Bonaparte, I have not the least doubt; +but that the Doge, Girolamo Durazzo, and the senators Morchio, Maglione, +Travega, Maghella, Roggieri, Taddei, Balby, and Langlade sold the +independence of their country for ten millions of livres--though it has +been positively asserted, I can hardly believe; and, indeed, money was as +little necessary as resistance would have been unavailing, all the forts +and strong positions being in the occupation of our troops. A general +officer present when the Doge of Genoa, at the head of the Ligurian +deputation, offered Bonaparte their homage at Milan, and exchanged +liberty for bondage, assured me that this ci-devant chief magistrate +spoke with a faltering voice and with tears in his eyes, and that +indignation was read on the countenance of every member of the deputation +thus forced to prostitute their rights as citizens, and to vilify their +sentiments as patriots. + +When Salicetti, with his secretary, Milhaud, had arranged this honourable +affair, they set out from Genoa to announce to Bonaparte, at Milan, their +success. Not above a league from the former city their carriage was +stopped, their persons stripped, and their papers and effects seized by a +gang, called in the country the gang of PATRIOTIC ROBBERS, commanded by +Mulieno. This chief is a descendant of a good Genoese family, proscribed +by France, and the men under him are all above the common class of +people. They never commit any murders, nor do they rob any but +Frenchmen, or Italians known to be adherents of the French party. Their +spoils they distribute among those of their countrymen who, like +themselves, have suffered from the revolutions in Italy within these last +nine years. They usually send the amount destined to relieve these +persons to the curates of the several parishes, signifying in what manner +it is to be employed. Their conduct has procured them many friends among +the low and the poor, and, though frequently pursued by our gendarmes, +they have hitherto always escaped. The papers captured by them on this +occasion from Salicetti are said to be of a most curious nature, and +throw great light on Bonaparte’s future views of Italy. The original act +of consent of the Ligurian Government to the incorporation with France +was also in this number. It is reported that they were deposited with +the Austrian Minister at Genoa, who found means to forward them to his +Court; and it is supposed that their contents did not a little to hasten +the present movements of the Emperor of Germany. + +Another gang, known under the appellation of the PATRIOTIC AVENGERS, also +desolates the Ligurian Republic. They never rob, but always murder those +whom they consider as enemies of their country. Many of our officers, +and even our sentries on duty, have been wounded or killed by them; and, +after dark, therefore, no Frenchman dares walk out unattended. Their +chief is supposed to be a ci-devant Abbe, Sagati, considered a political +as well as a religious fanatic. In consequence of the deeds of these +patriotic avengers, Bonaparte’s first act, as a Sovereign of Liguria, was +the establishment of special military commissions, and a law prohibiting, +under pain of death, every person from carrying arms who could not show a +written permission of our commissary of police. Robbers and assassins +are, unfortunately, common to all nations, and all people of all ages; +but those of the above description are only the production and progeny of +revolutionary and troublesome times. They pride themselves, instead of +violating the laws, on supplying their inefficacy and counteracting their +partiality. + + + + +LETTER XXXVI. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Bonaparte is now the knight of more Royal Orders than any other +Sovereign in Europe, and were he to put them on all at once, their +ribands would form stuff enough for a light summer coat of as many +different colours as the rainbow. The Kings of Spain, of Naples, of +Prussia, of Portugal, and of Etruria have admitted him a +knight-companion, as well as the Electors of Bavaria, Hesse, and Baden, +and the Pope of Rome. In return he has appointed these Princes his grand +officers of HIS Legion of Honour, the highest rank of his newly +instituted Imperial Order. It is even said that some of these Sovereigns +have been honoured by him with the grand star and broad riband of the +Order of His Iron Crown of the Kingdom of Italy. + +Before Napoleon’s departure for Milan last spring, Talleyrand intimated +to the members of the foreign diplomatic corps here, that their presence +would be agreeable to the Emperor of the French at his coronation at +Milan as a King of Italy. In the preceding summer a similar hint, or +order, had been given by him for a diplomatic trip to Aix-la-Chapelle, +and all Their Excellencies set a-packing instantly; but some legitimate +Sovereigns, having since discovered that it was indecent for their +representatives to be crowding the suite of an insolently and proudly +travelling usurper, under different pretences declined the honour of an +invitation and journey to Italy. It would, besides, have been pleasant +enough to have witnessed the Ambassadors of Austria and Prussia, whose +Sovereigns had not acknowledged Bonaparte’s right to his assumed title of +King of Italy, indirectly approving it by figuring at the solemnity which +inaugurated him as such. Of this inconsistency and impropriety +Talleyrand was well aware; but audacity on one side, and endurance and +submission on the other, had so often disregarded these considerations +before, that he saw no indelicacy or impertinence in the proposal. His +master had, however, the gratification to see at his levee, and in his +wife’s drawing-room, the Ambassadors of Spain, Naples, Portugal, and +Bavaria, who laid at the Imperial and royal feet the Order decorations of +their own Princes, to the nor little entertainment of His Imperial and +Royal Majesty, and to the great edification of his dutiful subjects on +the other side of the Alps. + +The expenses of Bonaparte’s journey to Milan, and his coronation there +(including also those of his attendants from France), amounted to no less +a sum than fifteen millions of livres--of which one hundred and fifty +thousand livres--was laid out in fireworks, double that sum in +decorations of the Royal Palace and the cathedral, and three millions of +livres--in presents to different generals, grand officers, deputations, +etc. The poor also shared his bounty; medals to the value of fifty +thousand livres--were thrown out among them on the day of the ceremony, +besides an equal sum given by Madame Napoleon to the hospitals and +orphan-houses. These last have a kind of hereditary or family claim on +the purse of our Sovereign; their parents were the victims of the +Emperor’s first step towards glory and grandeur. + +Another three millions of livres was expended for the march of troops +from France to form pleasure camps in Italy, and four millions more was +requisite for the forming and support of these encampments during two +months, and the Emperor distributed among the officers and men composing +them two million livres’ worth of rings, watches, snuff-boxes, portraits +set with diamonds, stars, and other trinkets, as evidences of His +Majesty’s satisfaction with their behaviour, presence, and performances. + +These troops were under the command of Bonaparte’s Field-marshal, +Jourdan, a general often mentioned in the military annals of our +revolutionary war. During the latter part of the American war, he served +under General Rochambeau as a common soldier, and obtained in 1783, after +the peace, his discharge. He then turned a pedlar, in which situation +the Revolution found him. He had also married, for her fortune, a lame +daughter of a tailor, who brought him a fortune of two thousand +livres--from whom he has since been divorced, leaving her to shift for +herself as she can, in a small milliner’s shop at Limoges, where her +husband was born in 1763. + +Jourdan was among the first members and pillars of the Jacobin Club +organized in his native town, which procured him rapid promotion in the +National Guards, of whom, in 1792, he was already a colonel. His known +love of liberty and equality induced the Committee of Public Safety, in +1793, to appoint him to the chief command of the armies of Ardennes and +of the North, instead of Lamarche and Houchard. On the 17th of October +the same year, he gained the victory of Wattignies, which obliged the +united forces of Austria, Prussia, and Germany to raise the siege of +Maubeuge. The jealous Republican Government, in reward, deposed him and +appointed Pichegru his successor, which was the origin of that enmity and +malignity with which Jourdan pursued this unfortunate general, even to +his grave. He never forgave Pichegru the acceptance of a command which +he could not decline without risking his life; and when he should have +avenged his disgrace on the real causes of it, he chose to resent it on +him who, like himself, was merely an instrument, or a slave, in the hands +and under the whip of a tyrannical power. + +After the imprisonment of General Hoche, in March, 1794, Jourdan +succeeded him as chief of the army of the Moselle. In June he joined, +with thirty thousand men, the right wing of the army of the North, +forming a new one, under the name of the army of the Sambre and Meuse. On +the 16th of the same month he gained a complete victory over the Prince +of Coburg, who tried to raise the siege of Charleroy. This battle, which +was fought near Trasegnies, is, nevertheless, commonly called the battle +of Fleurus. After Charleroy had surrendered on the 25th, Jourdan and his +army were ordered to act under the direction of General Pichegru, who had +drawn the plan of that brilliant campaign. Always envious of this +general, Jourdan did everything to retard his progress, and at last +intrigued so well that the army of the Sambre and the Meuse was separated +from that of the North. + +With the former of these armies Jourdan pursued the retreating +confederates, and, after driving them from different stands and +positions, he repulsed them to the banks of the Rhine, which river they +were obliged to pass. Here ended his successes this year, successes that +were not obtained without great loss on our side. + +Jourdan began the campaigns of 1795 and 1796 with equal brilliancy, and +ended them with equal disgrace. After penetrating into Germany with +troops as numerous as well-disciplined, he was defeated at the end of +them by Archduke Charles, and retreated always with such precipitation, +and in such confusion, that it looked more like the flight of a +disorderly rabble than the retreat of regular troops; and had not Moreau, +in 1796, kept the enemy in awe, few of Jourdan’s officers or men would +again have seen France; for the inhabitants of Franconia rose on these +marauders, and cut them to pieces, wherever they could surprise or waylay +them. + +In 1797, as a member of the Council of Five Hundred, he headed the +Jacobin faction against the moderate party, of which Pichegru was a +chief; and he had the cowardly vengeance of base rivalry to pride himself +upon having procured the transportation of that patriotic general to +Cayenne. In 1799, he again assumed the command of the army of Alsace and +of Switzerland; but he crossed the Rhine and penetrated into Suabia only +to be again routed by the Archduke Charles, and to repass this river in +disorder. Under the necessity of resigning as a general-in-chief, he +returned to the Council of Five Hundred, more violent than ever, and +provoked there the most oppressive measures against his fellow citizens. +Previous to the revolution effected by Bonaparte in November of that +year, he had entered with Garreau and Santerre into a conspiracy, the +object of which was to restore the Reign of Terror, and to prevent which +Bonaparte said he made those changes which placed him at the head of +Government. The words were even printed in the papers of that period, +which Bonaparte on the 10th of November addressed to the then deputy of +Mayenne, Prevost: “If the plot entered into by Jourdan and others, and of +which they have not blushed to propose to me the execution, had not been +defeated, they would have surrounded the place of your sitting, and to +crush all future opposition, ordered a number of deputies to be +massacred. That done, they were to establish the sanguinary despotism of +the Reign of Terror.” But whether such was Jourdan’s project, or whether +it was merely given out to be such by the consular faction, to extenuate +their own usurpation, he certainly had connected himself with the most +guilty and contemptible of the former terrorists, and drew upon himself +by such conduct the hatred and blame even of those whose opinion had long +been suspended on his account. + +General Jourdan was among those terrorists whom the Consular Government +condemned to transportation; but after several interviews with Bonaparte +he was not only pardoned, but made a Counsellor of State of the military +section; and afterwards, in 1801, an administrator-general of Piedmont, +where he was replaced by General Menou in 1803, being himself entrusted +with the command in Italy. This place he has preserved until last month, +when he was ordered to resign it to Massena, with whom he had a quarrel, +and would have fought him in a duel, had not the Viceroy, Eugene de +Beauharnais, put him under arrest and ordered him back hither, where he +is daily expected. If Massena’s report to Bonaparte be true, the army of +Italy was very far from being as orderly and numerous as Jourdan’s +assertions would have induced us to believe. But this accusation of a +rival must be listened to with caution; because, should Massena meet with +repulse, he will no doubt make use of it as an apology; and should he be +victorious, hold it out as a claim for more honour and praise. + +The same doubts which still continue of Jourdan’s political opinions +remain also with regard to his military capacity. But the unanimous +declaration of those who have served under his orders as a general must +silence both his blind admirers and unjust slanderers. They all allow +him some military ability; he combines and prepares in the Cabinet a plan +of defence and attack, with method and intelligence, but he does not +possess the quick coup d’oeil, and that promptitude which perceives, and +rectifies accordingly, an error on the field of battle. If, on the day +of action, some accident, or some manoeuvre, occurs, which has not been +foreseen by him, his dull and heavy genius does not enable him to alter +instantly his dispositions, or to remedy errors, misfortunes, or +improvidences. This kind of talent, and this kind of absence of talent, +explain equally the causes of his advantages, as well as the origin of +his frequent disasters. Nobody denies him courage, but, with most of our +other republican generals, he has never been careful of the lives of the +troops under him. I have heard an officer of superior talents and rank +assert, in the presence of Carnot, that the number of wounded and killed +under Jourdan, when victorious, frequently surpassed the number of +enemies he had defeated. I fear it is too true that we are as much, if +not more, indebted for our successes to the superior number as to the +superior valour of our troops. + +Jourdan is, with regard to fortune, one of our poorest republican +generals who have headed armies. He has not, during all his campaigns, +collected more than a capital of eight millions of livres--a mere trifle +compared to the fifty millions of Massena, the sixty millions of Le +Clerc, the forty millions of Murat, and the thirty-six millions of +Augereau; not to mention the hundred millions of Bonaparte. It is also +true that Jourdan is a gambler and a debauchee, fond of cards, dice, and +women; and that in Italy, except two hours in twenty-four allotted to +business, he passed the remainder of his time either at the +gaming-tables, or in the boudoirs of his seraglio--I say seraglio, +because he kept, in the extensive house joining his palace as governor +and commander, ten women-three French, three Italians, two Germans, two +Irish or English girls. He supported them all in style; but they were +his slaves, and he was their sultan, whose official mutes (his +aides-de-camp) both watched them, and, if necessary, chastised them. + + + + +LETTER XXXVII. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--I can truly defy the world to produce a corps of such a +heterogeneous composition as our Conservative Senate, when I except the +members composing Bonaparte’s Legion of Honour. Some of our Senators +have been tailors, apothecaries, merchants, chemists, quacks, physicians, +barbers, bankers, soldiers, drummers, dukes, shopkeepers, mountebanks, +Abbes, generals, savans, friars, Ambassadors, counsellors, or presidents +of Parliament, admirals, barristers, Bishops, sailors, attorneys, +authors, Barons, spies, painters, professors, Ministers, sans-culottes, +atheists, stonemasons, robbers, mathematicians, philosophers, regicides, +and a long et cetera. Any person reading through the official list of +the members of the Senate, and who is acquainted with their former +situations in life, may be convinced of this truth. Should he even be +ignorant of them, let him but inquire, with the list in his hand, in any +of our fashionable or political circles; he will meet with but few +persons who are not able or willing to remove his doubts, or to gratify +his curiosity. There are not many of them whom it is possible to +elevate, but those are still more numerous whom it is impossible to +degrade. Their past lives, vices, errors, or crimes, have settled their +characters and reputation; and they must live and die in ‘statu quo’, +either as fools or as knaves, and perhaps as both. + +I do not mean to say that they are all criminals or all equally criminal, +if insurrection against lawful authority and obedience to usurped tyranny +are not to be considered as crimes; but there are few indeed who can lay +their hands on their bosoms and say, ‘vitam expendere vero’. Some of +them, as a Lagrange, Berthollet, Chaptal, Laplace, Francois de +Neuf-Chateau, Tronchet, Monge, Lacepede, and Bougainville, are certainly +men of talents; but others, as a Porcher, Resnier, Vimar, Auber, Perk, +Sera, Vernier, Vien, Villetard, Tascher, Rigal, Baciocchi, Beviere, +Beauharnais, De Luynea (a ci-devant duke, known under the name of Le Gros +Cochon), nature never destined but to figure among those half-idiots and +half-imbeciles who are, as it were, intermedial between the brute and +human creation. + +Sieges, Cabanis, Garron Coulon, Lecouteul, Canteleu, Lenoin Laroche, +Volney, Gregoire, Emmery, Joucourt, Boissy d’Anglas, Fouche, and Roederer +form another class,--some of them regicides, others assassins and +plunderers, but all intriguers whose machinations date from the beginning +of the Revolution. They are all men of parts, of more or less knowledge, +and of great presumption. As to their morality, it is on a level with +their religion and loyalty. They betrayed their King, and had denied +their God already in 1789. + +After these come some others, who again have neither talents to boast of +nor crimes of which they have to be ashamed. They have but little +pretension to genius, none to consistency, and their honesty equals their +capacity. They joined our political revolution as they might have done a +religious procession. It was at that time a fashion; and they applauded +our revolutionary innovations as they would have done the introduction of +a new opera, of a new tragedy, of a new comedy, or of a new farce. To +this fraternity appertain a ci-devant Comte de Stult-Tracy, +Dubois--Dubay, Kellerman, Lambrechts, Lemercier, Pleville--Le Pelley, +Clement de Ris, Peregeaux, Berthelemy, Vaubois, Nrignon, D’Agier, Abrial, +De Belloy, Delannoy, Aboville, and St. Martin La Motte. + +Such are the characteristics of men whose ‘senatus consultum’ bestows an +Emperor on France, a King on Italy, makes of principalities departments +of a Republic, and transforms Republics into provinces or principalities. +To show the absurdly fickle and ridiculously absurd appellations of our +shamefully perverted institutions, this Senate was called the +Conservative Senate; that is to say, it was to preserve the republican +consular constitution in its integrity, both against the; encroachments +of the executive and legislative power, both against the manoeuvres of +the factions, the plots of the royalists or monarchists, and the clamours +of a populace of levellers. But during the five years that these honest +wiseacres have been preserving, everything has perished--the Republic, +the Consuls, free discussions, free election, the political liberty, and +the liberty of the Press; all--all are found nowhere but in old, useless, +and rejected codes. They have, however, in a truly patriotic manner +taken care of their own dear selves. Their salaries are more than +doubled since 1799. + +Besides mock Senators, mock praetors, mock quaestors, other ‘nomina +libertatis’ are revived, so as to make the loss of the reality so much +the more galling. We have also two curious commissions; one called “the +Senatorial Commission of Personal Liberty,” and the other “the Senatorial +Commission of the Liberty of the Press.” The imprisonment without cause, +and transportation without trial, of thousands of persons of both sexes +weekly, show the grand advantages which arise from the former of these +commissions; and the contents of our new books and daily prints evince +the utility and liberality of the latter. + +But from the past conduct of these our Senators, members of these +commissions, one may easily conclude what is to be expected in future +from their justice and patriotism. Lenoin Laroche, at the head of the +one, was formerly an advocate of some practice, but attended more to +politics than to the business of his clients, and was, therefore, at the +end of the session of the first assembly (of which he was a member), +forced, for subsistence, to become the editor of an insignificant +journal. Here he preached licentiousness, under the name of Liberty, and +the agrarian law in recommending Equality. A prudent courtier of all +systems in fashion, and of all factions in power, he escaped +proscription, though not accusation of having shared in the national +robberies. A short time in the summer of 1797, after the dismissal of +Cochon, he acted as a Minister of Police; and in 1798 the Jacobins +elected him a member of the Council of Ancients, where he, with other +deputies, sold himself to Bonaparte, and was, in return, rewarded with a +place in the Senate. Under monarchy he was a republican, and under a +Republic he extolled monarchical institutions. He wished to be singular, +and to be rich. Among so many shocking originals, however, he was not +distinguished; and among so many philosophical marauders, he had no +opportunity to pillage above two millions of livres. This friend of +liberty is now one of the most despotic Senators, and this lover of +equality never answers when spoken to, if not addressed as “His +Excellency,” or “Monseigneur.” + +Boissy d’ Anglas, another member of this commission, was before the +Revolution a steward to Louis XVIII. when Monsieur; and, in 1789, was +chosen a deputy of the first assembly, where he joined the factions, and +in his speeches and writings defended all the enormities that dishonoured +the beginning as well as the end of the Revolution. A member afterwards +of the National Convention, he was sent in mission to Lyons, where, +instead of healing the wounds of the inhabitants, he inflicted new ones. +When, on the 15th of March, 1796, in the Council of Five Hundred, he +pronounced the oath of hatred to royalty, he added, that this oath was in +his heart, otherwise no power upon earth could have forced him to take +it; and he is now a sworn subject of Napoleon the First! He pronounced +the panegyric of Robespierre, and the apotheosis of Marat. “The soul,” + said he, “was moved and elevated in hearing Robespierre speak of the +Supreme Being with philosophical ideas, embellished by eloquence;” and he +signed the removal of the ashes of Marat to the temple consecrated to +humanity! In September, 1797, he was, as a royalist, condemned to +transportation by the Directory; but in 1799 Bonaparte recalled him, made +him first a tribune and afterwards a Senator. + +Boissy d’ Anglas, though an apologist of robbers and assassins, has +neither murdered nor plundered; but, though he has not enriched himself, +he has assisted in ruining all his former protectors, benefactors, and +friends. + +Sers, a third member of this commission, was, before the Revolution, a +bankrupt merchant at Bordeaux, but in 1791 was a municipal officer of the +same city, and sent as a deputy to the National Assembly, where he +attempted to rise from the clouds that encompassed his heavy genius by a +motion for pulling down all the statues of Kings all over France. He +seconded another motion of Bonaparte’s prefect, Jean Debrie, to decree a +corps of tyrannicides, destined to murder all Emperors, Kings, and +Princes. At the club of the Jacobins, at Bordeaux, he prided himself on +having caused the arrest and death of three hundred aristocrats; and +boasted that he never went out without a dagger to despatch, by a summary +justice, those who had escaped the laws. After meeting with well-merited +contempt, and living for some time in the greatest obscurity, by a +handsome present to Madame Bonaparte, in 1799, he obtained the favour of +Napoleon, who dragged him forward to be placed among other ornaments of +his Senate. Sers has just cunning enough to be taken for a man of sense +when with fools; when with men of sense, he reassumes the place allotted +him by Nature. Without education, as well as without parts, he for a +long time confounded brutal scurrility with oratory, and thought himself +eloquent when he was only insolent or impertinent. His ideas of liberty +are such that, when he was a municipal officer, he signed a mandate of +arrest against sixty-four individuals of both sexes, who were at a ball, +because they had refused to invite to it one of his nieces. + +Abrial, Emmery, Vernier, and Lemercier are the other four members of that +commission; of these, two are old intriguers, two are nullities, and all +four are slaves. + +Of the seven members of the senatorial commission for preserving the +liberty of the Press, Garat and Roederer are the principal. The former +is a pedant, while pretending to be a philosopher; and he signed the +sentence of his good King’s death, while declaring himself a royalist. A +mere valet to Robespierre, his fawning procured him opportunities to +enrich himself with the spoil of those whom his calumnies and plots +caused to be massacred or guillotined. When, as a Minister of Justice, +he informed Louis XVI. of his condemnation, he did it with such an +affected and atrocious indifference that he even shocked his accomplices, +whose nature had not much of tenderness. As a member of the first +assembly, as a Minister under the convention, and as a deputy of the +Council of Five Hundred, he always opposed the liberty of the Press. “The +laws, you say” (exclaimed he, in the Council), “punish libellers; so they +do thieves and housebreakers; but would you, therefore, leave your doors +unbolted? Is not the character, the honour, and the tranquillity of a +citizen preferable to his treasures? and, by the liberty of the Press, +you leave them at the mercy of every scribbler who can write or think. +The wound inflicted may heal, but the scar will always remain. Were you, +therefore, determined to decree the motion for this dangerous and +impolitic liberty, I make this amendment, that conviction of having +written a libel carries with it capital punishment, and that a label be +fastened on the breast of the libeller, when carried to execution, with +this inscription: ‘A social murderer,’ or ‘A murderer of characters!’” + +Roederer has belonged to all religious or antireligious sects, and to all +political or anti-social factions, these last twenty years; but, after +approving, applauding, and serving them, he has deserted them, sold them, +or betrayed them. Before the Revolution, a Counseller of Parliament at +Metz, he was a spy of the Court on his colleagues; and, since the +Revolution, he served the Jacobins as a spy on the Court. Immoral and +unprincipled to the highest degree, his profligacy and duplicity are only +equalled by his perversity and cruelty. It was he who, on the 10th of +August, 1792, betrayed the King and the Royal Family into the hands of +their assassins, and who himself made a merit of this infamous act. After +he had been repulsed by all, even by the most sanguinary of our parties +and partisans, by a Brissot, a Marat, a Robespierre, a Tallien, and a +Barras, Bonaparte adopted him first as a Counsellor of State, and +afterwards as a Senator. His own and only daughter died in a +miscarriage, the consequence of an incestuous commerce with her unnatural +parent; and his only, son is disinherited by him for resenting his +father’s baseness in debauching a young girl whom the son had engaged to +marry. + +With the usual consistency of my revolutionary countrymen, he has, at one +period, asserted that the liberty of the Press was necessary for the +preservation both of men and things, for the protection of governors as +well as of the governed, and that it was the best support of a +constitutional Government. At another time he wrote that, as it was +impossible to fix the limits between the liberty and the licentiousness +of the Press, the latter destroyed the benefits of the former; that the +liberty of the Press was useful only against a Government which one +wished to overturn, but dangerous to a Government which one wished to +preserve. To show his indifference about his own character, as well as +about the opinion of the public, these opposite declarations were +inserted in one of our daily papers, and both were signed “Roederer.” + +In 1789, he was indebted above one million two hundred thousand +livres--and he now possesses national property purchased for seven +millions of livres--and he avows himself to be worth three millions more +in money placed in our public funds. He often says, laughingly, that he +is under great obligations to Robespierre, whose guillotine acquitted in +one day all his debts. All his creditors, after being denounced for +their aristocracy, were murdered en masse by this instrument of death. + +Of all the old beaux and superannuated libertines whose company I have +had the misfortune of not being able to avoid, Roederer is the most +affected, silly, and disgusting. His wrinkled face, and effeminate and +childish air; his assiduities about every woman of beauty or fashion; his +confidence in his own merit, and his presumption in his own power, wear +such a curious contrast with his trembling hands, running eyes, and +enervated person, that I have frequently been ready to laugh at him in +his face, had not indignation silenced all other feeling. A +light-coloured wig covers a bald head; his cheeks and eyelids are +painted, and his teeth false; and I have seen a woman faint away from the +effect of his breath, notwithstanding that he infects with his musk and +perfumes a whole house only with his presence. When on the ground floor +you may smell him in the attic. + + + + +LETTER XXXVIII. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--The reciprocal jealousy and even interest of Austria, France, +and Russia have hitherto prevented the tottering Turkish Empire from +being partitioned, like Poland, or seized, like Italy; to serve as +indemnities, like the German empire; or to be shared, as reward to the +allies, like the Empire of Mysore. + +When we consider the anarchy that prevails, both in the Government and +among the subjects, as well in the capital as in the provinces of the +Ottoman Porte; when we reflect on the mutiny and cowardice of its armies +and navy, the ignorance and incapacity of its officers and military and +naval commanders, it is surprising, indeed, as I have heard Talleyrand +often declare, that more foreign political intrigues should be carried on +at Constantinople alone than in all other capitals of Europe taken +together. These intrigues, however, instead of doing honour to the, +sagacity and patriotism of the members of the Divan, expose only their +corruption and imbecility; and, instead of indicating a dread of the +strength of the Sublime Sultan, show a knowledge of his weakness, of +which the gold of the most wealthy, and the craft of the most subtle, by +turns are striving to profit. + +Beyond a doubt the enmity of the Ottoman Porte can do more mischief than +its friendship can do service. Its neutrality is always useful, while +its alliance becomes frequently a burden, and its support of no +advantage. It is, therefore, more from a view of preventing evils than +from expectation of profit, that all other Powers plot, cabal, and bribe. +The map of the Turkish Empire explains what maybe though absurd or +nugatory in this assertion. + +As soon as a war with Austria was resolved on by the Brissot faction in +1792, emissaries were despatched to Constantinople to engage the Divan to +invade the provinces of Austria and Russia, thereby to create a diversion +in favour of this country. Our Ambassador in Turkey at that time, Comte +de Choiseul-Gouffier, though an admirer of the Revolution, was not a +republican, and, therefore, secretly counteracted what he officially +seemed to wish to effect. The Imperial Court succeeded, therefore, in +establishing a neutrality of the Ottoman Porte, but Comte de Choiseul was +proscribed by the Convention. As academician, he was, however, at St. +Petersburg, liberally recompensed by Catherine II. for the services the +Ambassador had performed at Constantinople. + +In May, 1793, the Committee of Public Safety determined to expedite +another embassy to the Grand. Seignior, at the head of which was the +famous intriguer, De Semonville, whose revolutionary diplomacy had, +within three years, alarmed the Courts of Madrid, Naples, and Turin, as +well as the republican Government of Genoa. His career towards Turkey +was stopped in the Grisons Republic, on the 25th of July following, where +he, with sixteen other persons of his suite, was arrested, and sent a +prisoner, first to Milan, and afterwards to Mantua. He carried with him +presents of immense value, which were all seized by the Austrians. Among +them were four superb coaches, highly finished, varnished, and gilt; what +is iron or brass in common carriages was here gold or silver-gilt. Two +large chests were filled with stuff of gold brocade, India gold muslins, +and shawls and laces of very great value. Eighty thousand louis d’or in +ready money; a service of gold plate of twenty covers, which formerly +belonged to the Kings of France; two small boxes full of diamonds and +brilliants, the intrinsic worth of which was estimated at forty-eight +millions of livres--and a great number of jewels; among others, the crown +diamond, called here the Regents’, and in your country the Pitt Diamond, +fell, with other riches, into the hands of the captors. Notwithstanding +this loss and this disappointment, we contrived in vain to purchase the +hostility of the Turks against our enemies, though with the sacrifice of +no less a sum (according to the report of Saint Just, in June, 1794,) +than seventy millions of livres: These official statements prove the +means which our so often extolled economical and moral republican +Governments have employed in their negotiations. + +After the invasion of Egypt, in time of peace, by Bonaparte, the Sultan +became at last convinced of the sincerity of our professions of +friendship, which he returned with a declaration of war. The +preliminaries of peace with your country, in October, 1801, were, +however, soon followed with a renewal of our former friendly intercourse +with the Ottoman Porte. The voyage of Sebastiani into Egypt and Syria, in +the autumn of 1802, showed that our tenderness for the inhabitants of +these countries had not diminished, and that we soon intended to bestow +on them new hugs of fraternity. Your pretensions to Malta impeded our +prospects in the East, and your obstinacy obliged us to postpone our so +well planned schemes of encroachments. It was then that Bonaparte first +selected for his representative to the Grand Seignior, General Brune, +commonly called by Moreau, Macdonald, and other competent judges of +military merit, an intriguer at the head of armies, and a warrior in time +of peace when seated in the Council chamber. + +This Brune was, before the Revolution, a journeyman printer, and married +to a washerwoman, whose industry and labour alone prevented him from +starving, for he was as vicious as idle. The money he gained when he +chose to work was generally squandered away in brothels, among +prostitutes. To supply his excesses he had even recourse to dishonest +means, and was shut up in the prison of Bicetre for robbing his master of +types and of paper. + +In the beginning of the Revolution, his very crimes made him an +acceptable associate of Marat, who, with the money advanced by the +Orleans faction, bought him a printing-office, and he printed the so +dreadfully well-known journal, called ‘L’Amie du Peuple’. From the +principles of this atrocious paper, and from those of his sanguinary +patron, he formed his own political creed. He distinguished himself +frequently at the clubs of the Cordeliers, and of the Jacobins, by his +extravagant motions, and by provoking laws of proscription against a +wealth he did not possess, and against a rank he would have dishonoured, +but did not see without envy. On the 30th of June, 1791, he said, in the +former of these clubs: + +“We hear everywhere complaints of poverty; were not our eyes so often +disgusted with the sight of unnatural riches, our hearts would not so +often be shocked at the unnatural sufferings of humanity. The blessings +of our Revolution will never be felt by the world, until we in France are +on a level, with regard to rank as well as to fortune. I, for my part, +know too well the dignity of human nature ever to bow to a superior; but, +brothers and friends, it is not enough that we are all politically equal, +we must also be all equally rich or equally poor--we must either all +strive to become men of property, or reduce men of property to become +sans-culottes. Believe me, the aristocracy of property is more dangerous +than the aristocracy of prerogative or fanaticism, because it is more +common. Here is a list sent to ‘L’ Amie du People’, but of which +prudence yet prohibits the publication. It contains the names of all the +men of property of Paris, and of the Department of the Seine, the amount +of their fortunes, and a proposal how to reduce and divide it among our +patriots. Of its great utility in the moment when we have been striking +our grand blows, nobody dares doubt; I, therefore, move that a brotherly +letter be sent to every society of our brothers and friends in the +provinces, inviting each of them to compose one of similar contents and +of similar tendency, in their own districts, with what remarks they think +proper to affix, and to forward them to us, to be deposited, in the +mother club, after taking copies of them for the archives of their own +society.” + +His motion was decreed. + +Two days afterwards, he again ascended the tribune. “You approved,” said +he, “of the measures I lately proposed against the aristocracy of +property; I will now tell you of another aristocracy which we must also +crush--I mean that of religion, and of the clergy. Their supports are +folly, cowardice, and ignorance. All priests are to be proscribed as +criminals, and despised as impostors or idiots; and all altars must be +reduced to dust as unnecessary. To prepare the public mind for such +events, we must enlighten it; which can only be done by disseminating +extracts from ‘L’ Amie du People’, and other philosophical publications. +I have here some ballads of my own composition, which have been sung in +my quarter; where all superstitious persons have already trembled, and +all fanatics are raving. If you think proper, I will, for a mere trifle, +print twenty thousand copies of them, to be distributed and disseminated +gratis all over France.” + +After some discussion, the treasurer of the club was ordered to advance +Citizen Brune the sum required, and the secretary to transmit the ballads +to the fraternal societies in the provinces. + +Brune put on his first regimentals as an aide-decamp to General Santerre +in December, 1792, after having given proofs of his military prowess the +preceding September, in the massacre of the prisoners in the Abbey. In +1793 he was appointed a colonel in the revolutionary army, which, during +the Reign of Terror, laid waste the departments of the Gironde, where he +was often seen commanding his corps, with a human head fixed on his +sword. On the day when he entered Bordeaux with his troops, a new-born +child occupied the same place, to the great horror of the inhabitants. +During this brilliant expedition he laid the first foundation of his +present fortune, having pillaged in a most unmerciful manner, and +arrested or shot every suspected person who could not, or would not, +exchange property for life. On his return to Paris, his patriotism was +recompensed with a commission of a general of brigade. On the death of +Robespierre, he was arrested as a terrorist, but, after some months’ +imprisonment, again released. + +In October, 1795, he assisted Napoleon Bonaparte in the massacre of the +Parisians, and obtained for it, from the director Barras, the rank of a +general of division. Though occupying, in time of war, such a high +military rank, he had hitherto never seen an enemy, or witnessed an +engagement. + +After Bonaparte had planned the invasion and pillage of Switzerland, +Brune was charged to execute this unjust outrage against the law of +nations. His capacity to intrigue procured him this distinction, and he +did honour to the choice of his employers. You have no doubt read that, +after lulling the Government of Berne into security by repeated proposals +of accommodation, he attacked the Swiss and Bernese troops during a +truce, and obtained by treachery successes which his valour did not +promise him. The pillage, robberies, and devastations in Helvetia added +several more millions to his previously great riches. + +It was after his campaign in Holland, during the autumn of 1799, that he +first began to claim some military glory. He owed, however, his +successes to the superior number of his troops, and to the talents of the +generals and officers serving under him. Being made a Counsellor of +State by Bonaparte, he was entrusted with the command of the army against +the Chouans. Here he again seduced by his promises, and duped by his +intrigues, acted infamously--but was successful. + + + +LETTER XXXIX. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Three months before Brune set out on his embassy to +Constantinople, Talleyrand and Fouche were collecting together all the +desperadoes of our Revolution, and all the Italian, Corsican, Greek, and +Arabian renegadoes and vagabonds in our country, to form him a set of +attendants agreeable to the real object of his mission. + +You know too much of our national character and of my own veracity to +think it improbable, when I assure you that most of our great men in +place are as vain as presumptuous, and that sometimes vanity and +presumption get the better of their discretion and prudence. What I am +going to tell you I did not hear myself, but it was reported to me by a +female friend, as estimable for her virtues as admired for her +accomplishments. She is often honoured with invitations to Talleyrand’s +familiar parties, composed chiefly of persons whose fortunes are as +independent as their principles, who, though not approving the +Revolution, neither joined its opposers nor opposed its adherents, +preferring tranquillity and obscurity to agitation and celebrity. Their +number is not much above half a dozen, and the Minister calls them the +only honest people in France with whom he thinks himself safe. + +When it was reported here that two hundred persons of Brune’s suite had +embarked at Marseilles and eighty-four at Genoa, and when it was besides +known that nearly fifty individuals accompanied him in his outset, this +unusual occurrence caused much conversation and many speculations in all +our coteries and fashionable circles. About that time my friend dined +with Talleyrand, and, by chance, also mentioned this grand embassy, +observing, at the same time, that it was too much honour done to the +Ottoman Porte, and too much money thrown away upon splendour, to honour +such an imbecile and tottering Government. + +“How people talk,” interrupted Talleyrand, “about what they do not +comprehend. Generous as Bonaparte is, he does not throw away his +expenses; perhaps within twelve months all these renegadoes or +adventurers, whom you all consider as valets of Brune, will be +three-tailed Pachas or Beys, leading friends of liberty, who shall have +gloriously broken their fetters as slaves of a Selim to become the +subjects of a Napoleon. The Eastern Empire has, indeed, long expired, +but it may suddenly be revived.” + +“Austria and Russia,” replied my friend, “would never suffer it, and +England would sooner ruin her navy and exhaust her Treasury than permit +such a revolution.” + +“So they have tried to do,” retorted Talleyrand, “to bring about a +counter revolution in France. But though only a moment is requisite to +erect the standard of revolt, ages often are necessary to conquer and +seize it. Turkey has long been ripe for a revolution. It wanted only +chiefs and directors. In time of war, ten thousand Frenchmen landed in +the Dardanelles would be masters of Constantinople, and perhaps of the +Empire. In time of peace, four hundred bold and well-informed men may +produce the same effect. Besides, with some temporary cession of a +couple of provinces to each of the Imperial Courts, and with the +temporary present of an island to Great Britain, everything may be +settled ‘pro tempore’, and a Joseph Bonaparte be permitted to reign at +Constantinople, as a Napoleon does at Paris.” + +That the Minister made use of this language I can take upon me to affirm; +but whether purposely or unintentionally, whether to give a high opinion +of his plans or to impose upon his company, I will not and cannot assert. + +On the subject of this numerous suite of Brune, Markof is said to have +obtained several conferences with Talleyrand and several audiences of +Bonaparte, in which representations, as just as energetic, were made, +which, however, did not alter the intent of our Government or increase +the favour of the Russian Ambassador at the Court of St. Cloud. But it +proved that our schemes of subversion are suspected, and that our agents +of overthrow would be watched and their manoeuvres inspected. + +Count Italinski, the Russian Ambassador to the Ottoman Porte, is one of +those noblemen who unite rank and fortune, talents and modesty, honour +and patriotism, wealth and liberality. His personal character and his +individual virtues made him, therefore, more esteemed and revered by the +members of the Divan, than the high station he occupied, and the powerful +Prince he represented, made him feared or respected. His warnings had +created prejudices against Brune which he found difficult to remove. To +revenge himself in his old way, our Ambassador inserted several +paragraphs in the Moniteur and in our other papers, in which Count +Italinski was libelled, and his transactions or views calumniated. + +After his first audience with the Grand Seignior, Brune complained +bitterly, of not having learned the Turkish language, and of being under +the necessity, therefore, of using interpreters, to whom he ascribed the +renewed obstacles he encountered in every step he took, while his hotel +was continually surrounded with spies, and the persons of his suite +followed everywhere like criminals when they went out. Even the valuable +presents he carried with him, amounting in value to twenty-four millions +of livres--were but indifferently received, the acceptors, seeming to +suspect the object and the honesty of the donor. + +In proportion as our politics became embroiled with those of Russia, the +post of Brune became of more importance; but the obstacles thrown in his +way augmented daily, and he was forced to avow that Russia and England +had greater influence and more credit than the French Republic and its +chief. When Bonaparte was proclaimed an Emperor of the French, Brune +expected that his acknowledgment as such at Constantinople would be a +mere matter of course and announced officially on the day he presented a +copy of his new credentials. Here again he was disappointed, and +therefore demanded his recall from a place where there was no +probability, under the present circumstances, of either exciting the +subjects to revolt, of deluding the Prince into submission, or seducing +Ministers who, in pocketing his bribes, forgot for what they were given. + +It was then that Bonaparte sent Joubert with a letter in his own +handwriting, to be delivered into the hands of the Grand Seignior +himself. This Joubert is a foundling, and, was from his youth destined +and educated to be one of the secret agents of our secret diplomacy. You +already, perhaps, have heard that our Government selects yearly a number +of young foundlings or orphans, whom it causes to be brought up in +foreign countries at its expense, so as to learn the language as natives +of the nation, where, when grown up, they are chiefly to be employed. +Joubert had been educated under the inspection of our consuls at Smyrna, +and, when he assumes the dress of a Turk, from his accent and manners +even the Mussulmans mistake him for one of their own creed and of their +country. He was introduced to Bonaparte in 1797, and accompanied him to +Egypt, where his services were of the greatest utility to the army. He +is now a kind of undersecretary in the office of our secret diplomacy, +and a member of the Legion of Honour. Should ever Joseph Bonaparte be an +Emperor or Sultan of the East, Joubert will certainly be his Grand +Vizier. There is another Joubert (with whom you must not confound him), +who was; also a kind of Dragoman at Constantinople some years ago, and +who is still somewhere on a secret mission in the East Indies. + +Joubert’s arrival at Constantinople excited both curiosity among the +people and suspicion among the Ministry. There is no example in the +Ottoman history of a chief of a Christian nation having written to the +Sultan by a private messenger, or of His Highness having condescended to +receive the letter from the bearer, or to converse with him. The Grand +Vizier demanded a copy of Bonaparte’s letter, before an audience could be +granted. This was refused by Joubert; and as Brune threatened to quit +the capital of Turkey if any longer delay were experienced, the letter +was delivered in a garden near Constantinople, where the Sultan met +Bonaparte’s agent, as if by chance, who, it seems, lost all courage and +presence of mind, and did not utter four words, to which no answer was +given. + +This impertinent intrigue, and this novel diplomacy, therefore, totally +miscarried, to the great shame and greater disappointment of the schemers +and contrivers. I must, however, do Talleyrand the justice to say that +he never approved of it, and even foretold the issue to his intimate +friends. It was entirely the whim and invention of Bonaparte himself, +upon a suggestion of Brune, who was far from being so well acquainted +with the spirit and policy of the Divan as he had been with the genius +and plots of Jacobinism. Not rebuked, however, Joubert was ordered away +a second time with a second letter, and, after an absence of four months, +returned again as he went, less satisfied with the second than with his +first journey. + +In these trips to Turkey, he had always for travelling companions some of +our emissaries to Austria, Hungary, and in particular to Servia, where +the insurgents were assisted by our councils, and even guided by some of +our officers. The principal aide-de-camp of Czerni George, the Servian +chieftain, is one Saint Martin, formerly a captain in our artillery, +afterwards an officer of engineers in the Russian service, and finally a +volunteer in the army of Conde. He and three other officers of artillery +were, under fictitious names, sent by our Government, during the spring +of last year, to the camp of the insurgents. They pretended to be of the +Grecian religion, and formerly Russian officers, and were immediately +employed. Saint Martin has gained great influence over Czerni George, +and directs both his political councils and military operations. Besides +the individuals left behind by Joubert; it is said that upwards of one +hundred persons of Brune’s suite have been ordered for the same +destination. You see how great the activity of our Government is, and +that nothing is thought unworthy of its vigilance or its machinations. In +the staff of Paswan Oglou, six of my countrymen have been serving ever +since 1796, always in the pay of our Government. + +It was much against the inclination and interest of our Emperor that his +Ambassador at Constantinople should leave the field of battle there to +the representatives of Russia, Austria, and England. But his dignity was +at stake. After many threats to deprive the Sultan of the honour of his +presence, and even after setting out once for some leagues on his return, +Brune, observing that these marches and countermarches excited more mirth +than terror, at last fixed a day, when, finally, either Bonaparte must be +acknowledged by the Divan as an Emperor of the French, or his departure +would take place. On that day he, indeed, began his retreat, but, under +different pretexts, be again stopped, sent couriers to his secretaries, +waited for their return, and sent new couriers again,--but all in vain, +the Divan continued refractory. + +At his first audience after his return, the reception Bonaparte gave him +was not very cordial. He demanded active employment, in case of a +continental war, either in Italy or in Germany, but received neither. +When our army of England was already on its march towards the Rhine, and +Bonaparte returned here, Brune was ordered to take command on the coast, +and to organize there an army of observation, destined to succour Holland +in case of an invasion, or to invade England should a favourable occasion +present itself. The fact is, he was charged to intrigue rather than to +fight; and were Napoleon able to force upon Austria another Peace of +Luneville, Brune would probably be the plenipotentiary that would ask +your acceptance of another Peace of Amiens. It is here a general belief +that his present command signifies another pacific overture from +Bonaparte before your Parliament meets, or, at least, before the New +Year. Remember that our hero is more to be dreaded as a Philip than as +an Alexander. + +General Brune has bought landed property for nine millions of livres--and +has, in different funds, placed ready money to the same amount. His own +and his wife’s diamonds are valued by him at three millions; and when he +has any parties to dinner, he exhibits them with great complaisance as +presents forced upon him during his campaign in Switzerland and Holland, +for the protection he gave the inhabitants. He is now so vain of his +wealth and proud of his rank, that he not only disregards all former +acquaintances, but denies his own brothers and sisters,--telling them +frankly that the Fieldmarshal Brune can have no shoemaker for a brother, +nor a sister married to a chandler; that he knows of no parents, and of +no relatives, being the maker of his own fortune, and of what he is; that +his children will look no further back for ancestry than their father. +One of his first cousins, a postilion, who insisted, rather obstinately, +on his family alliance, was recommended by Brune to his friend Fouche, +who sent him on a voyage of discovery to Cayenne, from which he probably +will not return very soon. + + + + +LETTER XL. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +My LORD:--Madame de C------n is now one of our most fashionable ladies. +Once in the week she has a grand tea-party; once in a fortnight a grand +dinner; and once in the month a grand ball. Foreign gentlemen are +particularly well received at her house, which, of course, is much +frequented by them. As you intend to visit this country after a peace, +it may be of some service to you not to be unacquainted with the portrait +of a lady whose invitation to see the original you may depend upon the +day after your arrival. + +Madame de C----n is the widow of the great and useless traveller, Comte +de C----n, to whom his relatives pretend that she was never married. Upon +his death-bed he acknowledged her, however, for his wife, and left her +mistress of a fortune of three hundred thousand livres a year. The first +four years of her widowhood she passed in lawsuits before the tribunals, +where the plaintiffs could not prove that she was unmarried, nor she +herself that she was married. But Madame Napoleon Bonaparte, for a small +douceur, speaking in her favour, the consciences of the juries, and the +understanding of the judges, were all convinced at once that she had been +the lawful wife, and was the lawful heiress, of Comte de C----n, who had +no children, or nearer relatives than third cousins. + +Comte de C----n was travelling in the East Indies when the Revolution +broke out. His occupation there was a very innocent one; he drew +countenances, being one of the most enthusiastic sectaries of Lavater, +and modestly called himself the first physiognomist in the world. Indeed, +he had been at least the most laborious one; for he left behind him a +collection of six thousand two hundred portraits, drawn by himself in the +four quarters of the world, during a period of thirty years. + +He never engaged a servant, nor dealt with a tradesman, whose physiognomy +had not been examined by him. In his travels he preferred the worst +accommodation in a house where he approved of the countenance of the +host, to the best where the traits or lines of the landlord’s face were +irregular, or did not coincide with his ideas of physiognomical +propriety. The cut of a face, its expression, the length of the nose, +the width or smallness of the mouth, the form of the eyelids or of the +ears, the colour or thickness of the hair, with the shape and tout +ensemble of the head, were always minutely considered and discussed +before he entered into any agreement, on any subject, with any individual +whatever. Whatever recommendations, or whatever attestations were +produced, if they did not correspond with his own physiognomical remarks +and calculations, they were disregarded; while a person whose physiognomy +pleased him required no other introduction to obtain his confidence. +Whether he thought himself wiser than his forefathers, he certainly did +not grow richer than they were. Charlatans who imposed upon his +credulity and impostors who flattered his mania, servants who robbed him +and mistresses who deceived him, proved that if his knowledge of +physiognomy was great, it was by no means infallible. At his death, of +the fortune left him by his parents only the half remained. + +His friends often amused themselves at the expense of his foibles. When +he prepared for a journey to the East, one of them recommended him a +servant, upon whose fidelity he could depend. After examining with +minute scrupulosity the head of the person, he wrote: “My friend, I +accept your valuable present. From calculations, which never deceive me, +Manville (the servant’s name) possesses, with the fidelity of a dog, the +intrepidity of the lion. Chastity itself is painted on his front, +modesty in his looks, temperance on his cheek, and his mouth and nose +bespeak honesty itself.” Shortly after the Count had landed at +Pondicherry, Mauville, who was a girl, died, in a condition which showed +that chastity had not been the divinity to whom she had chiefly +sacrificed. In her trunk were found several trinkets belonging to her +master, which she honestly had appropriated to herself. His +miscalculation on this subject the Count could not but avow; he added, +however, that it was the entire fault of his friend, who had duped him +with regard to the sex. + +Madame de C----n was, on account of her physiognomy, purchased by her +late husband, then travelling in Turkey, from a merchant of Circassian +slaves, when she was under seven years of age, and sent for her education +to a relative of the Count, an Abbess of a convent in Languedoc. On his +return from Turkey, some years afterwards, he took her under his own +care, and she accompanied him all over Asia, and returned first to France +in 1796, where her husband’s name was upon the list of emigrants, though +he had not been in Europe for ten years before the Revolution. + +However, by some pecuniary arrangements with Barras, he recovered his +property, which he did not long enjoy, for he died in 1798. The suitors +of Madame de C----n, mistress of a large fortune, with some remnants of +beauty and elegance of manners, have been numerous, and among them +several Senators and generals, and even the Minister Chaptal. But she +has politely declined all their offers, preferring her liberty and the +undisturbed right of following her own inclination to the inconvenient +ties of Hymen. A gentleman, whom she calls, and who passes for, her +brother, Chevalier de M de T----, a Knight of Malta, assists her in doing +the honours of her house, and is considered as her favourite lover; +though report and the scandalous chronicle say that she bestows her +favours on every person who wishes to bestow on her his name, and that, +therefore, her gallants are at least as numerous as her suitors. + +Such is the true statement of the past, as well as the present, with +regard to Madame de C----n. She relates, however, a different story. She +says that she is the daughter of the Marquis de M de T-----, of a +Languedoc family; that she sailed, when a child, with her mother in a +felucca from Nice to Malta, there to visit her brother; was captured by +an Algerine pilot, separated from her mother, and carried to +Constantinople by a merchant of slaves; there she was purchased by Comte +de C----n, who restored her to her family, and whom, therefore, +notwithstanding the difference of their ages, she married from gratitude. +This pretty, romantic story is ordered in our Court circles to be +officially believed; and, of course, is believed by nobody, not even by +the Emperor and Empress themselves, who would not give her the place of a +lady-in-waiting, though her request was accompanied with a valuable +diamond to the latter. The present was kept, but the offer declined. + +All the members of the Bonaparte family, female as well as male, honour +her house with their visits and with the acceptance of her invitations; +and it is, therefore, among our fashionables, the ‘haut ton’ to be of the +society and circle of Madame de C----n. + +Last February, Madame de P----t (the wife of Comte de P----t, a relative, +by her husband’s side, of Madame de C----n, and who by the Revolution +lost all their property, and now live with her as companions) was brought +to bed of a son; the child was baptized by the Cardinal de Belloy, and +Madame Joseph and Prince Louis Bonaparte stood sponsors. This occurrence +was celebrated with great pomp, and a fete was given to nearly one +hundred and fifty per sons of both sexes,--as usual, a mixture of +ci-devant nobles and of ci-devant sans-culottes; of rank and meanness; of +upstart wealth and beggared dignity. + +What that day struck me most was the audacity of the Senator Villetard in +teasing and insulting the old Cardinal de Belloy with his impertinent +conversation and affected piety. This Villetard was, before the +Revolution, a journeyman barber, and was released in 1789 by the mob from +the prison of the Chatelet, where he was confined for theft. In 1791 his +patriotism was so well known in the Department of Yonne, that he was +deputed by the Jacobins there to the Jacobins of the capital with an +address, encouraging and advising the deposition of Louis XVI.; and in +1792 he was chosen a member of the National Convention, where the most +sanguinary and most violent of the factions were always certain to reckon +him in the number of their adherents. + +In December, 1797, when an insurrection, prepared by Joseph Bonaparte at +Rome, deprived the late revered pontiff both of his sovereignty and +liberty, Villetard was sent by the Jacobin and atheistical party of the +Directory to Loretto, to seize and carry off the celebrated Madonna. In +the execution of this commission he displayed a conduct worthy the +littleness of his genius and the criminality of his mind. The wooden +image of the Holy Virgin, a black gown said to have appertained to her, +together with three broken china plates, which the Roman Catholic +faithful have for ages believed to have been used by her, were presented +by him to the Directory, with a cruelly scandalous show, accompanied by a +horribly blasphemous letter. He passed the next night, after he had +perpetrated this sacrilege, with two prostitutes, in the chapel of the +Holy Virgin; and, on the next morning, placed one of them, naked, on the +pedestal where the statue of the Virgin had formerly stood, and ordered +all the devotees at Loretto, and two leagues round, to prostrate +themselves before her. This shocking command occasioned the premature +death of fifteen ladies, two of whom, who were nuns, died on the spot on +beholding the horrid outrage; and many more were deprived of their +reason. How barbarously unfeeling must that wretch be who, in bereaving +the religious, the pious, and the conscientious of their consolation and +hope, adds the tormenting reproach of apostasy, by forcing virtue upon +its knees to bow before what it knows to be guilt and infamy. + +A traitor to his associates as to his God, it was he who, in November, +1799, presented at St. Cloud the decree which excluded all those who +opposed Bonaparte’s authority from the Council of Five Hundred, and +appointed the two committees which made him a First Consul. In reward +for this act of treachery, he was nominated to a place in the +Conservative Senate. He has now ranked himself among our modern saints, +goes regularly to Mass and confesses; has made a brother of his, who was +a drummer, an Abbe; and his assiduity about the Cardinal was probably +with a view to obtain advancement for this edifying priest. + +The Cardinal de Belloy is now ninety-six years of age, being born in +1709, and has been a Bishop for fifty-three years, but, during the +Revolution, was proscribed, with all other prelates. He remained, +however, in France, where his age saved him from the guillotine, but not +from being reduced to the greatest want. A descendant of a noble family, +and possessing an unpolluted character, Bonaparte fixed upon him as one +of the pillars for the reestablishment of the Catholic worship, made him +an Archbishop of Paris, and procured him the rank of a Cardinal from +Rome. But he is now in his second childhood, entirely directed by his +grand vicaries, Malaret, De Mons, and Legeas, who are in the pay of, and +absolutely devoted to, Bonaparte. An innocent instrument in their hands, +of those impious compliments pronounced by him to the Emperor and the +Empress, he did not, perhaps, even understand the meaning. From such a +man the vile and artful Villetard might extort any promise. I observed, +however, with pleasure, that he was watched by the grand vicar, Malaret, +who seldom loses sight of His Eminence. + +These two so opposite characters--I mean De Belloy and Villetard--are +already speaking evidences of the composition of the society at Madame de +C----n’s. But I will tell you something still more striking. This lady +is famous for her elegant services of plate, as much as for her delicate +taste in entertaining her parties. After the supper on this night, +eleven silver and four gold plates, besides numerous silver and gold +spoons, forks, etc., were missed. She informed Fouche of her loss, who +had her house surrounded by spies, with orders not to let any servant +pass without undergoing a strict search. The first gentleman who called +for his carriage was His Excellency the Counsellor of State and grand +officer of the Legion of Honour, Treilhard. His servants were stopped +and the cause explained. They willingly, and against the protest of +their master, suffered themselves to be searched. Nothing was found upon +them; but the police agents, observing the full-dress hat of their master +rather bulky under his arm, took the liberty to look into it, where they +found one of Madame de C----n’s gold plates and two of her spoons. His +Excellency immediately ordered his servants to be arrested, for having +concealed their theft there. Fouche, however, when called out, advised +his friend to forgive them for misplacing them, as the less said on the +subject the better. When Madame de C----n heard of this discovery, she +asked Fouche to recall his order or to alter it. “A repetition of such +misplacings in the hats or in the pockets of the masters,” said she, +“would injure the reputation of my house and company.” She never +recovered the remainder of her loss, and that she might not be exposed in +future to the same occurrences, she bought two services of china the +following day, to be used when she had mixed society. + +Treilhard had, before the Revolution, the reputation of being an honest +man and an able advocate; but has since joined the criminals of all +factions, being an accomplice in their guilt and a sharer of their +spoils. In the convention, he voted for the death of Louis XVI. and +pursued without mercy the unfortunate Marie Antoinette to the scaffold. +During his missions in the departments, wherever he went the guillotine +was erected and blood flowed in streams. He was, nevertheless, accused +by Robespierre of moderatism. At Lille, in 1797, and at Rastadt, in +1798, he negotiated as a plenipotentiary with the representatives of +Princes, and in 1799 corresponded as a director with Emperors and Kings, +to whom he wrote as his great and dear friends. He is now a Counsellor +of State, in the section of legislation, and enjoys a fortune of several +millions of livres, arising from estates in the country, and from leases +in the capital. As this accident at Madame de C----n’s soon became +public, his friends gave out that he had of late been exceedingly absent, +and, from absence of mind, puts everything he can lay hold of into his +pocket. He is not a favourite with Madame Bonaparte, and she asked her +husband to dismiss and disgrace him for an act so disgraceful to a grand +officer of the Legion of Honour, but was answered, “Were I to turn away +all the thieves and rogues that encompass me I should soon cease to +reign. I despise them, but I must employ them.” + +It is whispered that the police have discovered another of Madame de C +n’s lost gold plates at a pawnbroker’s, where it had been pledged by the +wife of another Counsellor of State, Francois de Nantes. + +This I give you merely as a report! though the fact is, that Madame +Francois is very fond of gambling, but very unfortunate; and she, with +other of our fashionable ladies, has more than once resorted to her +charms for the payment of her gambling debts. + + +MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF ST. CLOUD + + +Being Secret Letters from a Gentleman at Paris to a Nobleman in London + + + + +BOOK 2. + + + + +LETTER I. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Since my return here, I have never neglected to present myself +before our Sovereign, on his days of grand reviews and grand diplomatic +audiences. I never saw him more condescending, more agreeable, or, at +least, less offensive, than on the day of his last levee, before he set +out to be inaugurated a King of Italy; nor worse tempered, more petulant, +agitated, abrupt, and rude than at his first grand audience after his +arrival from Milan, when this ceremony had been performed. I am not the +only one who has made this remark; he did not disguise either his good or +ill-humour; and it was only requisite to have eyes and ears to see and be +disgusted at the difference of behaviour. + +I have heard a female friend of Madame Bonaparte explain, in part, the +cause of this alteration. Just before he set out for Italy, the +agreeable news of the success of the first Rochefort squadron in the West +Indies, and the escape of our Toulon fleet from the vigilance of your +Lord Nelson, highly elevated his spirits, as it was the first naval +enterprise of any consequence since his reign. I am certain that one +grand naval victory would flatter his vanity and ambition more than all +the glory of one of his most brilliant Continental campaigns. He had +also, at that time, great expectations that another negotiation with +Russia would keep the Continent submissive under his dictature, until he +should find an opportunity of crushing your power. You may be sure that +he had no small hopes of striking a blow in your country, after the +junction of our fleet with the Spanish, not by any engagement between our +Brest fleet and your Channel fleet, but under a supposition that you +would detach squadrons to the East and West Indies in search of the +combined fleet, which, by an unexpected return, according to orders, +would have then left us masters of the Channel, and, if joined with the +Batavian fleet, perhaps even of the North Sea. By the incomprehensible +activity of Lord Nelson, and by the defeat (or as we call it here, the +negative victory) of Villeneuve and Gravina, all this first prospect had +vanished. Our vengeance against a nation of shopkeepers we were not only +under the necessity of postponing, but, from the unpolite threats and +treaties of the Cabinet of St. Petersburg with those of Vienna and St. +James, we were on the eve of a Continental war, and our gunboats, instead +of being useful in carrying an army to the destruction of the tyrants of +the seas, were burdensome, as an army was necessary to guard them, and to +prevent these tyrants from capturing or destroying them. Such changes, +in so short a period of time as three months, might irritate a temper +less patient than that of Napoleon the First. + +At his grand audience here, even after the army, of England had moved +towards Germany, when the die was cast, and his mind should, therefore, +have been made up, he was almost insupportable. The low bows, and the +still humbler expressions of the Prussian Ambassador, the Marquis da +Lucchesini, were hardly noticed; and the Saxon Ambassador, Count von +Buneau, was addressed in a language that no well-bred master ever uses in +speaking to a menial servant. He did not cast a look, or utter a word, +that was not an insult to the audience and a disgrace to his rank. I +never before saw him vent his rage and disappointment so +indiscriminately. We were, indeed (if I may use the term), humbled and +trampled upon en masse. Some he put out of countenance by staring +angrily at them; others he shocked by his hoarse voice and harsh words; +and all--all of us--were afraid, in our turn, of experiencing something +worse than our neighbours. I observed more than one Minister, and more +than one general, change colour, and even perspire, at His Majesty’s +approach. + +I believe the members of the foreign diplomatic corps here will all agree +with me that, at a future congress, the restoration of the ancient and +becoming etiquette of the Kings of France would be as desirable a point +to demand from the Emperor of the French as the restoration of the +balance of power. + +Before his army of England quitted its old quarters on the coast, the +officers and men often felt the effects of his ungovernable temper. When +several regiments of grenadiers, of the division of Oudinot, were +defiling before him on the 25th of last month, he frequently and +severely, though without cause, reprobated their manner of marching, and +once rode up to Captain Fournois, pushed him forwards with the point of a +small cane, calling out, “Sacre Dieu! Advance; you walk like a turkey.” + In the first moment of indignation, the captain, striking at the cane +with his sword, made a push, or a gesture, as if threatening the person +of Bonaparte, who called out to his aide-de-camp, Savary: + +“Disarm the villain, and arrest him!” + +“It is unnecessary,” the captain replied, “I have served a tyrant, and +merit my fate!” So saying, he passed his sword through his heart. + +His whole company stopped instantly, as at a word of command, and a +general murmur was heard. + +“Lay down your arms, and march out of the file instantly,” commanded +Bonaparte, “or you shall be cut down for your mutiny by my guides.” + +They hesitated for a moment, but the guides advancing to surround them, +they obeyed, and were disarmed. On the following afternoon, by a special +military commission, each tenth man was condemned to be shot; but +Bonaparte pardoned them upon condition of serving for life in the +colonies; and the whole company was ordered to the colonial depots. The +widow and five children of Captain Fournois the next morning threw +themselves at the Emperor’s feet, presenting a petition, in which they +stated that the pay of the captain had been their only support. + +“Well,” replied Bonaparte to the kneeling petitioners, “Fournois was both +a fool and a traitor; but, nevertheless, I will take care of you.” + Indeed, they have been so well taken care of that nobody knows what has +become of them. + +I am almost certain that I am not telling you what you did not know +beforehand in informing you that the spirit of our troops is greatly +different from that of the Germans, and even from that of your own +country. Every, one of our soldiers would prefer being shot to being +beaten or caned. Flogging, with us, is out of the question. It may, +perhaps, be national vanity, but I am doubtful whether any other army is, +or can be, governed, with regard to discipline, in a less violent and +more delicate manner, and, nevertheless, be kept in subordination, and +perform the most brilliant exploits. Remember, I speak of our spirit of +subordination and discipline, and not of our character as citizens, as +patriots, or as subjects. I have often hinted it, but I believe I have +not explained myself so fully before; but my firm opinion and persuasion +is that, with regard to our loyalty, our duty, and our moral and +political principles, another equally inconsistent and despicable people +does not exist in the universe. + +The condition of the slave is certainly in itself that of vileness; but +is that slave a vile being who, for a blow, pierces his bosom because he +is unable to avenge it? And what epithet can be given him who braves +voluntarily a death seemingly certain, not from the love of his country, +but from a principle of honour, almost incompatible with the dishonour of +bondage? + +During the siege of Yorktown, in America, we had, during one night, +erected a battery, with intent to blow up a place which, according to the +report of our spies, was your magazine of ammunition, etc. We had not +time to finish it before daylight; but one loaded twenty-four pounder was +mounted, and our cannoneer, the moment he was about to fire it, was +killed. Six more of our men, in the same attempt, experienced the same +fate. My regiment constituted the advanced guard nearest to the spot, +and La Fayette brought me the order from the commander-in-chief to engage +some of my men upon that desperate undertaking. I spoke to them, and two +advanced, but were both instantly shot by your sharpshooters. I then +looked at my grenadiers, without uttering anything, when, to my sorrow, +one of my best and most orderly men advanced, saying, “My colonel, permit +me to try my fortune!” I assented, and he went coldly amidst hundreds of +bullets whistling around his ears, set fire to the cannon, which blew up +a depot of powder, as was expected, and in the confusion returned unhurt. +La Fayette then presented him with his purse. “No, monsieur,” replied +he, “money did not make me venture upon such a perilous undertaking.” I +understood my man, promoted him to a sergeant, and recommended him to +Rochambeau, who, in some months, procured him the commission of a +sub-lieutenant. He is now one of Bonaparte’s Field-marshals, and the +only one of that rank who has no crimes to reproach himself with. This +man was the soldier of a despot; but was not his action that of a man of +honour, which a stanch republican of ancient Rome would have been proud +of? Who can explain this contradiction? + +This anecdote about Fournois I heard General Savary relate at Madame +Duchatel’s, as a proof of Bonaparte’s generosity and clemency, which, he +affirmed, excited the admiration of the whole camp at Boulogne. I do not +suppose this officer to be above thirty years of age, of which he has +passed the first twenty-five in orphan-houses or in watch-houses; but no +tyrant ever had a more cringing slave, or a more abject courtier. His +affectation to extol everything that Bonaparte does, right or wrong, is +at last become so habitual that it is naturalized, and you may mistake +for sincerity that which is nothing but imposture or flattery. This son +of a Swiss porter is now one of Bonaparte’s adjutants-general, a colonel +of the Gendarmes d’Elite, a general of brigade in the army, and a +commander of the Legion of Honour; all these places he owes, not to +valour or merit, but to abjectness, immorality, and servility. When an +aide-de-camp with Bonaparte in Egypt, he served him as a spy on his +comrades and on the officers of the staff, and was so much detested that, +near Aboukir, several shots were fired at him in his tent by his own +countrymen. He is supposed still to continue the same espionage; and as +a colonel of the Gendarmes d’Elite, he is charged with the secret +execution of all proscribed persons or State prisoners, who have been +secretly condemned,--a commission that a despot gives to a man he trusts, +but dares not offer to a man he esteems. He is so well known that the +instant he enters a society silence follows, and he has the whole +conversation to himself. This he is stupid enough to take for a +compliment, or for a mark of respect, or an acknowledgment of his +superior parts and intelligence, when, in fact, it is a direct reproach +with which prudence arms itself against suspected or known dishonesty. +Besides his wife, he has to support six other women whom he has seduced +and ruined; and, notwithstanding the numerous opportunities his master +has procured him of pillaging and enriching himself, he is still much in +debt; but woe to his creditors were they indiscreet enough to ask for +their payments! The Secret Tribunal would soon seize them and transport +them, or deliver them over to the hands of their debtor, to be shot as +traitors or conspirators. + + + + +LETTER II. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +My LORD:--I am told that it was the want of pecuniary resources that made +Bonaparte so ill-tempered on his last levee day. He would not have come +here at all, but preceded his army to Strasburg, had his Minister of +Finances, Gaudin, and his Minister of the Public Treasury, Marbois, been +able to procure forty-four millions of livres--to pay a part of the +arrears of the troops; and for the speedy conveyance of ammunition and +artillery towards the Rhine. + +Immediately after his arrival here, Bonaparte sent for the directors of +the Bank of France, informing them that within twenty-four hours they +must advance him thirty-six millions of livres--upon the revenue of the +last quarter of 1808. The president of the bank, Senator Garrat, +demanded two hours to lay before the Emperor the situation of the bank, +that His Majesty might judge what sum it was possible to spare without +ruining the credit of an establishment hitherto so useful to the commerce +of the Empire. To this Bonaparte replied that he was not ignorant of the +resources, or of the credit of the bank, any more than of its public +utility; but that the affairs of State suffered from every hour’s delay, +and that, therefore, he insisted upon having the sum demanded even within +two hours, partly in paper and partly in cash; and were they to show any +more opposition, he would order the bank and all its effects to be seized +that moment. The directors bowed and returned to the bank; whither they +were followed by four waggons escorted by hussars, and belonging to the +financial department of the army of England. In these were placed eight +millions of livres in cash; and twenty-eight millions in bank-notes were +delivered to M. Lefevre, the Secretary-General of Marbois, who presented, +in exchange, Bonaparte’s bond and security for the amount, bearing an +interest of five per cent. yearly. + +When this money transaction was known to the public, the alarm became +general, and long before the hour the bank usually opens the adjoining +streets were crowded with persons desiring to exchange their notes for +cash. During the night the directors had taken care to pay themselves +for the banknotes in their own possession with silver or gold, and, as +they expected a run, they ordered all persons to be paid in copper coin, +as long as any money of this metal remained. It required a long time to +count those halfpennies and centimes (five of which make a sou, or +halfpenny), but the people were not tired with waiting until towards +three o’clock in the afternoon, when the bank is shut up. They then +became so clamorous that a company of gendarmes was placed for protection +at the entrance of the bank; but, as the tumult increased, the street was +surrounded by the police guards, and above six hundred individuals, many +of them women, were carried, under an escort, to different police +commissaries, and to the prefecture of the police. There most of them, +after being examined, were reprimanded and released. The same night, the +police spies reported in the coffee-houses of the Palais Royal, and on +the Boulevards, that this run on the bank was encouraged, and paid for, +by English emissaries, some of whom were already taken, and would be +executed on the next day. In the morning, however, the streets adjoining +the bank were still more crowded, and the crowd still more tumultuous, +because payment was refused for all notes but those of five hundred +livres. The activity of the police agents, supported by the gendarmes +and police soldiers, again restored order, after several hundred persons +had been again taken up for their mutinous conduct. Of these many were, +on the same evening, loaded with chains, and, placed in carts under +military escort, paraded about near the bank and the Palais Royal; the +police having, as a measure of safety, under suspicion that they were +influenced by British gold, condemned them to be transported to Cayenne; +and the carts set out on the same night for Rochefort, the place of their +embarkation. + +On the following day, not an individual approached the bank, but all +trade and all payments were at a stand; nobody would sell but for ready +money, and nobody who had bank-notes would part with cash. Some Jews and +money-brokers in the Palais Royal offered cash for these bills, at a +discount of from ten to twenty per cent. But these usurers were, in +their turn, taken up and transported, as agents of Pitt. An interview +was then demanded by the directors and principal bankers with the +Ministers of Finance and of the Public Treasury. In this conference it +was settled that, as soon as the two millions of dollars on their way +from Spain had arrived at Paris, the bank should reassume its payments. +These dollars Government would lend the bank for three months, and take +in return its notes, but the bank was, nevertheless, to pay an interest +of six per cent. during that period. All the bankers agreed not to press +unnecessarily for any exchange of bills into cash, and to keep up the +credit of the bank even by the individual credit of their own houses. + +You know, I suppose, that the Bank of France has never issued but two +sorts of notes; those of one thousand livres--and those of five hundred +livres. At the day of its stoppage, sixty millions of livres--of the +former, and fifteen millions of livres--of the latter, were in +circulation; and I have heard a banker assert that the bank had not then +six millions of livres--in money and bullion, to satisfy the claims of +its creditors, or to honour its bills. + +The shock given to the credit of the bank by this last requisition of +Bonaparte will be felt for a long time, and will with difficulty ever be +repaired under his despotic government. Even now, when the bank pays in +cash, our merchants make a difference from five to ten per cent. between +purchasing for specie or paying in bank-notes; and this mistrust will not +be lessened hereafter. You may, perhaps, object that, as long as the +bank pays, it is absurd for any one possessing its bills to pay dearer +than with cash, which might so easily be obtained. This objection would +stand with regard to your, or any other free country, but here, where no +payments are made in gold, but always in silver or copper, it requires a +cart to carry away forty, thirty, or twenty thousand livres, in coin of +these metals, and would immediately excite suspicion that a bearer of +these bills was an emissary of our enemies, or an enemy of our +Government. With us, unfortunately, suspicion is the same as conviction, +and chastisement follows it as its shadow. + +A manufacturer of the name of Debrais, established in the Rue St. Martin, +where he had for years carried on business in the woollen line, went to +the bank two days after it had begun to pay. He demanded, and obtained, +exchange for twenty-four thousand livres--in notes, necessary for him to +pay what was due by him to his workmen. The same afternoon six of our +custom-house officers, accompanied by police agents and gendarmes, paid +him a domiciliary visit under pretence of searching for English goods. +Several bales were seized as being of that description, and Debrais was +carried a prisoner to La Force. On being examined by Fouche, he offered +to prove, by the very men who had fabricated the suspected goods, that +they were not English. The Minister silenced him by saying that +Government had not only evidence of the contrary, but was convinced that +he was employed as an English agent to hurt the credit of the bank, and +therefore, if he did not give up his accomplices or employers, had +condemned him to transportation. In vain did his wife and daughters +petition to Madame Bonaparte; Debrais is now at Rochefort, if not already +embarked for our colonies. + +When he was arrested, a seal, as usual, was put on his house, from which +his wife and family were turned out, until the police should have time to +take an inventory of his effects, and had decided on his fate. When +Madame Debrais, after much trouble and many pecuniary sacrifices, at last +obtained permission to have the seals removed, and reenter her house, she +found that all her plate and more than half her goods and furniture had +been stolen and carried away. Upon her complaint of this theft she was +thrown into prison for not being able to support her complaint with +proofs, and for attempting to vilify the characters of the agents of our +Government. She is still in prison, but her daughters are by her orders +disposing of the remainder of their parents’ property, and intend to join +their father as soon as their mother has recovered her liberty. + +The same tyranny that supports the credit of our bank also keeps up the +price of our stocks. Any of our great stockholders who sell out to any +large amount, if they are unable to account for, or unwilling to declare +the manner in which they intend to employ, their money, are immediately +arrested, sometimes transported to the colonies, but more frequently +exiled into the country, to remain under the inspection of some police +agent, and are not allowed to return here without the previous permission +of our Government. Those of them who are upstarts, and have made their +fortune since the Revolution by plunder or as contractors, are still more +severely treated, and are often obliged to renounce part of their +ill-gotten wealth to save the remainder, or to preserve their liberty or +lives. A revisal of their former accounts, or an inspection of their +past transactions, is a certain and efficacious threat to keep them in +silent submission, as they all well understand the meaning of them. + +Even foreigners, whom our numerous national bankruptcies have not yet +disheartened, are subject to these measures of rigour or vigour requisite +to preserve our public credit. In the autumn of last year a Dutchman of +the name of Van der Winkle sold out by his agent for three millions of +livres--in our stock on one day, for which he bought up bills upon +Hamburg and London. He lodged in the Hotel des Quatre Nations, Rue +Grenelle, where the landlord, who is a patriot, introduced some police +agents into his apartments during his absence. These broke open all his +trunks, drawers, and even his writing-desk, and when he entered, seized +his person, and carried him to the Temple. By his correspondence it was +discovered that all this money was to be brought over to England; a +reason more than sufficient to incur the suspicion of our Government. Van +der Winkle spoke very little French, and he continued, therefore, in +confinement three weeks before he was examined, as our secret police had +not at Paris any of its agents who spoke Dutch. Carried before Fouche, +he avowed that the money was destined for England, there to pay for some +plantations which he desired to purchase in Surinam and Barbice. His +interpreter advised him, by the orders of Fouche, to alter his mind, and, +as he was fond of colonial property, lay out his money in plantations at +Cayenne, which was in the vicinity of Surinam, and where Government would +recommend him advantageous purchases. It was hinted to him, also, that +this was a particular favour, and a proof of the generosity of our +Government, as his papers contained many matters that might easily be +construed to be of a treasonable nature. After consulting with +Schimmelpenninck, the Ambassador of his country, he wrote for his wife +and children, and was seen safe with them to Bordeaux by our police +agents, who had hired an American vessel to carry them all to Cayenne. +This certainly is a new method to populate our colonies with capitalists. + + + + +LETTER III. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Hanover has been a mine of gold to our Government, to its +generals, to its commissaries, and to its favourites. According to the +boasts of Talleyrand, and the avowal of Berthier, we have drawn from it +within two years more wealth than has been paid in contributions to the +Electors of Hanover for this century past, and more than half a century +of peace can restore to that unfortunate country. It is reported here +that each person employed in a situation to make his fortune in the +Continental States of the King of England (a name given here to Hanover +in courtesy to Bonaparte) was laid under contribution, and expected to +make certain douceurs to Madame Bonaparte; and it is said that she has +received from Mortier three hundred thousand livres, and from Bernadotte +two hundred and fifty thousand livres, besides other large sums from our +military commissaries, treasurers, and other agents in the Electorate. + +General Mortier is one of the few favourite officers of Bonaparte who +have distinguished themselves under his rivals, Pichegru and Moreau, +without ever serving under him. Edward Adolph Casimer Mortier is the son +of a shopkeeper, and was born at Cambray in 1768. He was a shopman with +his father until 1791, when he obtained a commission, first as a +lieutenant of carabiniers, and afterwards as captain of the first +battalion of volunteers of the Department of the North. His first sight +of an enemy was on the 30th of April, 1792, near Quievrain, where he had +a horse killed under him. He was present in the battles of Jemappes, of +Nerwinde, and of Pellenberg. At the battle of Houdscoote he +distinguished himself so much as to be promoted to an adjutant general. +He was wounded at the battle of Fleures, and again at the passage of the +Rhine, in 1795, under General Moreau. During 1796 and 1797 he continued +to serve in Germany, but in 1798 and 1799 he headed a division in +Switzerland from which Bonaparte recalled him in 1800, to command the +troops in the capital and its environs. His address to Bonaparte, +announcing the votes of the troops under him respecting the consulate for +life and the elevation to the Imperial throne, contain such mean and +abject flattery that, for a true soldier, it must have required more +self-command and more courage to pronounce them than to brave the fire of +a hundred cannons; but these very addresses, contemptible as their +contents are, procured him the Field-marshal’s staff. Mortier well knew +his man, and that his cringing in antechambers would be better rewarded +than his services in the field. I was not present when Mortier spoke so +shamefully, but I have heard from persons who witnessed this farce, that +he had his eyes fixed on the ground the whole time, as if to say, “I +grant that I speak as a despicable being, and I grant that I am so; but +what shall I do, tormented as I am by ambition to figure among the great, +and to riot among the wealthy? Have compassion on my weakness, or, if +you have not, I will console myself with the idea that my meanness is +only of the duration of half an hour, while its recompense-my rank-will +be permanent.” + +Mortier married, in 1799, the daughter of the landlord of the Belle +Sauvage inn at Coblentz, who was pregnant by him, or by some other guest +of her father. She is pretty, but not handsome, and she takes advantage +of her husband’s complaisance to console herself both for his absence and +infidelities. When she was delivered of her last child, Mortier +positively declared that he had not slept with her for twelve months, and +the babe has, indeed, less resemblance to him than to his valet de +chambre. The child was baptised with great splendour; the Emperor and +the Empress were the sponsors, and it was christened by Cardinal Fesch. +Bonaparte presented Madame Mortier on this occasion with a diamond +necklace valued at one hundred and fifty thousand livres. + +During his different campaigns, and particularly during his glorious +campaign in Hanover, he has collected property to the amount of seven +millions of livres, laid out in estates and lands. He is considered by +other generals as a brave captain, but an indifferent chief; and among +our fashionables and our courtiers he is held up as a model of connubial +fidelity--satisfying himself with keeping three mistresses only. + +There was no truth in the report that his recall from Hanover was in +consequence of any disgrace; on the contrary, it was a new proof of +Bonaparte’s confidence and attachment. He was recalled to take the +command of the artillery of Bonaparte’s, household troops the moment +Pichegru, George, and Moreau were arrested, and when the Imperial tide +had been resolved on. More resistance against this innovation was at +that time expected than experienced. + +Bernadotte, who succeeded Mortier in the command of our army in Hanover, +is a man of a different stamp. His father was a chair-man, and he was +born at Paris in 1763. In 1779 he enlisted in the regiment called La +Vieille Harine, where the Revolution found him a sergeant. This regiment +was then quartered at Toulon, and the emissaries of anarchy and +licentiousness engaged him as one of their agents. His activity soon +destroyed all discipline, and the troops, instead of attending to their +military duty, followed him to the debates and discussions of the Jacobin +clubs. Being arrested and ordered to be tried for his mutinous, +scandalous behaviour, an insurrection liberated him, and forced his +accusers to save their lives by flight. In April, 1790, he headed the +banditti who murdered the Governor of the Fort St. Jean at Marseilles, +and who afterwards occasioned the Civil War in Comtat Venaigin, where he +served under Jourdan, known by the name of Coup-tell, or cut-throat, who +made him a colonel and his aide-de-camp. In 1794, he was employed, as a +general of brigade, in the army of the Sambre and Meuse; and during the +campaigns of 1795 and 1796, he served under another Jourdan, the general, +without much distinction,--except that he was accused by him of being the +cause of all the disasters of the last campaign, by the complete rout he +suffered near Neumark on the 23d of August, 1796. His division was +ordered to Italy in 1797, where, against the laws of nations, he arrested +M. d’ Antraigues, who was attached to the Russian legation. When the +Russian Ambassador tried to dissuade him from committing this injustice, +and this violation of the rights of privileged persons, he replied: +“There is no question here of any other right or justice than the right +and justice of power, and I am here the strongest. M. d’Antraigues is +our enemy; were he victorious, he would cause us all to be shot. I +repeat, I am here the strongest, ‘et nous verrons’.” + +After the Peace of Campo Formio, Bernadotte was sent as an Ambassador to +the Court of Vienna, accompanied by a numerous escort of Jacobin +propagators. Having procured the liberty of Austrian patriots, whose +lives, forfeit to the law, the lenity of the Cabinet of Vienna had +spared, he thought that he might attempt anything; and, therefore, on the +anniversary day of the fete for the levy en masse of the inhabitants of +the capital, he insulted the feelings of the loyal, and excited the +discontented to rebellion, by placing over the door and in the windows of +his house the tri-coloured flag. This outrage the Emperor was unable to +prevent his subjects from resenting. Bernadotte’s house was invaded, his +furniture broken to pieces, and he was forced to save himself at the +house of the Spanish Ambassador. As a satisfaction for this attack, +provoked by his own insolence, he demanded the immediate dismissal of the +Austrian Minister, Baron Thugut, and threatened, in case of refusal, to +leave Vienna, which he did on the next day. So disgraceful was his +conduct regarded, even by the Directory, that this event made but little +impression, and no alteration in the continuance of their intercourse +with the Austrian Government. + +In 1799, he was for some weeks a Minister of the war department, from +which his incapacity caused him to be dismissed. When Bonaparte intended +to seize the reins of State, he consulted Bernadotte, who spoke as an +implacable Jacobin until a douceur of three hundred thousand +livres--calmed him a little, and convinced him that the Jacobins were not +infallible or their government the best of all possible governments. In +1801, he was made the commander-in-chief in the Western Department, where +he exercised the greatest barbarities against the inhabitants, whom he +accused of being still chouans and royalists. + +With Augereau and Massena, Bernadotte is a merciless plunderer. In the +summer, 1796, he summoned the magistrates of the free and neutral city of +Nuremberg to bring him, under pain of military execution, within +twenty-four hours, two millions of livres. With much difficulty this sum +was collected. The day after he had received it, he insisted upon +another sum to the same amount within another twenty-four hours, menacing +in case of disobedience to give the city up to a general pillage by his +troops. Fortunately, a column of Austrians advanced and delivered them +from the execution of his threats. The troops under him were, both in +Italy and in Germany, the terror of the inhabitants, and when defeated +were, from their pillage and murder, hunted like wild beasts. Bernadotte +has by these means within ten years become master of a fortune of ten +millions of livres. + +Many have considered Bernadotte a revolutionary fanatic, but they are in +the wrong. Money engaged him in the cause of the Revolution, where the +first crimes he had perpetrated fixed him. The many massacres under +Jourdan the cut-throat, committed by him in the Court at Venaigin, no +doubt display a most sanguinary character. A lady, however, in whose +house in La Vendee he was quartered six months, has assured me that, to +judge from his conversation, he is not naturally cruel, but that his +imagination is continually tormented with the fear of gibbets which he +knows that his crimes have merited, and that, therefore, when he stabs +others, he thinks it commanded by the necessity of preventing others from +stabbing him. Were he sure of impunity, he would, perhaps, show humanity +as well as justice. Bernadotte is not, only a grand officer of the +Legion of Honour, but a knight of the Royal Prussian Order of the Black +Eagle. + + + + +LETTER IV. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Bonaparte has taken advantage of the remark of Voltaire, in his +“Life of Louis XIV.,” that this Prince owed much of his celebrity to the +well--distributed pensions among men of letters in France and in foreign +countries. According to a list shown me by Fontanes, the president of +the legislative corps and a director of literary pensions, even in your +country and in Ireland he has nine literary pensioners. Though the names +of your principal authors and men of letters are not unknown to me, I +have never read nor heard of any of those I saw in the list, except two +or three as editors of some newspapers, magazines, or trifling and +scurrilous party pamphlets. I made this observation to Fontanes, who +replied that these men, though obscure, had, during the last peace, been +very useful, and would be still more so after another pacification; and +that Bonaparte must be satisfied with these until he could gain over men +of greater talents. He granted also that men of true genius and literary +eminence were, in England, more careful of the dignity of their character +than those of Germany and Italy, and more difficult to be bought over. He +added that, as soon as the war ceased, he should cross the Channel on a +literary mission, from which he hoped to derive more success than from +that which was undertaken three years ago by Fievee. + +To these men of letters, who are themselves, with their writings, devoted +to Bonaparte, he certainly is very liberal. Some he has made tribunes, +prefects, or legislators; others he has appointed his Ministers in +foreign countries, and on those to whom he has not yet been able to given +places, he bestows much greater pensions than any former Sovereign of +this country allowed to a Corneille, a Racine, a Boileau, a Voltaire, a +De Crebillon, a D’ Alembert, a Marmontel, and other heroes of our +literature and honours to our nation. This liberality is often carried +too far, and thrown away upon worthless subjects, whose very flattery +displays absence of taste and genius, as well as of modesty and shame. To +a fellow of the name of Dagee, who sang the coronation of Napoleon the +First in two hundred of the most disgusting and ill-digested lines that +ever were written, containing neither metre nor sense, was assigned a +place in the administration of the forest department, worth twelve +thousand livres in the year--besides a present, in ready money, of one +hundred napoleons d’or. Another poetaster, Barre, who has served and +sung the chiefs of all former factions, received, for an ode of forty +lines on Bonaparte’s birthday, an office at Milan, worth twenty thousand +livres in the year--and one hundred napoleons d’or for his travelling +expenses. + +The sums of money distributed yearly by Bonaparte’s agents for +dedications to him by French and foreign authors, are still greater than +those fixed for regular literary pensions. Instead of discouraging these +foolish and impertinent contributions, which genius, ingenuity, +necessity, or intrusion, lay on his vanity, he rather encourages them. +His name is, therefore, found in more dedications published within these +last five years than those of all other Sovereign Princes in Europe taken +together for the last century. In a man whose name, unfortunately for +humanity, must always live in history, it is a childish and unpardonable +weakness to pay so profusely for the short and uncertain immortality +which some dull or obscure scribbler or poetaster confers on him. + +During the last Christmas holidays I dined at Madame Remisatu’s, in +company with Duroc. The question turned upon literary productions and +the comparative merit of the compositions of modern French and foreign +authors. “As to the merits or the quality,” said Duroc, “I will not take +upon me to judge, as I profess myself totally incompetent; but as to +their size and quantity I have tolerably good information, and it will +not, therefore, be very improper in me to deliver my opinion. I am +convinced that the German and Italian authors are more numerous than +those of my own country, for the following reasons: I suppose, from what +I have witnessed and experienced for some years past, that of every book +or publication printed in France, Italy, and Germany, each tenth is +dedicated to the Emperor. Now, since last Christmas ninety-six German +and seventy-one Italian authors have inscribed their works to His +Majesty, and been rewarded for it; while during the same period only +sixty-six Frenchmen have presented their offerings to their Sovereign.” + For my part I think Duroc’s conclusion tolerably just. + +Among all the numerous hordes of authors who have been paid, recompensed, +or encouraged by Bonaparte, none have experienced his munificence more +than the Italian Spanicetti and the German Ritterstein. The former +presented him a genealogical table in which he proved that the Bonaparte +family, before their emigration from Tuscany to Corsica, four hundred +years ago, were allied to the most ancient Tuscany families, even to that +of the House of Medicis; and as this house has given two queens to the +Bourbons when Sovereigns of France, the Bonapartes are, therefore, +relatives of the Bourbons; and the sceptre of the French Empire is still +in the same family, though in a more worthy branch. Spanicetti received +one thousand louis--in gold, a pension of six thousand livres--for life, +and the place of a chef du bureau in the ministry of the home department +of the Kingdom of Italy, producing eighteen thousand livres yearly. + +Ritterstein, a Bavarian genealogist, proved the pedigree of the +Bonapartes as far back as the first crusades, and that the name of the +friend of Richard Coeur de Lion was not Blondel, but Bonaparte; that he +exchanged the latter for the former only to marry into the Plantagenet +family, the last branch of which has since been extinguished by its +intermarriage and incorporation with the House of Stuart, and that, +therefore, Napoleon Bonaparte is not only related to most Sovereign +Princes of Europe, but has more right to the throne of Great Britain than +George the Third, being descended from the male branch of the Stuarts; +while this Prince is only descended from the female branch of the same +royal house. Ritterstein was presented with a snuff-box with Bonaparte’s +portrait set with diamonds, valued at twelve thousand livres, and +received twenty-four thousand livres ready money, together with a pension +of nine thousand livres--in the year, until he could be better provided +for. He was, besides, nominated a Knight of the Legion of Honour. It +cannot be denied but that Bonaparte rewards like a real Emperor. + +But artists as well as authors obtain from him the same encouragement, +and experience the same liberality. In our different museums we, +therefore, already, see and admire upwards of two hundred pictures, +representing the different actions, scenes, and achievements of +Bonaparte’s public life. It is true they are not all highly finished or +well composed or delineated, but they all strike the spectators more or +less with surprise or admiration; and it is with us, as, I suppose, with +you, and everywhere else, the multitude decide: for one competent judge +or real connoisseur, hundreds pass, who stare, gape, are charmed, and +inspire thousands of their acquaintance, friends, and neighbours with +their own satisfaction. Believe me, Napoleon the First well knows the +age, his contemporaries, and, I fear, even posterity. + +That statuaries and sculptors consider him also as a generous patron, the +numerous productions of their chisels in France, Italy, and Germany, +having him for their object, seem to evince. Ten sculptors have already +represented his passage over the Mount St. Bernard, eighteen his passage +over Pont de Lodi, and twenty-two that over Pont d’ Arcole. At Rome, +Milan, Turin, Lyons, and Paris are statues of him representing his +natural size; and our ten thousand municipalities have each one of his +busts; without mentioning the thousands of busts all over Europe, not +excepting even your own country. When Bonaparte sees under the windows +of the Tuileries the statue of Caesar placed in the garden of that +palace, he cannot help saying to himself: “Marble lives longer than man.” + Have you any doubt that his ambition and vanity extend beyond the grave? + +The only artist I ever heard of who was disappointed and unrewarded for +his labour in attempting to eternize the memory of Napoleon Bonaparte, +was a German of the name of Schumacher. It is, indeed, allowed that he +was more industrious, able, and well-meaning than ingenious or +considerate. He did not consider that it would be no compliment to give +the immortal hero a hint of being a mortal man. Schumacher had employed +near three years in planning and executing in marble the prettiest model +of a sepulchral monument I have ever seen, read or heard of. He had +inscribed it: “The Future Tomb of Bonaparte the Great.” Under the +patronage of Count von Beast, he arrived here; and I saw the model in the +house of this Minister of the German Elector Arch--Chancellor, where also +many French artists went to inspect it. Count von Beast asked De Segur, +the grand master of the ceremonies, to request the Emperor to grant +Schumacher the honour of showing him his performance. De Segur advised +him to address himself to Duroc, who referred him to Devon, who, after +looking at it, could not help paying a just tribute to the execution and +to the talents of the artist, though he disapproved of the subject, and +declined mentioning it to the Emperor. After three months’ attendance in +this capital, and all petitions and memorials to our great folks +remaining unanswered, Schumacher obtained an audience of Fouche, in which +he asked permission to exhibit his model of Bonaparte’s tomb to the +public for money, so as to be enabled to return to his country. + +“Where is it now?” asked Fouche. + +“At the Minister’s of the Elector Arch-Chancellor,” answered the artist. + +“But where do you intend to show it for money?” continued Fouche. + +“In the Palais Royal.” + +“Well, bring it there,” replied Fouche. + +The same evening that it was brought there, Schumacher was arrested by a +police commissary, his model packed up, and, with himself, put under the +care of two gendarmes, who carried them both to the other side of the +Rhine. Here the Elector of Baden gave him some money to return to his +home, near Aschaffenburg, where he has since exposed for money the model +of a grand tomb for a little man. I have just heard that one of your +countrymen has purchased it for one hundred and fifty louis d’or. + + + + +LETTER V. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Those who only are informed of the pageantry of our Court, of +the expenses of our courtiers, of the profusion of our Emperor, and of +the immense wealth of his family and favourites, may easily be led to +believe that France is one of the happiest and moat prosperous countries +in Europe. But for those who walk in our streets, who visit our +hospitals, who count the number of beggars and of suicides, of orphans +and of criminals, of prisoners and of executioners, it is a painful +necessity to reverse the picture, and to avow that nowhere, +comparatively, can there be found so much collective misery. And it is +not here, as in other States, that these unfortunate, reduced, or guilty +are persons of the lowest classes of society; on the contrary, many, and, +I fear, the far greater part, appertain to the ci-devant privileged +classes, descended from ancestors noble, respectable, and wealthy, but +who by the Revolution have been degraded to misery or infamy, and perhaps +to both. + +When you stop but for a moment in our streets to look at something +exposed for sale in a shop-window, or for any other cause of curiosity or +want, persons of both sexes, decently dressed, approach you, and whisper +to you: “Monsieur, bestow your charity on the Marquis, or Marquise--on +the Baron or Baroness, such a one, ruined by the Revolution;” and you +sometimes hear names on which history has shed so brilliant a lustre +that, while you contemplate the deplorable reverses of human greatness, +you are not a little surprised to find that it is in your power to +relieve with a trifle the wants of the grandson of an illustrious +warrior, before whom nations trembled, or of the granddaughter of that +eminent statesman who often had in his hands the destiny of Empires. Some +few solitary walks, incognito, by Bonaparte, in the streets of his +capital, would perhaps be the best preservative against unbounded +ambition and confident success that philosophy could present to unfeeling +tyranny. + +Some author has written that “want is the parent of industry, and +wretchedness the mother of ingenuity.” I know that you have often +approved and rewarded the ingenious productions of my emigrated +countrymen in England; but here their labours and their endeavours are +disregarded; and if they cannot or will not produce anything to flatter +the pride or appetite of the powerful or rich upstarts, they have no +other choice left but beggary or crime, meanness or suicide. How many +have I heard repent of ever returning to a country where they have no +expectation of justice in their claims, no hope of relief in their +necessities, where death by hunger, or by their own hands, is the final +prospect of all their sufferings. + +Many of our ballad-singers are disguised emigrants; and I know a +ci-devant Marquis who is, incognito, a groom to a contractor, the son of +his uncle’s porter. Our old pedlars complain that their trade is ruined +by the Counts, by the Barons and Chevaliers who have monopolized all +their business. Those who pretend to more dignity, but who have in fact +less honesty, are employed in our billiard and gambling-houses. I have +seen two music-grinders, one of whom was formerly a captain of infantry, +and the other a Counsellor of Parliament. Every, day you may bestow your +penny or halfpenny on two veiled girls playing on the guitar or harp--the +one the daughter of a ci-devant Duke, and the other of a ci-devant +Marquis, a general under Louis XVI. They, are usually placed, the one on +the Boulevards, and the other in the Elysian Fields; each with an old +woman by her side, holding a begging-box in her hand. I am told one of +the women has been the nurse of one of those ladies. What a +recollection, if she thinks of the past, in contemplating the present! + +On the day of Bonaparte’s coronation, and a little before he set out with +his Pope and other splendid retinue, an old man was walking slowly on the +Quai de Voltaire, without saying a word, but a label was pinned to his +hat with this inscription: “I had sixty thousand livres rent--I am eighty +years of age, and I request alms.” Many individuals, even some of +Bonaparte’s soldiers, gave him their mite; but as soon as he was observed +he was seized by the police agents, and has not since been heard of. I am +told his name is De la Roche, a ci-devant Chevalier de St. Louis, whose +property was sold in 1793 as belonging to an emigrant, though at the time +he was shut up here as a prisoner, suspected of aristocracy. He has since +for some years been a water-carrier; but his strength failing, he +supported himself lately entirely by begging. The value of the dress of +one of Bonaparte’s running footmen might have been sufficient to relieve +him for the probably short remainder of his days. But it is more easy and +agreeable in this country to bury undeserved want in dungeons than to +renounce unnecessary and useless show to relieve it. In the evening the +remembrance of these sixty thousand livres of the poor Chevalier deprived +me of all pleasure in beholding the sixty thousand lamps decorating and +illuminating Bonaparte’s palace of the Tuileries. + +Some of the emigrants, whose strength of body age has not impaired, or +whose vigour of mind misfortunes have not depressed, are now serving as +officers or soldiers under the Emperor of the French, after having for +years fought in vain for the cause of a King of France in the brave army +of Conde. Several are even doing duty in Bonaparte’s household troops, +where I know one who is a captain, and who, for distinguishing himself in +combating the republicans, received the Order of St. Louis, but is now +made a knight of Napoleon’s Republican Order, the Legion of Honour, for +bowing gracefully to Her Imperial Majesty the Empress. As he is a man of +real honour, this favour is not quite in its place; but I am convinced +that should one day an opportunity present itself, he will not miss it, +but prove that he has never been misplaced. Another emigrant who, after +being a page to the Duc d’Angouleme, made four campaigns as an officer of +the Uhlans in the service of the Emperor of Germany, and was rewarded +with the Military Order of Maria Theresa, is now a knight of the Legion +of Honour, and an officer of the Mamelukes of the Emperor of the French. +Four more emigrants have engaged themselves in the same corps as common +Mamelukes, after being for seven years volunteers in the legion of +Mirabeau, under the Prince de Conde. It were to be wished that the whole +of this favourite corps were composed of returned emigrants. I am sure +they would never betray the confidence of Napoleon, but they would also +never swear allegiance to another Bonaparte. + +While the humbled remnants of one sex of the ci-devant privileged classes +are thus or worse employed, many persons of the other sex have preferred +domestic servitude to courtly splendour, and are chambermaids or +governesses, when they might have been Maids of Honour or +ladies-in-waiting. Mademoiselle de R------, daughter of Marquis de +R------, was offered a place as a Maid of Honour to Princesse Murat, +which she declined, but accepted at the same time the offer of being a +companion of the rich Madame Moulin, whose husband is a ci-devant valet +of Comte de Brienne. Her father and brother suffered for this choice and +preference, which highly offended Bonaparte, who ordered them both to be +transported to Guadeloupe, under pretence that the latter had said in a +coffee-house that his sister would rather have been the housemaid of the +wife of a ci-devant valet, than the friend of the wife of a ci-devant +assassin and Septembrizer. It was only by a valuable present to Madame +Bonaparte from Madame Moulin, that Mademoiselle de B----- was not +included in the act of proscription against her father and brother. + +I am sorry to say that returned emigrants have also been arrested for +frauds and debts, and even tried and convicted of crimes. But they are +proportionally few, compared with those who, without support, and perhaps +without hope, and from want of resignation and submission to the will of +Providence, have, in despair, had recourse to the pistol or dagger, or in +the River Seine buried their remembrance both of what they have been and +of what they were. The suicides of the vicious capital are reckoned upon +an average to amount to one hundred in the month; and for these last +three years, one-tenth, at least, have been emigrants of both sexes! + + + + +LETTER VI. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Nobody here, except his courtiers, denies that Bonaparte is +vain, cruel, and ambitious; but as to his private, personal, or domestic +vices, opinions are various, and even opposite. Most persons, who have +long known him, assert that women are his aversion; and many anecdotes +have been told of his unnatural and horrid propensities. On the other +hand, his seeming attachment to his wife is contradictory to these +rumours, which certainly are exaggerated. It is true, indeed, that it +was to oblige Barras, and to obtain her fortune, that he accepted of her +hand ten years ago; though insinuating, she was far from being handsome, +and had long passed the period of inspiring love by her charms. Her +husband’s conduct towards her may, therefore, be construed, perhaps, into +a proof of indifference towards the whole sex as much as into an evidence +of his affection towards her. As he knew who she was when he received +her from the chaste arms of Barras, and is not unacquainted with her +subsequent intrigues particularly during his stay in Egypt--policy may +influence a behaviour which has some resemblance to esteem. He may +choose to live with her, but it is impossible he can love her. + +A lady, very intimate with Princesse Louis Bonaparte, has assured me +that, had it not been for Napoleon’s singular inclination for his +youthful stepdaughter, he would have divorced his wife the first year of +his consulate, and that indirect proposals on that subject had already +been made her by Talleyrand. It was then reported that Bonaparte had his +eyes fixed upon a Russian Princess, and that from the friendship which +the late Emperor Paul professed for him, no obstacles to the match were +expected to be encountered at St. Petersburg. The untimely end of this +Prince, and the supplications of his wife and daughter, have since +altered his intent, and Madame Napoleon and her children are now, if I +may use the expression, incorporated and naturalized with the Bonaparte +family. + +But what has lately occurred here will better serve to show that +Bonaparte is neither averse nor indifferent to the sex. You read last +summer in the public prints of the then Minister of the Interior +(Chaptal) being made a Senator; and that he was succeeded by our +Ambassador at Vienna Champagny. This promotion was the consequence of a +disgrace, occasioned by his jealousy of his mistress, a popular actress, +Mademoiselle George, one of the handsomest women of this capital. He was +informed by his spies that this lady frequently, in the dusk of the +evening, or when she thought him employed in his office, went to the +house of a famous milliner in the Rue St. Honor, where, through a door in +an adjoining passage, a person, who carefully avoided showing his face, +always entered immediately before or after her, and remained as long as +she continued there. The house was then by his orders beset with spies, +who were to inform him the next time she went to the milliner. To be +near at hand, he had hired an apartment in the neighbourhood, where the +very next day her visit to the milliner’s was announced to him. While +his secretary, with four other persons, entered the milliner’s house +through the street door, Chaptal, with four of his spies, forced the door +of the passage open, which was no sooner done than the disguised gallant +was found, and threatened in the most rude manner by the Minister and his +companions. He would have been still worse used had not the unexpected +appearance of Duroc and a whisper to Chaptal put a stop to the fury of +this enraged lover. The incognito is said to have been Bonaparte +himself, who, the same evening, deprived Chaptal of his ministerial +portfolio, and would have sent him to Cayenne, instead of to the Senate, +had not Duroc dissuaded his Sovereign from giving an eclat to an affair +which it, would be best to bury in oblivion. + +Chaptal has never from that day approached Mademoiselle George, and, +according to report, Napoleon has also renounced this conquest in favour +of Duroc, who is at least her nominal gallant. The quantity of jewels +with which she has recently been decorated, and displayed with so much +ostentation in the new tragedy, ‘The Templars’, indicate, however, a +Sovereign rather than a subject for a lover. And, indeed, she already +treats the directors of the theatre, her comrades, and even the public, +more as a real than a theatrical Princess. Without any cause whatever, +but from a mere caprice to see the camp on the coast, she set out, +without leave of absence, and without any previous notice, on the very +day she was to play; and this popular and interesting tragedy was put off +for three weeks, until she chose to return to her duty. + +When complaint was made to the prefects of the palace, now the governors +of our theatres, Duroc said that the orders of the Emperor were that no +notice should be taken of this ‘etourderie’, which should not occur +again. + +Chaptal was, before the Revolution, a bankrupt chemist at Montpellier, +having ruined himself in search after the philosopher’s stone. To +persons in such circumstances, with great presumption, some talents, but +no principles, the Revolution could not, with all its anarchy, confusion, +and crime, but be a real blessing, as Chaptal called it in his first +speech at the Jacobin Club. Wishing to mimic, at Montpellier, the taking +of the Bastille at Paris, he, in May, 1790, seduced the lower classes and +the suburbs to an insurrection, and to an attack on the citadel, which +the governor, to avoid all effusion of blood, surrendered without +resistance. He was denounced by the municipality to the National +Assembly, for these and other plots and attempts, but Robespierre and +other Jacobins defended him, and he escaped even imprisonment. During +1793 and 1794, he monopolized the contract for making and providing the +armies with gunpowder; a favour for which he paid Barrere, Carnot, and +other members of the Committee of Public Safety, six millions of +livres--but by which he pocketed thirty-six millions of livres--himself. +He was, under the Directory, menaced with a prosecution for his pillage, +but bought it off by a douceur to Rewbel, Barras, and Siyes. In 1799, he +advanced Bonaparte twelve millions of livres--to bribe adherents for the +new Revolution he meditated, and was, in recompense, instead of interest, +appointed first Counsellor of State; and when Lucien Bonaparte, in +September, 1800, was sent on an embassy to Spain, Chaptal succeeded him +in the Ministry of the Interior. You may see by this short account that +the chemist Chaptal has, in the Revolution, found the true philosophical +stone. He now lives in great style, and has, besides three wives alive +(from two of whom he has been divorced), five mistresses, with each a +separate establishment. This Chaptal is regarded here as the most moral +character that has figured in our Revolution, having yet neither +committed a single murder nor headed any of our massacres. + + + + +LETTER VII. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--I have read a copy of a letter from Madrid, circulated among +the members of our foreign diplomatic corps, which draws a most +deplorable picture of the Court and Kingdom of Spain. Forced into an +unprofitable and expensive war, famine ravaging some, and disease other +provinces, experiencing from allies the treatment of tyrannical foes, +disunion in his family and among his Ministers, His Spanish Majesty +totters on a throne exposed to the combined attacks of internal +disaffection and external plots, with no other support than the advice of +a favourite, who is either a fool or a traitor, and perhaps both. + +As the Spanish monarchy has been more humbled and reduced during the +twelve years’ administration of the Prince of Peace than during the whole +period that it has been governed by Princes of the House of Bourbon, the +heir of the throne, the young Prince of Asturias, has, with all the +moderation consistent with duty, rank, and consanguinity, tried to remove +an upstart, universally despised for his immorality as, well as for his +incapacity; and who, should he continue some years longer to rule in the +name of Charles IV., will certainly involve his King and his country in +one common ruin. Ignorant and presumptuous, even beyond upstarts in +general, the Prince of Peace treats with insolence all persons raised +above him by birth or talents, who refuse to be his accomplices or +valets. Proud and certain of the protection of the Queen, and of the +weakness of the King, the Spanish nobility is not only humbled, provoked, +and wronged by him, but openly defied and insulted. + +You know the nice principles of honour and loyalty that have always +formerly distinguished the ancient families of Spain. Believe me that, +notwithstanding what appearances indicate to the contrary, the Spanish +grandee who ordered his house to be pulled down because the rebel +constable had slept in it, has still many descendants, but loyal men +always decline to use that violence to which rebels always resort. Soon +after the marriage of the Prince of Asturias, in October, 1801, to his +cousin, the amiable Maria Theresa, Princess Royal of Naples, the ancient +Spanish families sent some deputies to Their Royal Highnesses, not for +the purpose of intriguing, but to lay before them the situation of the +kingdom, and to inform them of the real cause of all disasters. They +were received as faithful subjects and true patriots, and Their Royal +Highnesses promised every support in their power towards remedying the +evil complained of, and preventing, if possible, the growth of others. + +The Princess of Asturias is a worthy granddaughter of Maria Theresa of +Austria, and seems to inherit her character as well as her virtues. She +agreed with her royal consort that, after having gained the affection of +the Queen by degrees, it would be advisable for her to insinuate some +hints of the danger that threatened their country and the discontent that +agitated the people. The Prince of Asturias was to act the same part +with his father as the Princess did with his mother. As there is no one +about the person of Their Spanish Majesties, from the highest lord to the +lowest servant, who is not placed there by the favourite, and act as his +spies, he was soon aware that he had no friend in the heir to the throne. +His conversation with Their Majesties confirmed him in this supposition, +and that some secret measures were going on to deprive him of the place +he occupied, if not of the royal favour. All visitors to the Prince and +Princess of Asturias were, therefore, watched by his emissaries; and all +the letters or memorials sent to them by the post were opened, read, and; +if contrary to his interest, destroyed, and their writers imprisoned in +Spain or banished to the colonies. These measures of injustice created +suspicion, disunion, and, perhaps, fear, among the members of the +Asturian cabal, as it was called; all farther pursuit, therefore, was +deferred until more propitious times, and the Prince of Peace remained +undisturbed and in perfect security until the rupture with your country +last autumn. + +It is to be lamented that, with all their valuable qualities and feelings +of patriotism, the Prince and Princess of Asturias do not possess a +little dissimulation and more knowledge of the world. The favourite +tried by all means to gain their good opinion, but his advances met with +that repulse they morally deserved, but which, from policy, should have +been suspended or softened, with the hope of future accommodation. + +Beurnonville, the Ambassador of our Court to the Court of Madrid, was +here upon leave of absence when war was declared by Spain against your +country, and his first secretary, Herman, acted as charge d’affaires. +This Herman has been brought up in Talleyrand’s office, and is both abler +and more artful than Beurnonville; he possesses also the full confidence +of our Minister, who, in several secret and pecuniary transactions, has +obtained many proofs of this secretary’s fidelity as well as capacity. +The views of the Cabinet of St. Cloud were, therefore, not lost sight of, +nor its interest neglected at Madrid. + +I suppose you have heard that the Prince of Peace, like all other +ignorant and illiberal people, believes no one can be a good or clever +man who is not also his countryman, and that all the ability and probity +of the world is confined within the limits of Spain. On this principle +he equally detests France and England, Germany and Russia, and is, +therefore, not much liked by our Government, except for his imbecility, +which makes him its tool and dupe. His disgrace would not be much +regretted here, where we have it in our power to place or displace +Ministers in certain States, whenever and as often as we like. On this +occasion, however, we supported him, and helped to dissolve the cabal +formed against him; and that for the following reasons: + +By the assurances of Beurnonville, Bonaparte and Talleyrand had been led +to believe that the Prince and Princess of Asturias were well affected to +France, and to them personally; and conceiving themselves much more +certain of this than of the good disposition of the favourite, though +they did not take a direct part against him, at the same time they did +not disclose what they knew was determined on to remove him from the helm +of affairs. During Beurnonville’s absence, however, Herman had formed an +intrigue with a Neapolitan girl, in the suite of Asturias, who, +influenced by love or bribes, introduced him into the Cabinet where her +mistress kept her correspondence with her royal parents. With a +pick-lock key he opened all the drawers, and even the writing-desk, in +which he is said to have discovered written evidence that, though the +Princess was not prejudiced against France, she had but an indifferent +opinion of the morality and honesty of our present Government and of our +present governors. One of these original papers Herman appropriated to +himself, and despatched to this capital by an extraordinary courier, +whose despatches, more than the rupture with your country, forced +Beurnonville away in a hurry from the agreeable society of gamesters and +prostitutes, chiefly frequented by him in this capital. + +It is not and cannot be known yet what was the exact plan of the Prince +and Princess of Asturias and their adherents; but a diplomatic gentleman, +who has just arrived from Madrid, and who can have no reason to impose +upon me, has informed me of the following particulars: + +Their Royal Highnesses succeeded perfectly in their endeavours to gain +the well-merited tenderness and approbation of their Sovereigns in +everything else but when the favourite was mentioned with any slight, or +when any insinuations were thrown out concerning the mischief arising +from his tenacity of power, and incapacity of exercising it with +advantage to the State. The Queen was especially irritated when such was +the subject of conversation or of remark; and she finally prohibited it +under pain of her displeasure. A report even reached Their Royal +Highnesses, that the Prince of Peace had demanded their separation and +separate confinement. Nothing could, therefore, be effected to impede +the progress of wickedness and calamity, but by some temporary measure of +severity. In this disagreeable dilemma, it was resolved by the cabal to +send the Queen to a convent, until her favourite had been arrested and +imprisoned; to declare the Prince of Asturias Regent during the King’s +illness (His Majesty then still suffered from several paralytic strokes), +and to place men of talents and patriotism in the place of the creatures +of the Prince of Peace. As soon as this revolution was organized, the +Queen would have been restored to full liberty and to that respect due to +her rank. + +This plan had been communicated to our Ambassador, and approved of by our +Government; but when Herman in such an honest manner had inspected the +confidential correspondence of the Princess of Asturias, Beurnonville was +instructed by Talleyrand to, warn the favourite of the impending danger, +and to advise him to be beforehand with his enemies. Instead of telling +the truth, the Prince of Peace alarmed the King and Queen with the most +absurd fabrications; and assured Their Majesties that their son and their +daughter-in-law had determined not only to dethrone them, but to keep +them prisoners for life, after they had been forced to witness his +execution. + +Indolence and weakness are often more fearful than guilt. Everything he +said was at once believed; the Prince and Princess were ordered under +arrest in their own apartments, without permission to see or correspond +with anybody; and so certain was the Prince of Peace of a complete and +satisfactory revenge for the attempt against his tyranny, that a frigate +at Cadiz was ready waiting to carry the Princess of Asturias back to +Naples. All Spaniards who had the honour of their Sovereigns and of +their country at heart lamented these rash proceedings; but no one dared +to take any measures to counteract them. At last, however, the Duke of +Montemar, grand officer to the Prince of Asturias, demanded an audience +of Their Majesties, in the presence of the favourite. He began by +begging his Sovereign to recollect that for the place he occupied he was +indebted to the Prince of Peace; and he called upon him to declare +whether he had ever had reason to suspect him either of ingratitude or +disloyalty. Being answered in the negative, he said that, though his +present situation and office near the heir to the throne was the pride +and desire of his life, he would have thrown it up the instant that he +had the least ground to suppose that this Prince ceased to be a dutiful +son and subject; but so far from this being the case, he had observed him +in his most unguarded moments--in moments of conviviality had heard him +speak of his royal parents with as much submission and respect as if he +had been in their presence. “If,” continued he, “the Prince of Peace has +said otherwise, he has misled his King and his Queen, being, no doubt, +deceived himself. To overthrow a throne and to seize it cannot be done +without accomplices, without arms, without money. Who are the +conspirators hailing the Prince as their chief? I have heard no name but +that of the lovely Princess, his consort, the partaker of his sentiments +as well as of his heart. And his arms? They are in the hands of those +guards his royal parent has given to augment the necessary splendour of +his rank. And as to his money? He has none but what is received from +royal and paternal munificence and bounty. You, my Prince,” said he to +the favourite (who seemed much offended at the impression the speech made +on Their Majesties), “will one day thank me, if I am happy enough to +dissuade dishonourable, impolitic, or unjust sentiments. Of the +approbation of posterity I am certain--” + +“If,” interrupted the favourite, “the Prince of Asturias and his consort +will give up their bad counsellors, I hope Their Majesties will forget +and forgive everything with myself.” + +“Whether Their Royal Highnesses,” replied the Duke of Montemar, “have +done anything that deserves forgiveness, or whether they have any +counsellors, I do not know, and am incompetent to judge; but I am much +mistaken in the character of Their Royal Highnesses if they wish to +purchase favour at the expense of confidence and honour. An order from +His Majesty may immediately clear up this doubt.” + +The Prince of Peace was then ordered to write, in the name of the King, +to his children in the manner he proposed, and to command an answer by +the messenger. In half an hour the messenger returned with a letter +addressed to the favourite, containing only these lines: + +“A King of Spain is well aware that a Prince and Princess of Asturias can +have no answer to give to such proposals or to such questions.” + +After six days’ arrest, and after the Prince of Peace had in vain +endeavoured to discover something to inculpate Their Royal Highnesses, +they were invited to Court, and reconciled both to him and their royal +parents. + + + + +LETTER VIII. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--I will add in this letter, to the communication of the +gentlemen mentioned in my last, what I remember myself of the letter +which was circulated among our diplomatists, concerning the intrigues at +Madrid. + +The Prince of Peace, before he listened to the advice of Duke of +Montemar, had consulted Beurnonville, who dissuaded all violence, and as +much as possible all noise. This accounts for the favourite’s pretended +moderation on this occasion. But though he was externally reconciled, +and, as was reported at Madrid, had sworn his reconciliation even by +taking the sacrament, all the undertakings of the Prince and Princess of +Asturias were strictly observed and reported by the spies whom he had +placed round Their Royal Highnesses. Vain of his success and victory, he +even lost that respectful demeanour which a good, nay, a well-bred +subject always shows to the heir to the throne, and the Princes related +to his Sovereign. He sometimes behaved with a premeditated familiarity, +and with an insolence provoking or defying resentment. It was on the +days of great festivities, when the Court was most brilliant, and the +courtiers most numerous, that he took occasion to be most arrogant to +those whom he traitorously and audaciously dared to call his rivals. On +the 9th of last December, at the celebration of the Queen’s birthday, his +conduct towards Their Royal Highnesses excited such general indignation +that the remembrance of the occasion of the fete, and the presence of +their Sovereigns, could not repress a murmur, which made the favourite +tremble. A signal from the Prince of Asturias would then have been +sufficient to have caused the insolent upstart to be seized and thrown +out of the window. I am told that some of the Spanish grandees even laid +their hands on their swords, fixing their eyes on the heir to the throne, +as if to say: “Command, and your unworthy enemy shall exist no more.” + +To prepare, perhaps, the royal and paternal mind for deeds which +contemporaries always condemn, and posterity will always reprobate, the +Prince of Peace procured a history to be written in his own way and +manner, of Don Carlos, the unfortunate son of the barbarous and unnatural +Philip II.; but the Queen’s confessor, though, like all her other +domestics, a tool of the favourite, threw it into the fire with reproof, +saying that Spain did not remember in Philip II. the grand and powerful +Monarch, but abhorred in him the royal assassin; adding that no laws, +human or divine, no institutions, no supremacy whatever, could authorize +a parent to stain his hands in the blood of his children. These +anecdotes are sufficient both to elucidate the inveteracy of the +favourite, the abject state of the heir to the throne, and the +incomprehensible infatuation of the King and Queen. + +Our Ambassador, in the meantime, dissembled always with the Prince and +Princess of Asturias; and even made them understand that he disapproved +of those occurrences so disagreeable to them; but he neither offered to +put an end to them nor to be a mediator for a perfect reconciliation with +their Sovereigns. He was guided by no other motive but to keep the +favourite in subjection and alarm by preserving a correspondence with his +rivals. That this was the case and the motive cannot be doubted from the +financial intrigue he carried on in the beginning of last month. + +Foreigners have but an imperfect or erroneous idea of the amount of the +immense sums Spain has paid to our Government in loans, in contributions, +in donations, and in subsidies. Since the reign of Bonaparte, or for +these last five years, upwards of half the revenue of the Spanish +monarchy has either been brought into our National Treasury or into the +privy purse of the Bonaparte family. Without the aid of Spanish money, +neither would our gunboats have been built, our fleets equipped, nor our +armies paid. The dreadful situation of the Spanish finances is, +therefore, not surprising--it is, indeed, still more surprising that a +general bankruptcy has not already involved the Spanish nation in a +general ruin. + +When, on his return from Italy, the recall of the Russian negotiator and +the preparations of Austria convinced Bonaparte of the probability of a +Continental war, our troops on the coast had not been paid for two +months, and his Imperial Ministers of Finances had no funds either to +discharge the arrears or to provide for future payments until the +beginning of the year 14, or the 22d instant. Beurnonville was, +therefore, ordered to demand peremptorily from the Cabinet of Madrid +forty millions of livres--in advance upon future subsidies. Half of that +sum had, indeed, shortly before arrived at Cadiz from America, but much +more was due by the Spanish Government to its own creditors, and promised +them in payment of old debts. The Prince of Peace, in consequence, +declared that, however much he wished to oblige the French Government, it +was utterly impossible to procure, much less to advance such sums. +Beurnonville then became more assiduous than ever about the Prince and +Princess of Asturias; and he had the impudence to assert that they had +promised, if their friends were at the head of affairs, to satisfy the +wishes and expectation of the Emperor of the French, by seizing the +treasury at Cadiz, and paying the State creditors in vales deinero; notes +hitherto payable in cash, and never at a discount. The stupid favourite +swallowed the palpable bait; four millions in dollars were sent under an +escort to this country, while the Spanish notes instantly fell to a +discount at first of four and afterwards of six per cent., and probably +will fall lower still, as no treasures are expected from America this +autumn. It was with two millions of these dollars that the credit of the +Bank of France was restored, or at least for some time enabled to resume +its payments in specie. Thus wretched Spain pays abroad for the forging +of those disgraceful fetters which oppress her at home; and supports a +foreign tyranny, which finally must produce domestic misery as well as +slavery. + +When the Prince and Princess of Asturias were informed of the scandalous +and false assertion of Beurnonville, they and their adherents not only +publicly, and in all societies, contradicted it, but affirmed that, +rather than obtain authority or influence on such ruinous terms, they +would have consented to remain discarded and neglected during their +lives. They took the more care to have their sentiments known on this +subject, as our Ambassador’s calumny had hurt their popularity. It was +then first that, to revenge the shame with which his duplicity had +covered him, Beurnonville permitted and persuaded the Prince of Peace to +begin the chastisement of Their Royal Highnesses in the persons of their +favourites. Duke of Montemar, the grand officer to the Prince of +Asturias; Marquis of Villa Franca, the grand equerry to the Princess of +Asturias; Count of Miranda, chamberlain to the King; and the Countess +Dowager del Monte, with six other Court ladies and four other noblemen, +were, therefore, exiled from Madrid into different provinces, and +forbidden to reside in any place within twenty leagues of the residence +of the royal family. According to the last letters and communications +from Spain, the Prince and Princess of Asturias had not appeared at Court +since the insult offered them in the disgrace of their friends, and were +resolved not to appear in any place where they might be likely to meet +with the favourite. + +Among our best informed politicians here, it is expected that a +revolution and a change of dynasty will be the issue of this our +political embryo in Spain. Napoleon has more than once indirectly hinted +that the Bonaparte dynasty will never be firm and fixed in France as long +as any Bourbons reign in Spain or Italy. Should he prove victorious in +the present Continental contest, another peace, and not the most +advantageous, will again be signed with your country--a peace which, I +fear, will leave him absolute master of all Continental States. His +family arrangements are publicly avowed to be as follow: His third +brother, Louis, and his sons, are to be the heirs of the French Empire. +Joseph Bonaparte is, at the death or resignation of Napoleon, to succeed +to the Kingdom of Italy, including Naples. Lucien, though at present in +disgrace, is considered as the person destined to supplant the Bourbons +in Spain, where, during his embassy in 1800, and in 1801, he formed +certain connections which Napoleon still keeps up and preserves. Holland +will be the inheritance of Jerome should Napoleon not live long enough to +extend his power in Great Britain. Such are the modest pretensions our +Imperial courtiers bestow upon the family of our Sovereign. + +As to the Prince of Peace, he is only an imbecile instrument in the hands +of our intriguers and innovators, which they make use of as long as they +find it necessary, and which, when that ceases to be the case, they break +and throw away. This idiot is made to believe that both his political +and physical existence depends entirely upon our support, and he has +infused the same ridiculous notion into his accomplices and adherents. +Guilt, ignorance, and cowardice thus misled may, directed by art, +interest, and craft, perform wonders to entangle themselves in the +destruction of their country. + +Beurnonville, our present Ambassador at Madrid, is the son of a porter, +and was a porter himself when, in 1770, he enlisted as a soldier in one +of our regiments serving in the East Indies. Having there collected some +pillage, he purchased the place of a major in the militia of the Island +of Bourbon, but was, for his immorality, broken by the governor. +Returning to France, he bitterly complained of this injustice, and, after +much cringing in the antechambers of Ministers, he obtained at last the +Cross of St. Louis as a kind of indemnity. About the same time he also +bought with his Indian wealth the place of an officer in the Swiss Guard +of Monsieur, the present Louis XVIII. Being refused admittance into any +genteel societies, he resorted with Barras and other disgraced nobles to +gambling-houses, and he even kept to himself when the Revolution took +place. He had at the same time, and for a certain interest, advanced +Madame d’Estainville money to establish her famous, or rather infamous, +house in the Rue de Bonnes Enfants, near the Palais Royal,--a house that +soon became the fashionable resort of our friends of Liberty and +Equality. + +In 1790, Beurnonville offered his services as aide-de-camp to our then +hero of great ambition and small capacity, La Fayette, who declined the +honour. The Jacobins were not so nice. In 1792, they appointed him a +general under Dumouriez, who baptized him his Ajax. This modern Ajax, +having obtained a separate command, attacked Treves in a most ignorant +manner, and was worsted with great loss. The official reports of our +revolutionary generals have long been admired for their modesty as well +as veracity; but Beurnonville has almost outdone them all, not excepting +our great Bonaparte. In a report to the National Convention concerning a +terrible engagement of three hours near Grewenmacker, Beurnonville +declares that, though the number of the enemy killed was immense, his +troops got out of the scrape with the loss of only the little finger of +one of his riflemen. On the 4th of February, 1793, a fortnight after the +execution of Louis XVI., he was nominated Minister of the War +Department--a place which he refused, under a pretence that he was better +able to serve his country with his sword than with his pen, having +already been in one hundred and twenty battles (where, he did not +enumerate or state). On the 14th of the following March, however, he +accepted the ministerial portfolio, which he did not keep long, being +delivered up by his Hector, Dumouriez, to the Austrians. He remained a +prisoner at Olmutz until the 22d of November, 1795, when he was included +among the persons exchanged for the daughter of Louis XVI., Her present +Royal Highness, the Duchess of Angouleme. + +In the autumn of 1796 he had a temporary, command of the dispersed +remnants of Jourdan’s army, and in 1797 he was sent as a French commander +to Holland. In 1799, Bonaparte appointed him an Ambassador to the Court +of Berlin; and in 1803 removed him in the same character to the Court of +Madrid. In Prussia, his talents did not cause him to be dreaded, nor his +personal qualities make him esteemed. In France, he is laughed at as a +boaster, but not trusted as a warrior. In Spain, he is neither dreaded +nor esteemed, neither laughed at nor courted; he is there universally +despised. He studies to be thought a gentleman; but the native porter +breaks through the veil of a ridiculously affected and outre politeness. +Notwithstanding the complacent grimaces of his face, the self-sufficiency +of his looks, his systematically powdered and dressed hair, his showy +dress, his counted and short bows, and his presumptuous conversation, +teeming with ignorance, vulgarity, and obscenity, he cannot escape even +the most inattentive observer. + +The Ambassador, Beurnonville, is now between fifty and sixty years of +age; is a grand officer of our Imperial Legion of Honour; has a brother +who is a turnkey, and two sisters, one married to a tailor, and another +to a merchant who cries dogs’ and cats’ meat in our streets. + + + + +LETTER IX. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Bonaparte did not at first intend to take his wife with him +when he set out for Strasburg; but her tears, the effect of her +tenderness and apprehension for his person, at last altered his +resolution. Madame Napoleon, to tell the truth, does not like much to be +in the power of Joseph, nor even in that of her son-in-law, Louis +Bonaparte, should any accident make her a widow. + +During the Emperor’s absence, the former is the President of the Senate, +and the latter the Governor of this capital, and commander of the troops +in the interior; so that the one dictates the Senatus Consultum, in case +of a vacancy of the throne, and the other supports these civil +determinations with his military forces. Even with the army in Germany, +Napoleon’s brother-in-law, Murat, is as a pillar of the Bonaparte +dynasty, and to prevent the intrigues and plots of other generals from an +Imperial diadem; while, in Italy, his step-son, Eugene de Beauharnais, as +a viceroy, commands even the commander-in-chief, Massena. It must be +granted that the Emperor has so ably taken his precautions that it is +almost certain that, at first, his orders will be obeyed, even after his +death; and the will deposited by him in the Senate, without opposition, +carried into execution. These very precautions evince, however, how +uncertain and precarious he considers his existence to be, and that, +notwithstanding addresses and oaths, he apprehends that the Bonaparte +dynasty will not survive him. + +Most of the generals now employed by him are either of his own creation, +or men on whom he has conferred rank and wealth, which they might +consider unsafe under any other Prince but a Bonaparte. The superior +officers, not included in the above description, are such insignificant +characters that, though he makes use of their experience and courage, he +does not fear their views or ambition. Among the inferior officers, and +even among the men, all those who have displayed, either at reviews or in +battles, capacity, activity, or valour, are all members of his Legion of +Honour; and are bound to him by the double tie of gratitude and +self-interest. They look to him alone for future advancements, and for +the preservation of the distinction they have obtained from him. His +emissaries artfully disseminate that a Bourbon would inevitably overthrow +everything a Bonaparte has erected; and that all military and civil +officers rewarded or favoured by Napoleon the First will not only be +discarded, but disgraced, and perhaps punished, by a Louis XVIII. Any +person who would be imprudent enough to attempt to prove the +impossibility, as well as the absurdity, of these impolitic and +retrospective measures, would be instantly taken up and shot as an +emissary of the Bourbons. + +I have often amused myself in conversing with our new generals and new +officers; there is such a curious mixture of ignorance and information, +of credulity and disbelief, of real boasting and affected modesty, in +everything they say or do in company; their manners are far from being +elegant, but also very distant from vulgarity; they do not resemble those +of what we formerly called ‘gens comme il faut’, and ‘la bonne societe’! +nor those of the bourgeoisie, or the lower classes. They form a new +species of fashionables, and a ‘haut ton militaire’, which strikes a +person accustomed to Courts at first with surprise, and perhaps with +indignation; though, after a time, those of our sex, at last, become +reconciled, if not pleased with it, because there is a kind of military +frankness interwoven with the military roughness. Our ladies, however (I +mean those who have seen other Courts, or remember our other coteries), +complain loudly of this alteration of address, and of this fashionable +innovation; and pretend that our military, under the notion of being +frank, are rude, and by the negligence of their manners and language, are +not only offensive, but inattentive and indelicate. This is so much the +more provoking to them, as our Imperial courtiers and Imperial placemen +do not think themselves fashionable without imitating our military +gentry, who take Napoleon for their exclusive model and chief in +everything, even in manners. + +What I have said above applies only to those officers whose parents are +not of the lowest class, or who entered so early or so young into the +army that they may be said to have been educated there, and as they +advanced, have assumed the ‘ton’ of their comrades of the same rank. I +was invited, some time ago, to a wedding, by a jeweller whose sister had +been my nurse, and whose daughter was to be married to a captain of +hussars quartered here. The bridegroom had engaged several other +officers to assist at the ceremony, and to partake of the fete and ball +that followed. A general of the name of Liebeau was also of the party, +and obtained the place of honour by the side of the bride’s mother. At +his entrance into the apartment I formed an opinion of him which his +subsequent conduct during the ball confirmed. + +During the dinner he seemed to forget that he had a knife and a fork, and +he did not eat of a dish (and he ate of them all, numerous as they were) +without bespattering or besmearing himself or his neighbours. He broke +two glasses and one plate, and, for equality’s sake, I suppose, when he +threw the wine on the lady to his right, the lady to his left was +inundated with sauces. In getting up from dinner to take coffee and +liqueurs, according to our custom, as he took the hand of the mistress of +the house, he seized at the same time a corner of the napkin, and was not +aware of his blunder till the destruction of bottles, glasses, and plate, +and the screams of the ladies, informed him of the havoc and terror his +awkward gallantry had occasioned. When the ball began, he was too vain +of his rank and precedency to suffer any one else to lead the bride down +the first dance; but she was not, I believe, much obliged to him for his +politeness; it cost her the tail of her wedding-gown and a broken nail, +and she continued lame during the remainder of the night. In making an +apology to her for his want of dexterity, and assuring her that he was +not so awkward in handling the enemies of his country in battle as in +handling friends he esteemed in a dance, he gave no quarter to an old +maid aunt, whom, in the violence of his gesticulation, he knocked down +with his elbow and laid sprawling on the ground. He was sober when these +accidents literally occurred. + +Of this original I collected the following particulars: Before the +Revolution he was a soldier in the regiment of Flanders, from which he +deserted and became a corporal in another regiment; in 1793 he was a +drum-major in one of the battalions in garrison in Paris. You remember +the struggles of factions in the latter part of May and in the beginning +of June, the same year, when Brissot and his accomplices were contending +with Marat, Robespierre, and their adherents for the reins of power. On +the 1st of June the latter party could not get a drummer to beat the +alarm, though they offered money and advancement. At last Robespierre +stepped forward to Liebeau and said, “Citizen, beat the alarm march, and +to-day you shall be nominated a general.” Liebeau obeyed, Robespierre +became victorious and kept his promise, and thus my present associate +gained his rank. He has since been employed under Jourdan in Germany, +and under Le Courbe in Switzerland. When, under the former, he was +ordered to retreat towards the Rhine, he pointed out the march route to +his division according to his geographical knowledge, but mistook upon +the map the River Main for a turnpike road, and commanded the retreat +accordingly. Ever since, our troops have called that river ‘La chausee +de Liebeau’. He was not more fortunate in Helvetia. Being ordered to +cross one of the mountains, he marched his men into a glacier, where +twelve perished before he was aware of his mistake. + +Being afterwards appointed a governor of Blois, he there became a petty, +insupportable tyrant, and laid all the inhabitants indiscriminately under +arbitrary contribution. Those who refused to pay were imprisoned as +aristocrats, and their property confiscated in the name and on the part +of the nation; that is to say, he appropriated to himself in the name of +the nation everything that struck his fancy; and if any complaints were +made, the owners were seized and sent to the Revolutionary Tribunal at +Paris to be condemned as the correspondents or adherents of the royalists +of La Vendee. After the death of Robespierre he was deprived of this +profitable place, in which, during the short space of eleven months, he +amassed five millions of livres. The Directory, then gave him a +division, first under Jourdan, and afterwards under Le Courbe. + +Bonaparte, after witnessing his incapacity in Italy, in 1800, put him on +the full half-pay, and has lately made him a commander of the Legion of +Honour. + +His dear spouse, Madame Liebeau, is his counterpart. When he married +her, she was crying mackerel and herrings in our streets; but she told me +in confidence, during the dinner, being seated by my side, that her +father was an officer of fortune, and a Chevalier of the Order of St. +Louis. She assured me that her husband had done greater services to his +country than Bonaparte; and that, had it not been for his patriotism in +1793, the Austrians would have taken Paris. She was very angry with +Madame Napoleon, to whom she had been presented, but who had not shown +her so much attention and civility, as was due to her husband’s rank, +having never invited her to more than one supper and two tea-parties; and +when invited by her, had sent Duroc with an apology that she was unable +to come, though the same evening she went to the opera. + +Another guest, in the regimentals of a colonel, seemed rather bashful +when I spoke to him. I could not comprehend the reason, and therefore +inquired of our host who he was. (You know that with us it is not the +custom to introduce persons by name, etc., as in your country, when +meeting in mixed companies.) He answered: + +“Do you not remember your brother’s jockey, Prial?” + +“Yes,” said I, “but he was established by my brother as a hairdresser.” + +“He is the very same person,” replied the jeweller. “He has fought very +bravely, and is now a colonel of dragoons, a great favourite with +Bonaparte, and will be a general at the first promotion.” + +As the colonel did not seem to desire a renewal of acquaintance with me, +I did not intrude myself upon him. + +During the supper the military gentlemen were encouraged by the +bridegroom, and the bottle went round very freely; and the more they +drank, the greater and more violent became their political discussions. +Liebeau vociferated in favour of republican and revolutionary measures, +and avowed his approbation of requisitions, confiscations, and the +guillotine; while Frial inclined to the regular and organized despotism +of one, to secret trial, and still more secret executions; defending +arbitrary imprisonments, exiles, and transportations. This displeased +Madame Liebeau, who exclaimed: + +“Since the colonel is so fond of an Imperial Government, he can have no +objection to remain a faithful subject whenever my husband, Liebeau, +becomes, an Antoine the First, Emperor of the French.” + +Frial smiled with contempt. + +“You seem to think it improbable,” said Liebeau. “I, Antoine Liebeau, I +have more prospect of being an Emperor than Napoleon Bonaparte had ten +years ago, when he was only a colonel, and was arrested as a terrorist. +And am I not a Frenchman? And is he not a foreigner? Come, shake hands +with me; as soon as I am Emperor, depend upon it you shall be a general, +and a grand officer of the Legion of Honour.” + +“Ah! my jewel,” interrupted Madame Liebeau, “how happy will France then +be. You are such a friend of peace. We will then have no wars, no +contributions; all the English milords may then come here and spend their +money, nobody cares about where or how. Will you not, then, my sweet +love, make all the gentlemen here your chamberlains, and permit me to +accept all the ladies of the company for my Maids of Honour or +ladies-in-waiting?” + +“Softly, softly,” cried Frial, who now began to be as intoxicated and as +ambitious as the general; “whenever Napoleon dies, I have more hope, +more: claim, and more right than you to the throne. I am in actual +service; and had not Bonaparte been the same, he might have still +remained upon the half-pay, obscure and despised. Were not most of the +Field-marshals and generals under him now, above him ten years ago? May +I not, ten years hence, if I am satisfied with you, General Liebeau, make +you also a Field-marshal, or my Minister of War; and you, Madame Liebeau, +a lady of my wife’s wardrobe, as soon as I am married? I, too, have my +plans and my views, and perhaps one day you will recollect this +conversation, and not be sorry for my acquaintance.” + +“What! you a colonel, an Emperor, before me, who have so long been a +general?” howled Liebeau, who was no longer able to speak. “I would +sooner knock your brains out with this bottle than suffer such a +precedence; and my wife a lady of your wardrobe! she who has possessed +from her birth the soul of an Empress! No, sir! never will I take the +oath to you, nor suffer anybody else to take it.” + +“Then I will punish you as a rebel,” retorted Frial; “and as sure as you +stand here you shall be shot.” + +Liebeau then rose up to fetch his sword, but the company interfered, and +the dispute about the priority of claim to the throne of France between +the ci-devant drummer and ci-devant jockey was left undecided. From the +words and looks of several of the captains present, I think that they +seemed, in their own opinions, to have as much prospect and expectation +to reign over the French Empire as either General Liebeau or Colonel +Frial. + +As soon as I returned home I wrote down this curious conversation and +this debate about supremacy. To what a degradation is the highest rank +in my unfortunate country reduced when two such personages seriously +contend about it! I collected more subjects for meditation and +melancholy in this low company (where, by the bye, I witnessed more +vulgarity and more indecencies than I had before seen during my life) +than from all former scenes of humiliation and disgust since my return +here. When I the next day mentioned it to General de M------, whom you +have known as an emigrant officer in your service, but whom policy has +since ranged under the colours of Bonaparte, he assured me that these +discussions about the Imperial throne are very frequent among the +superior officers, and have caused many bloody scenes; and that hardly +any of our generals of any talent exist who have not the same ‘arriere +pensee of some day or other. Napoleon cannot, therefore, well be +ignorant of the many other dynasties here now rivalling that of the +Bonapartes, and who wait only for his exit to tear his Senatus Consultum, +his will, and his family, as well as each other, to pieces. + + + + +LETTER X. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +My LORD:--I was lately invited to a tea-party by one of our rich +upstarts, who, from a scavenger, is, by the Revolution and by Bonaparte, +transformed into a Legislator, Commander of the Legion of Honour, and +possessor of wealth amounting to eighteen millions of livres. In this +house I saw for the first time the famous Madame Chevalier, the mistress, +and the indirect cause of the untimely end, of the unfortunate Paul the +First. She is very short, fat, and coarse. I do not know whether +prejudice, from what I have heard of her vile, greedy, and immoral +character, influenced my feelings, but she appeared to me a most artful, +vain, and disagreeable woman. She looked to be about thirty-six years of +age; and though she might when younger have been well made, it is +impossible that she could ever have been handsome. The features of her +face are far from being regular. Her mouth is large, her eyes hollow, +and her nose short. Her language is that of brothels, and her manners +correspond with her expressions. She is the daughter of a workman at a +silk manufactory at Lyons; she ceased to be a maid before she had +attained the age of a woman, and lived in a brothel in her native city, +kept by a Madame Thibault, where her husband first became acquainted with +her. She then had a tolerably good voice, was young and insinuating, and +he introduced her on the same stage where he was one of the inferior +dancers. Here in a short time she improved so much, that she was engaged +as a supernumerary; her salary in France as an actress was, however, +never above twelve hundred livres in the year--which was four hundred +livres more than her husband received. + +He, with several other inferior and unprincipled actors and dancers, +quitted the stage in the beginning of the Revolution for the clubs; and +instead of diverting his audience, resolved to reform and regenerate his +nation. His name is found in the annals of the crimes perpetrated at +Lyons, by the side of that of a Fouche, a Collot d’Herbois, and other +wicked offsprings of rebellion. With all other terrorists, he was +imprisoned for some time after the death of Robespierre; as soon as +restored to liberty, he set out with his wife for Hamburg, where some +amateurs had constructed a French theatre. + +It was in the autumn of 1795 when Madame Chevalier was first heard of in +the North of Europe, where her arrival occasioned a kind of theatrical +war between the French, American, and Hamburg Jacobins on one side, and +the English and emigrant loyalists on the other. Having no money to +continue her pretended journey to Sweden, she asked the manager of the +French theatre at Hamburg to allow her a benefit, and permission to play +on that night. She selected, of course, a part in which she could appear +to the most advantage, and was deservedly applauded. The very next +evening the Jacobin cabal called the manager upon the stage, and insisted +that Madame Chevalier should be given a regular engagement. He replied +that no place suitable to her talents was vacant, and that it would be +ungenerous to turn away for her sake another actress with whom the public +had hitherto declared their satisfaction. The Jacobins continued +inflexible, and here, as well as everywhere else, supported injustice by +violence. As the patriotism of the husband, more than the charms of the +wife, was known to have produced this indecent fracas, which for upwards +of a week interrupted the plays, all anti-Jacobins united to restore +order. In this they would, perhaps, have finally succeeded, had not the +bayonets of the Hamburg soldiers interfered, and forced this precious +piece of revolutionary furniture upon the manager and upon the stage. + +After displaying her gratitude in her own way to each individual of the +Jacobin levy en masse in her favour, she was taken into keeping by a then +rich and married Hamburg merchant, who made her a present of a richly and +elegantly furnished house, and expended besides ten thousand louis d’or +on her, before he had a mortifying conviction that some other had +partaken of those favours for which he had so dearly paid. A countryman +of yours then showed himself with more noise than honour upon the scene, +and made his debut with a phaeton and four, which he presented to his +theatrical goddess, together with his own dear portrait, set round with +large and valuable diamonds. Madame Chevalier, however, soon afterwards +hearing that her English gallant had come over to Germany for economy, +and that his credit with his banker was nearly exhausted, had his +portrait changed for that of another and richer lover, preserving, +however, the diamonds; and she exposed this inconstancy even upon the +stage, by suspending, as if in triumph, the new portrait fastened on her +bosom. The Englishman, wishing to retrieve his phaeton and horses, which +he protested only to have lent his belle, found that she had put the +whole equipage into a kind of lottery, or raffle, to which all her +numerous friends had subscribed, and that an Altona Jew had won it. + +The successor of your countryman was a Russian nobleman, succeeded in his +turn by a Polish Jew, who was ruined and discarded within three months. +She then became the property of the public, and, by her active industry, +during a stay of four years at Hamburg, she was enabled to remit to +France, before her departure for Russia, one million two hundred thousand +livres. Her popularity was, however, at that period, very much on the +decline, as she had stooped to the most indelicate means to collect +money, and to extort it from her friends and acquaintances. She had +always lists of subscriptions in her pocket; some with proposals to play +in her lotteries for trinkets unnecessary to her; others, to procure her, +by the assistance of subscribers, some trinkets which she wanted. + +I suppose it to be no secret to you that the female agents of +Talleyrand’s secret diplomacy are frequently more useful than those of +the other sex. I am told that Madame Rochechouart was that friend of our +Ministers who engaged Madame Chevalier in her Russian expedition, and who +instructed her how to act her parts well at St. Petersburg. I need not +repeat what is so well known, that, after this artful emissary had ruined +the domestic happiness of the Russian Monarch, she degraded him in his +political transactions, and became the indirect cause of his untimely +end, in procuring, for a bribe of fifty thousand roubles in money and +jewels, the recall of one of the principal conspirators against the +unfortunate Paul. + +The wealth she plundered in the Russian capital, within the short period +of twenty months, amounted to much above one million of roubles. For +money she procured impunity for crime, and brought upon innocence the +punishment merited by guilt. The scaffolds of Russia were bleeding, and +the roads to Siberia crowded with the victims of the avarice of this +female demon, who often promised what she was unable to perform, and, to +silence complaint, added cruelty to fraud, and, after pocketing the +bribe, resorted to the executioner to remove those whom she had duped. +The shocking anecdote of the Sardinian secretary, whom she swindled out +of nearly a hundred thousand roubles, and on whom she afterwards +persuaded her Imperial lover to inflict capital punishment, is too recent +and too public to be unknown or forgotten. A Russian nobleman has +assured me that the number of unfortunate individuals whom her and her +husband’s intrigues have caused to suffer capitally during 1800 and 1801 +was forty-six; and that nearly three hundred persons besides, who could +not or would not pay their extortionate demands, were exiled to Siberia +during the same period of time. + +You may, perhaps, think that a low woman who could produce such great and +terrible events, must be mistress of natural charms, as well as of +acquired accomplishments. As I have already stated, she can have no +pretensions to either, but she is extremely insinuating, sings tolerably +well, has a fresh and healthy look, and possesses an unusually good share +of cunning, presumption, and duplicity. Her husband, also, everywhere +took care to make her fashionable; and the vanity of the first of their +dupes increased the number of her admirers and engaged the vanity of +others in their turn to sacrifice themselves at her shrine. + +The immorality of our age, also, often procured her popularity for what +deserved, and in better times would have encountered, the severest +reprobation. In 1797, an emigrant lodged at an inn at Hamburg where +another traveller was robbed of a large sum in ready money and jewels. +The unfortunate is always suspected; and in the visit made to his room by +the magistrates was found a key that opened the door of the apartment +where the theft had been committed. In vain did he represent that had he +been the thief he should not have kept an instrument which was, or might +be, construed into an argument of guilt; he was carried to prison, and, +though none of the property was discovered in his possession, would have +been condemned, had he not produced Madame Chevalier, who avowed that the +key opened the door of her bedroom, which the smith who had made it +confirmed, and swore that he had fabricated eight keys for the same +actress and for the same purpose. + +At that time this woman lived in the same house with her husband, but +cohabited there with the husband of another woman. She had also places +of assignation with other gallants at private apartments, both in Hamburg +and at Altona. All these, her scandalous intrigues, were known even to +the common porters of these cities. The first time, after the affair of +the key had become public, she acted in a play where a key was mentioned, +and the audience immediately repeated, “The key! the key!” Far from +being ashamed, she appeared every night in pieces selected by her, where +there was mention of keys, and thus tired the jokes of the public. This +impudence might have been expected from her, but it was little to be +supposed that her barefaced vices should, as really was the case, augment +the crowd of suitors, and occasion even some duels, which latter she both +encouraged and rewarded. + +Two brothers, of the name of De S-----, were both in love with her, and +the eldest, as the richest, became her choice. Offended at his refusal +of too large a sum of money, she wrote to the younger De S-----, and +offered to accede to his proposals if, like a gentleman, he would avenge +the affront she had experienced from his brother. He consulted a friend, +who, to expose her infamy, advised him to send some confidential person +to inform her that he had killed his elder brother, and expected the +recompense on the same night. He went and was received with open arms, +and had just retired with her, when the elder brother, accompanied by his +friend, entered the room. Madame Chevalier, instead of upbraiding, +laughed, and the next day the public laughed with her, and applauded her +more than ever. She knew very well what she was doing. The stories of +the key and the duel produced for her more than four thousand louis d’or +by the number of new gallants they enticed. It was a kind of emulation +among all young men in the North who should be foremost to dishonour and +ruin himself with this infamous woman. + +Madame Chevalier and her husband now live here in grand style, and have +their grand parties, grand teas, grand assemblies, and grand balls. Their +hotel, I am assured, is even visited by the Bonapartes and by the members +of the foreign diplomatic corps. In the house where I saw her, I +observed that Louis Bonaparte and two foreign Ambassadors spoke to her as +old acquaintances. Though rich, to the amount of ten millions of +livres--she, or rather her husband, keeps a gambling-house, and her +superannuated charms are still to be bought for money, at the disposal of +those amateurs who are fond of antiques. Both her husband and herself +are still members of our secret diplomacy, though she complains loudly +that, of the two millions of livres--promised her in 1799 by Bonaparte +and Talleyrand if she could succeed in persuading Paul I. to withdraw +from his alliance with England and Austria, only six hundred thousand +livres--has been paid her. + +I cannot finish this letter without telling you that before our military +forces had reached the Rhine, our political incendiaries had already +taken the field, and were in full march towards the Austrian, Russian, +and Prussian capitals. The advanced guard of this dangerous corps +consists entirely of females, all gifted with beauty and parts as much +superior to those of Madame Chevalier as their instructions are better +digested. Bonaparte and Talleyrand have more than once regretted that +Madame Chevalier was not ordered to enter into the conspiracy against +Paul (whose inconsistency and violence they foresaw would make his reign +short), that she might have influenced the conspirators to fix upon a +successor more pliable and less scrupulous, and who would have suffered +the Cabinet of St. Cloud to dictate to the Cabinet of St. Petersburg. + +I dined in company several times this last spring with two ladies who, +rumour said, have been destined for your P----- of W---- and D--- of +Y---ever since the Peace of Amiens. Talleyrand is well informed what +figures and what talents are requisite to make an impression on these +Princes, and has made his choice accordingly. These ladies have lately +disappeared, and when inquired after are stated to be in the country, +though I do not consider it improbable that they have already arrived at +headquarters. They are both rather fair and lusty, above the middle +size, and about twenty-five years of age. They speak, besides French, +the English and Italian languages. They are good drawers, good +musicians, good singers, and, if necessary, even good drinkers. + + + + +LETTER XI. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Had the citizens of the United States been as submissive to the +taxation of your Government as to the vexations of our ruler, America +would, perhaps, have been less free and Europe more tranquil. After the +treaty of Amiens had Produced a general pacification, our Government was +seriously determined to reconquer from America a part of those treasures +its citizens had gained during the Revolutionary War, by a neutrality +which our policy and interest required, and which the liberality of your +Government endured. Hence the acquisition we made of New Orleans from +Spain, and hence the intrigues of our emissaries in that colony, and the +peremptory requisitions of provision for St. Domingo by our Minister and +generals. Had we been victorious in St. Domingo, most of our troops +there were destined for the American Continent, to invade, according to +circumstances, either the Spanish colonies on the terra firma or the +States of the American Commonwealth. The unforeseen rupture with your +country postponed a plan that is far from being laid aside. + +You may, perhaps, think that since we sold Louisiana we have no footing +in America that can threaten the peace or independence of the United +States; but may not the same dictates that procured us at Madrid the +acquisition of New Orleans, also make us masters of Spanish Florida? And +do you believe it improbable that the present disagreement between +America and Spain is kept up by our intrigues and by our future views? +Would not a word from us settle in an instant at Madrid the differences +as well as the frontiers of the contending parties in America? And does +it not seem to be the regular and systematic plan of our Government to +provoke the retaliation of the Americans, and to show our disregard of +their privilege of neutrality and rights of independence; and that we +insult them only because we despise them, and despise them only because +we do not apprehend their resentment. + +I have heard the late American Minister here assert that the American +vessels captured by our cruisers and condemned by our tribunals, only +during the last war, amounted to about five hundred; and their cargoes +(all American property) to one hundred and fifty millions of +livres--L6,000,000. Some few days ago I saw a printed list, presented by +the American consul to our Minister of the Marine Department, claiming +one hundred and twelve American ships captured in the West Indies and on +the coast of America within these last two years, the cargoes of which +have all been confiscated, and most of the crews still continue prisoners +at Martinico, Gaudeloupe, or Cayenne. Besides these, sixty-six American +ships, after being plundered in part of their cargoes at sea by our +privateers, had been released; and their claims for property thus lost, +or damage thus done, amounting to one million three hundred thousand +livres. + +You must have read the proclamations of our governors in the West Indies, +and therefore remember that one dated at Guadeloupe, and another dated at +the City of San Domingo, both declare, without farther ceremony, all +American and other neutral ships and cargoes good and lawful prizes, when +coming from or destined to any port in the Island of St. Domingo, because +Bonaparte’s subjects there were in a state of rebellion. What would +these philosophers who, twelve years ago, wrote so many libels against +your Ministers for their pretended system of famine, have said, had they, +instead of prohibiting the carrying of ammunition and provisions to the +ports of France, thus extended their orders without discrimination or +distinction? How would the neutral Americans, and the neutral Danes, and +their then allies, philosophers, and Jacobins of all colours and classes, +have complained and declaimed against the tyrants of the seas; against +the enemies of humanity, liberty, and equality. Have not the negroes +now, as much as our Jacobins had in 1793, a right to call upon all those +tender-hearted schemers, dupes, or impostors, to interest humanity in +their favour? But, as far as I know, no friends of liberty have yet +written a line in favour of these oppressed and injured men, whose former +slavery was never doubtful, and who, therefore, had more reason to rise +against their tyrants, and to attempt to shake off their yoke, than our +French insurgents, who, free before, have never since they revolted +against lawful authority enjoyed an hour’s freedom. But the Emperor +Jacques the First has no propagators, no emissaries, no learned savans +and no secret agents to preach insurrection in other States, while +defending his own usurpation; besides, his treasury is not in the most +brilliant and flourishing situation, and the crew of our white +revolutionists are less attached to liberty than to cash. + +Our Ambassador to the United States, General Turreaux, is far from being +contented with our friend, the President Jefferson, whose patriotic +notions have not yet soared to the level of our patriotic transactions. +He refused both to prevent the marriage of Jerome Bonaparte with a female +American citizen, and to detain her after her marriage when her husband +returned to Europe. To our continual representation against the +liberties which the American newspapers take with our Government, with +our Emperor, with our Imperial Family, and with our Imperial Ministers, +the answer has always been, “Prosecute the libeller, and as soon as he is +convicted he will be punished.” This tardy and negative justice is so +opposite to our expeditious and summary mode of proceeding, of punishing +first and trying afterwards, that it must be both humiliating and +offensive. In return, when the Americans have complained to Turreaux +against the piracy of our privateers, he has sent them here to seek +redress, where they also will, to their cost, discover that in civil +cases our justice has not the same rapid march as when it is a question +of arresting or transporting suspected persons, or of tormenting, +shooting, or guillotining a pretended spy, or supposed conspirator. + +Had the peace of Europe continued, Bernadotte was the person selected by +Bonaparte and Talleyrand as our representative in America; because we +then intended to strike, and not to negotiate. But during the present +embroiled state of Europe, an intriguer was more necessary there than +either a warrior or a politician. A man who has passed through all the +mire of our own Revolution, who has been in the secrets, and an +accomplice of all our factions, is, undoubtedly, a useful instrument +where factions are to be created and directed, where wealth is designed +for pillage, and a State for overthrow. General Turreaux is, therefore, +in his place, and at his proper post, as our Ambassador in America. + +The son of a valet of the late Duc de Bouillon, Turreaux called himself +before the Revolution Chevalier de Grambonville, and was, in fact, a +‘chevalier d’industrie’ (a swindler), who supported himself by gambling +and cheating. An associate of Beurnonville, Barras, and other vile +characters, he with them joined the colours of rebellion, and served +under the former in 1792, in the army of the Moselle, first as a +volunteer, and afterwards as an aide-de-camp. In a speech at the Jacobin +Club at Quesnoy, on the 20th of November, 1792, he made a motion--“That, +throughout the whole republican army, all hats should be prohibited, and +red caps substituted in their place; and that, not only portable +guillotines, but portable Jacobin clubs, should accompany the soldiers of +Liberty and Equality.” + +A cousin of his was a member of the National Convention, and one of those +called Mountaineers, or sturdy partisans of Marat and Robespierre. It +was to the influence of this cousin, that he was indebted, first for a +commission as an adjutant-general, and afterwards for his promotion to a +general of brigade. In 1793, he was ordered to march, under the command +of Santerre, to La Vendee, where he shared in the defeat of the +republicans at Vihiers. At the engagement near Roches d’Erigne he +commanded, for the first time, a separate column, and the capacity and +abilities which he displayed on that occasion were such as might have +been expected from a man who had passed the first thirty years of his +life in brothels and gambling-houses. So pleasant were his dispositions, +that almost the whole army narrowly escaped having been thrown and pushed +into the River Loire. The battle of Doux was the only one in which he +had a share where the republicans were not routed; but some few days +afterwards, near Coron, all the troops under him were cut to pieces, and +he was himself wounded. + +The confidence of his friends, the Jacobins, increased, however, in +proportion to his disasters, and he was, in 1794, after the superior +number of the republican soldiers had forced the remnants of the +Royalists to evacuate what was properly called La Vendee, appointed a +commander-in-chief. He had now an opportunity to display his infamy and +barbarity. Having established his headquarters at Mantes, where he was +safe, amidst the massacres of women and children ordered by his friend +Carriere, he commanded the republican army to enter La Vendee in twelve +columns, preceded by fire and sword; and within four weeks, one of the +most populous departments of France, to the extent and circumference of +sixty leagues, was laid waste-not a house, not a cottage, not a tree was +spared, all was reduced to ashes; and the unfortunate inhabitants, who +had not perished amid the ruin of their dwellings, were shot or stabbed; +while attempting to save themselves from the common conflagration. On +the 22d of January, 1794, he wrote to the Committee of Public Safety of +the National Convention: “Citizen Representatives!--A country of sixty +leagues extent, I have the happiness to inform you, is now a perfect +desert; not a dwelling, not a bush, but is reduced to ashes; and of one +hundred and eighty thousand worthless inhabitants, not a soul breathes +any longer. Men and women, old men and children, have all experienced +the national vengeance, and are no more. It was a pleasure to a true +republican to see upon the bayonets of each of our brave republicans the +children of traitors, or their, heads. According to the lowest +calculation, I have despatched, within three months, two hundred thousand +individuals of both sexes, and of all ages. Vive la Republique!!!” In +the works of Prudhomme and our republican writers, are inserted hundreds +of letters, still more cruelly extravagant, from this ci-devant friend of +Liberty and Equality, and at present faithful subject, and grand officer +of the Legion of Honour, of His Imperial Majesty Napoleon the First. + +After the death of Robespierre, Turreaux, then a governor at Belleisle, +was arrested as a terrorist, and shut up at Du Plessis until the general +amnesty released him in 1795. During his imprisonment he amused himself +with writing memoirs of the war of La Vendee, in which he tried to prove +that all his barbarities had been perpetrated for the sake of humanity, +and to save the lives of republicans. He had also the modesty to +announce that, as a military work, his production would be equally +interesting as those of a Folard and Guibert. These memoirs, however, +proved nothing but that he was equally ignorant and wicked, presumptuous +and ferocious. + +During the reign of the Directory he was rather discarded, or only +employed as a kind of recruiting officer to hunt young conscripts, but in +1800 Bonaparte gave him a command in the army of reserve; and in 1802, +another in the army of the interior. He then became one of the most +assiduous and cringing courtiers at the Emperor’s levies; while in the +Empress’s drawing-room he assumed his former air and ton of a chevalier, +in hopes of imposing upon those who did not remember the nickname which +his soldiers gave him ten years before, of Chevalier of the Guillotine. + +At a ball of the Bonaparte family to which he was invited, the Emperor +took the fancy to dance with his stepdaughter, Madame Louis. He, +therefore, unhooked his sword, which he handed to a young colonel, D’ +Avry, standing by his side. This colonel, who had been a page at the +Court of Louis XVI., knew that it would have been against etiquette, and +even unbecoming of him, to act as a valet to Napoleon while there were +valets in the room; he therefore retreated, looking round for a servant. +“Oh!” said the Emperor, “I see that I am mistaken; here, generals,” + continued he (addressing himself to half a dozen, with whose independent +principles and good breeding he was acquainted), “take this sword during +my dance.” They all pushed forward, but Turreaux and La Grange, another +general and intriguer, were foremost; the latter, however, received the +preference. On the next day, D’ Avry was ordered upon service to +Cayenne. + +Turreaux has acquired, by his patriotic deeds in La Vendee, a fortune of +seven millions of livres. He has the highest opinion of his own +capacity, while a moment’s conversation will inform a man of sense that +he is only a conceited fool. As to his political transactions, he has by +his side, as a secretary, a man of the name of Petry, who has received a +diplomatic education, and does not want either subtlety or parts; and on +him, no doubt, is thrown the drudgery of business. During a European +war, Turreaux’s post is of little relative consequence; but should +Napoleon live to dictate another general pacification, the United States +will be exposed, on their frontiers, or in their interior, to the same +outrages their commercial navy now experiences on the main. + + + + +LETTER XII. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--A general officer, who has just arrived from Italy, has assured +me that, so far from Bonaparte’s subjects on the other side of the Alps +being contented and attached to his person and Government, were a +victorious Austrian army to enter the plains of Lombardy a general +insurrection would be the consequence. During these last nine years the +inhabitants have not enjoyed a moment’s tranquillity or safety. Every +relation or favourite whom Napoleon wished to provide for, or to enrich, +he has saddled upon them as in free quarters; and since 1796, when they +first had the honour of our Emperor’s acquaintance, they have paid more +in taxes, in forced loans, requisitions, and extortions of every +description, than their ancestors or themselves had paid during the one +hundred and ninety-six preceding years. + +Such is the public spirit, and such have been the sufferings of the +people in the ci-devant Lombardy; in Piedmont they are still worse off. +Having more national character and more fidelity towards their Sovereign +than their neighbours, they are also more cruelly treated. Their +governor, General De Menou, has caused most of the departments to be +declared under martial law, and without right to claim the protection of +our happy constitution. In every city or town are organized special +tribunals, the progeny of our revolutionary tribunals, against the +sentences of which no appeal can be made, though these sentences are +always capital ones. Before these, suspicion is evidence, and an +imprudent word is subject to the same punishment as a murderous deed. +Murmur is regarded as mutiny, and he who complains is shot as a +conspirator. + +There exist only two ways for the wretched Piedmontese to escape these +legal assassinations. They must either desert their country or sacrifice +a part of their property. In the former case, if retaken, they are +condemned as emigrants; and in the latter they incur the risk that those +to whom they have already given a part of their possessions will also +require the remainder, and having obtained it, to enjoy in security the +spoil, will send them to the tribunals and to death. De Menou has a +fixed tariff for his protection, regulated according to the riches of +each person; and the tax-gatherers collect these arbitrary contributions +with the regular ones, so little pains are taken to conceal or to +disguise these robberies. + +De Menou, by turns a nobleman and a sans-culotte, a Christian and a +Mussulman, is wicked and profligate, not from the impulse of the moment +or of any sudden gust of passion, but coldly and deliberately. He +calculates with sangfroid the profit and the risk of every infamous +action he proposes to commit, and determines accordingly. He owed some +riches and the rank of the major-general to the bounty of Louis XVI., but +when he considered the immense value of the revolutionary plunder, called +national property, and that those who confiscated could also promote, he +did not hesitate what party to take. A traitor is generally a coward; he +has everywhere experienced defeats; he was defeated by his Royalist +countrymen in 1793, by his Mahometan sectaries in 1800, and by your +countrymen in 1801. + +Besides his Turkish wife, De Menou has in the same house with her one +Italian and two French girls, who live openly with him, but who are +obliged to keep themselves by selling their influence and protection, +and, perhaps, sometimes even their personal favours. He has also in his +hotel several gambling-tables, where those who are too bashful to address +themselves to himself or his mistresses may deposit their donations, and +if they are thought sufficient, the hint is taken and their business +done. He never pays any debts and never buys anything for ready money, +and all persons of his suite, or appertaining to his establishment, have +the same privilege. Troublesome creditors are recommended to the care of +the special tribunals, which also find means to reduce the obstinacy of +those refractory merchants or traders who refuse giving any credit. All +the money he extorts or obtains is brought to this capital and laid out +by his agents in purchasing estates, which, from his advanced age and +weak constitution, he has little prospect of long enjoying. He is a +grand officer of Bonaparte’s Legion of Honour, and has a long claim to +that distinction, because as early as on the 25th of June, 1790, he made +a motion in the National Assembly to suppress all former Royal Orders in +France, and to create in their place only a national one. Always an +incorrigible flatterer, when Napoleon proclaimed himself Ali the +Mussulman, De Menou professed himself Abdallah the believer in the +Alcoran. + +The late vice-president of the Italian Republic, Melzi-Eril, is now in +complete disgrace with his Sovereign, Napoleon the First. If persons of +rank and property would read through the list of those, their equals by +birth and wealth, who, after being seduced by the sophistry of impostors, +dishonoured and exposed themselves by joining in the Revolution, they +might see that none of them have escaped insults, many have suffered +death, and all have been, or are, vile slaves, at the mercy of the whip +of some upstart beggar, and trampled upon by men started up from the mud, +of lowest birth and basest morals. If their revolutionary mania were not +incurable, this truth and this evidence would retain them within their +duty, so corresponding with their real interest, and prevent them from +being any longer borne along by a current of infamy and danger, and +preserve them from being lost upon quicksands or dashed against rocks. + +The conduct and fate of the Italian nobleman and Spanish grandee, +Melzi-Eril, has induced me to make these reflections. Wealthy as well as +elevated, he might have passed his life in uninterrupted tranquillity, +enjoying its comforts without experiencing its vicissitudes, with the +esteem of his contemporaries and without reproach from posterity or from +his own conscience. Unfortunately for him, a journey into this country +made him acquainted both with our philosophers and with our philosophical +works; and he had neither natural capacity to distinguish errors from +reality, nor judgment enough to perceive that what appeared improving and +charming in theory, frequently became destructive and improper when +attempted to be put into practice. Returned to his own country, his +acquired half-learning made him wholly dissatisfied with his Government, +with his religion, and with himself. In our Revolution he thought that +he saw the first approach towards the perfection of the human species, +and that it would soon make mankind as good and as regenerated in society +as was promised in books. With our own regenerators he extenuated the +crimes which sullied their work from its first page, and declared them +even necessary to make the conclusion so much the more complete. When, +therefore, Bonaparte, in 1796, entered the capital of Lombardy, Melzi was +among the first of the Italian nobility who hailed him as a deliverer. +The numerous vexations and repeated pillage of our Government, generals, +commissaries, and soldiers, did not abate his zeal nor alter his opinion. +“The faults and sufferings of individuals,” he said, “are nothing to the +goodness of the cause, and do not impair the utility of the whole.” To +him, everything the Revolution produced was the best; the murder of +thousands and the ruin of millions were, with him, nothing compared with +the benefit the universe would one day derive from the principles and +instruction of our armed and unarmed philosophers. In recompense for so +much complacency, and such great patriotism, Bonaparte appointed him, in +1797, a plenipotentiary from the Cisalpine Republic to the Congress at +Rastadt; and, in 1802, a vice-president of the Italian Republic. As Melzi +was a sincere and disinterested republican fanatic, he did not much +approve of the strides Bonaparte made towards a sovereignty that +annihilated the sovereignty of his sovereign people. In a conference, +however, with Talleyrand, at Lyons, in February, 1802, he was convinced +that this age was not yet ripe for all the improvements our philosophers +intended to confer on it; and that, to prevent it from retrogading to the +point where it was found by our Revolution, it was necessary that it +should be ruled by enlightened men, such as he and Bonaparte, to whom he +advised him by all means never to give the least hint about liberty and +equality. Our Minister ended his fraternal counsel with obliging Melzi +to sign a stipulation for a yearly sum, as a douceur for the place he +occupied. + +The sweets of power shortly caused Melzi to forget both the tenets of his +philosophy and his schemes of regeneration. He trusted so much to the +promises of Bonaparte and Talleyrand, that he believed himself destined +to reign for life, and was, therefore, not a little surprised when he was +ordered by Napoleon the First to descend and salute Eugene de Beauharnais +as the deputy Sovereign of the Sovereign King of Italy. He was not +philosopher enough to conceal his chagrin, and bowed with such a bad +grace to the new Viceroy that it was visible he would have preferred +seeing in that situation an Austrian Archduke as a governor-general. To +soften his disappointment, Bonaparte offered to make him a Prince, and +with that rank indemnify him for breaking the promises given at Lyons, +where it is known that the influence of Melzi, more than the intrigues of +Talleyrand, determined the Italian Consulta in the choice of a president. + +Immediately after Bonaparte’s return to France, Melzi left Milan, and +retired to an estate in Tuscany; from that place he wrote to Talleyrand a +letter full of reproach, and concluded by asking leave to pass the +remainder of his days in Spain among his relatives. An answer was +presented him by an officer of Bonaparte’s Gendarmes d’Elite, in which he +was forbidden to quit Italy, and ordered to return with the officer to +Milan, and there occupy his office of Arch-Chancellor to which he had +been nominated. Enraged at such treatment, he endeavoured to kill +himself with a dose of poison, but his attempt did not succeed. His +health was, however, so much injured by it that it is not supposed he can +live long. What, a lesson for reformers and innovators! + + + + +LETTER XIII. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--A ridiculous affair lately occasioned a great deal of bustle +among the members of our foreign diplomatic corps. When Bonaparte +demanded for himself and for his wife the title of Imperial Majesty, and +for his brothers and sisters that of Imperial Highness, he also insisted +on the salutation of a Serene Highness being given to his +Arch-Chancellor, Cambaceres, and his Arch-Treasurer, Lebrun. The +political consciences of the independent representatives of independent +Continental Princes immediately took the alarm at the latter innovation, +as the appellation of Serene Highness has never hitherto been bestowed on +persons who had not princely rank. They complained to Talleyrand, they +petitioned Bonaparte, and they even despatched couriers to their +respective Courts. The Minister smiled, the Emperor cursed, and their +own Cabinets deliberated. All routs, all assemblies, all circles, and +all balls were at a stop. Cambaceres applied to his Sovereign to support +his pretensions, as connected with his own dignity; and the diplomatic +corps held forward their dignity as opposing the pretensions of +Cambaceres. In this dilemma Bonaparte ordered all the Ambassadors, +Ministers, envoys, and agents ‘en masse’ to the castle of the Tuileries. +After hearing, with apparent patience, their arguments in favour of +established etiquette and customs, he remained inflexible, upon the +ground that he, as master, had a right to confer what titles he chose +within his own dominions on his own subjects; and that those foreigners +who refused to submit to his regulations might return to their own +country. This plain explanation neither effecting a conversion nor +making any, impression, he grew warm, and left the refractory +diplomatists with these remarkable words: “Were I to create my Mameluke +Rostan a King, both you and your masters should acknowledge him in that +rank.” + +After this conference most of Their Excellencies were seized with terror +and fear, and would, perhaps, have subscribed to the commands of our +Emperor had not some of the wisest among them proposed, and obtained the +consent of the rest, to apply, once more to Talleyrand, and purchase by +some douceur his assistance in this great business. The heart of our +Minister is easily softened; and he assented, upon certain conditions, to +lay the whole before his Sovereign in such a manner that Cambaceres +should be made a Prince as well as a Serene Highness. + +It is said that Bonaparte was not easily persuaded to this measure, and +did not consent to it before the Minister remarked that his condescension +in this insignificant opposition to his will would proclaim his +moderation and generosity, and empower him to insist on obedience when +matters of the greatest consequence should be in question or disputed. +Thus our regicide, Cambaceres, owes his princely title to the shallow +intrigues of the agents of legitimate Sovereigns. Their nicety in +talking of innovations with regard to him, after they had without +difficulty hailed a sans-culotte an Emperor, and other sans-culottes +Imperial Highnesses, was as absurd as improper. Report, however, states, +what is very probable, that they were merely the duped tools of +Cambaceres’s ambition and vanity, and of Talleyrand’s corruption and +cupidity. + +Cambaceres expected to have been elevated to a Prince on the same day +that he was made a Serene Highness; but Joseph Bonaparte represented to +his brother that too many other princedoms would diminish the respect and +value of the princedoms of the Bonaparte family. Cambaceres knew that +Talleyrand had some reason at that period to be discontented with Joseph, +and, therefore, asked his advice how to get made a Prince against the +wishes of this Grand Elector. After some consideration, the Minister +replied that he was acquainted with one way, which would, with his +support, certainly succeed; but it required a million of livres to set +the wheels in motion, and keep them going afterwards. The hint was +taken, and an agreement signed for one million, payable on the day when +the princely patent should be delivered to the Arch-Chancellor. + +Among the mistresses provided by our Minister for the members of the +foreign diplomatic corps, Madame B----s is one of the ablest in the way +of intrigue. She was instructed to alarm her ‘bon ami’, the Bavarian +Minister, Cetto, who is always bustling and pushing himself forward in +the grand questions of etiquette. A fool rather than a rogue, and an +intriguer while he thinks himself a negotiator, he was happy to have this +occasion to prove his penetrating genius and astonishing information. A +convocation of the diplomatic corps was therefore called, and the +suggestions of Cetto were regarded as an inspiration, and approved, with +a resolution to persevere unanimously. At their first audience with +Talleyrand on this subject, he seemed to incline in their favour; but, as +soon as he observed how much they showed themselves interested about this +trifling punctilio, it occurred to him that they, as well as Cambaceres, +might in some way or other reward the service he intended to perform. +Madame B----s was again sent for; and she once more advised her lover, +who again advised his colleagues. Their scanty purses were opened, and a +subscription entered into for a very valuable diamond, which, with the +millions of the Arch-Chancellor, gave satisfaction to all parties; and +even Joseph Bonaparte was reconciled, upon the consideration that +Cambaceres has no children, and that, therefore, the Prince will expire +with the Grand Officer of State. + +Cambaceres, though before the Revolution a nobleman of a Parliamentary +family, was so degraded and despised for his unnatural and beastly +propensities, that to see him in the ranks of rebellion was not +unexpected. Born in Languedoc, his countrymen were the first to suffer +from his revolutionary proceedings, and reproached him as one of the most +active instruments of persecution against the clergy of Toulouse, and as +one of the causes of all the blood that flowed in consequence. A coward +as well as a traitor, after the death of Louis XVI. he never dared ascend +the tribune of the National Convention, but always gave a silent vote to +all the atrocious laws proposed and carried by Marat, Robespierre, and +their accomplices. It was in 1795, when the Reign of Terror had ceased, +that he first displayed his zeal for anarchy, and his hatred to royalty; +his contemptible and disgusting vices were, however, so publicly +reprobated, that even the Directory dared not nominate him a Minister of +Justice, a place for which he intrigued in vain, from 1796 to 1799; when +Bonaparte, either not so scrupulous, or setting himself above the public +opinion, caused him to be called to the Consulate; which, in 1802, was +ensured him for life, but exchanged, in 1804, for the office of an +Arch-Chancellor. + +He is now worth thirty millions of livres--all honestly obtained by his +revolutionary industry. Besides a Prince, a Serene Highness, an +Arch-Chancellor, a grand officer of the Legion of Honour, he is also a +Knight of the Prussian Black Eagle! For his brother, who was for a long +time an emigrant clergyman, and whom he then renounced as a fanatic, he +has now procured the Archbishopric of Rouen and a Cardinal’s hat. His +Eminence is also a grand officer of the Legion of Honour in France, and a +Pope in petto at Rome. + + + + +LETTER XIV. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--No Sovereign Prince has more incurred the hatred of Bonaparte +than the present King of Sweden; and I have heard from good authority +that our Government spares neither bribes nor intrigues to move the tails +of those factions which were dissolved, but not crushed, after the murder +of Gustavus III. The Swedes are generally brave and loyal, but their +history bears witness that they are easily misled; all their grand +achievements are their own, and the consequence of their national spirit +and national valour, while all their disasters have been effected by the +influence of foreign gold and of foreign machinations. Had they not been +the dupes of the plots and views of the Cabinets of Versailles and St. +Petersburg, their country might have been as powerful in the nineteenth +century as it was in the seventeenth. + +That Gustavus IV. both knew the danger of Europe, and indicated the +remedy, His Majesty’s notes, as soon as he came of age, presented by the +able and loyal Minister Bildt to the Diet of Ratisbon, evince. Had they +been more attended to during 1798 and 1799, Bonaparte would not, perhaps, +have now been so great, but the Continent would have remained more free +and more independent. They were the first causes of our Emperor’s +official anger against the Cabinet of Stockholm. + +When, however, His Swedish Majesty entered into the Northern league, his +Ambassador, Baron Ehrensward, was for some time treated with no insults +distinct or different from those to which all foreign diplomatic agents +have been accustomed during the present reign; but when he demanded +reparation for the piracies committed during the last war by our +privateers on the commerce of his nation, the tone was changed; and when +his Sovereign, in 1803, was on a visit to his father-in-law, the Elector +of Baden, and there preferred the agreeable company of the unfortunate +Duc d’Enghien to the society of our Minister, Baron Ehrensward never +entered Napoleon’s diplomatic circle or Madame Napoleon’s drawing-room +without hearing rebukes and experiencing disgusts. One day, when more +than usually attacked, he said, on leaving the apartment, to another +Ambassador, and in the hearing of Duroc, “that it required more real +courage to encounter with dignity and self-command unbecoming +provocations, which the person who gave them knew could not be resented, +than to brave a death which the mouths of cannon vomit or the points of +bayonets inflict.” Duroc reported to his master what he heard, and but +for Talleyrand’s interference, the Swedish Ambassador would, on the same +night, have been lodged in the Temple. Orders were already given to that +purpose, but were revoked. + +This Baron Ehrensward, who is also a general in the service of his +country, has almost from his youth passed his time at Courts; first in +his own country, and afterwards in Spain, where he resided twelve years +as our Ambassador. Frank as a soldier, but also polite as a courtier, he +was not a little surprised at the new etiquette of our new court, and at +the endurance of all the members of the diplomatic corps, of whom hardly +one had spirit enough to remember that he was the representative of one, +at least nominally, independent Prince or State. It must be added that +he was the only foreign diplomatist, with Count Markof, who was not the +choice of our Cabinet, and, therefore, was not in our secrets. + +As soon as His Swedish Majesty heard of the unexpected and unlawful +seizure of the Duc d’Enghien, he wrote a letter with his own hand to +Bonaparte, which he sent by his adjutant-general, Tawast; but this +officer arrived too late, and only in time to hear of the execution of +the Prince he intended to save, and the indecent expressions of Napoleon +when acquainted with the object of his mission. Baron Ehrensward was +then recalled, and a Court mourning was proclaimed by Gustavus IV., as +well as by Alexander the First, for the lamented victim of the violated +laws of nations and humanity. This so, enraged our ruler that General +Caulincourt (the same who commanded the expedition which crossed the +Rhine and captured the Duc d’ Enghien) was engaged to head and lead fifty +other banditti, who were destined to pass in disguise into Baden, and to +bring the King of Sweden a prisoner to this capital. Fortunately, His +Majesty had some suspicion of the attempt, and removed to a greater +distance from our frontiers than Carlsruhe. So certain was our +Government of the success of this shameful enterprise, that our charge +d’affaires in Sweden was preparing to engage the discontented and +disaffected there for the convocation of a diet and the establishment of +a regency. + +According to the report in our diplomatic circle. Bonaparte and +Talleyrand intended nevermore to, release their royal captive when once +in their power; but, after forcing him to resign the throne to his son, +keep him a prisoner for the remainder of his days, which they would have +taken care should not have been long. The Duke of Sudermania was to have +been nominated a regent until the majority of the young King, not yet six +years of age. The Swedish diets were to recover that influence, or, +rather, that licentiousness, to which Gustavus III., by the revolution of +the 19th of August, 1772, put an end. All exiled regicides, or traitors, +were to be recalled, and a revolutionary focus organized in the North, +equally threatening Russia and Denmark. The dreadful consequences of +such an event are incalculable. Thanks to the prudence of His Swedish +Majesty, all these schemes evaporated in air. + +Not being able to dethrone a Swedish Monarch, our Cabinet resolved to +partition the Swedish territory, to which effect I am assured that +proposals were last summer made to the Cabinets of St. Petersburg, +Berlin, and Copenhagen. Swedish Finland was stated to have been offered +to Russia, Swedish Pomerania to Prussia, and Scania and Blekinge to +Denmark; but the overture was rejected. + +The King of Sweden possesses both talents and information superior to +most of his contemporaries, and he has surrounded himself with +counsellors who, with their experience, make wisdom more firm, more +useful, and more valuable. His chancellor, D’Ehrenheim, unites modesty +with sagacity; he is a most able statesman, an accomplished gentleman, +and the most agreeable of men. He knows the languages, as well as the +constitutions, of every country in Europe, with equal perfection as his +native tongue and national code. Had his Sovereign the same ascendency +over the European politics as Christina had during the negotiation of the +Treaty of Munster, other States would admire, and Sweden be proud of, +another Axel Oxenstiern. + +Count Fersen, who also has, and is worthy of, the confidence of his +Prince, is a nobleman, the honour and pride of his rank. A colonel +before the Revolution of the regiment Royal Suedois, in the service of my +country, his principles were so well appreciated that he was entrusted by +Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, when so many were so justly suspected, +and served royalty in distress, at the risk of his own existence. This +was so much the more generous in him as he was a foreigner, of one of the +most ancient families, and one of the richest noblemen in his own +country. To him Louis XVIII. is indebted for his life; and he brought +consolation to the deserted Marie Antoinette even in the dungeon of the +Conciergerie, when a discovery would have been a sentence of death. In +1797, he was appointed by his King plenipotentiary to the Congress of +Rastadt, and arrived there just at the time when Bonaparte, after the +destruction of happiness in Italy, had resolved on the ruin of liberty in +Switzerland, and came there proud of past exploits and big with future +schemes of mischief. His reception from the conquerer of Italy was such +as might have been expected by distinguished loyalty from successful +rebellion. He was told that the Congress of Rastadt was not his place! +and this was true; for what can be common between honour and infamy, +between virtue and vice? On his return to Sweden, Count Fersen was +rewarded with the dignity of a Grand Officer of State. + +Of another faithful and trusty counsellor of His Swedish Majesty, Baron +d’Armfeldt, a panegyric would be pronounced in saying that he was the +friend of Gustavus III. From a page to that chevalier of royalty he was +advanced to the rank of general; and during the war with Russia, in 1789 +and 1790, he fought and bled by the side of his Prince and benefactor. It +was to him that his King said, when wounded mortally, by the hand of a +regicide, at a masquerade in March, 1792, “Don’t be alarmed, my friend. +You know as well as myself that all wounds are not dangerous.” + Unfortunately, his were not of that description. + +In the will of this great Monarch, Baron d’Armfeldt was nominated one of +the guardians of his present Sovereign, and a governor of the capital; +but the Duke Regent, who was a weak Prince, guided by philosophical +adventurers, by Illuminati and Freemasons, most of whom had imbibed the +French revolutionary maxims, sent him, in a kind of honourable exile, as +an Ambassador to Italy. Shortly afterwards, under pretence of having +discovered a conspiracy, in which the Baron was implicated, he was +outlawed. He then took refuge in Russia, where he was made a general, +and as such distinguished him self under Suwarow during the campaign of +1799. He was then recalled to his country, and restored to all his +former places and dignities, and has never since ceased to merit and +obtain the favour, friendship, and approbation of his King. He is said +to be one of the Swedish general officers intended to serve in union with +the Russian troops expected in Pomerania. Wherever he is employed, I am +convinced that he will fight, vanquish, or perish like a hero. Last +spring he was offered the place of a lieutenant-general in the Austrian +service, which, with regard to salary and emoluments, is greatly superior +to what he enjoys in Sweden; he declined it, however, because, with a +warrior of his stamp, interest is the last consideration. + + + + +LETTER XV. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Believe me, Bonaparte dreads more the liberty of the Press than +all other engines, military or political, used by his rivals or foes for +his destruction. He is aware of the fatal consequences all former +factions suffered from the public exposure of their past crimes and +future views; of the reality of their guilt, and of the fallacy of their +boasts and promises. He does not doubt but that a faithful account of +all the actions and intrigues of his Government, its imposition, fraud, +duplicity, and tyranny, would make a sensible alteration in the public +opinion; and that even those who, from motives of patriotism, from being +tired of our revolutionary convulsions, or wishing for tranquillity, have +been his adherents, might alter their sentiments when they read of +enormities which must indicate insecurity, and prove to every one that he +who waded through rivers of blood to seize power will never hesitate +about the means of preserving it. + +There is not a printing-office, from the banks of the Elbe to the Gulf of +Naples, which is not under the direct or indirect inspection of our +police agents; and not a bookseller in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, +Portugal, Holland, or Switzerland, publishes a work which, if contrary to +our policy or our fears, is not either confiscated, or purchased on the +day it, makes its appearance. Besides our regular emissaries, we have +persons travelling from the beginning to the end of the year, to pick up +information of what literary productions are printing; of what authors +are popular; of their political opinions and private circumstances. This +branch of our haute police extends even to your country. + +Before the Revolution, we had in this capital only two daily papers, but +from 1789 to 1799 never less than thirty, and frequently sixty journals +were daily printed. After Bonaparte had assumed the consular authority, +they were reduced to ten. But though these were under a very strict +inspection of our Minister of Police, they were regarded still as too +numerous, and have lately been diminished to eight, by the incorporation +of ‘Le Clef du Cabinet’ and ‘Le Bulletin de l’Europe’ with the ‘Gazette +de France’, a paper of which the infamously famous Barrere is the editor. +According to a proposal of Bonaparte, it was lately debated in the +Council of State whether it would not be politic to suppress all daily +prints, with the sole exception of the Moniteur. Fouche and Talleyrand +spoke much in favour of this measure of security. Real, however, is said +to have suggested another plan, which was adopted; and our Government, +instead of prohibiting the appearance of our daily papers, has resolved +by degrees to purchase them all, and to entrust them entirely to the +direction of Barrere, who now is consulted in everything concerning books +or newspapers. + +All circulation of foreign papers is prohibited, until they have +previously obtained the stamp of approbation from the grand literary +censor, Barrere. Any person offending against this law is most severely +punished. An American gentlemen, of the name of Campbell, was last +spring sent to the Temple for lending one of your old daily papers to a +person who lodged in the same hotel with him. After an imprisonment of +ten weeks he made some pecuniary sacrifices to obtain his liberty, but +was carried to Havre, under an escort of gendarmes, put on board a +neutral vessel, and forbidden, under pain of death, ever to set his foot +on French ground again. An American vessel was, about the same time, +confiscated at Bordeaux, and the captain and crew imprisoned, because +some English books were found on board, in which Bonaparte, Talleyrand, +Fouche, and some of our great men were rather ill-treated. The crew have +since been liberated, but the captain has been brought here, and is still +in the Temple. The vessel and the cargo have been sold as lawful +captures, though the captain has proved from the names written in the +books that they belonged to a passenger. A young German student in +surgery, who came here to improve himself, has been nine months in the +same state prison, for having with him a book, printed in Germany during +Bonaparte’s expedition to Egypt, wherein the chief and the undertaking +are ridiculed. His mother, the widow of a clergyman, hearing of the +misfortune of her son, came here, and has presented to the Emperor and +Empress half a dozen petitions, without any effect whatever, and has +almost ruined herself and her other children by the expenses of the +journey. During a stay of four months she has not yet been able to gain +admittance into the Temple, to visit or see her son, who perhaps expired +in tortures, or died brokenhearted before she came here. + +A dozen copies of a funeral sermon on the Duc d’Enghien had found their +way here, and were secretly circulated for some time; but at last the +police heard of it, and every person who was suspected of having read +them was arrested. The number of these unfortunate persons, according to +some, amounted to one hundred and thirty, while others say that they were +only eighty-four, of whom twelve died suddenly in the Temple, and the +remainder were transported to Cayenne; upwards of half of them were +women, some of the ci-devant highest rank among subjects. + +A Prussian, of the name of Bulow, was shot as a spy in the camp of +Boulogne, because in his trunk was an English book, with the lives of +Bonaparte and of some of his generals. Every day such and other examples +of the severity of our Government are related; and foreigners who visit +us continue, nevertheless, to be off their guard. They would be less +punished had they with them forged bills than, printed books or +newspapers, in which our Imperial Family and public functionaries are not +treated with due respect. Bonaparte is convinced that in every book +where he is not spoken of with praise, the intent is to blame him; and +such intents or negative guilt never escape with impunity. + +As, notwithstanding the endeavours of our Government, we are more fond of +foreign prints, and have more confidence in them than in our own, +official presses have lately been established at Antwerp, at Cologne, and +at Mentz, where the ‘Gazette de Leyden’, ‘Hamburg Correspondenten’, and +‘Journal de Frankfort’ are reprinted; some articles left out, and others +inserted in their room. It was intended to reprint also the ‘Courier de +Londres’, but our types, and particularly, our paper, would detect the +fraud. I have read one of our own Journal de Frankfort, in which were +extracts from this French paper, printed in your country, which I +strongly suspect are of our own manufacture. I am told that several new +books, written by foreigners, in praise of our present brilliant +Government, are now in the presses of those our frontier towns, and will +soon be laid before the public as foreign productions. + +A clerk of a banking-house had lately the imprudence to mention, during +his dinner at the restaurateur’s of ‘Cadran Vert’, on the Boulevards, +some doubt of the veracity of an official article in the ‘Moniteur’. As +he left the house he was arrested, carried before Fouche, accused of +being an English agent, and before supper-time he was on the road to +Rochefort on his way to Cayenne. As soon as the banker Tournon was +informed of this expeditious justice, as it is called here, he waited on +Fouche, who threatened even to transport him if he dared to interfere +with the transactions of the police. This banker was himself seized in +the spring of last year by a police agent and some gendarmes, and carried +into exile forty leagues from this capital, where he remained six. +months, until a pecuniary douceur procured him a recall. His crime was +having inquired after General Moreau when in the Temple, and of having +left his card there. + + + + +LETTER XVI. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--The Prince Borghese has lately been appointed a captain of the +Imperial Guard of his Imperial brother-in-law, Napoleon the First, and is +now in Germany, making his first campaign. A descendant of a wealthy and +ancient Roman family, but born with a weak understanding, he was easily +deluded into the ranks of the revolutionists of his own country, by a +Parisian Abbe, his instructor and governor, and gallant of the Princesse +Borghese, his mother. He was the first secretary of the first Jacobin +club established at Rome, in the spring of 1798; and in December of the +same year, when the Neapolitan troops invaded the Ecclesiastical States, +he, with his present brother-in-law, another hopeful Roman Prince, Santa +Cruce, headed the Roman sans-culottes in their retreat. To show his love +of equality, he had previously served as a common man in a company of +which the captain was a fellow that sold cats’ meat and tripe in the +streets of Rome, and the lieutenant a scullion of his mother’s kitchen. +Since Imperial aristocracy is now become the order of the day, he is as +insupportable for his pride and vanity as he, some years ago, was +contemptible for his meanness. He married, in 1803, Madame Leclerc, who, +between the death of a first and a wedding with a second husband--a space +of twelve months--had twice been in a fair way to become a mother. Her +portion was estimated at eighteen millions of livres--a sum sufficient to +palliate many ‘faux pas’ in the eyes of a husband more sensible and more +delicate than her present Serene Idiot, as she styles the Prince +Borghese. + +The lady is the favourite sister of Napoleon, the ablest, but also the +most wicked of the female Bonapartes. She had, almost from her infancy, +passed through all the filth of prostitution, debauchery, and profligacy +before she attained her present elevation; rank, however, has not altered +her morals, but only procured her the means of indulging in new excesses. +Ever since the wedding night the Prince Borghese has been excluded from +her bed; for she declared frankly to him, as well as to her brother, that +she would never endure the approach of a man with a bad breath; though +many who, from the opportunities they have had of judging, certainly +ought to know, pretend that her own breath is not the sweetest in the +world. When her husband had marched towards the Rhine, she asked her +brother, as a favour, to procure the Prince Borghese, after a useless +life, a glorious death. This curious demand of a wife was, made in +Madame Bonaparte’s drawing-room, in the presence of fifty persons. “You +are always ‘etourdie’,” replied Napoleon, smiling. + +If Bonaparte, however, overlooks the intrigues of his sisters, he is not +so easily pacified when any reports reach him inculpating the virtues of +his sisters-in-law. Some gallants of Madame Joseph Bonaparte have +already disappeared to return no more, or are wandering in the wilds of +Cayenne; but the Emperor is particularly attentive to everything +concerning the morality of Madame Louis, whose descendants are destined +to continue the Bonaparte dynasty. Two officers, after being cashiered, +were, with two of Madame Louis’s maids, shut up last month in the Temple, +and have not since been heard of, upon suspicion that the Princess +preferred their society to that of her husband. + +Louis Bonaparte, whose constitution has been much impaired by his +debaucheries, was, last July, advised by his physicians to use the baths +at St. Amand. After his wife had accompanied him as far as Lille, she +went to visit one of her friends, Madame Ney, the wife of General Ney, +who commanded the camp near Montreuil. This lady resided in a castle +called Leek, in the vicinity, where dinners, concerts, balls, and other +festivities celebrated the arrival of the Princess; and to these the +principal officers of the camp were invited. One morning, about an hour +after the company had retired to bed, the whole castle was disturbed and +alarmed by an uproar in the anteroom of Princesse Louis’s bedchamber. On +coming to the scene of riot, two officers were found there fighting, and +the Princesse Louis, more than half undressed, came out and called the +sentries on duty to separate the combatants, who were both wounded. This +affair occasioned great scandal; and General Ney, after having put the +officers under arrest, sent a courier to Napoleon at Boulogne, relating +the particulars and demanding His Majesty’s orders. It was related and +believed as a fact that the quarrel originated about two of the maids of +the Princess (whose virtue was never suspected), with whom the officers +were intriguing. The Emperor ordered the culprits to be broken and +delivered up to his Minister of Police, who knew how to proceed. The +Princesse Louis also received an invitation to join her sister-in-law, +Madame Murat, then in the camp at Boulogne, and to remain under her care +until her husband’s return from St. Amand. + +General Murat was then at Paris, and his lady was merely on a visit to +her Imperial brother, who made her responsible for Madame Louis, whom he +severely reprimanded for the misconduct of her maids. The bedrooms of +the two sisters were on the same floor. One night, Princesse Louis +thought she heard the footsteps of a person on the staircase, not like +those of a female, and afterwards the door of Madame Murat’s room opened +softly. This occurrence deprived her of all desire to sleep; and +curiosity, or perhaps revenge, excited her to remove her doubts +concerning the virtue of her guardian. In about an hour afterwards, she +stole into Madame Murat’s bedroom, by the way of their sitting-room, the +door in the passage being bolted. Passing her hand over the pillow, she +almost pricked herself with the strong beard of a man, and, screaming +out, awoke her sister, who inquired what she could want at such an +unusual hour. + +“I believe,” replied the Princess, “my room is haunted. I have not shut +my eyes, and intended to ask for a place by your side, but I find it is +already engaged: + +“My maid always sleeps with me when my husband is absent,” said Madame +Murat. + +“It is very rude of your maid to go to bed with her mistress without +first shaving herself,” said the Princess, and left the room. + +The next morning an explanation took place; the ladies understood each +other, and each, during the remaining part of her husband’s absence, had +for consolation a maid for a bedfellow. Madame Murat also convinced the +Emperor that his suspicions with regard to the Princesse Louis were +totally unfounded; and he with some precious presents, indemnified her +for his harsh treatment. + +It is reported that the two maids of the Princesse Louis, when before +Fouche, first denied all acquaintance with the officers; but, being +threatened with tortures, they signed a ‘proces verbal’, acknowledging +their guilt. This valuable and authentic document the Minister sent by +an extra courier to the Emperor, who showed it to his stepdaughter. Her +generosity is proverbial here, and therefore nobody is surprised that she +has given a handsome sum of money to the parents of her maids, who had in +vain applied to see their children; Fouche having told them that affairs +of State still required their confinement. One of them, Mariothe, has +been in the service of the Princess ever since her marriage, and is known +to possess all her confidence; though during that period of four years +she has twice been in a state of pregnancy, through the condescending +attention of her princely master. + + + + +LETTER XVII. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--When preparations were made for the departure of our army of +England for Germany, it excited both laughter and murmuring among the +troops. Those who had always regarded the conquest of England as +impracticable in present circumstances, laughed, and those who had in +their imagination shared the wealth of your country, showed themselves +vexed at their disappointment. To keep them in good spirits, the company +of the theatre of the Vaudevilles was ordered from hence to Boulogne, and +several plays, composed for the occasion, were performed, in which the +Germans were represented as defeated, and the English begging for peace +on their knees, which the Emperor of the French grants upon condition +that one hundred guineas ready money should be paid to each of his +soldiers and sailors. Every corps in its turn was admitted gratis to +witness this exhibition of the end of all their labours; and you can form +no idea what effect it produced, though you are not a stranger to our +fickle and inconsiderate character. Ballads, with the same predictions +and the same promises, were written and distributed among the soldiers, +and sung by women sent by Fouche to the coast. As all productions of +this sort were, as usual, liberally rewarded by the Emperor, they poured +in from all parts of his Empire. + +Three poets and authors of the theatre of the Vaudevilles, Barrel, Radet, +and Desfontaines, each received two hundred napoleons d’or for their +common production of a ballad, called “Des Adieux d’un Grenadier au Camp +de Boulogne.” From this I have extracted the following sample, by which +you may judge of the remainder: + +THE GRENADIER’S ADIEU + +TO THE CAMP AT BOULOGNE + +The drum is beating, we must march, We’re summon’d to another field, A +field that to our conq’ring swords Shall soon a laurel harvest yield. If +English folly light the torch Of war in Germany again The loss is +theirs--the gain is ours March! march! commence the bright campaign. + +There, only by their glorious deeds Our chiefs and gallant bands are +known; There, often have they met their foes, And victory was all their +own: There, hostile ranks, at our approach, Prostrate beneath our feet +shall bow; There, smiling conquest waits to twine A laurel wreath round +every brow. + +Adieu, my pretty turf-built hut * Adieu, my little garden, too! I made, I +deck’d you all myself, And I am loth to part with you: But since my arms +I must resume, And leave your comforts all behind, Upon the hostile +frontier soon My tent shall flutter in the wind. + +My pretty fowls and doves, adieu! Adieu, my playful cat, to thee! Who +every morning round me came, And were my little family. But thee, my dog, +I shall not leave No, thou shalt ever follow me, Shalt share my toils, +shaft share my fame For thou art called VICTORY. + +But no farewell I bid to you, Ye prams and boats, which, o’er the wave, +Were doom’d to waft to England’s shore Our hero chiefs, our soldiers +brave. To you, good gentlemen of Thames, Soon, soon our visit shall be +paid, Soon, soon your merriment be o’er ‘T is but a few short hours +delay’d. + + * During the long continuance of the French encampment at + Boulogne the troops had formed, as it were, a romantic town + of huts. Every hut had a garden surrounding it, kept in + neat order and stocked with vegetables and flowers. They + had, besides, fowls, pigeons, and rabbits; and these, with a + cat and a dog, generally formed the little household of + every soldier. + +As I am writing on the subject of poetical agents, I will also say some +words of our poetical flatterers, though the same persons frequently +occupy both the one office and the other. A man of the name of Richaud, +who has sung previously the glory of Marat and Robespierre, offered to +Bonaparte, on the evening preceding his departure for Strasburg, the +following lines; and was in return presented with a purse full of gold, +and an order to the Minister of the Interior, Champagny, to be employed +in his offices, until better provided for. + +STANZAS + +ON THE RUMOUR OF A WAR WITH AUSTRIA + +Kings who, so often vanquish’d, vainly dare +Menace the victor that has laid you low-- +Look now at France--and view your own despair +In the majestic splendour of your foe. + +What miserable pride, ye foolish kings, +Still your deluded reason thus misleads? +Provoke the storm--the bolt with lightning wings +Shall fall--but fall on your devoted heads. + +And thou, Napoleon, if thy mighty sword +Shall for thy people conquer new renown; +Go--Europe shall attest, thy heart preferr’d +The modest olive to the laurel crown. + +But thee, lov’d chief, to new achievements bold + +The aroused spirit of the soldier calls; +Speak!--and Vienna cowering shall behold +Our banners waving o’er her prostrate walls. + +I received, four days afterwards, at the circle of Madame Joseph +Bonaparte, with all other visitors, a copy of these stanzas. Most of the +foreign Ambassadors were of the party, and had also a share of this +patriotic donation. Count von Cobenzl had prudently absented himself; +otherwise, this delenda of the Austrian Carthage would have been +officially announced to him. + +Another poetaster, of the name of Brouet, in a long, dull, disgusting +poem, after comparing Bonaparte with all great men of antiquity, and +proving that he surpasses them all, tells his countrymen that their +Emperor is the deputy Divinity upon earth--the mirror of wisdom, a +demi-god to whom future ages will erect statues, build temples, burn +incense, fall down and adore. A proportionate share of abuse is, of +course, bestowed on your nation. He says: + +A Londres on vit briller d’un eclat ephemere Le front tout radieux d’un +ministre influent; Mais pour faire palir l’etoile d’Angleterre, Un SOLEIL +tout nouveau parut au firmament, Et ce soleil du peuple franc Admire de +l’Europe entiere Sur la terre est nomme BONAPARTE LE GRAND. + +For this delicate compliment Brouet was made deputy postmaster-general in +Italy, and a Knight of the Legion of Honour. It must be granted that, if +Bonaparte is fond of flattery, he does not receive it gratis, but pays +for it like a real Emperor. + +It has lately become the etiquette, not only in our Court circle and +official assemblies, but even in fashionable societies of persons who +are, or wish to become, Bonaparte’s public functionaries, to distribute +and have read and applauded these disinterested effusions of our poetical +geniuses. This fashion occasioned lately a curious blunder at a +tea-party in the hotel of Madame de Talleyrand. The same printer who had +been engaged by this lady had also been employed by Chenier, or some +other poet, to print a short satire against several of our literary +ladies, in which Madame de Genlis and Madame de Stael (who has just +arrived here from her exile) were, with others, very severely handled. By +mistake, a bundle of this production was given to the porter of Madame de +Talleyrand, and a copy was handed to each visitor, even to Madame de +Genlis and Madame de Stael, who took them without noticing their +contents. Picard, after reading an act of a new play, was asked by the +lady of the house to read this poetic worship of the Emperor of the +French. After the first two lines he stopped short, looking round him +confused, suspecting a trick had been played upon him. This induced the +audience to read what had been given them, and Madame de Talleyrand with +the rest; who, instead of permitting Picard to continue with another. +scene of his play, as he had adroitly begun, made the most awkward +apology in the world, and by it exposed the ladies still more who were +the objects of the satire; which, an hour afterwards, was exchanged for +the verses intended for the homage of the Emperor, and the cause of the +error was cleared up. + +I have read somewhere of a tyrant of antiquity who forced all his +subjects to furnish one room of their houses in the best possible manner, +according to their circumstances, and to have it consecrated for the +reception of his bust, before which, under pain of death, they were +commanded to prostrate themselves, morning, noon, and night. They were +to enter this room, bareheaded and barefooted, to remain there only on +their knees, and to leave it without turning their back towards the +sacred representative of their Prince. All laughing, sneezing, coughing, +speaking, or even whispering, were capitally prohibited; but crying was +not only permitted, but commanded, when His Majesty was offended, angry, +or unwell. Should our system of cringing continue progressively to +increase as it has done these last three years, we, too, shall very soon +have rooms consecrated, and an idol to adore. + + + + +LETTER XVIII. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Portugal has suffered more from the degraded state of Spain, +under the administration of the Prince of Peace, than we have yet gained +by it in France. Engaged by her, in 1793, in a war against its +inclination and interest, it was not only deserted afterwards, but +sacrificed. But for the dictates of the Court of Madrid, supported, +perhaps, by some secret influence of the Court of St. James, the Court of +Lisbon would have preserved its neutrality, and, though not a well-wisher +of the French Republic, never have been counted among her avowed enemies. + +In the peace of 1795, and in the subsequent treaty of 1796, which +transformed the family compact of the French and Spanish Bourbons into a +national alliance between France and Spain, there was no question about +Portugal. In 1797, indeed, our Government condescended to receive a +Portuguese plenipotentiary, but merely for the purpose of plundering his +country of some millions of money, and to insult it by shutting up its +representative as a State prisoner in the Temple. Of this violation of +the laws of civilized nations, Spain never complained, nor had Portugal +any means to avenge it. After four years of negotiation, and an +expenditure of thirty millions, the imbecile Spanish premier supported +demands made by our Government, which, if assented to, would have left +Her Most Faithful Majesty without any territory in Europe, and without +any place of refuge in America. Circumstances not permitting your +country to send any but pecuniary succours, Portugal would have become an +easy prey to the united Spanish and French forces, had the marauders +agreed about the partition of the spoil. Their disunion, the consequence +of their avidity, saved it from ruin, but not from pillage. A province +was ceded to Spain, the banks and the navigation of a river to France, +and fifty millions to the private purse of the Bonaparte family. + +It might have been supposed that such renunciations, and such offerings, +would have satiated ambition, as well as cupidity; but, though the +Cabinet of Lisbon was in peace with the Cabinet of St. Cloud, the +pretensions and encroachments of the latter left the former no rest. +While pocketing tributes it required commercial monopolies, and when its +commerce was favoured, it demanded seaports to ensure the security of its +trade. Its pretensions rose in proportion to the condescensions of the +State it, oppressed. With the money and the value of the diamonds which +Portugal has paid in loans, in contributions, in requisitions, in +donations, in tributes, and in presents, it might have supported, during +ten years, an army of one hundred thousand men; and could it then have +been worse situated than it has been since, and is still at this moment? + +But the manner of extorting, and the individuals employed to extort, were +more humiliating to its dignity and independence than the extortions +themselves were injurious to its resources. The first revolutionary +Ambassador Bonaparte sent thither evinced both his ingratitude and his +contempt. + +Few of our many upstart generals have more illiberal sentiments, and more +vulgar and insolent manners, than General Lasnes. The son of a publican +and a smuggler, he was a smuggler himself in his youth, and afterwards a +postilion, a dragoon, a deserter, a coiner, a Jacobin, and a terrorist; +and he has, with all the meanness and brutality of these different +trades, a kind of native impertinence and audacity which shocks and +disgusts. He seems to say, “I am a villain. I know that I am so, and I +am proud of being so. To obtain the rank I possess I have respected no +human laws, and I bid defiance to all Divine vengeance. I might be +murdered or hanged, but it is impossible to degrade me. On a gibbet or +in the palace of a Prince, seized by the executioner or dining with +Sovereigns, I am, I will, and I must, always remain the same. Infamy +cannot debase me, nor is it in the power of grandeur to exalt me.” + General, Ambassador, Field-marshal, First Consul, or Emperor, Lasnes will +always be the same polluted, but daring individual; a stranger to remorse +and repentance, as well as to honour and virtue. Where Bonaparte sends a +banditto of such a stamp, he has resolved on destruction. + +A kind of temporary disgrace was said to have occasioned Lasnes’s first +mission to Portugal. When commander of the consular guard, in 1802, he +had appropriated to himself a sum of money from the regimental chest, +and, as a punishment, was exiled as an Ambassador, as he said himself. +His resentment against Bonaparte he took care to pour out on the Regent +of Portugal. Without inquiring or caring about the etiquette of the +Court of Lisbon, he brought the sans-culotte etiquette of the Court of +the Tuileries with him, and determined to fraternize with a foreign and +legitimate Sovereign, as he had done with his own sans-culotte friend and +First Consul; and, what is the more surprising, he carried his point. The +Prince Regent not only admitted him to the royal table, but stood sponsor +to his child by a wife who had been two years his mistress before he was +divorced from his first spouse, and with whom the Prince’s consort, a +Bourbon Princess and a daughter of a King, was also obliged to associate. + +Avaricious as well as unprincipled, he pursued, as an Ambassador, his +former business of a smuggler, and, instead of being ashamed of a +discovery, proclaimed it publicly, deserted his post, was not reprimanded +in France, but was, without apology, received back again in Portugal. His +conduct afterwards could not be surprising. He only insisted that some +faithful and able Ministers should be removed, and others appointed in +their place, more complaisant and less honest. + +New plans of Bonaparte, however, delivered Portugal from this plague; but +what did it obtain in return?--another grenadier Ambassador, less brutal +but more cunning, as abandoned but more dissimulating. + +Gendral Junot is the son of a corn-chandler near the corn-market of this +capital, and was a shopman to his father in 1789. Having committed some +pilfering, he was turned out of the parental dwelling, and therefore +lodged himself as an inmate of the Jacobin Club. In 1792, he entered, as +a soldier, in a regiment of the army marching against the county of Nice; +and, in 1793, he served before Toulon, where he became acquainted with +Bonaparte, whom he, in January, 1794, assisted in despatching the +unfortunate Toulonese; and with whom, also, in the autumn of the same +year, he, therefore, was arrested as a terrorist. + +In 1796, when commander-in-chief, Bonaparte made Junot his aide-de-camp; +and in that capacity he accompanied him, in 1798, to Egypt. There, as +well as in Italy, he fought bravely, but had no particular opportunity of +distinguishing himself. He was not one of those select few whom Napoleon +brought with him to Europe in 1799, but returned first to France in 1801, +when he was nominated a general of division and commander of this +capital, a place he resigned last year to General Murat. + +His despotic and cruel behaviour while commander of Paris made him not +much regretted. Fouche lost in him, indeed, an able support, but none of +us here ever experienced from him justice, much less protection. As with +all other of our modern public functionaries, without money nothing was +obtained from him. It required as much for not doing any harm as if, in +renouncing his usual vexatious oppressions, he had conferred benefits. He +was much suspected of being, with Fouche, the patron of a gang of street +robbers and housebreakers, who, in the winter of 1803, infested this +capital, and who, when finally discovered, were screened from justice and +suffered to escape punishment. + +I will tell you what I personally have seen of him. Happening one +evening to enter the rooms at Frascati, where the gambling-tables are +kept, I observed him, undressed, out of regimentals, in company with at +young man, who afterwards avowed himself an aide-de-camp of this general, +and who was playing with rouleaux of louis d’or, supposed to contain +fifty each, at Rouge et Noir. As long as he lost, which he did several +times, he took up the rouleau on the table, and gave another from his +pocket. At last he won, when he asked the bankers to look at their loss, +and count the money in his rouleau before they paid him. On opening it, +they found it contained one hundred bank-notes of one thousand livres +each--folded in a manner to resemble the form and size of louis d’or. The +bankers refused to pay, and applied to the company whether they were not +in the right to do so, after so many rouleaux had been changed by the +person who now required such an unusual sum in such an unusual manner. +Before any answer could be given, Junot interfered, asking the bankers +whether they knew who he was. Upon their answering in the negative, he +said: “I am General Junot, the commander of Paris, and this officer who +has won the money is my aide-de-camp; and I insist upon your paying him +this instant, if you do not wish to have your bank confiscated and your +persons arrested.” They refused to part with money which they protested +was not their own, and most of the individuals present joined them in +their resistance. “You are altogether a set of scoundrels and sharpers,” + interrupted Junot; “your business shall soon be done.” + +So saying, he seized all the money on the table, and a kind of +boxing-match ensued between him and the bankers, in which he, being a +tall and strong man, got the better of them. The tumult, however, +brought in the guard, whom he ordered, as their chief, to carry to prison +sixteen persons he pointed out. Fortunately, I was not of the number--I +say fortunately, for I have heard that most of them remained in prison +six months before this delicate affair was cleared up and settled. In +the meantime, Junot not only pocketed all the money he pretended was due +to his aide-de-camp, but the whole sum contained in the bank, which was +double that amount. It was believed by every one present that this was +an affair arranged between him and his aide-de-camp beforehand to pillage +the bank. What a commander, what a general, and what an Ambassador! + +Fitte, the secretary of our Embassy to Portugal, was formerly an Abbe, +and must be well remembered in your country, where he passed some years +as an emigrant, but was, in fact, a spy of Talleyrand. I am told that, +by his intrigues, he even succeeded in swindling your Ministers out of a +sum of money by some plausible schemes he proposed to them. He is, as +well as all other apostate priests, a very dangerous man, and an immoral +and unprincipled wretch. During the time of Robespierre he is said to +have caused the murder of his elder brother and younger sister; the +former he denounced to appropriate to himself his wealth, and the latter +he accused of fanaticism, because she refused to cohabit with him. He +daily boasts of the great protection and great friendship of Talleyrand. +‘Qualis rex, talis grex’. + + + + +LETTER XIX. + +PARIS, September, 1805. + +MY LORD:--In some of the ancient Republics, all citizens who, in time of +danger and trouble, remained neutral, were punished as traitors or +treated as enemies. When, by our Revolution, civilized society and the +European Commonwealth were menaced with a total overthrow, had each +member of it been considered in the same light, and subjected to the same +laws, some individual States might, perhaps, have been less wealthy, but +the whole community would have been more happy and more tranquil, which +would have been much better. It was a great error in the powerful league +of 1793 to admit any neutrality at all; every Government that did not +combat rebellion should have been considered and treated as its ally. The +man who continues neutral, though only a passenger, when hands are wanted +to preserve the vessel from sinking, deserves to be thrown overboard, to +be swallowed up by the waves and to perish the first. Had all other +nations been united and unanimous, during 1793 and 1794, against the +monster, Jacobinism, we should not have heard of either Jacobin +directors, Jacobin consuls, or a Jacobin Emperor. But then, from a petty +regard to a temporary profit, they entered into a truce with a +revolutionary volcano, which, sooner or later, will consume them all; for +I am afraid it is now too late for all human power, with all human means, +to preserve any State, any Government, or any people, from suffering by +the threatening conflagration. Switzerland, Venice, Geneva, Genoa, and +Tuscany have already gathered the poisoned fruits of their neutrality. +Let but Bonaparte establish himself undisturbed in Hanover some years +longer, and you will see the neutral Hanse Towns, neutral Prussia, and +neutral Denmark visited with all the evils of invasion, pillage, and +destruction, and the independence of the nations in the North will be +buried in the rubbish of the liberties of the people of the South of +Europe. + +These ideas have frequently occurred to me, on hearing our agents +pronounce, and their dupes repeat: “Oh! the wise Government of Denmark! +Oh, what a wise statesman the Danish Minister, Count von Bernstorff!” I +do not deny that the late Count von Bernstorff was a great politician; +but I assert, also, that his was a greatness more calculated for regular +times than for periods of unusual political convulsion. Like your Pitt, +the Russian Woronzow, and the Austrian Colloredo, he was too honest to +judge soundly and to act rightly, according to the present situation of +affairs. He adhered too much to the old routine, and did not perceive +the immense difference between the Government of a revolutionary ruler +and the Government of a Louis XIII. or a Louis XIV. I am certain, had he +still been alive, he would have repented of his errors, and tried to have +repaired them. + +His son, the present Danish Minister, follows his father’s plans, and +adheres, in 1805, to a system laid down by him in 1795; while the +alterations that have occurred within these ten years have more affected +the real and relative power and weakness of States than all the +revolutions which have been produced by the insurrections, wars, and +pacifications of the two preceding centuries. He has even gone farther, +in some parts of his administration, than his father ever intended. +Without remembering the political TRUTH, that a weak State which courts +the alliance of a powerful neighbour always becomes a vassal, while +desiring to become an ally, he has attempted to exchange the connections +of Denmark and Russia for new ones with Prussia; and forgotten the +obligations of the Cabinet of Copenhagen to the Cabinet of St. +Petersburg, and the interested policy of the House of Brandenburgh. That, +on the contrary, Russia has always been a generous ally of Denmark, the +flourishing state of the Danish dominions since the beginning of the last +century evinces. Its distance and geographical position prevent all +encroachments from being feared or attempted; while at the same time it +affords protection equally against the rivalry of Sweden and ambition of +Prussia. + +The Prince Royal of Denmark is patriotic as well as enlightened, and +would rule with more true policy and lustre were he to follow seldomer +the advice of his counsellors, and oftener the dictates of his own mind. +Count von Schimmelmann, Count von Reventlow, and Count von Bernstorff, +are all good and moral characters; but I fear that their united capacity +taken together will not fill up the vacancy left in the Danish Cabinet by +the death of its late Prime Minister. I have been personally acquainted +with them all three, but I draw my conclusions from the acts of their +administration, not from my own knowledge. Had the late Count von +Bernstorff held the ministerial helm in 1803, a paragraph in the Moniteur +would never have disbanded a Danish army in Holstein; nor would, in 1805, +intriguers have been endured who preached neutrality, after witnessing +repeated violation of the law of nations, not on the remote banks of the +Rhine, but on the Danish frontiers, on the Danish territory, on the banks +of the Elbe. + +It certainly was no compliment to His Danish Majesty when our Government +sent Grouvelle as a representative to Copenhagen, a man who owed his +education and information to the Conde branch of the Bourbons, and who +afterwards audaciously and sacrilegiously read the sentence of death on +the chief of that family, on his good and legitimate King, Louis XVI. It +can neither be called dignity nor prudence in the Cabinet of Denmark to +suffer this regicide to serve as a point of rally to sedition and +innovation; to be the official propagator of revolutionary doctrines, and +an official protector of all proselytes and sectaries of this anti-social +faith. + +Before the Revolution a secretary to the Prince of Conde, Grouvelle was +trusted and rewarded by His Serene Highness, and in return betrayed his +confidence, and repaid benefactions and generosity with calumny and +persecution, when his patron was obliged to seek safety in emigration +against the assassins of successful rebellion. When the national seals +were put on the estates of the Prince, he appropriated to himself not +only the whole of His Highness’s library, but a part of his plate. Even +the wardrobe and the cellar were laid under contributions by this +domestic marauder. + +With natural genius and acquired experience, Grouvelle unites impudence +and immorality; and those on whom he fixes for his prey are, therefore, +easily duped, and irremediably undone. He has furnished disciples to all +factions, and to all sects, assassins to the revolutionary tribunals, as +well as victims for the revolutionary guillotine; sans-culottes to +Robespierre, Septembrizers to Marat, republicans to the Directory, spies +to Talleyrand, and slaves to Bonaparte, who, in 1800, nominated him a +tribune, but in 1804 disgraced him, because he wished that the Duc d’ +Enghien had rather been secretly poisoned in Baden than publicly +condemned and privately executed in France. + +Our present Minister at the Court of Copenhagen, D’ Aguesseau, has no +virtues to boast of, but also no crimes to blush for. With inferior +capacity, he is only considered by Talleyrand as an inferior intriguer, +employed in a country ruled by an inferior policy, neither feared nor +esteemed by our Government. His secretary, Desaugiers the elder, is our +real and confidential firebrand in the North, commissioned to keep +burning those materials of combustion which Grouvelle and others of our +incendiaries have lighted and illuminated in Holstein, Denmark, Sweden, +and Norway. + + + + +LETTER XX. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--The insatiable avarice of all the members of the Bonaparte +family has already and frequently been mentioned; some of our +philosophers, however, pretend that ambition and vanity exclude from the +mind of Napoleon Bonaparte the passion of covetousness; that he pillages +only to get money to pay his military plunderers, and hoards treasures +only to purchase slaves, or to recompense the associates and instruments +of his authority. + +Whether their assertions be just or not, I will not take upon myself to +decide; but to judge from the great number of Imperial and royal palaces, +from the great augmentation of the Imperial and royal domains; from the +immense and valuable quantity of diamonds, jewels, pictures, statues, +libraries, museums, etc., disinterestedness and self-denial are certainly +not among Napoleon’s virtues. + +In France, he not only disposes of all the former palaces and extensive +demesnes of our King, but has greatly increased them, by national. +property and by lands and estates bought by the Imperial Treasury, or +confiscated by Imperial decrees. In Italy, he has, by an official act, +declared to be the property of his crown, first, the royal palace at +Milan, and a royal villa, which he now calls Villa Bonaparte; second, the +palace of Monza and its dependencies; third, the palace of Mantua, the +palace of The, and the ci-devant ducal palace of Modena; fourth, a palace +situated in the vicinity of Brescia, and another palace in the vicinity +of Bologna; fifth, the ci-devant ducal palaces of Parma and Placenza; +sixth, the beautiful forest of Tesin. Ten millions were, besides, +ordered to be drawn out of the Royal Treasury at Milan to purchase lands +for the formation of a park, pleasure-grounds, etc. + +To these are added all the royal palaces and domains of the former Kings +of Sardinia, of the Dukes of Brabant, of the Counts of Flanders, of the +German Electors, Princes, Dukes, Counts, Barons, etc., who, before the +last war, were Sovereigns on the right bank of the Rhine. I have seen a +list, according to which the number of palaces and chateaux appertaining +to Napoleon as Emperor and King, are stated to be seventy-nine; so that +he may change his habitations six times in the month, without occupying +during the same year the same palace, and, nevertheless, always sleep at +home. + +In this number are not included the private chateaux and estates of the +Empress, or those of the Princes and Princesses Bonaparte. Madame +Napoleon has purchased, since her husband’s consulate, in her own name, +or in the name of her children, nine estates with their chateaux, four +national forests, and six hotels at Paris. Joseph Bonaparte possesses +four estates and chateaux in France, three hotels at Paris and at +Brussels, three chateaux and estates in Italy, and one hotel at Milan, +and another at Turin. Lucien Bonaparte has now remaining only one hotel +at Paris, another at Bonne, and a third at Chambery. He has one estate +in Burgundy, two in Languedoc, and one in the vicinity of this capital. +At Bologna, Ferrara, Florence, and Rome, he has his own hotels, and in +the Papal States he has obtained, in exchange for property in France, +three chateaux with their dependencies. Louis Bonaparte has three hotels +at Paris, one at Cologne, one at Strasburg, and one at Lyons. He has two +estates in Flanders, three in Burgundy, one in Franche-Comte, and another +in Alsace. He has also a chateau four leagues from this city. At Genoa +he has a beautiful hotel, and upon the Genoese territory a large estate. +He has bought three plantations at Martinico, and two at Guadeloupe. To +Jerome Bonaparte has hitherto been presented only an estate in Brabant, +and a hotel in this capital. Some of the former domains of the House of +Orange, in the Batavian Republic, have been purchased by the agents of +our Government, and are said to be intended for him. + +But, while Napoleon Bonaparte has thus heaped wealth on his wife and his +brothers, his mother and sisters have not been neglected or left +unprovided for. Madame Bonaparte, his mother, has one hotel at Paris, +one at Turin, one at Milan, and one at Rome. Her estates in France are +four, and in Italy two. Madame Bacciochi, Princess of Piombino and +Lucca, possesses two hotels in this capital, and one palace at Piombino +and another at Lucca. Of her estates in France, she has only retained +two, but she has three in the Kingdom of Italy, and four in her husband’s +and her own dominions. The Princess Santa Cruce possesses one hotel at +Rome and four chateaux in the papal territory. At Milan she has, as well +as at Turin and at Paris, hotels given her by her Imperial brother, +together with two estates in France, one in Piedmont, and two in +Lombardy. The Princesse Murat is mistress of two hotels here, one at +Brussels, one at Tours, and one at Bordeaux, together with three estates +on this, and five on the other side of the Alps. The Princesse Borghese +has purchased three plantations at Guadeloupe, and two at Martinico, with +a part of the treasures left her by her first husband, Leclerc. With her +present husband she received two palaces at Rome, and three estates on +the Roman territory; and her Imperial brother has presented her with one +hotel at Paris, one at Cologne, one at Turin, and one at Genoa, together +with three estates in France and five in Italy. For his mother, and for +each of his sisters, Napoleon has also purchased estates, or lands to +form estates, in their native island of Corsica. + +The other near or distant relatives of the Emperor and King have also +experienced his bounty. Cardinal Fesch has his hotels at Paris, Milan, +Lyons, Turin, and Rome; with estates both in France and Italy. Seventeen, +either first, second, or third cousins, by his father’s or mother’s side, +have all obtained estates either in the French Empire, or in the Kingdom +of Italy, as well as all brothers, sisters, or cousins of his own wife, +and the wives of his brothers, or of the husbands of his sisters. Their +exact number cannot well be known, but a gentleman who has long been +collecting materials for some future history of the House of Bonaparte, +and of the French Empire, has already shown me sixty-six names of +individuals of that description, and of both sexes, who all, thanks to +the Imperial liberality, have suddenly and unexpectedly become people of +property. + +When you consider that all these immense riches have been seized and +distributed within the short period of five years, it is not hazardous to +say that, in the annals of Europe, another such revolution in property, +as well as in power, is not to be found. + +The wealth of the families of all other Sovereigns taken together does +not amount to half the value of what the Bonapartes have acquired and +possess. + +Your country, more than any other upon earth, has to be alarmed at this +revolution of property. Richer than any other nation, you have more to +apprehend; besides, it threatens you more, both as our frequent enemies +and as our national rivals; as a barrier against our plans of universal +dominion, and as our superiors in pecuniary resources. May we never live +to see the day when the mandates of Bonaparte or Talleyrand are honoured +at London, as at Amsterdam, Madrid, Milan, and Rome. The misery of ages +to come will then be certain, and posterity will regard as comparative +happiness, the sufferings of their forefathers. It is not probable that +those who have so successfully pillaged all surrounding States will rest +contented until you are involved in the same ruin. Union among +yourselves only can preserve you from perishing in the universal wreck; +by this you will at least gain time, and may hope to profit by probable +changes and unexpected accidents. + + + + +LETTER XXI. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--The Counsellor of State and intendant of the Imperial civil +list, Daru, paid for the place of a commissary-general of our army in +Germany the immense sum of six millions of livres--which was divided +between Madame Bonaparte (the mother), Madame Napoleon Bonaparte, +Princesse Louis Bonaparte, Princesse Murat and the Princesse Borghese. By +this you may conclude in what manner we intend to treat the wretched +inhabitants of the other side of the Rhine. This Daru is too good a +calculator and too fond of money to throw away his expenses; he is master +of a great fortune, made entirely by his arithmetical talents, which have +enabled him for years to break all the principal gambling-banks on the +Continent, where he has travelled for no other purpose. On his return +here, he became the terror of all our gamesters, who offered him an +annuity of one hundred thousand livres--not to play; but as this sum +would have been deducted from what is weekly paid to Fouche, this +Minister sent him an order not to approach a gambling-table, under pain +of being transported to Cayenne. He obeyed, but the bankers soon +experienced that he had deputies, and for fear that even from the other +side of the Atlantic he might forward his calculations hither, Fouche +recommended him, for a small douceur, to the office of an intendant of +Bonaparte’s civil list, upon condition of never, directly or indirectly, +injuring our gambling-banks. He has kept his promise with regard to +France, but made, last spring, a gambling tour in Italy and Germany, +which, he avows, produced him nine millions of livres. He always points, +but never keeps a bank. He begins to be so well known in many parts of +the Continent, that the instant he arrives all banks are shut up, and +remain so until his departure. This was the case at Florence last April. +He travels always in style, accompanied by two mistresses and four +servants. He is a chevalier of the Legion of Honour. + +He will, however, have some difficulty to make a great profit by his +calculations in Germany, as many of the generals are better acquainted +than he with the country, where their extortions and dilapidations have +been felt and lamented for these ten years past. Augereau, Bernadotte, +Ney, Van Damme, and other of our military banditti, have long been the +terror of the Germans and the reproach of France. + +In a former letter I have introduced to you our Field-marshal, +Bernadotte, of whom Augereau may justly be called an elder revolutionary +brother--like him, a Parisian by birth, and, like him, serving as a +common soldier before the Revolution. But he has this merit above +Bernadotte, that he began his political career as a police spy, and +finished his first military engagement by desertion into foreign +countries, in most of which, after again enlisting and again deserting, +he was also again taken and again flogged. Italy has, indeed, since he +has been made a general, been more the scene of his devastations than +Germany. Lombardy and Venice will not soon forget the thousands he +butchered, and the millions he plundered; that with hands reeking with +blood, and stained with human gore, he seized the trinkets which devotion +had given to sanctity, to ornament the fingers of an assassin, or +decorate the bosom of a harlot. The outrages he committed during 1796 +and 1797, in Italy, are too numerous to find place in any letter, even +were they not disgusting to relate, and too enormous and too improbable +to be believed. He frequently transformed the temples of the divinity +into brothels for prostitution; and virgins who had consecrated +themselves to remain unpolluted servants of a God, he bayoneted into dens +of impurity, infamy, and profligacy; and in these abominations he prided +himself. In August, 1797, on his way to Paris to take command of the +sbirri, who, on the 4th of the following September, hunted away or +imprisoned the representatives of the people of the legislative body, he +paid a prostitute, with whom he had passed the night at Pavia, with a +draft for fifty louis d’or on the municipality of that town, who dared +not dishonour it; but they kept the draft, and in 1799 handed it over to +Gendral Melas, who sent it to Vienna, where I saw the very original. + +The general and grand officer of Bonaparte’s Legion of Honour, Van Damme, +is another of our military heroes of the same stamp. A barber, and son +of a Flemish barber, he enlisted as a soldier, robbed, and was condemned +to be hanged. The humanity of the judge preserved him from the gallows; +but he was burnt on the shoulders, flogged by the public executioner, and +doomed to serve as a galley-slave for life. The Revolution broke his +fetters, made him a Jacobin, a patriot, and a general; but the first use +he made of his good fortune was to cause the judge, his benefactor, to be +guillotined, and to appropriate to himself the estate of the family. He +was cashiered by Pichegru, and dishonoured by Moreau, for his ferocity +and plunder in Holland and Germany; but Bonaparte restored him to rank +and confidence; and by a douceur of twelve hundred thousand +livres--properly applied and divided between some of the members of the +Bonaparte family, he procured the place of a governor at Lille, and a +commander-in-chief of the ci-devant Flanders. In landed property, in +jewels, in amount in the funds, and in ready money (he always keeps, from +prudence, six hundred thousand livres--in gold), his riches amount to +eight millions of livres. For a ci-devant sans-culotte barber and +galley-slave, you must grant this is a very modest sum. + + + + +LETTER XXII. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--You must often have been surprised at the immense wealth which, +from the best and often authentic information, I have informed you our +generals and public functionaries have extorted and possess; but the +catalogue of private rapine committed, without authority, by our +soldiers, officers, commissaries, and generals, is likewise immense, and +surpassing often the exactions of a legal kind that is to say, those +authorized by our Government itself, or by its civil and military +representatives. It comprehends the innumerable requisitions demanded +and enforced, whether as loans, or in provisions or merchandise, or in +money as an equivalent for both; the levies of men, of horses, oxen, and +carriages; corvees of all kinds; the emptying of magazines for the +service of our armies; in short, whatever was required for the +maintenance, a portion of the pay, and divers wants of those armies, from +the time they had posted themselves in Brabant, Holland, Italy, +Switzerland, and on either bank of the Rhine. Add to this the pillage of +public or private warehouses, granaries, and magazines, whether belonging +to individuals, to the State, to societies, to towns, to hospitals, and +even to orphan-houses. + +But these and other sorts of requisitions, under the appellation of +subsistence necessary for the armies, and for what was wanted for +accoutring, quartering, or removing them, included also an infinite +consumption for the pleasures, luxuries, whims, and debaucheries of our +civil or military commanders. Most of those articles were delivered in +kind, and what were not used were set up to auction, converted into ready +money, and divided among the plunderers. + +In 1797, General Ney had the command in the vicinity of the free and +Imperial city of Wetzlar. He there put in requisition all private stores +of cloths; and after disposing of them by a public sale, retook them upon +another requisition from the purchasers, and sold them a second time. +Leather and linen underwent the same operation. Volumes might be filled +with similar examples, all of public notoriety. + +This Gendral Ney, who is now one of the principal commanders under +Bonaparte in Germany, was a bankrupt tobacconist at Strasburg in 1790, +and is the son of an old-clothes man of Sarre Louis, where he was born in +1765. Having entered as a common soldier in the regiment of Alsace, to +escape the pursuit of his creditors, he was there picked up by some +Jacobin emissaries, whom he assisted to seduce the men into an +insurrection, which obliged most of the officers to emigrate. From that +period he began to distinguish himself as an orator of the Jacobin clubs, +and was, therefore, by his associates, promoted by one step to an +adjutant-general. Brave and enterprising, ambitious for advancement, and +greedy after riches, he seized every opportunity to distinguish and +enrich himself; and, as fortune supported his endeavours, he was in a +short time made a general of division, and acquired a property of several +millions. This is his first campaign under Bonaparte, having previously +served only under Pichegru, Moreau, and Le Courbe. + +He, with General Richepanse, was one of the first generals supposed to be +attached to their former chief, General Moreau, whom Bonaparte seduced +into his interest. In the autumn of 1802, when the Helvetic Republic +attempted to recover its lost independence, Ney was appointed +commander-in-chief of the French army in Switzerland, and Ambassador from +the First Consul to the Helvetic Government. He there conducted himself +so much to the satisfaction of Bonaparte, that, on the rupture with your +country, he was made commander of the camp near Montreuil; and last year +his wife was received as a Maid of Honour to the Empress of the French. + +This Maid of Honour is the daughter of a washer-woman, and was kept by a +man-milliner at Strasburg, at the time that she eloped with Ney. With +him she had made four campaigns as a mistress before the municipality of +Coblentz made her his wife. Her conduct since has corresponded with that +of her husband. When he publicly lived with mistresses, she did not live +privately with her gallants, but the instant the Emperor of the French +told him to save appearances, if he desired a place for his wife at the +Imperial Court, he showed himself the most attentive and faithful of +husbands, and she the most tender and dutiful of wives. Her manners are +not polished, but they are pleasing; and though not handsome in her +person, she is lively; and her conversation is entertaining, and her +society agreeable. The Princesse Louis Bonaparte is particularly fond of +her, more so than Napoleon, perhaps, desires. She has a fault common +with most of our Court ladies: she cannot resist, when opportunity +presents itself, the temptation of gambling, and she is far from being +fortunate. Report says that more than once she has been reduced to +acquit her gambling debts by personal favours. + +Another of our generals, and the richest of them all who are now serving +under Bonaparte, is his brother-in-law, Prince Murat. According to some, +he had been a Septembrizer, terrorist, Jacobin, robber, and assassin, +long before he obtained his first commission as an officer, which was +given him by the recommendation of Marat, whom he in return afterwards +wished to immortalize, by the exchange of one letter in his own name, and +by calling himself Marat instead of Murat. Others, however, declare that +his father was an honest cobbler, very superstitious, residing at +Bastide, near Cahors, and destined his son to be a Capuchin friar, and +that he was in his novitiate when the Revolution tempted him to exchange +the frock of the monk for the regimentals of a soldier. In what manner, +or by what achievements, he gained promotion is not certain, but in 1796 +he was a chief of brigade, and an aide-de-camp of Bonaparte, with whom he +went to Egypt, and returned thence with him, and who, in 1801, married +him to his sister, Maria Annunciade, in 1803 made him a governor of +Paris, and in 1804 a Prince. + +The wealth which Murat has collected, during his military service, and by +his matrimonial campaign, is rated at upwards of fifty millions of +livres. The landed property he possesses in France alone has cost him +forty--two millions--and it is whispered that the estates bought in the +name of his wife, both in France and Italy, are not worth much less. A +brother-in-law of his, who was a smith, he has made a legislator; and an +uncle, who was a tailor, he has placed in the Senate. A cousin of his, +who was a chimneysweeper, is now a tribune; and his niece, who was an +apprentice to a mantua-maker, is now married to one of the Emperor’s +chamberlains. He has been very generous to all his relations, and would +not have been ashamed, even, to present his parents at the Imperial +Court, had not the mother, on the first information of his princely rank, +lost her life, and the father his senses, from surprise and joy. The +millions are not few that he has procured his relatives an opportunity to +gain. His brother-in-law, the legislator, is worth three millions of +livres. + +It has been asserted before, and I repeat it again: + +“It is avarice, and not the mania of innovation, or the jargon of +liberty, that has led, and ever will lead, the Revolution--its promoters, +its accomplices, and its instruments. Wherever they penetrate, plunder +follows; rapine was their first object, of which ferocity has been but +the means. The French Revolution was fostered by robbery and murder; two +nurses that will adhere to her to the last hour of her existence.” + +General Murat is the trusty executioner of all the Emperor’s secret deeds +of vengeance, or public acts of revolutionary justice. It was under his +private responsibility that Pichegru, Moreau, and Georges were guarded; +and he saw Pichegru strangled, Georges guillotined, and Moreau on his way +to his place of exile. After the seizure and trial of the Duc d’ +Enghien, some doubts existed with Napoleon whether even the soldiers of +his Italian guard would fire at this Prince. “If they hesitate,” said +Murat, who commanded the expedition in the wood of Vincennes, “my pistols +are loaded, and I will blow out his brains.” + +His wife is the greatest coquette of the Bonaparte family. Murat was, at +first, after his marriage, rather jealous of his brother-in-law, Lucien, +whom he even fought; but Napoleon having assured him, upon his word of +honour, that his suspicions were unfounded, he is now the model of +complaisant and indulgent husbands; but his mistresses are nearly as +numerous as Madame Murat’s favourites. He has a young aide-de-camp of +the name of Flahault, a son of Talleyrand, while Bishop of Autun, by the +then Countess de Flahault, whom Madame Murat would not have been sorry to +have had for a consoler at Paris, while her princely spouse was +desolating Germany. + + + + +LETTER XXIII. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Since Bonaparte’s departure for Germany, the vigilance of the +police has much increased: our patrols are doubled during the night, and +our spies more numerous and more insolent during the day. Many suspected +persons have also been exiled to some distance from this capital, while +others, for a measure of safety, have been shut up in the Temple, or in +the Castle of Vincennes. These ‘lettres de cachet’, or mandates of +arrest, are expedited during the Emperor’s absence exclusively by his +brother Louis, after a report, or upon a request, of the Minister of +Police, Fouche. + +I have mentioned to you before that Louis Bonaparte is both a drunkard +and a libertine. When a young and unprincipled man of such propensities +enjoys an unrestrained authority, it cannot be surprising to hear that he +has abused it. He had not been his brother’s military viceroy for +twenty-four hours before one set of our Parisians were amused, while +others were shocked and scandalized, at a tragical intrigue enterprised +by His Imperial Highness. + +Happening to see at the opera a very handsome young woman in the boxes, +he despatched one of his aides-de-camp to reconnoitre the ground, and to +find out who she was. All gentlemen attached to his person or household +are also his pimps, and are no novices in forming or executing plans of +seduction. Caulincourt (the officer he employed in this affair) returned +soon, but had succeeded only in one part of the business. He had not +been able to speak to the lady, but was informed that she had only been +married a fortnight to a manufacturer of Lyons, who was seated by her +side, jealous of his wife as a lover of his mistress. He gave at the +same time as his opinion that it would be necessary to employ the police +commissary to arrest the husband when he left the play, under some +pretext or other, while some of the friends of Prince Louis took +advantage of the confusion to seize the wife, and carry her to his hotel. +An order was directly signed by Louis, according to which the police +commissary, Chazot, was to arrest the manufacturer Leboure, of Lyons, and +put him into a post-chaise, under the care of two gendarmes, who were to +see him safe to Lyons, where he was to sign a promise of not returning to +Paris without the permission of Government, being suspected of +stockjobbing (agiotage). Everything succeeded according to the proposal +of Caulincourt, and Louis found Madame Leboure crying in his saloon. It +is said that she promised to surrender her virtue upon condition of only +once more seeing her husband, to be certain that he was not murdered, but +that Louis refused, and obtained by brutal force, and the assistance of +his infamous associates, that conquest over her honour which had not been +yielded to his entreaties or threats. His enjoyment, however, was but of +short continuance; he had no sooner fallen asleep than his poor injured +victim left the bed, and, flying into his anteroom, stabbed herself with +his sword. On the next morning she was found a corpse, weltering in her +blood. In the hope of burying this infamy in secrecy, her corpse was, on +the next evening, when it was dark, put into a sack, and thrown into the +river, where, being afterwards discovered, the police agents gave out +that she had fallen the victim of assassins. But when Madame Leboure was +thus seized at the opera, besides her husband, her parents and a brother +were in her company, and the latter did not lose sight of the carriage in +which his sister was placed till it had entered the hotel of Louis +Bonaparte, where, on the next day, he, with his father, in vain claimed +her. As soon as the husband was informed of the untimely end of his +wife, he wrote a letter to her murderer, and shot himself immediately +afterwards through the head, but his own head was not the place where he +should have sent the bullet; to destroy with it the cause of his +wretchedness would only have been an act of retaliation, in a country +where power forces the law to lie dormant, and where justice is invoked +in vain when the criminal is powerful. + +I have said that this intrigue, as it is styled by courtesy in our +fashionable circles, amused one part of the Parisians; and I believe the +word ‘amuse’ is not improperly employed in this instance. At a dozen +parties where I have been since, this unfortunate adventure has always +been an object of conversation, of witticisms, but not of blame, except +at Madame Fouche’s, where Madame Leboure was very much blamed indeed for +having been so overnice, and foolishly scrupulous. + +Another intrigue of His Imperial Highness, which did not, indeed, end +tragically, was related last night, at the tea-party of Madame Recamier. +A man of the name of Deroux had lately been condemned by our criminal +tribunal, for forging bills of exchange, to stand in the pillory six +hours, and, after being marked with a hot iron on his shoulders, to work +in the galleys for twenty years. His daughter, a young girl under +fifteen, who lived with her grandmother (having lost her mother), went, +accompanied by the old lady, and presented a petition to Louis, in favour +of her father. Her youth and modesty, more than her beauty, inspired the +unprincipled libertine with a desire of ruining innocence, under the +colour of clemency to guilt. He ordered her to call on his chamberlain, +Darinsson, in an hour, and she should obtain an answer. There, either +seduced by paternal affection, intimidated by threats, or imposed upon by +delusive and engaging promises, she exchanged her virtue for an order of +release for her parent; and so satisfied was Louis with his bargain that +he added her to the number of his regular mistresses. + +As soon as Deroux had recovered his liberty, he visited his daughter in +her new situation, where he saw an order of Louis, on the Imperial +Treasury, for twelve thousand livres--destined to pay the upholsterer who +had furnished her apartment. This gave him, no doubt, the idea of making +the Prince pay a higher value for his child, and he forged another order +for sixty thousand livres--so closely resembling it that it was without +suspicion acquitted by the Imperial Treasurer. Possessing this money, he +fabricated a pass, in the name of Louis, as a courier carrying despatches +to the Emperor in Germany, with which he set out, and arrived safe on the +other side of the Rhine. His forgeries were only discovered after he had +written a letter from Frankfort to Louis, acquitting his daughter of all +knowledge of what he had done. In the first moment of anger, her +Imperial lover ordered her to be arrested, but he has since forgiven her, +and taken her back to his favour. This trick of Deroux has pleased +Fouche, who long opposed his release, from a knowledge of his dangerous +talent and vicious character. He had once before released himself with a +forged order from the Minister of Police, whose handwriting he had only +seen for a minute upon his own mandate of imprisonment. + + + + +LETTER XXIV. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Though loudly complained of by the Cabinet of St. Cloud, the +Cabinet of St. Petersburg has conducted itself in these critical times +with prudence without weakness, and with firmness without obstinacy. In +its connections with our Government it has never lost sight of its own +dignity, and, therefore, never endured without resentment those +impertinent innovations in the etiquette of our Court, and in the manner +and language of our Emperor to the representatives of legitimate +Sovereigns. Had similar becoming sentiments directed the councils of all +other Princes and the behaviour of their Ambassadors here, spirited +remonstrances might have moderated the pretensions or passions of upstart +vanity, while a forbearance and silence, equally impolitic and shameful, +have augmented insolence by flattering the pride of an insupportable and +outrageous ambition. + +The Emperor of Russia would not have been so well represented here, had +he not been so wisely served and advised in his council chamber at St. +Petersburg. Ignorance and folly commonly select fools for their agents, +while genius and capacity employ men of their own mould, and of their own +cast. It is a remarkable truth that, notwithstanding the frequent +revolutions in Russia, since the death of Peter the First the ministerial +helm has always been in able hands; the progressive and uninterrupted +increase of the real and relative power of the Russian Empire evinces the +reality of this assertion. + +The Russian Chancellor, Count Alexander Woronzoff, may be justly called +the chief of political veterans, whether his talents or long services are +considered. Catherine II., though a voluptuous Princess, was a great +Sovereign, and a competent judge of merit; and it was her unbiased choice +that seated Count Woronzoff, while yet young, in her councils. Though +the intrigues of favourites have sometimes removed him, he always retired +with the esteem of his Sovereign, and was recalled without caballing or +cringing to return. He is admired by all who have the honour of +approaching him, as much for his obliging condescension as for his great +information. No petty views, no petty caprices, no petty vengeances find +room in his generous bosom. He is known to have conferred benefactions, +not only on his enemies, but on those who, at the very time, were +meditating his destruction. His opinion is that a patriotic Minister +should regard no others as his enemies but those conspiring against their +country, and acknowledge no friends or favourites incapable of well +serving the State. Prince de Z-------- waited on him one day, and, after +hesitating some time, began to compliment him on his liberal sentiments, +and concluded by asking the place of a governor for his cousin, with whom +he had reason to suppose the Count much offended. “I am happy,” said His +Excellency, “to oblige you, and to do my duty at the same time. Here is +a libel he wrote against me, and presented to the Empress, who graciously +has communicated it to me, in answer to my recommendation of him +yesterday to the place you ask for him to-day. Read what I have written +on the libel, and you will be convinced that it will not be my fault if +he is not to-day a governor.” In two hours afterwards the nomination was +announced to Prince de Z--------, who was himself at the head of a cabal +against the Minister. In any country such an act would have been +laudable, but where despotism rules with unopposed sway, it is both +honourable and praiseworthy. + +Prince Adam Czartorinsky, the assistant of Count Woronzoff, and Minister +of the foreign department, unites, with the vigour of youth, the +experience of age. He has travelled in most countries of Europe, not +solely to figure at Courts, to dance at balls, to look at pictures, or to +collect curiosities, but to study the character of the people, the laws +by which they are governed, and their moral or social influence with +regard to their comforts or misery. He therefore brought back with him a +stock of knowledge not to be acquired from books, but only found in the +world by frequenting different and opposite societies with observation, +penetration, and genius. With manners as polished as his mind is well +informed, he not only, possesses the favour, but the friendship of his +Prince, and, what is still more rare, is worthy of both. All Sovereigns +have favourites, few ever had any friends; because it is more easy to +flatter vanity, than to display a liberal disinterestedness; to bow +meanly than to instruct or to guide with delicacy and dignity; to abuse +the confidence of the Prince than to use it to his honour, and to the +advantage of his Government. + +That such a Monarch as an Alexander, and such Ministers as Count +Woronzoff and Prince Czartorinsky, should appoint a Count Markof to a +high and important post, was not unexpected by any one not ignorant of +his merit. + +Count Markof was, early in the reign of Catherine II., employed in the +office of the foreign department at St. Petersburg, and was, whilst +young, entrusted with several important negotiations at the Courts of +Berlin and Vienna., when Prussia had proposed the first partition of +Poland. He afterward went on his travels, from which he was recalled to +fill the place of an Ambassador to the late King of Sweden, Gustavus III. +He was succeeded, in 1784, at Stockholm, by Count Muschin Puschin, after +being appointed a Secretary of State in his own country, a post he +occupied with distinction, until the death of Catherine II., when Paul +the First revenged upon him, as well as on most others of the faithful +servants of this Princess, his discontent with his mother. He was then +exiled to his estates, where he retired with the esteem of all those who +had known him. In 1801, immediately after his accession to the throne, +Alexander invited Count Markof to his Court and Council, and the trusty +but difficult task of representing a legitimate Sovereign at the Court of +our upstart usurper was conferred on him. I imagine that I see the great +surprise of this nobleman, when, for the first time, he entered the +audience-chamber of our little great man, and saw him fretting, staring, +swearing, abusing to right and to left, for one smile conferring twenty +frowns, and for one civil word making use of fifty hard expressions, +marching in the diplomatic audience as at the head of his troops, and +commanding foreign Ambassadors as his French soldiers. I have heard that +the report of Count Markof to his Court, describing this new and rare +show, is a chef-d’oeuvre of wit, equally amusing and instructive. He is +said to have requested of his Cabinet new and particular orders how to +act--whether as the representative of an independent Sovereign, or, as +most of the other members of the foreign diplomatic corps in France, like +a valet of the First Consul; and that, in the latter case, he implored as +a favour, an immediate recall; preferring, had he no other choice left, +sooner to work in the mines at Siberia than to wear, in France the +disgraceful fetters of a Bonaparte. His subsequent dignified conduct +proves the answer of his Court. + +Talleyrand’s craft and dissimulation could not delude the sagacity of +Count Markof, who was, therefore, soon less liked by the Minister than by +the First Consul. All kind of low, vulgar, and revolutionary chicanery +was made use of to vex or to provoke the Russian Ambassador. Sometimes +he was reproached with having emigrants in his service; another time +protection was refused to one of his secretaries, under pretence that he +was a Sardinian subject. Russian travellers were insulted, and detained +on the most frivolous pretences. Two Russian noblemen were even arrested +on our side of the Rhine, because Talleyrand had forgotten to sign his +name to their passes, which were otherwise in order. The fact was that +our Minister suspected them of carrying some papers which he wanted to +see, and, therefore, wrote his name with an ink of such a composition +that, after a certain number of days, everything written with it +disappeared. Their effects and papers were strictly searched by an agent +preceding them from this capital, but nothing was found, our Minister +being misinformed by his spies. + +When Count Markof left Sweden, he carried with him an actress of the +French theatre at Stockholm, Madame Hus, an Alsatian by birth, but who +had quitted her country twelve years before the Revolution, and could, +therefore, never be included among emigrants. She had continued as a +mistress with this nobleman, is the mother of several children by him, +and an agreeable companion to him, who has never been married. As I have +often said, Talleyrand is much obliged to any foreign diplomatic agent +who allows him to be the indirect provider or procurer of his mistresses. +After in vain tempting Count Markof with new objects, he introduced to +the acquaintance of Madame Hus some of his female emissaries. Their +manoeuvres, their insinuations, and even their presents were all thrown +away. The lady remained the faithful friend, and therefore refused with +indignation to degrade herself into a spy on her lover. Our Minister +then first discovered that, not only was Madame Hus an emigrant, but had +been a great benefactress and constant companion of emigrants at St. +Petersburg, and, of course, deserved to be watched, if not punished. +Count Markof is reported to have said to Talleyrand on this grave +subject, in the presence of two other foreign Ambassadors: + +“Apropos! what shall I do to prevent my poor Madame Hus from being shot +as an emigrant, and my poor children from becoming prematurely orphans?” + +“Monsieur,” said our diplomatic oracle, “she should have petitioned the +First Consul for a permission to return, to France before she entered it; +but out of regard for you, if she is prudent, she will not, I daresay, be +troubled by our Government.” + +“I should be sorry if she was not,” replied the Count, with a significant +look; and here this grand affair ended, to the great entertainment of +those foreign agents who dared to smile or to laugh. + + + + +LETTER XXV. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--The Legion of Honour, though only proclaimed upon Bonaparte’s +assumption of the Imperial rank, dates from the first year of his +consulate. To prepare the public mind for a progressive elevation of +himself, and for consequential distinctions among all classes of his +subjects, he distributed among the military, arms of honour, to which +were attached precedence and privileges granted by him, and, therefore, +liable to cease with his power or life. The number of these arms +increased in proportion to the approach of the period fixed for the +change of his title and the erection of his throne. When he judged them +numerous enough to support his changes, he made all these wearers of arms +of honour knights. Never before were so many chevaliers created en +masse; they amounted to no less than twenty-two thousand four hundred, +distributed in the different corps of different armies, but principally +in the army of England. To these were afterwards joined five thousand +nine hundred civil functionaries, men of letters, artists, etc. To +remove, however, all ideas of equality, even among the members of the +Legion of Honour, they were divided into four classes--grand officers, +commanders, officers, and simple legionaries. + +Every one who has observed Bonaparte’s incessant endeavours to intrude +himself among the Sovereigns of Europe, was convinced that he would +cajole, or force, as many of them as he could into his revolutionary +knighthood; but I heard men, who are not ignorant of the selfishness and +corruption of our times, deny the possibility of any independent Prince +suffering his name to be registered among criminals of every description, +from the thief who picked the pockets of his fellow citizens in the +street, down to the regicide who sat in judgment and condemned his King; +from the plunderers who have laid waste provinces, republics, and +kingdoms, down to the assassins who shot, drowned, or guillotined their +countrymen en masse. For my part, I never had but one opinion, and, +unfortunately, it has turned out a just one. I always was convinced that +those Princes who received other presents from Bonaparte could have no +plausible excuse to decline his ribands, crosses, and stars. But who +could have presumed to think that, in return for these blood-stained +baubles, they would have sacrificed those honourable and dignified +ornaments which, for ages past, have been the exclusive distinction of +what birth had exalted, virtue made eminent, talents conspicuous, honour +illustrious, or valour meritorious? Who would have dared to say that the +Prussian Eagle and the Spanish Golden Fleece should thus be prostituted, +thus polluted? I do not mean by this remark to throw any blame on the +conferring those and other orders on Napoleon Bonaparte, or even on his +brothers; I know it is usual, between legitimate Sovereigns in alliance, +sometimes to exchange their knighthoods; but to debase royal orders so +much as to present them to a Cambaceres, a Talleyrand, a Fouche, a +Bernadotte, a Fesch, and other vile and criminal wretches, I do not deny +to have excited my astonishment as well as my indignation. What +honest--I do not say what noble--subjects of Prussia, or of Spain, will +hereafter think themselves rewarded for their loyalty, industry, +patriotism, or zeal, when they remember that their Sovereigns have +nothing to give but what the rebel has obtained, the robber worn, the +murderer vilified, and the regicide debased? + +The number of grand officers of the Legion of Honour does not yet amount +to more than eighty, according to a list circulated at Milan last spring, +of which I have seen a copy. Of these grand officers, three had been +shoemakers, two tailors, four bakers, four barbers, six friars, eight +abbes, six officers, three pedlers, three chandlers, seven drummers, +sixteen soldiers, and eight regicides; four were lawful Kings, and the +six others, Electors or Princes of the most ancient houses in Europe. I +have looked over our, own official list, and, as far as I know, the +calculation is exact, both with regard to the number and to the quality. + +This new institution of knighthood produced a singular effect on my vain +and giddy, countrymen, who, for twelve years before, had scarcely seen a +star or a riband, except those of foreign Ambassadors, who were +frequently insulted when wearing them. It became now the fashion to be a +knight, and those who really were not so, put pinks, or rather blooms, or +flowers of a darker red, in their buttonholes, so as to resemble, and to +be taken at a distance for, the red ribands of the members of the Legion +of Honour. + +A man of the name of Villeaume, an engraver by profession, took advantage +of this knightly fashion and mania, and sold for four louis d’or, not +only the stars, but pretended letters of knighthood, said to be procured +by his connection with persons of the household of the Emperor. In a +month’s time, according to a register kept by him, he had made twelve +hundred and fifty knights. When his fraud was discovered, he was already +out of the way, safe with his money; and, notwithstanding the researches +of the police, has not since been taken. + +A person calling himself Baron von Rinken, a subject and an agent of one +of the many Princes of Hohenlohe, according to his own assertion, arrived +here with real letters and patents of knighthood, which he offered for +sale for three hundred livres. The stars of this Order were as large as +the star of the grand officers of the Legion of Honour, and nearly +resembled it; but the ribands were of a different colour. He had already +disposed of a dozen of these stars, when he was taken up by the police +and shut up in the Temple, where he still remains. Four other agents of +inferior petty German Princes have also been arrested for offering the +Orders of their Sovereigns for sale. + +A Captain Rouvais, who received six wounds in his campaign under Pichegru +in 1794, wore the star of the Legion of Honour without being nominated a +knight. He has been tried by a military commission, deprived of his +pension, and condemned to four years’ imprisonment in irons. He proved +that he had presented fourteen petitions to Bonaparte for obtaining this +mark of distinction, but in vain; while hundreds of others, who had +hardly seen an enemy, or, at the most, made but one campaign, or been +once wounded, had succeeded in their demands. As soon as sentence had +been pronounced against him, he took a small pistol from his pocket, and +shot himself through the head, saying, “Some one else will soon do the +same for Bonaparte.” + +A cobbler, of the name of Matthieu, either in a fit of madness or from +hatred to the new order of things, decorated himself with the large +riband of the Legion of Honour, and had an old star fastened on his coat. +Thus accoutred, he went into the Palais Royal, in the middle of the day, +got upon a chair, and began to speak to his audience of the absurdity of +true republicans not being on a level, even under an Emperor, and putting +on, like him, all his ridiculous ornaments. “We are here,” said he, +“either all grand officers, or there exist no grand officers at all; we +have all fought and paid for liberty, and for the Revolution, as much as +Bonaparte, and have, therefore, the same right and claim with him.” Here +a police agent and some gendarmes interrupted his eloquence by taking him +into custody. When Fouche asked him what he meant by such rebellious +behaviour, he replied that it was only a trial to see whether destiny had +intended him to become an Emperor or to remain a cobbler. On the next +day he was shot as a conspirator. I saw the unfortunate man in the +Palais Royal; his eyes looked wild, and his words were often incoherent. +He was certainly a subject more deserving a place in a madhouse than in a +tomb. + +Cambaceres has been severely reprimanded by the Emperor for showing too +much partiality for the Royal Prussian Black Eagle, by wearing it in +preference to the Imperial Legion of Honour. He was given to understand +that, except for four days in the year, the Imperial etiquette did not +permit any subjects to display their knighthood of the Prussian Order. In +Madame Bonaparte’s last drawing-room, before His Imperial Majesty set out +for the Rhine, he was ornamented with the Spanish, Neapolitan, Prussian, +and Portuguese orders, together with those of the French Legion of Honour +and of the Italian Iron Crown. I have seen the Emperor Paul, who was +also an amateur of ribands and stars, but never with so many at once. I +have just heard that the Grand Master of Malta has presented Napoleon +with the Grand Cross of the Maltese Order. This is certainly a negative +compliment to him, who, in July, 1798, officially declared to his then +sectaries, the Turks and Mussulmans, “that the Grand Master, Commanders, +Knights, and Order of Malta existed no more.” + +I have heard it related for a certainty among our fashionable ladies, +that the Empress of the French also intends to institute a new order of +female knighthood, not of honour, but of confidence; of which all our +Court ladies, all the wives of our generals, public functionaries, etc., +are to be members. The Imperial Princesses of the Bonaparte family are +to be hereditary grand officers, together with as many foreign Empresses, +Queens, Princesses, Countesses, and Baronesses as can be bayoneted into +this revolutionary sisterhood. Had the Continent remained tranquil, it +would already have been officially announced by a Senatus Consultum. I +should suppose that Madame Bonaparte, with her splendid Court and +brilliant retinue of German Princes and Electors at Strasburg, need only +say the word to find hundreds of princely recruits for her knighthood in +petto. Her mantle, as a Grand Mistress of the Order of CONFIDENCE, has +been already embroidered at Lyons, and those who have seen it assert that +it is truly superb. The diamonds of the star on the mantle are valued at +six hundred thousand livres. + + + + +LETTER XXVI. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Since Bonaparte’s departure for Germany, fifteen individuals +have been brought here, chained, from La Vendee and the--Western +Departments, and are imprisoned in the Temple. Their crime is not +exactly known, but private letters from those countries relate that they +were recruiting for another insurrection, and that some of them were +entrusted as Ambassadors from their discontented countrymen to Louis +XVIII. to ask for his return to France, and for the assistance of Russia, +Sweden, and England to support his claims. + +These are, however, reports to which I do not affix much credit. Had the +prisoners in the Temple been guilty, or only accused of such crimes, they +would long ago have been tortured, tried, and executed, or executed +without a trial. I suppose them mere hostages arrested by our +Government, as security for the tranquillity of the Chouan Departments +during our armies’ occupation elsewhere. We have, nevertheless, two +movable columns of six thousand men each in the country, or in its +vicinity, and it would be not only impolitic, but a cruelty, to engage or +allure the unfortunate people of these wretched countries into any plots, +which, situated as affairs now are, would be productive of great and +certain evil to them, without even the probability of any benefit to the +cause of royalty and of the Bourbons. I do not mean to say that there +are not those who rebel against Bonaparte’s tyranny, or that the Bourbons +have no friends; on the contrary, the latter are not few, and the former +very numerous. But a kind of apathy, the effect of unavailing resistance +to usurpation and oppression, has seized on most minds, and annihilated +what little remained of our never very great public spirit. We are tired +of everything, even of our existence, and care no more whether we are +governed by a Maximilian Robespierre or by a Napoleon Bonaparte, by a +Barras or by Louis XVIII. Except, perhaps, among the military, or among +some ambitious schemers, remnants of former factions, I do not believe a +Moreau, a Macdonald, a Lucien Bonaparte, or any person exiled by the +Emperor, and formerly popular, could collect fifty trusty conspirators in +all France; at least, as long as our armies are victorious, and organized +in their present formidable manner. Should anything happen to our +present chief, an impulse may be given to the minds now sunk down, and +raise our characters from their present torpid state. But until such an +event, we shall remain as we are, indolent but submissive, sacrificing +our children and treasures for a cause we detest, and for a man we abhor. +I am sorry to say it, but it certainly does, no honour to my nation when +one million desperados of civil and military banditti are suffered to +govern, tyrannize, and pillage, at their ease and undisturbed, thirty +millions of people, to whom their past crimes are known, and who have +every reason to apprehend their future wickedness. + +This astonishing resignation (if I can call it so, and if it does not +deserve a worse name), is so much the more incomprehensible, as the +poverty of the higher and middle classes is as great as the misery of the +people, and, except those employed under Bonaparte, and some few upstart +contractors or army commissaries, the greatest privations must be +submitted to in order to pay the enormous taxes and make a decent +appearance. I know families of five, six, and seven persons, who +formerly were wealthy, and now have for a scanty subsistence an income of +twelve or eighteen hundred livres--per year, with which they are obliged +to live as they can, being deprived of all the resource that elsewhere +labour offers to the industrious, and all the succours compassion bestows +on the necessitous. You know that here all trade and all commerce are at +a stand or destroyed, and the hearts of our modern rich are as unfeeling +as their manners are vulgar and brutal. + +A family of ci-devant nobles of my acquaintance, once possessing a +revenue of one hundred and fifty thousand livres--subsist now on fifteen +hundred livres--per year; and this sum must support six individuals--the +father and mother, with four children! It does so, indeed, by an +arrangement of only one poor meal in the day; a dinner four times, and a +supper three times, in the week. They endure their distress with +tolerable cheerfulness, though in the same street, where they occupy the +garrets of a house, resides, in an elegant hotel, a man who was once +their groom, but who is now a tribune, and has within these last twelve +years, as a conventional deputy, amassed, in his mission to Brabant and +Flanders, twelve millions of livres. He has kindly let my friend +understand that his youngest daughter might be received as a chambermaid +to his wife, being informed that she has a good education. All the four +daughters are good musicians, good drawers, and very able with their +needles. By their talents they supported their parents and themselves +during their emigration in Germany; but here these are of but little use +or advantage. Those upstarts who want instruction or works of this sort +apply to the first, most renowned, and fashionable masters or mistresses; +while others, and those the greatest number, cannot afford even to pay +the inferior ones and the most cheap. This family is one of the many +that regret having returned from their emigration. But, you may ask, why +do they not go back again to Germany? First, it would expose them to +suspicion, and, perhaps, to ruin, were they to demand passes; and if this +danger or difficulty were removed, they have no money for such a long +journey. + +But this sort of penury and wretchedness is also common with the families +of the former wealthy merchants and tradesmen. Paper money, a maximum, +and requisitions, have reduced those that did not share in the crimes and +pillage of the Revolution, as much as the proscribed nobility. And, +contradictory as it may seem, the number of persons employed in +commercial speculations has more than tripled since we experienced a +general stagnation of trade, the consequence of war, of want of capital, +protection, encouragement, and confidence; but one of the magazines of +1789 contained more goods and merchandize than twenty modern magazines +put together. The expenses of these new merchants are, however, much +greater than sixteen years ago, the profit less, and the credit still +less than the profit. Hence numerous bankruptcies, frauds, swindling, +forgeries, and other evils of immorality, extravagance, and misery. The +fair and honest dealers suffer most from the intrusion of these infamous +speculators, who expecting, like other vile men wallowing in wealth under +their eyes, to make rapid fortunes, and to escape detection as well as +punishment--commit crimes to soothe disappointment. Nothing is done but +for ready money, and even bankers’ bills, or bills accepted by bankers, +are not taken in payment before the signatures are avowed by the parties +concerned. You can easily conceive what confusion, what expenses, and +what; loss of time these precautions must occasion; but the numerous +forgeries and fabrications have made them absolutely necessary. + +The farmers and landholders are better off, but they also complain of the +heavy taxes, and low price paid for what they bring to the market, which +frequently, for want of ready money, remains long unsold. They take +nothing but cash in payment; for, notwithstanding the endeavours of our +Government, the notes of the Bank of France have never been in +circulation among them. They have also been subject to losses by the +fluctuation of paper money, by extortions, requisitions, and by the +maximum. In this class of my countrymen remains still some little +national spirit and some independence of character; but these are far +from being favourable to Bonaparte, or to the Imperial Government, which +the yearly increase of taxes, and, above all, the conscription, have +rendered extremely odious. You may judge of the great difference in the +taxation of lands and landed property now and under our Kings, when I +inform you that a friend of mine, who, in 1792, possessed, in one of the +Western Departments, twenty-one farms, paid less in contribution for them +all than he does now for the three farms he has recovered from the wreck +of his fortune. + + + + +LETTER XXVII. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--In a military empire, ruled by a military despot, it is a +necessary policy that the education of youth should also be military. In +all our public schools or prytanees, a boy, from the moment of entering, +is registered in a company, and regularly drilled, exercised, and +reviewed, punished for neglect or fault according to martial law, and +advanced if displaying genius or application. All our private schools +that wish for the protection of Government are forced to submit to the +same military rules, and, therefore, most of our conscripts, so far from +being recruits, are fit for any service as soon as put into requisition. +The fatal effects to the independence of Europe to be dreaded from this +sole innovation, I apprehend, have been too little considered by other +nations. A great Power, that can, without obstacle, and with but little +expense, in four weeks increase its disposable military force from one +hundred and twenty to one hundred and eighty thousand young men, +accustomed to military duty from their youth, must finally become the +master of all other or rival Powers, and dispose at leisure of empires, +kingdoms, principalities, and republics. NOTHING CAN SAVE THEM BUT THE +ADOPTION OF SIMILAR MEASURES FOR THEIR PRESERVATION AS HAVE BEEN ADOPTED +FOR THEIR SUBJUGATION. + +When l’Etat Militaire for the year 13 (a work containing the official +statement of our military forces) was presented to Bonaparte by Berthier, +the latter said: “Sire, I lay before Your Majesty the book of the destiny +of the world, which your hands direct as the sovereign guide of the +armies of your empire.” This compliment is a truth, and therefore no +flattery. It might as justly have been addressed to a Moreau, a +Macdonald, a Le Courbe, or to any other general, as to Bonaparte, because +a superior number of well disciplined troops, let them be well or even +indifferently commanded, will defeat those inferior in number. Three to +one would even overpower an army of giants. Add to it the unity of +plans, of dispositions, and of execution, which Bonaparte enjoys +exclusively over such a great number of troops, while ten, or perhaps +fifty, will direct or contradict every movement of his opponents. I +tremble when I meditate on Berthier’s assertion; may I never live to see +it realized, and to see all hitherto independent nations prostrated, +acknowledge that Bonaparte and destiny are the same, and the same +distributor of good and evil. + +One of the bad consequences of this our military education of youth is a +total absence of all religious and moral lessons. Arnaud had, last +August, the courage to complain of this infamous neglect, in the National +Institute. “The youth,” said he, “receive no other instruction but +lessons to march, to fire, to bow, to dance, to sit, to lie, and to +impose with a good grace. I do not ask for Spartans or Romans, but we +want Athenians, and our schools are only forming Sybarites.” Within +twenty-four hours afterwards, Arnaud was visited by a police agent, +accompanied by two gendarmes, with an order signed by Fouche, which +condemned him to reside at Orleans, and not to return to Paris without +the permission of the Government,--a punishment regarded here as very +moderate for such an indiscreet zeal. + +A schoolmaster at Auteuil, near this capital, of the name of Gouron, had +a private seminary, organized upon the footing of our former colleges. In +some few months he was offered more pupils than he could well attend to, +and his house shortly became very fashionable, even for our upstarts, who +sent their children there in preference. He was ordered before Fouche +last Christmas, and commanded to change the hours hitherto employed in +teaching religion and morals, to a military exercise and instruction, as +both more necessary and more salubrious for French youth. Having replied +that such an alteration was contrary to his plan and agreement with the +parents of his scholars, the Minister stopped him short by telling him +that he must obey what had been prescribed by Government, or stand the +consequences of his refractory spirit. Having consulted with his friends +and patrons, he divided the hours, and gave half of the time usually +allotted to religion or morality to the study of military exercise. His +pupils, however, remained obstinate, broke the drum, and tore and burnt +the colours he had bought. As this was not his fault, he did not expect +any further disturbance, particularly after having reported to the police +both his obedience and the unforeseen result. But last March his house +was suddenly surrounded in the night by gendarmes, and some police agents +entered it. All the boys were ordered to dress and to pack up their +effects, and to follow the gendarmes to several other schools, where the +Government had placed them, and of which their parents would be informed. +Gouron, his wife, four ushers, and six servants, were all arrested and +carried to the police office, where Fouche, after reproaching them for +their fanatical behaviour, as he termed it, told them, as they were so +fond of teaching religious and moral duties, a suitable situation had +been provided for them in Cayenne, where the negroes stood sadly in need +of their early arrival, for which reason they would all set out on that +very morning for Rochefort. When Gouron asked what was to become of his +property, furniture, etc., he was told that his house was intended by +Government for a preparatory school, and would, with its contents, be +purchased, and the amount paid him in lands in Cayenne. It is not +necessary to say that this example of Imperial justice had the desired +effect on all other refractory private schoolmasters. + +The parents of Gouron’s pupils were, with a severe reprimand, informed +where their sons had been placed, and where they would be educated in a +manner agreeable to the Emperor, who recommended them not to remove them, +without a previous notice to the police. A hatter, of the name of +Maille, however, ordered his son home, because he had been sent to a +dearer school than the former. In his turn he was carried before the +police, and, after a short examination of a quarter of an hour, was +permitted, with his wife and two children, to join their friend Gouron at +Rochefort, and to settle with him at Cayenne, where lands would also be +given him for his property, in France. These particulars were related to +me by a neighbour whose son had, for two years previous to this, been +under Gouron’s care, but who was now among those placed out by our +Government. The boy’s present master, he said, was a man of a +notoriously bad and immoral character; but he was intimidated, and weak +enough to remain contented, preferring, no doubt, his personal safety to +the future happiness of his child. In your country, you little +comprehend what a valuable instrument terror has been in the hands of our +rulers since the Revolution, and how often fear has been mistaken abroad +for affection and content. + +All these minutiae and petty vexations, but great oppressions, of petty +tyrants, you may easily guess, take up a great deal of time, and that, +therefore, a Minister of Police, though the most powerful, is also the +most occupied of his colleagues. So he certainly is, but, last year, a +new organization of this Ministry was regulated by Bonaparte; and Fouche +was allowed, as assistants, four Counsellors of State, and an +augmentation of sixty-four police commissaries. The French Empire was +then divided into four arrondissements, with regard to the general +police, not including Paris and its vicinity, inspected by a prefect of +police under the Minister. Of the first of these arrondissements, the +Counsellor of State, Real, is a kind of Deputy Minister; the Counsellor +of State, Miot, is the same of the second; the Counsellor of State, Pelet +de la Lozere, of the third; and the Counsellor of State, Dauchy, of the +fourth. The secret police agents, formerly called spies, were also +considerably increased. + + + + +LETTER XXVIII. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Before Bonaparte set out for the Rhine, the Pope’s Nuncio was +for the first time publicly rebuked by him in Madame Bonaparte’s +drawing-room, and ordered loudly to write to Rome and tell His Holiness +to think himself fortunate in continuing to govern the Ecclesiastical +States, without interfering with the ecclesiastical arrangements that +might be thought necessary or proper by the Government in France. + +Bonaparte’s policy is to promote among the first dignitaries of the +Gallican Church the brothers or relatives of his civil or military +supporters; Cambacere’s brother is, therefore, an Archbishop and +Cardinal, and one of Lebrun’s, and two of Berthier’s cousins are Bishops. +As, however, the relatives of these Senators, Ministers, or generals, +have, like themselves, figured in many of the scandalous and blasphemous +scenes of the Revolution, the Pope has sometimes hesitated about +sanctioning their promotions. This was the case last summer, when +General Dessolles’s brother was transferred from the Bishopric of Digne +to that of Chambry, and Bonaparte nominated for his successor the brother +of General Miollis, who was a curate of Brignoles, in the diocese of Aix. +This curate had not only been one of the first to throw up his letters of +priesthood at the Jacobin Club at Aix, but had also sacrilegiously denied +the divinity of the Christian religion, and proposed, in imitation of +Parisian atheists, the worship of a Goddess of Reason in a common +prostitute with whom he lived. The notoriety of these abominations made +even his parishioners at Brignoles unwilling to go to church, and to +regard him as their pastor, though several of them had been imprisoned, +fined, and even transported as fanatics, or as refractory. + +During the negotiation with Cardinal Fesch last year, the Pope had been +promised, among other things, that, for the future, his conscience should +not be wounded by having presented to him for the prelacy any persons but +those of the purest morals of the French Empire; and that all his +objections should be attended to, in case of promotions; his scruples +removed, or his refusal submitted to. When Cardinal Fesch demanded His +Holiness’s Bull for the curate Miollis, the Cardinal Secretary of State, +Gonsalvi, showed no less than twenty acts of apostasy and blasphemy, +which made him unworthy of such a dignity. To this was replied that, +having obtained an indulgence in toto for what was past, he was a proper +subject; above all, as he had the protection of the Emperor of the +French. The Pope’s Nuncio here then addressed himself to our Minister of +the Ecclesiastical Department, Portalis, who advised him not to speak to +Bonaparte of a matter upon which his mind had been made up; he, +nevertheless, demanded an audience, and it was in consequence of this +request that he, in his turn, became acquainted with the new Imperial +etiquette and new Imperial jargon towards the representatives of +Sovereigns. On the same evening the Nuncio expedited a courier to Rome, +and I have heard to-day that the nomination of Miollis is confirmed by +the Pope. + +From this relatively trifling occurrence, His Holiness might judge of the +intention of our Government to adhere to its other engagements; but at +Rome, as well as in most other Continental capitals, the Sovereign is the +dupe of the perversity of his Counsellors and Ministers, who are the +tools, and not seldom the pensioners, of the Cabinet of St. Cloud. + +But in the kingdom of Italy the parishes and dioceses are, if possible, +still worse served than in this country. Some of the Bishops there, +after having done duty in the National Guards, worn the Jacobin cap, and +fought against their lawful Prince, now live in open adultery; and, from +their intrigues, are the terror of all the married part of their flock. +The Bishop of Pavia keeps the wife of a merchant, by whom he has two +children; and, that the public may not be mistaken as to their real +father, the merchant received a sum of money to establish himself at +Brescia, and has not seen his wife for these two years past. General +Gourion, who was last spring in Italy, has assured me that he read the +advertisement of a curate after his concubine, who had eloped with +another curate; and that the Police Minister at Milan openly licensed +women to be the housekeepers of priests. + +A grand vicar, Sarini, at Bologna, was, in 1796, a friar, but +relinquished then the convent for the tent, and exchanged the breviary +for the musket. He married a nun of one cloister, from whom he procured +a divorce in a month, to unite himself with an Abbess of another, +deserted by him in her turn for the wife of an innkeeper, who robbed and +eloped from her husband. Last spring he returned to the bosom of the +Church, and, by making our Empress a present of a valuable diamond cross, +of which he had pillaged the statue of a Madonna, he obtained the dignity +of a grand vicar, to the great edification, no doubt, of all those who +had seen him before the altar or in the camp, at the brothel, or in the +hospital. + +Another grand vicar of the same Bishop, in the same city, of the name of +Rami, has two of his illegitimate children as singing-boys in the same +cathedral where he officiates as a priest. Their mother is dead, but her +daughter, by another priest, is now their father’s mistress. This +incestuous commerce is so little concealed that the girl does the honours +of the grand vicar’s house, and, with naivete enough, tells the guests +and visitors of her happiness in having succeeded her mother. I have +this anecdote from an officer who heard her make use of that expression. + +In France, our priests, I fear, are equally as debauched and +unprincipled; but, in yielding to their vicious propensities, they take +care to save the appearance of virtue, and, though their guilt is the +same, the scandal is less. Bonaparte pretends to be severe against all +those ecclesiastics who are accused of any irregularities after having +made their peace with the Church. A curate of Picardy, suspected of +gallantry, and another of Normandy, accused of inebriety, were last +month, without further trial or ceremony than the report of the Minister +Portalis, delivered over to Fouche, who transported them to Cayenne, +after they had been stripped of their gowns. At the same time, Cardinal +Cambaceres and Cardinal Fesch, equally notorious for their excesses, were +taken no notice of, except that they were laughed at in our Court +circles. + +I am, almost every day, more and more convinced that our Government is +totally indifferent about what becomes of our religious establishment +when the present race of priests is extinguished; which, in the course of +nature, must happen in less than thirty years. Our military system and +our military education discourage all young men from entering into +orders; while, at the same time, the army is both more honourable and +more profitable than the Church. Already we want curates, though several +have been imported from Germany and Spain, and, in some departments, +four, and even six parishes have only one curate to serve them all. The +Bishops exhort, and the parents advise their children to study theology; +but then the law of conscription obliges the student of theology, as well +as the student of philosophy, to march together; and, when once in the +ranks, and accustomed to the licentiousness of a military life, they are +either unwilling, unfit, or unworthy to return to anything else. The +Pope, with all his entreaties, and with all his prayers, was unable to +procure an exception from the conscription of young men preparing +themselves for priesthood. Bonaparte always answered: “Holy Father, were +I to consent to your demand, I should soon have an army of priests, +instead of an army of soldiers.” Our Emperor is not unacquainted with +the real character and spirit of his Volunteers. When the Pope +represented the danger of religion expiring in France, for want of +priests to officiate at the altars, he was answered that Bonaparte, at +the beginning of his consulate, found neither altars nor priests in +France; that if his reign survived the latter, the former would always be +standing, and survive his reign. He trusted that the chief of the Church +would prevent them from being deserted. He assured him that when once he +had restored the liberties of the seas, and an uninterrupted tranquillity +on the Continent, he should attend more, and perhaps entirely, to the +affairs of the Church. He consented, however, that the Pope might +institute, in the Ecclesiastical States, a seminary for two hundred young +Frenchmen, whom he would exempt from military conscription. This is the +stock from which our Church establishment is to be supplied! + + + + +LETTER XXIX. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--The short journey of Count von Haugwitz to Vienna, and the long +stay of our Imperial Grand Marshal, Duroc, at Berlin, had already caused +here many speculations, not quite corresponding with the views and, +perhaps, interests of our Court, when our violation of the Prussian +territory made our courtiers exclaim: “This act proves that the Emperor +of the French is in a situation to bid defiance to all the world, and, +therefore, no longer courts the neutrality of a Prince whose power is +merely artificial; who has indemnities to restore, but no delicacy, no +regard to claims.” Such was the language of those very men who, a month +before, declared “that His Prussian Majesty held the balance of peace or +war in his hands; that he was in a position in which no Prussian Monarch +ever was before; that while his neutrality preserved the tranquillity of +the North of Germany, the South of Europe would soon be indebted to his +powerful mediation for the return of peace.” + +The real cause of this alteration in our courtiers’ political jargon has +not yet been known; but I think it may easily be discovered without any +official publication. Bonaparte had the adroitness to cajole the Cabinet +of Berlin into his interest, in the first month of his consulate, +notwithstanding his own critical situation, as well as the critical +situation of France; and he has ever since taken care both to attach it +to his triumphal car and to inculpate it indirectly in his outrages and +violations. Convinced, as he thought, of the selfishness which guided +all its resolutions, all his attacks and invasions against the law of +nations, or independence of States, were either preceded or followed with +some offers of aggrandizement, of indemnity, of subsidy, or of alliance. +His political intriguers were generally more successful in Prussia than +his military heroes in crossing the Rhine or the Elbe, in laying the +Hanse Towns under contribution, or in occupying Hanover; or, rather, all +these acts of violence and injustice were merely the effects of his +ascendency in Prussia. When it is, besides, remembered what provinces +Prussia accepted from his bounty, what exchange of presents, of ribands, +of private letters passed between Napoleon the First and Frederick +William III., between the Empress of the French and the Queen of Prussia, +it is not surprising if the Cabinet of St. Cloud thought itself sure of +the submission of the Cabinet of Berlin, and did not esteem it enough to +fear it, or to think that it would have spirit enough to resent, or even +honour to feel, the numerous Provocations offered. + +Whatever Bonaparte and Talleyrand write or assert to the contrary, their +gifts are only the wages of their contempt, and they despise more that +State they thus reward than those nations at whose expense they are +liberal, and with whose spoil they delude selfishness or meanness into +their snares. The more legitimate Sovereigns descend from their true +dignity, and a liberal policy, the nearer they approach the baseness of +usurpation and the Machiavellism of rebellion. Like other upstarts, they +never suffer an equal. If you do not keep yourself above them, they will +crush you beneath them. If they have no reason to fear you, they will +create some quarrel to destroy you. + +It is said here that Duroc’s journey to Berlin was merely to demand a +passage for the French troops through the Prussian territory in +Franconia, and to prevent the Russian troops from passing through the +Prussian territory in Poland. This request is such as might have been +expected from our Emperor and his Minister. Whether, however, the tone +in which this curious negotiation with a neutral power was begun, or +that, at last, the generosity of the Russian Monarch awakened a sense of +duty in the Cabinet of Berlin, the arrival of our pacific envoy was +immediately followed with warlike preparations. Fortunate, indeed, was +it for Prussia to have resorted to her military strength instead of +trusting any longer to our friendly assurances. The disasters that have +since befallen the Austrian armies in Suabia, partly occasioned by our +forced marches through neutral Prussia, would otherwise soon have been +felt in Westphalia, in Brandenburgh, and in Pomerania. But should His +Prussian Majesty not order his troops to act in conjunction with Russia, +Austria, England, and Sweden, and that very soon, all efforts against +Bonaparte will be vain, as those troops which have dispersed the +Austrians and repulsed the Russians will be more than equal to master the +Prussians, and one campaign may be sufficient to convince the Prussian +Ministers of their folly and errors for years, and to punish them for +their ignorance or selfishness. + +Some preparations made in silence by the Marquis of Lucchesini, his +affected absence from some of our late Court circles, and the number of +spies who now are watching his hotel and his steps, seem to indicate that +Prussia is tired of its impolitic neutrality, and inclined to join the +confederacy against France. At the last assembly at our Prince +Cambaceres’s, a rumour circulated that preliminary articles for an +offensive alliance with your country had already been signed by the +Prussian Minister, Baron Von Hardenberg, on one side, and by your +Minister to the Court of Berlin on the other; according to which you were +to take sixty thousand Prussians and twelve thousand Hessians into your +pay, for five years certain. A courier from Duroc was said to have +brought this news, which at first made some impression, but it wore away +by degrees; and our Government, to judge from the expressions of persons +in its confidence, seems more to court than to fear a rupture with +Prussia. Indeed, besides all other reasons to carry on a war in the +North of Europe, Bonaparte’s numerous and young generals are impatient to +enrich themselves, as Italy, Switzerland, Holland, and the South of +Germany are almost exhausted. + + + + +LETTER XXX. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--The provocations of our Government must have been extraordinary +indeed, when they were able to awaken the Cabinet of Berlin from its long +and incomprehensible infatuation of trusting to the friendly intentions +of honest Talleyrand, and to the disinterested policy of our generous +Bonaparte. To judge its intents from its acts, the favour of the Cabinet +of St. Cloud was not only its wish but its want. You must remember that, +last year, besides his ordinary Ambassador, Da Lucchesini, His Prussian +Majesty was so ill advised as to despatch General Knobelsdorff as his +extra representative, to assist at Napoleon’s coronation, a degradation +of lawful sovereignty to which even the Court of Naples, though +surrounded with our troops, refused to subscribe; and, so late as last +June, the same Knobelsdorff did, in the name of his Prince, the honours +at the reviews near Magdeburg, to all the generals of our army in Hanover +who chose to attend there. On this occasion the King lodged in a +farmhouse, the Queen in the house of the curate of Koestelith, while our +sans-culotte officers, Bernadotte & Co., were quartered and treated in +style at the castle of Putzbull, fitted up for their accommodation. This +was certainly very hospitable, and very civil, but it was neither prudent +nor politic. Upstarts, experiencing such a reception from Princes, are +convinced that they are dreaded, because they know that they have not +merit to be esteemed. + +Do not confound this Knobelsdorff with the late Field-marshal of that +name, who, in 1796, answered to a request which our then Ambassador at +Berlin (Abbe Sieges) had made to be introduced to him, NON ET SANS +PHRASE, the very words this regicide used when he sat in judgment on his +King, and voted LA MORT ET SANS PHRASE. This Knobelsdorff is a very +different character. He pretends to be equally conspicuous in the +Cabinet as in the field, in the boudoir as in the study. A +demi-philosopher, a demi-savant, a demi-gallant and a demi-politician, +constitute, all taken together, nothing except an insignificant courtier. +I do not know whether he was among those Prussian officers who, in 1798, +CRIED when it was inserted in the public prints that the Grand Bonaparte +had been killed in an insurrection at Cairo, but of this I am certain, +that were Knobelsdorff to survive Napoleon the First, none of His +Imperial Majesty’s own dutiful subjects would mourn him more sincerely +than this subject of the King of Prussia. He is said to possess a great +share of the confidence of his King, who has already employed him in +several diplomatic missions. The principal and most requisite qualities +in a negotiator are political information, inviolable fidelity, +penetrating but unbiased judgment, a dignified firmness, and +condescending manners. I have not been often enough in the society of +General Knobelsdorff to assert whether nature and education have destined +him to illumine or to cloud the Prussian monarchy. + +I have already mentioned in a former letter that it was Count von +Haugwitz who, in 1792, as Prussian Ambassador at Vienna, arranged the +treaty which then united the Austrian and Prussian Eagles against the +Jacobin Cap of Liberty. It is now said in our diplomatic circle that his +second mission to the same capital has for an object the renewal of these +ties, which the Treaty of Basle dissolved; and that our Government, to +impede his success, or to occasion his recall, before he could have time +to conclude, had proposed to Prussia an annual subsidy of thirty millions +of liveres--which it intended to exact from Portugal for its neutrality. +The present respectable appearance of Prussia, shows, however, that +whether the mission of Haugwitz had the desired issue or not, His +Prussian Majesty confides in his army in preference to our parchments. + +Some of our politicians pretend that the present Minister of the foreign +department in Prussia, Baron von Hardenberg, is not such a friend of the +system of neutrality as his predecessor. All the transactions of his +administration seem, nevertheless, to proclaim that, if he wished his +country to take an active part in the present conflict, it would not have +been against France, had she not begun the attack with the invasion of +Anspach and Bayreuth. Let it be recollected that, since his Ministry, +Prussia has acknowledged Bonaparte an Emperor of the French, has +exchanged orders with him, and has sent an extraordinary Ambassador to be +present at his coronation,--not common compliments, even between Princes +connected by the nearest ties of friendship and consanguinity. Under his +administration, the Rhine has been passed to seize the Duc d’Enghien, and +the Elbe to capture Sir George Rumbold; the Hanse Towns have been +pillaged, and even Emden blockaded; and the representations against, all +these outrages have neither been followed by public reparation nor a +becoming resentment; and was it not also Baron von Hardenberg, who, on +the 5th of April, 1795, concluded at Basle that treaty to which we owe +all our conquests and Germany and Italy all their disasters? It is not +probable that the parent of pacification will destroy its own progeny, if +self-preservation does not require it. + +Baron von Hardenberg is both a learned nobleman and an enlightened +statesman, and does equal honour both to his own rank and to the choice +of his Prince. The late Frederick William II. nominated him a Minister +of State and a Counsellor of his Cabinet. On the 26th of January, 1792, +as a directorial Minister, he took possession, in the name of the King of +Prussia, of the Margravates of Anspach and Bayreuth, and the inhabitants +swore before him, as their governor, their oaths of allegiance to their +new Sovereign.--He continued to reside as a kind of viceroy, in these +States, until March, 1795, when he replaced Baron von Goltz as negotiator +with our republican plenipotentiary in Switzerland; but after settling +all differences between Prussia and France, he returned to his former +post at Anspach, where no complaints have been heard against his +Government. + +The ambition of Baron von Hardenberg has always been to obtain the place +he now occupies, and the study of his life has been to gain such +information as would enable him to fill it with distinction. I have +heard it said that in most countries he had for years kept and paid +private agents, who regularly corresponded with him and sent him reports +of what they heard or saw of political intrigue or machinations. One of +these his agents I happened to meet with, in 1796, at Basle, and were I +to conclude from what I observed in him, the Minister has not been very +judicious in his selection of private correspondents. Figure to yourself +a bald-headed personage, about forty years of age, near seven feet high, +deaf as a post, stammering and making convulsive efforts to express a +sentence of five words, which, after all, his gibberish made +unintelligible. His dress was as eccentric as his person was singular, +and his manners corresponded with both. He called himself Baron von +Bulow, and I saw him afterwards, in the autumn of 1797, at Paris, with +the same accoutrements and the same jargon, assuming an air of diplomatic +mystery, even while displaying before me, in a coffee-house, his letters +and instructions from his principal. As might be expected, he had the +adroitness to get himself shut up in the Temple, where, I have been told, +the generosity of your Sir Sidney Smith prevented him from starving. + +No member of the foreign diplomatic corps here possesses either more +knowledge, or a longer experience, than the Prussian Ambassador, Marquis +of Lucchesini. He went with several other philosophers of Italy to +admire the late hero of modern philosophy at Berlin, Frederick the Great, +who received him well, caressed him often, but never trusted or employed +him. I suppose it was not at the mention of the Marquis’s name for the +place of a governor of some province that this Monarch said, “My subjects +of that province have always been dutiful; a philosopher shall never rule +in my name but over people with whom I am discontented, or whom I intend +to chastise.” This Prince was not unacquainted with the morality of his +sectaries. + +During the latter part of the life of this King, the Marquis of +Lucchesini was frequently of his literary and convivial parties; but he +was neither his friend nor his favourite, but his listener. It was first +under Frederick William II. that he began his diplomatic career, with an +appointment as Minister from Prussia to the late King of Poland. His +first act in this post was a treaty signed on the 29th of March, 1790, +with the King and Republic of Poland, which changed an elective monarchy +into an hereditary one; but, notwithstanding the Cabinet of Berlin had +guaranteed this alteration, and the constitution decreed in consequence, +in 1791, three years afterwards Russian and Prussian bayonets annihilated +both, and selfishness banished faith. + +In July, 1790, he assisted as a Prussian plenipotentiary at the +conferences at Reichenback, together with the English and Dutch +Ambassadors, having for object a pacification between Austria and Turkey. +In December of the same year he went with the same Ministers to the +Congress at Sistova, where, in May, 1791, he signed the Treaty of Peace +between the Grand Seignior and the Emperor of Germany. In June, 1792, he +was a second time sent as a Minister to Warsaw, where he remained until +January, 1793, when he was promoted to the post of Ambassador at the +Court of Vienna. He continued, however, to reside with His Prussian +Majesty during the greatest part of the campaign on the Rhine, and +signed, on the 24th of June, 1793, in the camp before Mentz, an offensive +and defensive alliance with your Court; an alliance which Prussian policy +respected not above eighteen months. In October, 1796, he requested his +recall, but this his Sovereign refused, with the most gracious +expressions; and he could not obtain it until March, 1797. Some +disapprobation of the new political plan introduced by Count von Haugwitz +in the Cabinet at Berlin is supposed to have occasioned his determination +to retire from public employment. As he, however, continued to reside in +the capital of Prussia, and, as many believed, secretly intrigued to +appear again upon the scene, the nomination, in 1800, to his present +important post was as much the consequence of his own desire as of the +favour of his King. + +The Marquis of Lucchesini lives here in great style at the beautiful +Hotel de l’Infantado, where his lady’s routs, assemblies, and circles are +the resort of our most fashionable gentry. Madame da Lucchesini is more +agreeable than handsome, more fit to shine at Berlin than at Paris; for +though her manners are elegant, they want that ease, that finish which a +German or Italian education cannot teach, nor a German or Italian society +confer. To judge from the number of her admirers, she seems to know that +she is married to a philosopher. Her husband was born at Lucca, in +Italy, and is, therefore, at present a subject of Bonaparte’s +brother-in-law, Prince Bacciochi, to whom, when His Serene Highness was a +marker at a billiard-table, I have had the honour of giving many a +shilling, as well as many a box on the ear. + + + + +LETTER XXXI. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--The unexampled cruelty of our Government to your countryman, +Captain Wright, I have heard reprobated, even by some of our generals and +public functionaries, as unjust as well as disgraceful. At a future +General Congress, should ever Bonaparte suffer one to be convoked, except +under his auspices and dictature, the distinction and treatment of +prisoners of war require to be again regulated, that the valiant warrior +may not for the future be confounded with, and treated as, a treacherous +spy; nor innocent travellers, provided with regular passes, visiting a +country either for business or for pleasure, be imprisoned, like men +taken while combating with arms in their hands. + +You remember, no doubt, from history, that many of our ships--that, +during the reigns of George I. and II., carried to Ireland and Scotland, +and landed there, the adherents and partisans of the House of Stuart were +captured on their return or on their passage; and that your Government +never seized the commanders of these vessels, to confine them as State +criminals, much less to torture or murder them in the Tower. If I am not +mistaken, the whole squadron which, in 1745, carried the Pretender and +his suite to Scotland, was taken by your cruisers; and the officers and +men experienced no worse or different treatment than their fellow +prisoners of war; though the distance is immense between the crime of +plotting against the lawful Government of the Princes of the House of +Brunswick, and the attempt to disturb the usurpation of an upstart of the +House of Bonaparte. But, even during the last war, how many of our ships +of the line, frigates, and cutters, did you not take, which had landed +rebels in Ireland, emissaries in Scotland, and malefactors in Wales; and +yet your generosity prevented you from retaliating, even at the time when +your Sir Sidney Smith, and this same unfortunate Captain Wright, were +confined in our State prison of the Temple! It is with Governments as +with individuals, they ought to be just before they are generous. Had +you in 1797, or in 1798, not endured our outrages so patiently, you would +not now have to lament, nor we to blush for, the untimely end of Captain +Wright. + +From the last time that this officer had appeared before the criminal +tribunal which condemned Georges and Moreau, his fate was determined on +by our Government. His firmness offended, and his patriotism displeased; +and as he seemed to possess the confidence of his own Government, it was +judged that he was in its secrets; it was, therefore, resolved that, if +he refused to become a traitor, he should perish a victim. Desmarets, +Fouche’s private secretary, who is also the secretary of the secret and +haute police, therefore ordered him to another private interrogatory. +Here he was offered a considerable sum of money, and the rank of an +admiral in our service, if he would divulge what he knew of the plans of +his Government, of its connections with the discontented in this country, +and of its means of keeping up a correspondence with them. He replied, +as might have been expected, with indignation, to such offers and to such +proposals, but as they were frequently repeated with new allurements, he +concluded with remaining silent and giving no answers at all. He was +then told that the torture would soon restore him his voice, and some +select gendarmes seized him and laid him on the rack; there he uttered no +complaint, not even a sigh, though instruments the most diabolical were +employed, and pains the most acute must have been endured. When +threatened that he should expire in torments, he said: + +“I do not fear to die, because my country will avenge my murder, while my +God receives my soul.” During the two hours of the first day that he was +stretched on the rack, his left arm and right leg were broken, and his +nails torn from the toes of both feet; he then passed into the hands of a +surgeon, and was under his care for five weeks, but, before he was +perfectly cured, he was carried to another private interrogatory, at +which, besides Desmarets, Fouche and Real were present. + +The Minister of Police now informed him that, from the mutilated state of +his body, and from the sufferings he had gone through, he must be +convinced that it was not the intention of the French Government ever to +restore him to his native country, where he might relate occurrences +which the policy of France required to be buried in oblivion; he, +therefore, had no choice between serving the Emperor of the French, or +perishing within the walls of the prison where he was confined. He +replied that he was resigned to his destiny, and would die as he had +lived, faithful to his King and to his country. + +The man in full possession of his mental qualities and corporeal strength +is, in most cases, very different from that unfortunate being whose mind +is, enervated by sufferings and whose body is weakened by wants. For +five months Captain Wright had seen only gaolers, spies, tyrants, +executioners, fetters, racks, and other tortures; and for five weeks his +food had been bread and his drink water. The man who, thus situated and +thus perplexed, preserves his native dignity and innate sentiments, is +more worthy of monuments, statues, or altars than either the legislator, +the victor, or the saint. + +This interrogatory was the last undergone by Captain Wright. He was then +again stretched on the rack, and what is called by our regenerators the +INFERNAL torments, were inflicted on him. After being pinched with +red-hot irons all over his body, brandy, mixed with gunpowder, was +infused in the numerous wounds and set fire to several times until nearly +burned to the bones. In the convulsions, the consequence of these +terrible sufferings, he is said to have bitten off a part of his tongue, +though, as before, no groans were heard. As life still remained, he was +again put under the care of his former surgeon; but, as he was +exceedingly exhausted, a spy, in the dress of a Protestant clergyman, +presented himself as if to read prayers with him. Of this offer he +accepted; but when this man began to ask some insidious questions, he +cast on him a look of contempt and never spoke to him more. At last, +seeing no means to obtain any information from him, a mameluke last week +strangled him in his bed. Thus expired a hero whose fate has excited +more compassion, and whose character has received more admiration here, +than any of our great men who have fallen fighting for our Emperor. +Captain Wright has diffused new rays of renown and glory on the British +name, from his tomb as well as from his dungeon. + +You have certainly a right to call me to an account for all the +particulars I have related of this scandalous and abominable transaction, +and, though I cannot absolutely guarantee the truth of the narration, I +am perfectly satisfied of it myself, and I hope to explain myself to your +satisfaction. Your unfortunate countryman was attended by and under the +care of a surgeon of the name of Vaugeard, who gained his confidence, and +was worthy of it, though employed in that infamous gaol. Either from +disgust of life, or from attachment to Captain Wright, he survived him +only twelve hours, during which he wrote the shocking details I have +given you, and sent them to three of the members of the foreign +diplomatic corps, with a prayer to have them forwarded to Sir Sidney +Smith or to Mr. Windham, that those his friends might be informed that, +to his last moment, Captain Wright was worthy of their protection and +kindness. From one of those Ministers I have obtained the original in +Vaugeard’s own handwriting. + +I know that Bonaparte and Talleyrand promised the release of Captain +Wright to the Spanish Ambassador; but, at that time, he had already +suffered once on the rack, and this liberality on their part was merely a +trick to impose upon the credulity of the Spaniard or to get rid of his +importunities. Had it been otherwise, Captain Wright, like Sir George +Rumbold, would himself have been the first to announce in your country +the recovery of his liberty. + + + + +LETTER XXXII. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +My LORD:--Should Bonaparte again return here victorious, and a +pacificator, great changes in our internal Government and constitution +are expected, and will certainly occur. Since the legislative corps has +completed the Napoleon code of civil and criminal justice, it is +considered by the Emperor not only as useless, but troublesome and +superfluous. For the same reasons the tribunate will also be laid aside, +and His Majesty will rule the French Empire, with the assistance of his +Senate, and with the advice of his Council of State, exclusively. You +know that the Senators, as well as the Councillors of State, are +nominated by the Emperor; that he changes the latter according to his +whim, and that, though the former, according to the present constitution, +are to hold their offices for life, the alterations which remove entirely +the legislature and the tribunate may also make Senators movable. But as +all members of the Senate are favourites or relatives, he will probably +not think it necessary to resort to such a measure of policy. + +In a former letter I have already mentioned the heterogeneous composition +of the Senate. The tribunate and legislative corps are worthy to figure +by its side; their members are also ci-devant mechanics of all +descriptions, debased attorneys or apostate priests, national spoilers or +rebellious regicides, degraded nobles or dishonoured officers. The nearly +unanimous vote of these corps for a consulate for life, and for an +hereditary Emperor, cannot, therefore, either be expressive of the +national will, or constitute the legality of Bonaparte’s sovereignty. + +In the legislature no vote opposed, and no voice declaimed against, +Bonaparte’s Imperial dignity; but in the tribunate, Carnot--the +infamously notorious Carnot--‘pro forma’, and with the permission of the +Emperor ‘in petto’, spoke against the return of a monarchical form of +Government. This farce of deception and roguery did not impose even on +our good Parisians, otherwise, and so frequently, the dupes of all our +political and revolutionary mountebanks. Had Carnot expressed a +sentiment or used a word not previously approved by Bonaparte, instead of +reposing himself in the tribunate, he would have been wandering in +Cayenne. + +Son of an obscure attorney at Nolay, in Burgundy, he was brought up, like +Bonaparte, in one of those military schools established by the +munificence of the French Monarchs; and had obtained, from the late King, +the commission of a captain of engineers when the Revolution broke out. +He was particularly indebted to the Prince of Conde for his support +during the earlier part of his life, and yet he joined the enemies of his +house, and voted for the death of Louis XVI. A member, with Robespierre +and Barrere, of the Committee of Public Safety, he partook of their +power, as well as of their crimes, though he has been audacious enough to +deny that he had anything to do with other transactions than those of the +armies. Were no other proofs to the contrary collected, a letter of his +own hand to the ferocious Lebon, at Arras, is a written evidence which he +is unable to refute. It is dated November 16th, 1793. “You must take,” + says he, “in your energy, all measures of terror commanded or required by +present circumstances. Continue your revolutionary attitude; never mind +the amnesty pronounced with the acceptance of the absurd constitution of +1791; it is a crime which cannot extenuate other crimes. Anti-republicans +can only expiate their folly under the age of the guillotine. The public +Treasury will always pay the journeys and expenses of informers, because +they have deserved well of their country. Let all suspected traitors +expire by the sword or by fire; continue to march upon that revolutionary +line so well delineated by you. The committee applauds all your +undertakings, all your measures of vigour; they are not only all +permitted, but commanded by your mission.” Most of the decrees +concerning the establishment of revolutionary tribunals, and particularly +that for the organization of the atrocious military commission at Orange, +were signed by him. + +Carnot, as an officer of engineers, certainly is not without talents; but +his presumption in declaring himself the sole author of those plans of +campaign which, during the years 1794, 1795, and 1796, were so +triumphantly executed by Pichegru, Moreau, and Bonaparte, is impertinent, +as well as unfounded. At the risk of his own life, Pichegru entirely +altered the plan sent him by the Committee of Public Safety; and it was +Moreau’s masterly retreat, which no plan of campaign could prescribe, +that made this general so famous. The surprising successes of Bonaparte +in Italy were both unexpected and unforeseen by the Directory; and, +according to Berthier’s assertion, obliged the, commander-in-chief, +during the first four months, to change five times his plans of +proceedings and undertakings. + +During his temporary sovereignty as a director, Carnot honestly has made +a fortune of twelve millions of livres; which has enabled him not only to +live in style with his wife, but also to keep in style two sisters, of +the name of Aublin, as his mistresses. He was the friend of the father +of these girls, and promised him, when condemned to the guillotine in +1793, to be their second father; but he debauched and ruined them both +before either was fourteen years of age; and young Aublin, who, in 1796, +reproached him with the infamy of his conduct, was delivered up by him to +a military commission, which condemned him to be shot as an emigrant. He +has two children by each of these unfortunate girls. + +Bonaparte employs Carnot, but despises and mistrusts him; being well +aware that, should another National Convention be convoked, and the +Emperor of the French be arraigned, as the King of France was, he would, +with as great pleasure, vote for the execution of Napoleon the First as +he did for that of Louis XVI. He has waded too far in blood and crime to +retrograde. + +To this sample of a modern tribune I will add a specimen of a modern +legislator. Baptiste Cavaignae was, before the Revolution, an excise +officer, turned out of his place for infidelity; but the department of +Lot electing him, in 1792, a representative of the people to the National +Convention, he there voted for the death of Louis XVI. and remained a +faithful associate of Marat and Robespierre. After the evacuation of +Verdun by the Prussians, in October, 1792, he made a report to the +Convention, according to which eighty-four citizens of that town were +arrested and executed. Among these were twenty-two young girls, under +twenty years of age, whose crime was the having presented nosegays to the +late King of Prussia on his entry after the surrender of Verdun. He was +afterwards a national commissary with the armies on the coast near Brest, +on the Rhine, and in Western Pyrenees, and everywhere he signalized +himself by unheard of ferocities and sanguinary deeds. The following +anecdote, printed and published by our revolutionary annalist, Prudhomme, +will give you some idea of the morality of this our regenerator and +Imperial Solon: “Cavaignac and another deputy, Pinet,” writes Prudhomme, +“had ordered a box to be kept for them at the play-house at Bayonne on +the evening they expected to arrive in that town. Entering very late, +they found two soldiers, who had seen the box empty, placed in its front. +These they ordered immediately to be arrested, and condemned them, for +having outraged the national representation, to be guillotined on the +next day, when they both were accordingly executed!” Labarrere, a +provost of the Marechaussee at Dax, was in prison as a suspected person. +His daughter, a very handsome girl of seventeen, lived with an aunt at +Severe. The two pro-consuls passing through that place, she threw +herself at their feet, imploring mercy for her parent. This they not +only promised, but offered her a place in their carriage to Dax, that she +might see him restored to liberty. On the road the monsters insisted on +a ransom for the blood of her father. Waiting, afflicted and ashamed, at +a friend’s house at Dag, the accomplishment of a promise so dearly +purchased, she heard the beating of the alarm drum, and looked, from +curiosity, through the window, when she saw her unfortunate parent +ascending the scaffold! After having remained lifeless for half an hour, +she recovered her senses an instant, when she exclaimed: + +“Oh, the barbarians! they violated me while flattering me with the hope +of saving my father!” and then expired. In October, 1795, Cavaignac +assisted Barras and Bonaparte in the destruction of some thousands of +men, women, and children in the streets of this capital, and was, +therefore, in 1796, made by the Directory an inspector-general of the +customs; and, in 1803, nominated by Bonaparte a legislator. His +colleague, Citizen Pinet, is now one of our Emperor’s Counsellors of +State, and both are commanders of His Majesty’s Legion of Honour; rich, +respected, and frequented by our most fashionable ladies and gentlemen. + + + + +LETTER XXXIII. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--I suppose your Government too vigilant and too patriotic not to +be informed of the great and uninterrupted activity which reigns in our +arsenals, dockyards, and seaports. I have seen a plan, according to +which Bonaparte is enabled, and intends, to build twenty ships of the +line and ten frigates, besides cutters, in the year, for ten years to +come. I read the calculation of the expenses, the names of the forests +where the timber is to be cut, of the foreign countries where a part of +the necessary materials are already engaged, and of our own departments +which are to furnish the remainder. The whole has been drawn up in a +precise and clear manner by Bonaparte’s Maritime Prefect at Antwerp, M. +Malouet, well known in your country, where he long remained as an +emigrant, and, I believe, was even employed by your Ministers. + +You may, perhaps, smile at this vast naval scheme of Bonaparte; but if +you consider that he is the master of all the forests, mines, and +productions of France, Italy, and of a great part of Germany, with all +the navigable rivers and seaports of these countries and Holland, and +remember also the character of the man, you will, perhaps, think it less +impracticable. The greatest obstacle he has to encounter, and to remove, +is want of experienced naval officers, though even in this he has +advanced greatly since the present war, during which he has added to his +naval forces twenty--nine ships of the line, thirty--four frigates, +twenty-one cutters, three thousand prams, gunboats, pinnaces, etc., with +four thousand naval officers and thirty-seven thousand sailors, according +to the same account, signed by Malouet. It is true that most of our new +naval heroes have never ventured far from our coast, and all their naval +laurels have been gathered under our land batteries; but the impulse is +given to the national spirit, and our conscripts in the maritime +departments prefer, to a man, the navy to the army, which was not +formerly the case. + +It cannot have escaped your observation that the incorporation of Genoa +procured us, in the South of our Empire, a naval station and arsenal, as +a counterpoise to Antwerp, our new naval station in the North, where +twelve ships of the line have been built, or are building, since 1803, +and where timber and other materials are collected for eight more. At +Genoa, two ships of the line and four frigates have lately been launched, +and four ships and two frigates are on the stocks; and the Genoese +Republic has added sixteen thousand seafaring men to our navy. Should +Bonaparte terminate successfully the present war, Naples and Venice will +increase the number of our seaports and resources on the borders of the +Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. All his courtiers say that he will +conquer Italy in Germany, and determine at Vienna--the fate of London. + +Of all our admirals, however, we have not one to compare with your +Nelson, your Hood, your St. Vincent, and your Cornwallis. By the +appointment of Murat as grand admiral, Bonaparte seems to indicate that +he is inclined to imitate the example of Louis. XVI., in the beginning of +his reign, and entrust the chief command of his fleets and squadrons to +military men of approved capacity and courage, officers of his land +troops. Last June, when he expected a probable junction of the fleet +under Villeneuve with the squadron under Admiral Winter, and the union of +both with Ganteaume at Brest, Murat was to have had the chief command of +the united French, Spanish, and Batavian fleets, and to support the +landing of our troops in your country; but the arrival of Lord Nelson in +the West Indies, and the victory of Admiral Calder, deranged all our +plans and postponed all our designs, which the Continental war has +interrupted; to be commenced, God knows when. + +The best amongst our bad admirals is certainly Truguet; but he was +disgraced last year, and exiled twenty leagues from the coast, for having +declared too publicly “that our flotillas would never be serviceable +before our fleets were superior to yours, when they would become +useless.” An intriguer by long habit and by character, having neither +property nor principles, he joined the Revolution, and was the second in +command under Latouche, in the first republican fleet that left our +harbours. He directed the expedition against Sardinia, in January, 1793, +during which he acquired neither honour nor glory, being repulsed with +great loss by the inhabitants. After being imprisoned under Robespierre, +the Directory made him a Minister of the marine, an Ambassador to Spain, +and a Vice-Admiral of France. In this capacity he commanded at Brest, +during the first eighteen months of the present war. He has an +irreconcilable foe in Talleyrand, with whom he quarrelled, when on his +embassy in Spain, about some extortions at Madrid, which he declined to +share with his principal at Paris. Such was our Minister’s inveteracy +against him in 1798, that a directorial decree placed him on the list of +emigrants, because he remained in Spain after having been recalled to +France. In 1799, during Talleyrand’s disgrace, Truguet returned here, +and, after in vain challenging his enemy to fight, caned him in the +Luxembourg gardens, a chastisement which our premier bore with true +Christian patience. Truguet is not even a member of the Legion of +Honour. + +Villeneuve is supposed not much inferior in talents, experience, and +modesty to Truguet. He was, before the Revolution, a lieutenant of the +royal navy; but his principles did not prevent him from deserting to the +colours of the enemies of royalty, who promoted him first to a captain +and afterwards to an admiral. + +His first command as such was over a division of the Toulon fleet, which, +in the winter of 1797, entered Brest. In the battle at Aboukir he was +the second in command; and, after the death of Admiral Brueys, he rallied +the ships which had escaped, and sailed for Malta, where, two years +afterwards, he signed, with General Vaubois, the capitulation of that +island. When hostilities again broke out, he commanded in the West +Indies, and, leaving his station, escaped your cruisers, and was +appointed first to the chief command of the Rochefort, and afterwards the +Toulon fleet, on the death of Admiral Latouche. Notwithstanding the +gasconade of his report of his negative victory over Admiral Calder, +Villeneuve is not a Gascon by birth, but only, by sentiment. + +Ganteaume does not possess either the intriguing character of Truguet or +the valorous one of Villeneuve. + +Before the Revolution he was a mate of a merchantman, but when most of +the officers of the former royal navy had emigrated or perished, he was, +in 1793, made a captain of the republican navy, and in 1796 an admiral. +During the battle of Aboukir he was the chief of the staff, under Admiral +Brueys, and saved himself by swimming, when l’Orient took fire and blew +up. Bonaparte wrote to him on this occasion: “The picture you have sent +me of the disaster of l’Orient, and of your own dreadful situation, is +horrible; but be assured that, having such a miraculous escape, DESTINY +intends you to avenge one day our navy and our friends.” This note was +written in August, 1798, shortly after Bonaparte had professed himself a +Mussulman. + +When, in the summer of 1799, our general-in-chief had determined to leave +his army of Egypt to its destiny, Ganteaume equipped and commanded the +squadron of frigates which brought him to Europe, and was, after his +consulate, appointed a Counsellor of State and commander at Brest. In +1800 he escaped with a division of the Brest fleet to Toulon, and, in the +summer of 1801, when he was ordered to carry succours to Egypt, your ship +Skitsure fell in with him, and was captured. As he did not, however, +succeed in landing in Egypt the troops on board his ships, a temporary +disgrace was incurred, and he was deprived of the command, but made a +maritime prefect. Last year favour was restored him, with the command of +our naval forces at Brest. All officers who have served under Ganteaume +agree that, let his fleet be ever so superior, he will never fight if he +can avoid it, and that, in orderly times, his capacity would, at the +utmost, make him regarded as a good master of a merchantman, and nothing +else. + +Of the present commander of our, flotilla at Boulogne, Lacrosse, I will +also say some few words. A lieutenant before the Revolution, he became, +in 1789, one of the most ardent and violent Jacobins, and in 1792 was +employed by the friend of the Blacks, and our Minister, Monge, as an +emissary in the West Indies, to preach there to the negroes the rights of +man and insurrection against the whites, their masters. In 1800, +Bonaparte advanced him to a captain-general at Guadeloupe, an island +which his plots, eight years before, had involved in all the horrors of +anarchy, and where, when he now attempted to restore order, his former +instruments rose against him and forced him to escape to one of your +islands--I believe Dominico. Of this island, in return for his +hospitable reception, he took plans, according to which our General +Lagrange endeavoured to conquer it last spring. Lacrosse is a perfect +revolutionary fanatic, unprincipled, cruel, unfeeling, and intolerant. +His presumption is great, but his talents are trifling. + + + + +LETTER XXXIV. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--The defeat of the Austrians has excited great satisfaction +among our courtiers and public functionaries; but the mass of the +inhabitants here are too miserable to feel for anything else but their +own sufferings. They know very well that every victory rivets their +fetters, that no disasters can make them more heavy, and no triumph +lighter. Totally indifferent about external occurrences, as well as +about internal oppressions, they strive to forget both the past and the +present, and to be indifferent as to the future; they would be glad could +they cease to feel that they exist. The police officers were now, with +their gendarmes, bayoneting them into illuminations for Bonaparte’s +successes, as they dragooned them last year into rejoicings for his +coronation. I never observed before so much apathy; and in more than one +place I heard the people say, “Oh! how much better we should be with +fewer victories and more tranquillity, with less splendour and more +security, with an honest peace instead of a brilliant war.” But in a +country groaning under a military government, the opinions of the people +are counted for nothing. + +At Madame Joseph Bonaparte’s circle, however, the countenances were not +so gloomy. There a real or affected joy seemed to enliven the usual +dullness of these parties; some actors were repeating patriotic verses in +honour of the victor; while others were singing airs or vaudevilles, to +inspire our warriors with as much hatred towards your nation as gratitude +towards our Emperor. It is certainly neither philosophical nor +philanthropical not to exclude the vilest of all passions, HATRED, on +such a happy occasion. Martin, in the dress of a conscript, sang six +long couplets against the tyrants of the seas; of which I was only able +to retain the following one: + +Je deteste le peuple anglais, Je deteste son ministere; J’aime l’Empereur +des Francais, J’aime la paix, je hais la guerre; Mais puisqu’il faut la +soutenir Contre une Nation Sauvage, Mon plus doux, mon plus grand desir +Est de montrer tout mon courage. + +But what arrested my attention, more than anything else which occurred in +this circle on that evening, was a printed paper mysteriously handed +about, and of which, thanks to the civility of a Counsellor of State, I +at last got a sight. It was a list of those persons, of different +countries, whom the Emperor of the French has fixed upon, to replace all +the ancient dynasties of Europe within twenty years to come. From the +names of these individuals, some of whom are known to me, I could +perceive that Bonaparte had more difficulty to select proper Emperors, +Kings, and Electors, than he would have had, some years ago, to choose +directors or consuls. Our inconsistency is, however, evident even here; +I did not read a name that is not found in the annals of Jacobinism and +republicanism. We have, at the same time, taken care not to forget +ourselves in this new distribution of supremacy. France is to furnish +the stock of the new dynasties for Austria, England, Spain, Denmark, and +Sweden. What would you think, were you to awake one morning the subject +of King Arthur O’Connor the First? You would, I dare say, be even more +surprised than I am in being the subject of Napoleon Bonaparte the First. +You know, I suppose, that O’Connor is a general of division, and a +commander of the Legion of Honour,--the bosom friend of Talleyrand, and +courting, at this moment, a young lady, a relation of our Empress, whose +portion may one day be an Empire. But I am told that, notwithstanding +Talleyrand’s recommendations, and the approbation of Her Majesty, the +lady prefers a colonel, her own countryman, to the Irish general. Should, +however, our Emperor announce his determination, she would be obliged to +marry as he commands, were he even to give her his groom, or his horse, +for a spouse. + +You can form no idea how wretched and despised all the Irish rebels are +here. O’Connor alone is an exception; and this he owes to Talleyrand, to +General Valence, and to Madame de Genlis; but even he is looked on with a +sneer, and, if he ever was respected in England, must endure with +poignancy the contempt to which he is frequently exposed in France. When +I was in your country I often heard it said that the Irish were generally +considered as a debased and perfidious people, extremely addicted to +profligacy and drunkenness, and, when once drunk, more cruelly ferocious +than even our Jacobins. I thought it then, and I still believe it, a +national prejudice, because I am convinced that the vices or virtues of +all civilized nations are relatively the same; but those Irish rebels we +have seen here, and who must be, like our Jacobins, the very dregs of +their country, have conducted themselves so as to inspire not only +mistrust but abhorrence. It is also an undeniable truth that they were +greatly disappointed by our former and present Government. They expected +to enjoy liberty and equality, and a pension for their treachery; but our +police commissaries caught them at their landing, our gendarmes escorted +them as criminals to their place of destination, and there they received +just enough to prevent them from starving. If they complained they were +put in irons, and if they attempted to escape they were sent to the +galleys as malefactors or shot as spies. Despair, therefore, no doubt +induced many to perpetrate acts of which they were accused, and to rob, +swindle, and murder, because they were punished as thieves and assassins. +But, some of them, who have been treated in the most friendly, +hospitable, and generous manner in this capital, have proved themselves +ungrateful, as well as infamous. A lady of my acquaintance, of a once +large fortune, had nothing left but some furniture, and her subsistence +depended upon what she got by letting furnished lodgings. Mischance +brought three young Irishmen to her house, who pretended to be in daily +expectation of remittances from their country, and of a pension from +Bonaparte. During six months she not only lodged and supported them, but +embarrassed herself to procure them linen and a decent apparel. At last +she was informed that each of, them had been allowed sixty livres--in the +month, and that arrears had been paid them for nine months. Their debt +to her was above three thousand livres--but the day after she asked for +payment they decamped, and one of them persuaded her daughter, a girl of +fourteen, to elope with him, and to assist him in robbing her mother of +all her plate.--He has, indeed, been since arrested and sentenced to the +galleys for eight years; but this punishment neither restored the +daughter her virtue nor the mother her property. The other two denied +their debts, and, as she had no other evidence but her own scraps of +accounts, they could not be forced to pay; their obdurate effrontery and +infamy, however, excited such an indignation in the judges, that they +delivered them over as swindlers to the Tribunal Correctional; and the +Minister of Police ordered them to be transported as rogues and vagabonds +to the colonies. The daughter died shortly after, in consequence of a +miscarriage, and the mother did not survive her more than a month, and +ended her days in the Hotel Dieu, one of our common hospitals. Thus, +these depraved young men ruined and murdered their benefactress and her +child; and displayed, before they were thirty, such a consummate villainy +as few wretches grown hoary in vice have perpetrated. This act of +scandalous notoriety injured the Irish reputation very much in this +country; for here, as in many other places, inconsiderate people are apt +to judge a whole nation according to the behaviour of some few of its +outcasts. + + + + +LETTER XXXV. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--The plan of the campaign of the Austrians is incomprehensible +to all our military men--not on account of its profundity, but on account +of its absurdity or incoherency. In the present circumstances, +half-measures must always be destructive, and it is better to strike +strongly and firmly than justly. To invade Bavaria without disarming the +Bavarian army, and to enter Suabia and yet acknowledge the neutrality of +Switzerland, are such political and military errors as require long +successes to repair, but which such an enemy as Bonaparte always takes +care not to leave unpunished. + +The long inactivity of the army under the Archduke Charles has as much +surprised us as the defeat of the army under General von Mack; but from +what I know of the former, I am persuaded that he would long since have +pushed forward had not his movements been unfortunately combined with +those of the latter. The House of Lorraine never produced a more valiant +warrior, nor Austria a more liberal or better instructed statesman, than +this Prince. Heir to the talents of his ancestors, he has commanded, +with glory, against France during the revolutionary war; and, although he +sometimes experienced defeats, he has rendered invaluable services to the +chief of his House by his courage, by his activity, by his constancy, and +by that salutary firmness which, in calling the generals and superior +officers to their duty, has often reanimated the confidence and the +ardour of the soldier. + +The Archduke Charles began, in 1793, his military career under the Prince +of Coburg, the commander-in-chief of the Austrian armies in Brabant, +where he commanded the advanced guard, and distinguished himself by a +valour sometimes bordering on temerity, but which, by degrees, acquired +him that esteem and popularity, among the troops often very advantageous +to him afterwards. He was, in 1794, appointed governor and +captain-general of the Low Countries, and a Field-marshal lieutenant of +the army of the German Empire. In April, 1796, he took the +command-in-chief of the armies of Austria and of the Empire, and, in the +following June, engaged in several combats with General Moreau, in which +he was repulsed, but in a manner that did equal honour to the victor and +to the vanquished. + +The Austrian army on the Lower Rhine, under General Wartensleben, having, +about this time, been nearly dispersed by General Jourdan, the Archduke +left some divisions of his forces under General Latour, to impede the +progress of Moreau, and went with the remainder into Franconia, where he +defeated Jourdan near Amberg and Wurzburg, routed his army entirely, and +forced him to repass the Rhine in the greatest confusion, and with +immense loss. The retreat of Moreau was the consequence of the victories +of this Prince. After the capture of Kehl, in January, 1797, he assumed +the command of the army of Italy, where he in vain employed all his +efforts to put a stop to the victorious progress of Bonaparte, with whom, +at last, he signed the preliminaries of peace at Leoben. In the spring +of 1799, he again defeated Jourdan in Suabia, as he had done two years +before in Franconia; but in Switzerland he met with an abler adversary in +General Massena; still, I am inclined to think that he displayed there +more real talents than anywhere else; and that this part of his campaign +of 1799 was the most interesting, in a military point of view. + +The most implacable enemies of the politics of the House of Austria +render justice to the plans, to the frankness, to the morality of +Archduke Charles; and, what is remarkable, of all the chiefs who have +commanded against revolutionary France, he alone has seized the true +manner of combating enthusiasts or slaves; at least, his proclamations +are the only ones composed with adroitness, and are what they ought to +be, because in them an appeal is made to the public opinion at a time +when opinion almost constitutes half the strength of armies. + +The present opposer of this Prince in Italy is one of our best, as well +as most fortunate, generals. A Sardinian subject, and a deserter from +the Sardinian troops, he assisted, in 1792, our commander, General +Anselm, in the conquest of the county of Nice, rather as a spy than as a +soldier. His knowledge of the Maritime Alps obtained, in 1793, a place +on our staff, where, from the services he rendered, the rank of a general +of brigade was soon conferred on him. In 1796 he was promoted to serve +as a general of division under Bonaparte in Italy, where he distinguished +himself so much that when, in 1798, General Berthier was ordered to +accompany the army of the East to Egypt, he succeeded him as +commander-in-chief of our troops in the temporary Roman Republic. But +his merciless pillage, and, perhaps, the idea of his being a foreigner, +brought on a mutiny, and the Directory was obliged to recall him. It was +his campaign in Switzerland of 1799, and his defence of Genoa in 1800, +that principally ranked him high as a military chief. After the battle +of Marengo he received the command of the army of Italy; but his +extortions produced a revolt among the inhabitants, and he lived for some +time in retreat and disgrace, after a violent quarrel with Bonaparte, +during which many severe truths were said and heard on both sides. + +After the Peace of Luneville, he seemed inclined to join Moreau, and +other discontented generals; but observing, no doubt, their want of views +and union, he retired to an estate he has bought near Paris, where +Bonaparte visited him, after the rupture with your country, and made him, +we may conclude, such offers as tempted him to leave his retreat. Last +year he was nominated one of our Emperor’s Field-marshals, and as such he +relieved Jourdan of the command in the kingdom of Italy. He has +purchased with a part of his spoil, for fifteen millions of +livres--property in France and Italy; and is considered worth double that +sum in jewels, money, and other valuables. + +Massena is called, in France, the spoiled child of fortune; and as +Bonaparte, like our former Cardinal Mazarin, has more confidence in +fortune than in merit, he is, perhaps, more indebted to the former than +to the latter for his present situation; his familiarity has made him +disliked at our Imperial Court, where he never addresses Napoleon and +Madame Bonaparte as an Emperor or an Empress without smiling. + +General St. Cyr, our second in command of the army of Italy, is also an +officer of great talents and distinctions. He was, in 1791, only a +cornet, but in 1795, he headed, as a general, a division of the army of +the Rhine. In his report to the Directory, during the famous retreat of +1796, Moreau speaks highly of this general, and admits that his. +achievements, in part, saved the republican army. During 1799 he served +in Italy, and in 1800 he commanded the centre of the army of the Rhine, +and assisted in gaining the victory of Hohenlinden. After the Peace of +Lundville, he was appointed a Counsellor of State of the military +section, a place he still occupies, notwithstanding his present +employment. Though under forty years of age, he is rather infirm, from +the fatigues he has undergone and the wounds he has received. Although +he has never combated as a general-in-chief, there is no doubt but that +he would fill such a place with honour to himself and advantage to his +country. + +Of the general officers who command under Archduke Charles, Comte de +Bellegarde is already known by his exploits during the last war. He had +distinguished himself already in 1793, particularly when Valenciennes and +Maubeuge were besieged by the united Austrian and English forces; and, in +1794, he commanded the column at the head of which the Emperor marched, +when Landrecy was invested. In 1796, he was one of the members of the +Council of the Archduke Charles, when this Prince commanded for the first +time as a general-in-chief, on which occasion he was promoted to a +Field-marshal lieutenant. + +He displayed again great talents during the campaign of 1799, when he +headed a small corps, placed between General Suwarow in Italy, and +Archduke Charles in Switzerland; and in this delicate post he contributed +equally to the success of both. After the Peace of Luneville he was +appointed a commander-in-chief for the Emperor in the ci-devant Venetian +States, where the troops composing the army under the Archduke Charles +were, last summer, received and inspected by him, before the arrival of +the Prince. He is considered by military men as greatly superior to most +of the generals now employed by the Emperor of Germany. + + + + +LETTER XXXVI. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--“I would give my brother, the Emperor of Germany, one further +piece of advice. Let him hasten to make peace. This is the crisis when, +he must recollect, all States must have an end. The idea of the +approaching extinction of the, dynasty of Lorraine must impress him with +horror.” When Bonaparte ordered this paragraph to be inserted in the +Moniteur, he discovered an ‘arriere pensee’, long suspected by +politicians, but never before avowed by himself, or by his Ministers. +“That he has determined on the universal change of dynasties, because a +usurper can never reign with safety or honour as long as any legitimate +Prince may disturb his power, or reproach him for his rank.” Elevated +with prosperity, or infatuated with vanity and pride, he spoke a language +which his placemen, courtiers, and even his brother Joseph at first +thought premature, if not indiscreet. If all lawful Sovereigns do not +read in these words their proscription, and the fate which the most +powerful usurper that ever desolated mankind has destined for them, it +may be ascribed to that blindness with which Providence, in its wrath, +sometimes strikes those doomed to be grand examples of the vicissitudes +of human life. + +“Had Talleyrand,” said Louis Bonaparte, in his wife’s drawing-room, “been +by my brother’s side, he would not have unnecessarily alarmed or awakened +those whom it should have been his policy to keep in a soft slumber, +until his blows had laid them down to rise no more; but his soldier-like +frankness frequently injures his political views.” This I myself heard +Louis say to Abbe Sieyes, though several foreign Ambassadors were in the +saloon, near enough not to miss a word. If it was really meant as a +reflection on Napoleon, it was imprudent; if designed as a defiance to +other Princes, it was unbecoming and impertinent. I am inclined to +believe it, considering the individual to whom it was addressed, a +premeditated declaration that our Emperor expected a universal war, was +prepared for it, and was certain of its fortunate issue. + +When this Sieyes is often consulted, and publicly flattered, our +politicians say, “Woe to the happiness of Sovereigns and to the +tranquillity of subjects; the fiend of mankind is busy, and at work,” + and, in fact, ever since 1789, the infamous ex-Abbe has figured, either +as a plotter or as an actor, in all our dreadful and sanguinary +revolutionary epochas. The accomplice of La Fayette in 1789, of Brissot +in 1791, of Marat in 1792, of Robespierre in 1793, of Tallien in 1794, of +Barras in 1795, of Rewbel in 1797, and of Bonaparte in 1799, he has +hitherto planned, served, betrayed, or deserted all factions. He is one +of the few of our grand criminals, who, after enticing and sacrificing +his associates, has been fortunate enough to survive them. Bonaparte has +heaped upon him presents, places, and pensions; national property, +senatories, knighthoods, and palaces; but he is, nevertheless, not +supposed one of our Emperor’s most dutiful subjects, because many of the +late changes have differed from his metaphysical schemes of innovation, +of regeneration, and of overthrow. He has too high an opinion of his own +deserts not to consider it beneath his philosophical dignity to be a +contented subject of a fellow-subject, elevated into supremacy by his +labours and dangers. His modesty has, for these sixteen years past, +ascribed to his talents all the glory and prosperity of France, and all +her misery and misfortunes to the disregard of his counsels, and to the +neglect of his advice. Bonaparte knows it; and that he is one of those +crafty, sly, and dark conspirators, more dangerous than the bold +assassin, who, by sophistry, art, and perseverance insinuate into the +minds of the unwary and daring the ideas of their plots, in such an +insidious manner that they take them and foster them as the production of +their own genius; he is, therefore, watched by our Imperial spies, and +never consulted but when any great blow is intended to be struck, or some +enormous atrocities perpetrated. A month before the seizure of the Duc +d’Enghien, and the murder of Pichegru, he was every day shut up for some +hours with Napoleon Bonaparte at St. Cloud, or in the Tuileries; where he +has hardly been seen since, except after our Emperor’s return from his +coronation as a King of Italy. + +Sieyes never was a republican, and it was cowardice alone that made him +vote for the death of his King and benefactor; although he is very fond +of his own metaphysical notions, he always has preferred the preservation +of his life to the profession or adherence to his systems. He will not +think the Revolution complete, or the constitution of his country a good +one, until some Napoleon, or some Louis, writes himself an Emperor or +King of France, by the grace of Sieyes. He would expose the lives of +thousands to obtain such a compliment to his hateful vanity and excessive +pride; but he would not take a step that endangered his personal safety, +though it might eventually lead him to the possession of a crown. + +From the bounty of his King, Sieyes had, before the Revolution, an income +of fifteen thousand livres--per annum; his places, pensions, and landed +estates produce now yearly five hundred thousand livres--not including +the interest of his money in the French and foreign funds. + +Two years ago he was exiled, for some time, to an estate of his in +Touraine, and Bonaparte even deliberated about transporting him to +Cayenne, when Talleyrand observed “that such a condemnation would +endanger that colony of France, as he would certainly organize there a +focus of revolutions, which might also involve Surinam and the Brazils, +the colonies of our allies, in one common ruin. In the present +circumstances,” added the Minister, “if Sieyes is to be transported, I +wish we could land him in England, Scotland, or Ireland, or even in +Russia.” + +I have just heard from a general officer the following anecdote, which he +read to me from a letter of another general, dated Ulm, the 25th instant, +and, if true, it explains in part Bonaparte’s apparent indiscretion in +the threat thrown out against all ancient dynasties. + +Among his confidential generals (and hitherto the most irreproachable of +all our military commanders), Marmont is particularly distinguished. +Before Napoleon left this capital to head his armies in Germany, he is +stated to have sent despatches to all those traitors dispersed in +different countries whom he has selected to commence the new dynasties, +under the protection of the Bonaparte Dynasty. They were, no doubt, +advised of this being the crisis when they had to begin their +machinations against thrones. A courier from Talleyrand at Strasburg to +Bonaparte at Ulm was ordered to pass by the corps under the command of +Marmont, to whom, in case the Emperor had advanced too far into Germany, +he was to deliver his papers. This courier was surprised and interrupted +by some Austrian light troops; and, as it was only some few hours after +being informed of this capture that Bonaparte expressed himself frankly, +as related above, it was supposed by his army that the Austrian +Government had already in its power despatches which made our schemes of +improvement at Paris no longer any secrets at Vienna. The writer of this +letter added that General Marmont was highly distressed on account of +this accident, which might retard the prospect of restoring to Europe its +long lost peace and tranquillity. + +This officer made his first campaign under Pichegru in 1794, and was, in +1796, appointed by Bonaparte one of his aides-de-camp. His education had +been entirely military, and in the practice the war afforded him he soon +evinced how well he remembered the lessons of theory. In the year 1796, +at the battle of Saint-Georges, before Mantua, he charged at the head of +the eighth battalion of grenadiers, and contributed much to its fortunate +issue. In October of the same year, Bonaparte, as a mark of his +satisfaction, sent him to present to the Directory the numerous colours +which the army of Italy had conquered; from whom he received in return a +pair of pistols, with a fraternal hug from Carnot. On his return to +Italy he was, for the first time, employed by his chief in a political +capacity. A republic, and nothing but a republic, being then the order +of the day, some Italian patriots were convoked at Reggio to arrange a +plan for a Cisalpine Republic, and for the incorporation with it of +Modena, Bologna, and other neutral States; Marmont was nominated a French +republican plenipotentiary, and assisted as such in the organization of a +Commonwealth, which since has been by turns a province of Austria or a +tributary State of France. + +Marmont, though combating for a bad cause, is an honest man; his hands +are neither soiled with plunder, nor stained with blood. Bonaparte, +among his other good qualities, wishes to see every one about him rich; +and those who have been too delicate to accumulate wealth by pillage, he +generally provides for, by putting into requisition some great heiress. +After the Peace of Campo Formio, Bonaparte arrived at Paris, where he +demanded in marriage for his aide-de-camp Marmont, Mademoiselle +Perregeaux, the sole child of the first banker in France, a well-educated +and accomplished young lady, who would be much more agreeable did not her +continual smiles and laughing indicate a degree of self-satisfaction and +complacency which may be felt, but ought never to be published. + +The banker, Perregeaux, is one of those fortunate beings who, by drudgery +and assiduity, has succeeded in some few years to make an ample fortune. +A Swiss by birth, like Necker, he also, like him, after gratifying the +passion of avidity, showed an ambition to shine in other places than in +the counting-house and upon the exchange. Under La Fayette, in 1790, he +was the chief of a battalion of the Parisian National Guards; under +Robespierre, a commissioner for purchasing provisions; and under +Bonaparte he is become a Senator and a commander of the Legion of Honour. +I am told that he has made all his money by his connection with your +country; but I know that the favourite of Napoleon can never be the +friend of Great Britain. He is a widower; but Mademoiselle Mars, of the +Emperor’s theatre, consoles him for the loss of his wife. + +General Marmont accompanied Bonaparte to Egypt, and distinguished himself +at the capture of Malta, and when, in the following year, the siege of +St. Jean d’Acre was undertaken, he was ordered to extend the +fortifications of Alexandria; and if, in 1801, they retarded your +progress, it was owing to his abilities, being an officer of engineers as +well as of the artillery. He returned with Bonaparte to Europe, and was, +after his usurpation, made a Counsellor of State. At the battle of +Marengo he commanded the artillery, and signed afterwards, with the +Austrian general, Count Hohenzollern, the Armistice of Treviso, which +preceded shortly the Peace of Luneville. Nothing has abated Bonaparte’s +attachment to this officer, whom he appointed a commander-in-chief in +Holland, when a change of Government was intended there, and whom he will +entrust everywhere else, where sovereignty is to be abolished, or thrones +and dynasties subverted. + + + + +LETTER XXXVII. + +PARIS, October, 1805. + +MY LORD:--Many wise people are of the opinion that the revolution of +another great Empire is necessary to combat or oppose the great impulse +occasioned by the Revolution of France, before Europe can recover its +long-lost order and repose. Had the subjects of Austria been as +disaffected as they are loyal, the world might have witnessed such a +terrible event, and been enabled to judge whether the hypothesis was the +production of an ingenious schemer or of a profound statesman. Our +armies under Bonaparte have never before penetrated into the heart of a +country where subversion was not prepared, and where subversion did not +follow. + +How relatively insignificant, in the eyes of Providence, must be the +independence of States and the liberties of nations, when such a +relatively insignificant personage as General von Mack can shake them? +Have, then, the Austrian heroes--a Prince Eugene, a Laudon, a Lasci, a +Beaulieu, a Haddick, a Bender, a Clairfayt, and numerous other valiant +and great warriors--left no posterity behind them; or has the presumption +of General von Mack imposed upon the judgment of the Counsellors of his +Prince? This latter must have been the case; how otherwise could the +welfare of their Sovereign have been entrusted to a military quack, whose +want of energy and bad disposition had, in 1799, delivered up the capital +of another Sovereign to his enemies. How many reputations are gained by +an impudent assurance, and lost when the man of talents is called upon to +act and the fool presents himself. + +Baron von Mack served as an aide-de-camp under Field-marshal Laudon, +during the last war between Austria and Turkey, and displayed some +intrepidity, particularly before Lissa. The Austrian army was encamped +eight leagues from that place, and the commander-in-chief hesitated to +attack it, believing it to be defended by thirty thousand men. To decide +him upon making this attack, Baron von Mack left him at nine o’clock at +night, crossed the Danube, accompanied only by a single Uhlan, and +penetrated into the suburb of Lissa, where he made prisoner a Turkish +officer, whom, on the next morning at seven o’clock, he presented to his +general, and from whom it was learnt that the garrison contained only six +thousand, men. This personal temerity, and the applause of Field-marshal +Laudon, procured him then a kind of reputation, which he has not since +been able to support. Some theoretical knowledge of the art of war, and +a great facility of conversing on military topics, made even the Emperor +Joseph conceive a high opinion of this officer; but it has long been +proved, and experience confirms it every day, that the difference is +immense between the speculator and the operator, and that the generals of +Cabinets are often indifferent captains when in the camp or in the field. + +Preceded by a certain celebrity, Baron von Mack served, in 1793, under +the Prince of Coburg, as an adjutant-general, and was called to assist at +the Congress at Antwerp, where the operations of the campaign were +regulated. Everywhere he displayed activity and bravery; was wounded +twice in the month of May; but he left the army without having performed +anything that evinced the talents which fame had bestowed on him. In +February, 1794, the Emperor sent him to London to arrange, in concert +with your Government, the plans of the campaign then on the eve of being +opened; and when he returned to the Low Countries he was advanced to a +quartermaster-general of the army of Flanders, and terminated also this +unfortunate campaign without having done anything to justify the +reputation he had before acquired or usurped. His Sovereign continued, +nevertheless, to employ him in different armies; and in January, 1797, he +was appointed a Field-marshal lieutenant and a quartermaster-general of +the army of the Rhine. In February he conducted fifteen thousand of the +troops of this army to reinforce the army of Italy; but when Bonaparte in +April penetrated into Styria and Carinthia, he was ordered to Vienna as a +second in command of the levy ‘en masse’. + +Real military characters had already formed their opinion of this +officer, and saw a presumptuous charlatan where others had admired an +able warrior. His own conduct soon convinced them that they neither had +been rash nor mistaken. The King of Naples demanding, in 1798, from his +son-in-law, the Emperor of Germany, a general to organize and head his +troops, Baron von Mack was presented to him. After war had been declared +against France he obtained some success in partial engagements, but was +defeated in a general battle by an enemy inferior in number. In the +Kingdom of Naples, as well as in the Empire of Germany, the fury of +negotiation seized him when he should have fought, and when he should +have remembered that no compacts can ever be entered into with political +and military earthquakes, more than with physical ones. This imprudence, +particularly as he was a foreigner, excited suspicion among his troops, +whom, instead of leading to battle, he deserted, under the pretence that +his life was in danger, and surrendered himself and his staff to our +commander, Championnet. + +A general who is too fond of his life ought never to enter a camp, much +less to command armies; and a military chief who does not consider the +happiness and honour of the State as his first passion and his first +duty, and prefers existence to glory, deserves to be shot as a traitor, +or drummed out of the army as a dastardly coward. Without mentioning the +numerous military faults committed by General von Mack during this +campaign, it is impossible to deny that, with respect to his own troops, +he conducted himself in the most pusillanimous manner. It has often been +repeated that martial valour does not always combine with it that courage +and that necessary presence of mind which knows how to direct or repress +multitudes, how to command obedience and obtain popularity; but when a +man is entrusted with the safety of an Empire, and assumes such a +brilliant situation, he must be weak-minded and despicable indeed, if he +does not show himself worthy of it by endeavouring to succeed, or perish +in the attempt. The French emigrant, General Dumas, evinced what might +have been done, even with the dispirited Neapolitan troops, whom he +neither deserted, nor with whom he offered to capitulate. + +Baron von Mack is in a very infirm state of health, and is often under +the necessity of being carried on a litter; and his bodily complaints +have certainly not increased the vigour of his mind. His love of life +seems to augment in proportion as its real value diminishes. As to the +report here of his having betrayed his trust in exchanging honour for +gold, I believe it totally unfounded. Our intriguers may have deluded +his understanding, but our traitors would never have been able to seduce +or shake his fidelity. His head is weak, but his heart is honest. +Unfortunately, it is too true that, in turbulent times, irresolution and +weakness in a commander or a Minister operate the same, and are as +dangerous as, treason. + + + + +THE ETEXT EDITOR’S BOOKMARKS: + + +A stranger to remorse and repentance, as well as to honour +Accused of fanaticism, because she refused to cohabit with him +All his creditors, denounced and executed +All priests are to be proscribed as criminals +As everywhere else, supported injustice by violence +As confident and obstinate as ignorant +Bestowing on the Almighty the passions of mortals +Bonaparte and his wife go now every morning to hear Mass +Bonaparte dreads more the liberty of the Press than all other +Bourrienne +Bow to their charlatanism as if it was sublimity +Cannot be expressed, and if expressed, would not be believed +Chevalier of the Guillotine: Toureaux +Complacency which may be felt, but ought never to be published +Country where power forces the law to lie dormant +Distinguished for their piety or rewarded for their flattery +Easy to give places to men to whom Nature has refused parts +Encounter with dignity and self-command unbecoming provocations +Error to admit any neutrality at all +Expeditious justice, as it is called here +Extravagances of a head filled with paradoxes +Feeling, however, the want of consolation in their misfortunes +Forced military men to kneel before priests +French Revolution was fostered by robbery and murder +Future effects dreaded from its past enormities +General who is too fond of his life ought never to enter a camp +Generals of Cabinets are often indifferent captains in the field +God is only the invention of fear +Gold, changes black to white, guilt to innocence +Hail their sophistry and imposture as inspiration +He was too honest to judge soundly and to act rightly +Her present Serene Idiot, as she styles the Prince Borghese +Hero of great ambition and small capacity: La Fayette +How many reputations are gained by an impudent assurance +How much people talk about what they do not comprehend +If Bonaparte is fond of flattery--pays for it like a real Emperor +Indifference about futurity +Indifference of the French people to all religion +Invention of new tortures and improved racks +Irresolution and weakness in a commander operate the same +Its pretensions rose in proportion to the condescensions +Jealous of his wife as a lover of his mistress +Justice is invoked in vain when the criminal is powerful +Labour as much as possible in the dark +Love of life increase in proportion as its real value diminishes +Marble lives longer than man +May change his habitations six times in the month--yet be home +Men and women, old men and children are no more +Military diplomacy +Misfortunes and proscription would not only inspire courage +More vain than ambitious +My maid always sleeps with me when my husband is absent +My means were the boundaries of my wants +Napoleon invasion of States of the American Commonwealth +Nature has destined him to obey, and not to govern +Not suspected of any vices, but all his virtues are negative +Not only portable guillotines, but portable Jacobin clubs +Nothing was decided, though nothing was refused +Now that she is old (as is generally the case), turned devotee +One of the negative accomplices of the criminal +Opinion almost constitutes half the strength of armies +Prelate on whom Bonaparte intends to confer the Roman tiara +Prepared to become your victim, but not your accomplice +Presumptuous charlatan +Pretensions or passions of upstart vanity +Pride of an insupportable and outrageous ambition +Procure him after a useless life, a glorious death +Promises of impostors or fools to delude the ignorant +Prudence without weakness, and with firmness without obstinacy +Saints supplied her with a finger, a toe, or some other parts +Salaries as the men, under the name of washerwomen +Satisfying himself with keeping three mistresses only +Should our system of cringing continue progressively +Sold cats’ meat and tripe in the streets of Rome +Step is but short from superstition to infidelity +Sufferings of individuals, he said, are nothing +Suspicion and tyranny are inseparable companions +Suspicion is evidence +They will create some quarrel to destroy you +They ought to be just before they are generous +“This is the age of upstarts,” said Talleyrand +Thought at least extraordinary, even by our friends +Thought himself eloquent when only insolent or impertinent +Two hundred and twenty thousand prostitute licenses +Under the notion of being frank, are rude +United States will be exposed to Napoleon’s outrages +Usurped the easy direction of ignorance +Vices or virtues of all civilized nations are relatively the same +Want is the parent of industry +We are tired of everything, even of our existence +Were my generals as great fools as some of my Ministers +Which crime in power has interest to render impenetrable +Who complains is shot as a conspirator +With us, unfortunately, suspicion is the same as conviction +Would cease to rule the day he became just + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs of the Court of St. Cloud, +Complete, by Lewis Goldsmith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COURT OF ST. 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